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Petersburg Besieged—by Civil War Photo Enthusiasts |
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The eighth annual Image of War seminar in Petersburg, Va., was The Center of Civil War Photography’s most ambitious seminar ever, featuring a new, fully digitized 3D show, Lincoln in 3D, as well as a stunning new museum exhibition about Civil War photography.
The seminar officially began on Friday evening, Oct. 3 with the opening of the exhibition, Beyond Brady: Photography in the Civil War Era, which was jointly produced by CCWP and Pamplin Historical Park (PHP). The seminar’s 68 guests were the first to see the wide range of exhibits in Beyond Brady, which is spread over 1,500 feet of museum space in the park’s Battlefield Center.
The exhibition features a full-size reproduction photo wagon with darkroom, an original wet plate camera, a video on how to make a Civil War-era photo, and large wall-mounted television monitor with a 3D program. It also features more than 50 original Civil War photos, including a wall of original Civil War documentary photos and a large selection of portraits. Other exhibits include a hand-cranked stereo viewer with reproduction Civil War images and an original daguerreotype from the California Gold Rush. The exhibition is scheduled to be at PHP for a year.
Before the official opening of the seminar, which was co-sponsored by Pamplin Historical Park and the Civil War Preservation Trust, attendees to the early bird programs visited the sites of scores of Civil War images taken at Dutch Gap and Battery Dantzler.
The seminar proper opened with CCWP Vice President Garry Adelman and photo expert Mike Gorman’s overview of the vast Petersburg Campaign. Adelman followed up with a popular feature—the seminar photo quiz, where guests are challenged to identify a Civil War photograph by only seeing a small part of it. One seminar attendee was able to identify a photo showing Gen. Rufus Ingalls’ dog taken at the Appomattox Manor by only seeing a portion of the dog’s paw on the screen! After a short break, CCWP President Bob Zeller and Director of Imaging John Richter presented an all-digital slide show, Lincoln in 3D, which included some 160 images, including more than a dozen portraits of Lincoln and many other choice and obscure images that are rarely seen in their original 3D format.
Our Saturday morning tour took us to City Point, Va., site of the giant Union supply base and General U.S. Grant’s headquarters in 1864 and 1865. City Point photo expert and long time National Park Service ranger Jimmy Blankenship walked the group around the Appomattox Plantation, Grant’s Headquarters site, and down the one of the City Point wharves to discuss some of the more than 200 images taken at City Point. Although all the images would not fit in the book, the tour was enhanced by CCWP’s new publication 99 Historic Images of Petersburg—a professionally printed booklet tailor-made for this seminar. The booklet came in handy again as longtime Petersburg historian Chris Calkins took command as the group toured the Petersburg battlefield and then the City of Petersburg. Since all the photographs of these sites were recorded after the siege by Union photographers, Calkins helped to separate the 1865 features in the photos from those actually present during the siege.
Jimmy Blankenship discusses the James and Appomattox Rivers at City Point.
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Jimmy Blankenship discusses the James and Appomattox Rivers at City Point.
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For our Saturday evening program, Pamplin Historical Park opened the doors of its National Museum of the Civil War Soldier to the Image of War for a private tour and banquet. Following a post-banquet Petersburg speech by PHP Executive Director A. Wilson Greene, the CCWP unveiled a prototype of what will be its first multimedia 3D show. The five-minute segment features the images of Gettysburg as well as an original music score by John Richter’s wife, Jody. “Seeing battlefield dead in three dimensions with such somber music made me look at these photos in a whole new way,” said CCWP member Justin Shaw. “It was a very moving experience.”
Seminar attendees viewing the CCWP’s new multimedia show.
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| Seminar attendees viewing the CCWP’s new multimedia show. |
The night closed with a seminar staple, the annual CCWP raffle. Among the prizes this year were more than twenty original Civil War photos in numerous formats, an actual piece of the Gettysburg Cyclorama canvas, a real brick from Gettysburg’s Wills House and a large format print of Don Troiani’s The Forlorn Hope, which depicts a futile Union charge at Petersburg.
On the seminar’s final tour, on Sunday morning, Greene took us to where the Petersburg lines finally broke—the Breakthrough Battlefield. Greene’s lively description of the battle as well as his grasp on the key context of the campaign brought the battle to life and solidified the group’s understanding and respect for this oft-neglected part of the struggle. To cap off the seminar, wet plate photographer Rob Gibson gave a photo demonstration and took a group picture at PHP’s antebellum Hart farm, while PHP reenactors served the group a traditional Civil War lunch of beef stew, cornbread and sugared dough balls.
As we parted ways the call was, “On to Charleston!” site of next year’s event and arguably the birthplace of Civil War photography. Hope to see you there!
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