Clearly it is 1860's and out east (flat land country!). Many tents, full uniforms, everyone has a musket. Note the supply barrels and at a train stop.

Kate on 19th June 2014 @ 8:22am

The trees would suggest Virginia and the flat terrain could be on one of the peninsulas of the tidal plain. Just guess though.

longshot on 19th June 2014 @ 8:33am

thank you for sharing the photo! I am currently reading "We'll all go home in the spring" and it is true testimonies of the people who traveled and volunteered to be in the military, as well as pioneers of this era. This photo brings some of the descriptions to a more realistic imagination.

patti jo mcgrath on 19th June 2014 @ 8:50am

What a terrible war for our country, but what an interesting photo.
The men at the right end of the line don't seem to be in uniform.
The drummer boy is so young.
Many died so young in this war, but Blythe lived to be 86 and even climbed Mt. Hood in his 80's.
I have learned all about Mr. Blythe thanks to Arthur's Historic Hood River.

Be sure to read Arthur's comments about Samuel Blythe and his Civil War career at this photo.
http://historichoodriver.com/index.php?showimage=781

l.e. on 19th June 2014 @ 8:57am

Blythe enlisted in Ohio at age 19. Sent to St Louis, Missouri. After three years he re-enlisted. Fought at the battle of Fort Donelson in Tennessee. Pittsburg Landing which is in Tennessee and also known as Shiloh. The Battle of Corinth at Corinth, Mississippi and Vicksburg, Mississippi. Mustered out in February of 1866.
That doesn't tell us where the photo was taken, but gives some ideas.

l.e. on 19th June 2014 @ 10:28pm

I can tell you one thing, this is a fairly new location of a camp. If you notice there are all those trees in the back ground. A camp of any duration would have had all those trees down for fire wood, or in case of a winter camp they would also be used to build "shanties."

Good view of the tents. They were actually two pieces put together to form one tent. Each soldier had one piece, so generally two soldiers shared one tent. I would venture a guess that the tents, larger ones off to the left are officers tents.

Noticing they are wearing frock uniform coats indicates that this is cool weather. Usually these coats along with other personal items would be bundled up prior to marching on a campaign and sent off to some depot (warehouse) for storage. I am trying to figure out the guy in the black hat. It is not the actual Hardee hat, and even though he doesn't have any decorations on his uniform he might be like the captain.

Definitely a railroad cut going through with the loading dock and that is a water tank up the track there.

Generally drummer boys were very young. I have read of some being even as young as 8 or 9 years old.

I would think that this would be in Tennessee or Mississippi. This is not a regimental photo, but a company photo, though the company is small, maybe they have lost a good portion of their usual 100 men per company. A regiment was usually consisting of approximately 1,000 men.

Charlott on 20th June 2014 @ 8:06am

Slept in a few two man pup tents that each man carried half of, but they were just barely big enough for two guys to crawl into. When you are hoofing 20 miles a day I don't think anybody was carrying half of one of these big tents. Would guess they had horses and wagons to haul camps like this around.

Buzz on 20th June 2014 @ 11:35am

I think the man in the black hat is the sharp shooter - he would not be required to wear a uniform, would he?

Jill Stanford on 20th June 2014 @ 3:16pm

Jill, I zoomed in on the man in the black hat based on your comment-- I think he is wearing a uniform, and it looks like he is leaning on a cane. The man to his left seems to have binoculars. Perhaps he is the commanding officer?

Arthur on 21st June 2014 @ 12:50pm

Yes, sharpshooters wore uniforms. Let me think here, some entire units of sharpshooters wore green uniforms for two reasons. #1 to blend in with the surrounding foliage and to also be identified as sharpshooters. Now, looking at the tents closer, they are not the big ones that the guys packed around, and in fact I see some Sibley tents way in the back. Sometimes more than 20 miles a day/night were marched in a forced march. Stonewall was great for these long long marches to attempt advantage, he did this at Chancellorsville.]

There is a chance that this photo may have been taken when going into winter camp, since the tents are bigger, but I don't see any shebangs, which they liked to set up for winter use, as they were a little warmer...not much.

Charlott on 23rd June 2014 @ 7:00am

I learn so much here! Thank you for the comments and observations about the mysterious man in the black hat. I wish I could zoom in on many of the photographs you publish, Arthur. So much detail to see!

Jill Stanford on 23rd June 2014 @ 2:37pm

Jill, my goal is to eventually make all our photo archives available at high resolution. I am researching ways to do that. I feel so guilty that I can see these wonderful details but you can't!

I have some ideas about how to make hi-res copies visible to people visiting the museum, but doing it for online access is a bit more difficult. I've been looking at how different museums and libraries do this, but I haven't found one I like yet.

Arthur on 23rd June 2014 @ 4:43pm