Here’s a guest post I wrote for Emerging Civil War. It explores the location and situation surrounding the first photograph during the Civil War years.

“There were only two photos of General “Stonewall” Jackson taken during the war. One photograph was made during April 1863, shortly before his final battle at Chancellorsville and shows the general in profile, looking quiet and stern. The first wartime photograph was taken during the late autumn of 1862 in Winchester, Virginia; it was the favorite of Mrs. Jackson and was called “the official photograph” by military staff officers. The Winchester photograph was produced under unique circumstances, some of which are evident in the image. The town where it was taken, the young woman who asked for it, and a crooked button reveal much of the “Stonewall” story in a single photograph.” READ THE COMPLETE ARTCLE

Your Historian,

Miss Sarah