What do you make of this?

[Sgtredleg]

I've seen these pictures for years. But just the other day this caught my eye. The drawing is supposed to depict the Sunken Road during the Battle of Fredericksburg. The photo is supposed to have been taken after the 2nd battle of Fredericksburg in 1863, (Chancellorsville Campaign).
In both depictions you will see the dead soldier lying in the trench in the foreground in the same position. Even the rifle appears to be unchanged. So what do ya'll think?

 

[Cumpston1862]

The picture was taken by a military photographer during the Chancellorsville diversion battle near Fredricksburg around May 2, 1863. I can't recall his name but he took several pictures. This area was recaptured by the Confederates about 24 hours later if memory serves me correctly. The drawing I believe was done by noted Confederate soldier artist A.C. Redwood after the war. The drawing is often used to illustrate anything having to do with the Decemeber 13, 1862 Battle of Fredricksburg. Honestly I don't recall if Redwood's drawing was done to illustrate the December 13th battle or the May 2nd one but there can be no doubt he used the picture for reference.

 

[Sgtredleg]

An after the war drawing makes sense.
The recent references I had seen indicated that the drawing was depicting the Dec. 1862 battle of Fredericksburg, which if done at that time, did not seem to mesh with the later 1863 photo.
Thanks for the explanation!

 

[AndyHall]

Many, many illustrations done during (and especially after) the war are based on photographs of battlefields -- sometimes a line-for-line recreation, something as an active battle scene. This drawing, specifically, was done by Allan C. Redwood, who served as a Confederate soldier and later became a commercial artist and writer, but many others did it, as well. The blog Mysteries & Conundrums tackled this subject a while back. Here's another example, by Redwood, where he made USCTs near the James River in 1864-65 into Barksdale's Mississippians on the Rappahannock in 1862:

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Here's another, used in Battles and Leaders (V. III, p. 440) to illustrate George Thomas' defense of Tennessee against Hood. . .
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. . . based on this image, from the Confederate defenses of Atlanta in 1864:

 

[noman]

i think the Marye's Heights picture at Fredericksburg was taken by A.J. Russell in May 3, 1863

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012647842/

 

[Cumpston1862]

Absolutely correct Andy. Harper's Weekly copied many images for their newspaper. The Antietam death studies by Alexander Gardner especially come to mind.

A.J. Russel...Yes..thank-you Noman.