Virginia. Tracks of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad destroyed by the Confederates – Historic Print
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of Virginia. Tracks of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad destroyed by the Confederates. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.
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Virginia. Tracks of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad destroyed by the Confederates
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Rather than a general view of a depot or train, this picture shows the ruined rail line itself: the Orange & Alexandria Railroad in Virginia, with its tracks torn up by Confederate forces in 1863. Pulling up rails and wrecking bridges was a common way for retreating armies to slow pursuers, and the Orange & Alexandria, which ran through contested country between Alexandria and Gordonsville, changed hands more than once. Photographer James F. Gibson made the image on a glass wet collodion negative, the standard process of the time, which required the picture to be exposed and developed while the plate was still wet.
| Created / published | 1863 |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 negative : glass wet collodion. |
| Notes | Civil War photographs 1861-1865 / compiled by Hirst D. Milhollen and Donald H. Mugridge Washington D.C. : Library of Congress 1977. No. 0235 Title from Milhollen and Mugridge. Forms part of Selected Civil War photographs 1861-1865 (Library of Congress) · Gibson James F. b. 1828 photographer. |
| Subjects | United States--History--Civil War 1861-1865--Transportation. Railroads.United States--Virginia. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Civil War Photographs |
| Original scan | 1,424 × 1,374 px · prints to 5 × 5 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-CIV-52488 |
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