This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/26/2025
Lot of 148 magic lantern slides documenting nearly all aspects of the Civil War. Most of the images were originally taken by Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, Timothy O'Sullivan and other notable photographers of the day, then reproduced shortly after (late 19th or early 20th century) by outfits such as T.H. McAllister, Brady & Co., Buckeye Stereopticon Co., and Taylor & Huntington. Glass slides measure 3.25'' x 4'', with most in wood casing measuring 4'' x 7''. Overall in very good condition with only a small fraction (approximately 15) cracked or otherwise poor quality.
A visual telling of America's most divisive war, the slides give the viewer a visceral understanding of its personalities and events. Approximately 13 slides featuring Abraham Lincoln are present, most portraits but also including Gardner's ''Incidents of the War'' image of Lincoln at Antietam meeting with General McClellan. Other individuals include General Ulysses S. Grant (3 images, including one of him at Cold Harbor), General George A. Custer, General George McClellan, General Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, General George Pickett, Stephen A. Douglas, and others. Battlefields include approximately 20 views of Gettysburg, plus views from Antietam, Bull Run, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, City Point, Bermuda Hundred, Washington, Charleston and Fort Sumter, Richmond and Libby Prison, and the destruction of Atlanta. Union and Confederate dead from Fort Mahone, Cold Harbor, Fredericksburg, and Dunker Church are shown, as are the executions of Henry Wirz and and William Johnson, and two views titled ''The Darkey in the Air,'' showing an African American being thrown up in the air by Union soldiers holding a blanket. Other images include the all-powerful draft wheel, wounded soldiers after the Battle of Savage Station about to be captured by Confederates, the Marshall House where Colonel Ellsworth was killed, a typical Union campsite, cavalry soldier with his horse, wounded Zouave soldier, Union railroad supply train, and much more. Some slides are of photographs taken shortly after the war, such as Civil War monuments or the Washington Soldiers Home, a veteran care facility established in 1891. Slides are neatly organized with information regarding content.