Remembering Those Who Came Before-Civil War Veterans at the 50th Gettysburg Reunion 

Time, We Think, Lends Perspective to the Way in Which We Consider Historical Events~

The passing of years helps us to understand what it was that happened long ago — as we could not when we were caught up in all its immediacy. Much as an artist is able to do when he distances himself from the familiar, so time enables us to look back at what once confused us, until all becomes clear. They are blessings that have devolved to us because brave men and women argued for them, fought for them, died for them. Liberty and peace do not just happen. We do well to honor their memory. Credit-Michael Elliott 

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1549274,00.html

Photo: Smithsonian

A Smile Frozen in Time -Unidentified photographer- Two officers of the 5th U.S. Infantry taken in Vera Cruz, Mexico 1847, April.. He retired in the later part of the civil war having fought many battles with gallantry against his former friends and officers..This left him disheartened in his letters home to Annie. Copies of the transcribed journals are now archived at West Point. Daguerreotype, 1/4 plate Private collection of Will Dunniway LL/43483 

The officer smiling on the left is Capt. William H. Chapman ( Not William W. Chapman) and the officer to the right is believed to be Capt. Moses Merrill, killed at Melino del Rey, Mexico, September 1847. 1/4 plate cased (Not original case) with original mat. This daguerreotype has been published in the 1992 Daguerreian Annual on Mexican War daguerreotypes that John Graf edited, and has been published in three histories on the Mexican War, including a special by PBS Television. The military record of Captain Wm. H. Chapman is stellar. Will Dunniway wrote a short bio on him in the Military Image Magazine called “The Fight For The City of Mexico” Issue September-October 1992. Without going over his long and gallant service in the US Army from the horrible battles leading up to the taking of Mexico City and the surrender of Mexico. 

 Reasons this image is so significant in the history of the Military Ante-Bellum Daguerreotype: 

1. It is one of only around 50 ‘documented’ images to have surfaced in the country of Mexico during the Mexico War of 1846-48.
2. The condition is very good when compared to the abrades and fading of the General Wool and staff daguerreotype images in Mexico.
3. The content, smiles, drunken? Over-shirt (Moses Merrill) made with the ribbed linen material sent for the officers to make new shirts after the Monterey Battles. This was sent to Vera Cruz in the spring of 1847. The studio ‘cantina’ location. The slouch hats, unbuttoned coat and pants which are totally non- regulation for these West Point grads.
4. The ID and journals of this Captain W.H. Chapman are compelling historical documents plus the letter that accompanied the images home to Annie by a Lt. Robinson.
5. Captain WH Chapman was on the court marshal board for the San Patricio Battn. that mutinied.
6. Provenance. It came from Col. W.W. Chapman’s family.

Notes prepared with the assistance of Will Dunniway, Matt Isenburg, Dr.William (Bill) Schulz, John McWilliams and Henry Mace.

http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/image/9765359749434835963026257/

Beauty Ideals-The Civil War

Over the centuries, women have mauled and manipulated just about every body part - lips, eyes, ears, waists, skulls, foreheads, stomachs, breasts and feet - that did not fit into the cookie-cutter ideal of a particular era’s ideal of beauty and perfection.

 An Englishman reported that American women seemed to be morbidly frightened of getting thin. “They are constantly having themselves weighed and every ounce of increase is hailed with delight, and talked about with the most dreadful plainness of speech” he reported. A “beautiful Connecticut girl” he added, told him proudly that she had “gained eighteen pounds in flesh since last April.”

The 1800’s-The late 1800s was one of the few periods in history when slimness was not considered desirable, and a round, wide face was the ideal during this time period. Women tried to achieve this look by parting their hair down the center, slicking it flat on top, pulling it to the back and securing it with pins into a bun at the back of the head. In the 1800’s it was ideal to have a fuller figure but to have a small waist. Corsets were commonly used in this era to make their waists look smaller. They wore long skirts and bustles; as well as keeping their hair up. The focus was to be thicker but with a smaller waist. By the mid-1800’s a well-rounded bosom was something to be proud of and something to be artfully created with some clever undergarments.

Aiken’s Landing, Virginia (vicinity). Young girl at Aiken house

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Unknown African American Man in Portrait Wearing Civilian Suit and Military Jacket.

No information with photo.

Miss Levinson-Mathew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes, (Record Group 111)

Mrs. H. A. Bowers-Mathew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes, (Record Group 111)

Miss or Mrs. Cowdres-Mathew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes, (Record Group 111)

As the populations of the United States pushed West in the early 1800′s, a lucrative trade for the fur, skin, and meat of the American Bison began in the great plains. Bison slaughter was further encouraged by the US government as a means of starving out or removing Native American populations that relied on the bison for food. Hunting of bison became so prevalent that travelers on trains in the Midwest would shoot bison during long-haul train trips.

Once numbering in the hundreds of millions in North America, the population of the American Bison decreased to less than 1000 by 1890. Thanks in large part to conservation efforts undertaken by Theodore Roosevelt and by the US government, there are now over 500,000 bison in America.

Los Angeles Police Dept 1800’s L.A.P.D.

Police Museum in Highland Park on York Blvd. 

Party Like its 1893

Cadet Life, 1893. Four members of the Class of 1894 celebrate New Years Eve: Virginia Military Institute

William Bryant, Nelson R. Johnson, Cary D. Langhorne, Henry A. Wise. Inscription: “The memorable New Year 1893. Big four enjoying themselves according to the way New year should be enjoyed.”

SOURCE Virginia Military Institute www1.vmi.edu

Untitled (Sharpshooters of the 1856 Committee of Vigilance). May 15, 1856. Photographer unknown. Ambrotype. Collection of Oakland Museum of California.

This photograph is a group portrait of Sharpshooters of the 1856 Committee of Vigilance. The first Vigilance Committee formed in 1851 in response to criminal activity in San Francisco. After the committed disbanded, a continuing tide of unrest led to the creation of a second Vigilance Committee in 1856. This second Committee set up fortified headquarters known as “Fort Gunnybags,” challenged both the state and federal governments and executed four men it claimed had escaped justice.

Civil War GAR Veterans, C 1915