Civil War Veterans both Amputees with Spencer Carbine

[Two Flints]

Hello SSS,

CDV OF PETERSBURG AMPUTEES,

     One of a series of published views showing Private Edwin S. Kellogg, 89th  NY, and Corporal George W. Brown,  157th Pennsylvania who suffered the amputation of their left arms as the result of the June 18, 1864 assault on Petersburg.  Both men convalesced at South Street General Hospital,  Philadelphia, were discharged in April 1865 and later sold their CDVs to support themselves.  This view is immediate post-war with Brown holding a large stack of this very CDV is his hand (visible under magnification).  Kellogg blows the trumpet and wears an early example  of the GAR membership medal.  Symbolically,  a  Spencer carbine rests on the floor with its tube magazine lying across the butt. This particular view is encountered less frequently than the other two known images of Kellogg and Brown suggesting that by 1866- 67 the war weary country was moving on.

And another photograph of the same Civil War veterans.



Two Flints

[Fox Creek Kid]

A lot of good it did them: they're both missing a left arm! 

[Gunner]

TF,
CDV???

-Gunner

[Two Flints]

Hi Gunner,

Hope this info helps with your question... CDV??

What is a CDV ?

In the beginning the photographic technique was difficult and the exposure times were long. This changed with the collodium glasplate negatives en the albumin paper. And so around 1858 photography was more user friendly and not so expensive anymore. In the 1860's the chemical reagents, photographic paper, cameras, lenses, materials for the studio, ... were made and sold on a large scale. The success of photography in this period was primarily due to 2 kinds of images : the stereographic cards (1851-1943) and the cartes de visite (1854-1925).  Both were photographs that were put on a piece of thick cardboard. The stereocards shows 2 images of the same subject. These are made in such a way that, when viewed in a special stereoviewer, you see the image in 3 dimensions. Stereocards are mostly photographs of landscapes and buildings.
The CDV is a single photo, approximately the size of a visit card. Most CDV's are portraits of 1 person, but there are CDV's with landscapes, buildings, statues.

Disderi is the first photographer who makes CDV's on a commercial scale. These little cards with a photographic portrait are immensely popular and they are made until World War I and even sporadically until 1925.

The first Australian cartes-de-visites were taken in 1857, but the process did not become publicly available (in Sydney) until 1859. From 1862 it was in most capital cities of the colonies, and by the mid-60s travelling photographers were reaching even country areas of Australia. From 1866 the larger cabinet-sized photos became available, but these did not really take off until the 1880s, as the cdv faded from the scene.

The main characteristics of cdv photos from the 1860s are: thin, poor quality mount card with square corners; photos hand cut and poorly aligned with card; no details on back, or at most a photgrapher's stamp and/or signature. The soft vignette was popular in the mid to late 1860s. Hard vignettes were also produced, but mostly there was no masking at all. Often the surface of the emulsion will be badly foxed by bacterial action and/or rust and fading. Poses were stiff and formal, and at first taken in an ordinary room adapted to studio purposes. Earlier photos almost invariably have a plain wall or backdrop with drapes on one side. The more elaborate painted backdrops and rustic props of the 1870s and 1880s are generally absent, except perhaps in the most advanced city studios. The subject is either seated, usually at a small deal table, or standing next to a plinth. Often they will be shown holding a book (presumably to insinuate intelligence and noble character) or some other prop, perhaps related to their vocation.


Two Flints