Snapshots of the Past

James River Virginia. U.S.S. monitor CANONICUS taking coal from a schooner – Antique Wall Art

James River Virginia. U.S.S. monitor CANONICUS taking coal from a schooner, 1861 — historic photograph
James River Virginia. U.S.S. monitor CANONICUS taking coal from a schooner, 1861. 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

Step back in time with James River Virginia. U.S.S. monitor CANONICUS taking coal from a schooner, a historic photograph rich in period detail. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful 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.

James River Virginia. U.S.S. monitor CANONICUS taking coal from a schooner

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The James River, where this scene was made, carried Union naval traffic through Virginia during the war, and the monitor *Canonicus* is shown taking on coal from a schooner alongside. Monitors were low, heavily armored ships that burned large quantities of fuel, so resupply like this was a routine but essential task. The picture survives as a stereograph, two nearly identical halves meant to be viewed together through a stereoscope to create a sense of depth. Photographer David B. Woodbury, who died in 1866, made the glass negatives with the wet collodion process, which required the plate to be coated and exposed before it dried.

Created / published1861
Medium1 negative (2 plates) : glass stereograph wet collodion.
NotesCaption from negative sleeve: Monitor Canonicus in James River taking in coal. Forms part of Civil War glass negative collection (Library of Congress). · Woodbury D. B. (David B.) d. 1866 photographer.
SubjectsUnited States--History--Civil War 1861-1865
SourceLibrary of Congress, Civil War Photographs
Original scan5,120 × 5,033 px · prints to 17 × 17 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-CIV-49669

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