Tour Etched (Chemically) In Glass

We had a modest (15 people) turnout for our tour on June 9, but the small crowd allowed for a lot of back and forth with our guide John Cummings. John managed to convincingly upset a few apple carts full of interpretations of the locations of period photos on the battlefield. All in all, it was a good day.

One of the highlights of the day was a demonstration of the wet plate photography process by Robert Szabo, at the Stuart-Mosby Historical Society in Centreville. First he painstakingly demonstrated the whole process, out of his mobile darkroom right there in the parking lot:

Robert Szabo and his mobile darkroom

Then he set up the camera for a shot of the group:

Next, he posed the group near this reproduction winter quarters hut:

After the exposure (one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand), the magic happened:

The final product – click on the image twice and you get a super huge version:

Bull Runnings Tour 4/7/2018 Update – Reading List

Here’s a recommended reading list for the tour. Books and some blog posts. Download whatever you think you need. If you download to a mobile device (phone, tablet), I recommend you download to the device itself, as cell reception is spotty out on the field.

Stay tuned for more news on handouts prior to our deployment.

Books:

• Manassas Battlefield Then and Now, by Garry E. Adelman. This gives you a good basis on the historical photos of the field.
• Mathew Brady’s First Manassas: A Biography and Battlefield Tour, by Dennis Hogge. It’s all in there, and will serve you well when we get to Centreville.
• A Photographic Guide to The First Battle of Manassas, by John R. Smith. Good modern photos of the field, but I can’t find it on the web. I got mine at the Manassas NBP visitor’s center. Small pamphlet.
• The Battle of First Bull Run, Manassas Campaign – July 16-22, 1861: An Illustrated Atlas and Battlefield Guide, by Blaikie Hines. Lots of good stuff.
• Gettysburg: A Journey in Time, by William A. Frassanito. Everything you’ll need to know about photograph forensics.

Posts

• Let’s start with this post from John Cummings. A primer, so to speak.
• This post and this post from John Hennessy, about the ubiquitous Thornberry kids.
• Here’s one from me – and it appears where I thought these photos were taken is not where they were taken at all.
• Another one from me – a rare photo which raises more questions than it answers.

Tour Bull Run and Centreville in Photographs

Here’s an update on where we stand with our second Bull Runnings tour, on Saturday, April 7. I’ve created this Facebook Event Page where you can register to attend and get more frequent updates. I realize some of you don’t “do The Facebook,” so you can let me know here or via email if you’re coming. Remember the tour is rain or shine, so dress appropriately, and if you’re a photo geek by all means bring your camera and take your own “now” images to pair with the “thens.” Below is the initial announcement on the event page, and an itinerary. Remember – car pooling is a must.

Tour the battlefield of First Bull Run and Centreville, VA using period photographs. Visit the sites of the photos and learn the stories behind them and their subjects from experts John Cummings and Dennis Hogge. This is a free event.

Our itinerary for the tour, from guest guide John Cummings [my comments in brackets]:

We’ll start the day (9:00 AM) in front of the Visitor’s Center, where we will begin by examining some problematic interpretations of photo locations on Henry Hill. While there, we will discuss other images taken during the first century after the battle, and the history of the park. Later we will proceed to the Sudley Church area and visit the exact location of some Union burial sites. We will proceed to a surprise Second Manassas feature [I know some of you have been yakking at me to cover the second, less important little skirmish outside Manassas, so here’s your bone!], and then to the Stone House, and Stone Bridge before breaking for lunch. After lunch we will meet with Dennis Hogge for an exploration of Centreville and the numerous photographs that document its Confederate occupation.

[During the tour, I’ll have various letters and memoirs ready that feature the sites we’ll be visiting. I’m checking with the Bull Run Winery to see if they can handle our group perhaps stopping there after the conclusion of the tour – let me know if that would be of interest to you.]

 

Manassas Book Project

No, not one of mine.  Blogger John Cummings (Spotsylvania Civil War Blog) hopes to have a new book on the Manassas battlefields published in time for the 150th anniversary of First Bull Run, and he talks about it here.  Check it out.