Night signalling – Historic Print
![Night signalling, [1864 October] — historic drawing](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/33/338570a003de-L.webp)
(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
This rare historic drawing captures Night signalling in remarkable detail. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.
Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. It brings character to any room and makes a memorable gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
Night signalling
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Set on the James River near Dutch Gap, Virginia, this drawing shows a Union signal station working through the night. Torch signaling, a system the Signal Corps had refined during the war, let officers pass messages across miles of darkness by waving lit torches in coded patterns. In October 1864, Union troops at Dutch Gap were digging a canal to bypass a bend in the river that lay within range of Confederate guns. The drawing's soft watercolor wash on tan paper gives the scene a hushed quality, and the small, scattered lights stand out against the dark ground.
| Created / published | [1864 October] |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 drawing on tan paper : watercolor wash ; 14.7 x 26.4 cm. (sheet). |
| Genre | Drawings American 1860-1870. |
| Subjects | United States.--Army.--Signal Corps--1860-1870. Signal towers--1860-1870. Soldiers--Union--1860-1870. Night--1860-1870. Torches--1860-1870. United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Military personnel. United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Communications.United States--Virginia--James RiverUnited States--Virginia--Dutch Gap |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,454 × 1,141 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-216455 |
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