Snapshots of the Past

James River Va. U.S.S. monitor Canonicus taking on coal from a schooner – Antique Print

James River Va. U.S.S. monitor Canonicus taking on coal from a schooner, 1860 — historic photograph
James River Va. U.S.S. monitor Canonicus taking on coal from a schooner, 1860. Historic photograph from the Battleships collection.

(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

A window into the past: James River Va. U.S.S. monitor Canonicus taking on coal from a schooner, preserved in this historic photograph. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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James River Va. U.S.S. monitor Canonicus taking on coal from a schooner

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The USS Canonicus, an ironclad monitor, lies alongside a schooner on the James River while crew members take on coal. Passaic-class monitors like her carried heavy armor and relied on steam engines, so keeping their bunkers full was a constant task that schooners such as this one helped meet. The picture is a stereograph, made from two plates that together give a three-dimensional view of the deck and the loading work. It was made by photographer David B. Woodbury, and its catalog date of 1860 comes before the ship was commissioned, so the exact timing deserves checking against other sources.

Created / published1860
Medium1 negative (2 plates) : glass stereograph wet collodion.
NotesCivil War photographs 1861-1865 / compiled by Hirst D. Milhollen and Donald H. Mugridge Washington D.C. : Library of Congress 1977. No. 0552 Title from Milhollen and Mugridge. Forms part of Selected Civil War photographs 1861-1865 (Library of Congress) · Woodbury D. B. (David B.) d. 1866 photographer.
SubjectsUnited States--History--Civil War 1861-1865--Transportation. United States--History--Civil War 1861-1865--Equipment and supplies. Government vessels--Union.United States--Virginia--James River.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Civil War Photographs
Original scan1,402 × 1,360 px · prints to 5 × 5 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-CIV-51813

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