Gettysburg Reunion Photograph Collection Identified to Lieutenant George K. Collins, 149th New York Infantry, Twice WIA

Lot of 17 albumen photographs, each approx. 4.5 x 6.5 in., on 10 x 12 in. mount, photographer unknown, with each scene identified, inscribed, and dated 1886 on verso by Lieutenant George K. Collins who served with the 149th New York Infantry during the Civil War. Lieutenant Collins was WIA at Chancellorsville (5/3/1863) and Lookout Mountain (11/24/1863), the regiment then being part of the 12/20th Corps.

The photographs depict the following Gettysburg landmarks, as described by Collins:

Devil's Den, with lengthy inscription from Collins describing the "rebel sharpshooter" that "picked off so many of the Union officers on Little Round Top" from the point shown in the photograph, with further details about how the sharpshooter was subsequently driven from his position and "torn to pieces by a Union canon..." The image shows a photographer with his camera, taking a picture of a group of veterans posed together; Breastworks On Culp's Hill; Monument, Knapp's Battery, Culp's Hill; Rocks On Little Round Top; Place Where General Hancock was wounded; General Meade's Headquarters, Tarrytown Road (2), one with lengthy description about the location and what ensued during the battle; Cemetery Hill from position held by Stevens' Battery; Views From Little Round Top, one looking towards the Trostle Farm, the other looking northwest; General Lee's Headquarters at Gettysburg; "Bloody Angle, Gettysburg," further described by Collins..."It was at this point that Pickett's charge expended itself. Genl. Armsted was killed near this point and the central monument which is supposed to mark the spot of his death is sometimes called the 'High Water Mark of the Rebellion...'; College Building Gettysburg, with note from Collins..."It was from the belfry of this building that Genl. Lee surveyed the Union lines under the hospital flag on the morning of July 3, 1863"; General Reynold's Monument; Monument of the 28th Pennsylvania Regiment and Collins' daughters; National Monument, Gettysburg. Accompanied by photograph showing John Brown's Fort, Harpers Ferry, VA.

A noteworthy post-war personal collection of the 1886 Gettysburg Reunion with period annotations from a Civil War veteran.