American Historical Ephemera & Photography, Featuring Property from the James Milgram, M.D., Collection of Broadsides, Ephemeral Americana & Historical Documents

BERNARD & GIBSON, photographers. Ruins at Manassas. March 1862. Washington, Philp & Solomons, 1865. 8 7/8 x 7 in. albumen photograph on 15 3/4 x 12 1/4 in. mount (toning, occasional spotting to print; toning, staining, spotting and corner/edge wear to mount). Mount recto with series title, "Incidents of the War," image title, publication information, negative credit to Barnard & Gibson, positive credit to Gardner printed below image. Accompanied by 15 1/2 x 12 1/4 in. page describing the scene. Published as Plate 9 in Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War. Scene documenting the destruction of the railyards of the Orange & Alexandria railroad at Manassas, Virginia. 

[With:] [O'SULLIVAN, Timothy (1840-1882), photographer. Chesterfield Bridge, North Anna, Va. May 1864. Washington, DC: Alexander Gardner, 1865]. 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. unmounted albumen photograph presented in archival mount with flip down mat (toning to print, some corner and edge wear incl. few short tears). Although uncredited, the negative was produced by O'Sullivan and the positive was produced by Gardner. Published as Plate 66 in Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War. 

Alexander Gardner (1821-1882) was one of the foremost photographers of the Civil War. Gardner was born in Scotland in 1821. In 1851, Gardner paid a visit to the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, New York, where he saw the photographs of Mathew Brady for the first time. In 1856, Gardner moved to New York and found employment with Mathew Brady as a photographer. In 1858, Brady put him in charge of the entire gallery. With the start of the Civil War in 1861, the demand for portrait photography increased, as soldiers on their way to the front posed for images to leave behind for their loved ones. Gardner became one of the top photographers in this field. After witnessing the battle at Manassas, Virginia, Brady decided that he wanted to make a photographic record of the war. Brady dispatched Gardner and other photographers to the field to record the images of the conflict. In November of 1861, Gardner was granted the rank of honorary Captain on the staff of General George McClellan. He made a number of photographs of the aftermath of America’s bloodiest day, the Battle of Antietam. Gardner went on to cover more of the war’s terrible battles, including Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the siege of Petersburg. He also took what is considered to be the last photograph of President Abraham Lincoln, just 5 days before his assassination. After the war, Brady established a gallery for Gardner in Washington, DC. In 1867, Gardner was appointed the official photographer of the Union Pacific Railroad, documenting the building of the railroad and the Native American tribes that he encountered. In 1871, Gardner gave up photography to start an insurance company. He lived in Washington until his death in 1882.