About To Get Shook
Tag: 1800s
Extinct Zebra Horse Makes Grand Scrabble Word
Quagga.
A zebra subspecies.
London Zoo, 1870.
Extinct for over a century now.
Of course, good luck on getting the one Q and two of the three G’s.
When You Thought You Were Done Dealing With Lice
I could tell you this pic is from the late 1800s.
That it’s just housecleaning day on a homestead in Seattle, Washington.
We could talk about quilting or how washing pillows in the washing machine always destroys the integrity of the fluff, and you wind up trashing them and going to Ross for a new $9 pillow.
We could even rehash memories of hanging clothes on the line when you were young.
Or maybe even talk about playing Lincoln Logs as kids.
But you already read the word “lice” up top.
So at some point, you’ll scratch your head.
Because lice.
4 Oz Of Ale Is Hardly Sufficient
1945 seems like a long time ago, but 1845? Rare is it to find an image dating so far back, and rarer still to see joy and mirth on the faces of the subjects (from Edinburgh ale, no less!), rather than that still, posed dread they usually exude.
To the right is Scottish photographer David Octavius Hill (including himself in this portrait of merriment). On the left is James Ballantyne, who designed the windows in the House of Lords, and Dr. George Bell smugly sits in the center, one of the founders of the “Ragged Schools” for destitute children. Sláinte!
Down To Fight The Battle Of Cold Harbor
It’s June 2, 1864. Photographer Tim O’Sullivan has taken to the steeple of Bethesda Church in Virginia to capture this image of Ulysses S. Grant (between the trees), listening to a report by Colonel Bowers (reading at the far right, inside the circle). On Grant’s right is General Horace Porter (reading a newspaper), and on his left is General Rawlins, chief of staff. Here’s a closer look.
In the next image, Grant has risen, walked around the church pews, and is leaning over Meade’s shoulders, consulting a map. Shortly afterward, he will write out orders for the battle of Cold Harbor the next day.
Per www.britannica.com,
Minor skirmishes followed by delays began on 31 May, but the main attack occurred on 3 June, when Grant launched a frontal assault on Confederate defenses. He believed that Lee’s men were overextended, but Lee had taken advantage of a delay in Grant’s assault to bring in reinforcements and improve his fortifications. The result of his preparations was carnage; the advancing Union troops were soon felled, with those making it through the first line of defenses soon being slaughtered at the second. More than 7,000 Union troops were killed or injured in one hour before Grant halted the attack.
For the next nine days, the two armies faced each other in opposite trenches, often only yards apart, until Grant marched off his army on 12 June to threaten the critical rail junction at Petersburg, near Richmond. His own comment on the battle: “I regret this assault more than any one I have ever ordered.”
After some time had passed, photographer John Reekie took this image of African-American men gathering bones of the dead soldiers.
Union: 1,844 dead, 9,077 wounded
Confederacy: 83 dead, 3,380 wounded
Coffee And Saltines: Civil War-Style
It never ceases to amaze me how low-res and dark a Kodak picture from 1985 can be, and yet this image from a wet plate glass negative by James F. Gibson is clear as a bell. Isn’t it amazing to see this group of fellows at Camp Winfield Scott, near Yorktown, Virginia in May of 1862? It’s from the collection of the Peninsular Campaign, May-August 1862.
This is the full image, but I really enjoy zooming in on the details to get a better understanding of life over 150 years ago.
The sober faces, the wayward hairs, the buttons on their shirts, the metal cup that seems like it would conduct the heat and be hard to handle–so interesting!
Man-Sized Charlie Brown Christmas Tree
http://www.reynoldstonnewyork.org/
Another Brick In The Wall
These cutie patooties in Mrs. Staples’ class sat in an overcrowded classroom in Nome, Alaska in 1904.
A small gathering of folks posed in front of this sod schoolhouse in Custer County, Nebraska in 1886.
That Dog Though
Here a family drags all of its belongings into the Yukon Territory near Alaska in 1898. This must have been the granddad of Petey the dog from Our Gang.
And here’s a happy pack dog with his gold-prospecting owner in the Yukon Territory a few years later. He gets to carry the pots and pans.
This group of dogs in Dawson City in the Yukon was responsible for carrying mail in 1898.
Wow! Dogs really are man’s best friend.
Old-School Outdoorsy
*All images taken from Women of the West by Luchetti & Olwell.
Never Mess With A Hoopa Woman
Happy new mama and gruff bodyguard at the Hoopa Indian Reservation in 1896.
For more information on Hoopa peeps, visit https://www.hoopa-nsn.gov/, whose site states: “Serving the people since time immemorial.” That’s a long time.
Civil War Bridge On The Pamunkey
In The American Heritage History of American Railroads by Jensen, this 1862 image shows a bridge under construction. Major General George McClellan of the Union Army brought locomotives and cars by ship from Baltimore and ran trains as close to four miles to the Confederate capital. The workmen are seated, and to the left is a photographer’s field darkroom. At that time, photographs had to be developed immediately and while wet.
To their left , a locomotive was arriving on a ship in White House Landing on the Pamunkey River.
Here is another image of the field darkroom, invented by Matthew Brady.
The wagon would carry the chemicals, glass plates, and finished negatives. Can you imagine what would have happened if the horses got startled or took off at a gallop?
