Over the last three days I went to multiple locations along the Brushy Mountain, Mudd Creek, Lost Mountain Line. I was able to make images in places that were occupied on those days. The highlight was yesterday, when I went to look at lines of earthworks with Jeffery Wright. He showed me some of the earthworks and artillery batteries the he helped save from destruction due to development and to a new location that he is working to preserve. The area is under development, but the developer has agreed to save the works and has them fenced off. Those works are pretty unique as they are Federal Artillery Batteries. We also visited the Confederate batteries that the Federal batteries were aimed at. We were there yesterday the 18th, which was 150 years to the day, that they were used during the Battle of Latimer’s Farm. There was a thunderstorm moving by about a mile away while we were there. I closed my eyes for a moment to imagine the thunder as the roar of cannons. It is hard for me to describe the feeling I have while being on these battle grounds on the anniversary of the battle. It certainly has a special energy to it. We also went to couple of location that are on private property. We did get permission. One of these other locations was on Pine Mountain and Mr. Wright had not been there, but only had seen part of the trenches from the road. We knocked on the land owners door and got permission to go through their woods. We were both very surprised to find about 300 yards of very well preserved earthworks and what appeared to be a four gun artillery battery. That is a property that needs to be preserved. We also went to one of the largest and most strangely designed set of works I have seen. They are on Brushy Mountain and are in a place that needs to be preserved from development as well. Over all it was a very productive three days. I will start photographing Kennesaw Mountain tomorrow. There is so much there, I think it will take me about a week to photograph, plus a couple of days at the 150th celebration that is taking place the 26th through the 29th.
Category: Civil War Photography
Photography days 11 and 12 are done.
June 14th was my 11th day of photography for my project. I spent the day at several events centered around Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk. I photographed the 5th Indiana Battery where the fatal shot was fired from, as well as the top of Pine Mountain where the General fell. Later I went to an event at the Kirk House. The original home is long gone, but a house is built on the original site and is occupied by descendants of the original homes family. It was used for a Headquarters by Polk until his death. His body was brought back to the house to lay in state until other arrangements could be made.
Today was day 12. I went to photography Gilgal Church and the surrounding area, as well as part of the Mud Creek Line. I will be back out there tomorrow in the same area along the Mud Creek Line.
A Project Within A Project
So, a new project has been born within my current War Was Here project. It is something I can do in parallel and shoot all the images for both projects at the same time. The new mini project is going to be a portrait series. I made a portrait at the Resaca Reenactment that really resonated with me and I have decided to make all the portraits in a similar style. The subject was standing with his back to the wall of a white canvas tent. I was able to “blowout” the white background and ended up with a sort of modern look that seems to work well with the juxtaposition of the period attire. The portraits will all be of reenactors, both military and civilian. I have acquired a portable backdrop and will use it along with my speedlights to recreate these portraits. I will have to travel light since I will be on foot and away from the car at most reenactments. I still don’t have a title for the side project, but I am sure it will come to me in time. Below is the portrait that I made at Resaca. All the rest will be styled after this one. I can not decide which one I like better, but eventually the images will let me know. I usually lean more toward black and white, but for some reason I like the color one. Must be the contrast with the black and white image he is hold in his hands. Or the blue coat.
Where will I be?
I have been asked, by some of my new friends and some of the reenactors I have met, to post what events I will be photographing next for my project. I will be photographing much more than just these events though, as my project is to cover as much about the Atlanta Campaign and The March to the Sea as possible. Below is a list of events I will be at in the near future. I have added a page to my site to list the events I will be attending. Here a is short list for the near future.
June 14th: Memorial service on Pine Mountain for Bishop-General Leonidas Polk. The closest address is 1436 Beaumont Dr. NW. Kennesaw, Ga. 30152. The event begins at 10:30. I will most likely be there by 9 to take pictures of any reenactors there as well as the earthworks at the site.
June 14th: 150th Anniversary Commemoration, Life of Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk!
The Kirk House, 1888 Burnt Hickory Rd. NW Marietta, Ga. 30064. This is the location of Polk’s last headquarters. The event will feature reenactors, artillery demonstrations and special guest from the past.
June 20th – 22nd: Sherman at the Gates, reenactor encampment on the Marietta Square. I will probably be there Friday and maybe Saturday. Check here for details: www.MariettaCivilWar.com
June 26th – 29th: Kennesaw Mountain 150th Event. This will be at many different location through out the park. I will be there each day, trying to cover the different activities and events at all the different locations. If you are a reenactor and want a portrait or would like images for your unit. Contact me through my site and I will arrange to meet you at a specific place and time.
July 12th – 13th: Federal Occupation of Roswell. I will be here both days as the reenact the arrest of the Mill Workers. Here is a link: http://www.roswellgov.com/DocumentCenter/View/6337
Photography days 8,9 and 10 are done
I have finished days 8 and 9 of photography for my project. Last Saturday was day 9 and I spent the day at Pickett’s Mill and photographed the reenactment. It was a great reenactment and came home with some really great images. I have already had the image of the cannons firing made into an 11 x 14 print. It looks great, can not wait to frame it.
I finished up day 10 today. I took the boys with me back out to Pickett’s Mill, where I made images of the Federal Lines and Battery. We had a nice hike and the rain held off for us. I also worked my way back down County Line Rd. and made a few images of where the lines extended toward Acworth.
Pickett’s Mill Reenactment Images
Here is a link that will take you to the images I made this past weekend at the Pickett’s Mill 150th Anniversary Reenactment. When you open the link you will also see a gallery for the Resaca Reenactment.
I have only edited or altered a few of the images in these galleries. I will be picking out the best shots later and adding a special gallery selected images that are my favorites.
Pickett’s Mill Reenactment: Cannon Fire
I thought this shot was really cool and wanted to share it with all of you. It is straight from the camera. All I did was crop to 8×10 and add the copyright at the bottom. I did not adjust anything.
Both cannons were firing at the same time. These are 12 pounder Howitzers placed at the location of Key’s Battery during the battle.
Book Review: Fields of Glory
Fields of Glory, A History and Tour Guide of the War in the West, The Atlanta Campaign, 1864
by Jim Miles. Cumberland House Publishing Nashville Tenn. 2002
This has been my most used and trusted book for finding locations related to the Atlanta Campaign. I love the way the chapters are set up. One Chapter gives you a fairly good history of a section of the campaign and then the next chapter is a guided tour of that section. The directions are good and detailed and I have not found any mistakes in the directions other than the mileage being off by a few 10th here and there, but not enough to matter. I like the appendix as well. They offer a few other tours and anecdotes of interest.
I must give Jim Miles a great deal of thanks, because I am not sure I could have found all the locations that I needed to with out his book. If you are looking at a driving tour in Georgia and want to visit some Civil War sites, then this is about the best book to use. I highly recommend this book.
Day 5 of Photography is Done.
I spent last Sunday afternoon at New Hope Church Battlefield. I was able to photograph the “Hell Hole” ravine as well as the cemetery and church area. I got lucky and thunderstorm clouds began to build and help add to the drama of the scene. There was really horrible thunderstorm 150 years ago to the day, during the battle. I also was able to photograph the dedication of a monument that was being placed near the earthworks behind the old church. It was very touching and several speeches were made and an honor guard posted colors. There was a 21 gun salute and then a three gun artillery battery gave a salute. I made a few new contacts and saw several people that I knew from previous events. I made around 500 images in about five hours. Hopefully I will not get poison Ivy from trudging through the ravine.
Day 4 of Photography is Done!
And what a day it was. I made it Adairsville just before 8:00am and began making images just north of town at the site of the Saxon House. From Adiarsville I traveled south on U.S. 41 to Cassville. I made images at numerous places here. I photographed several churches that were used as hospitals or stables by both Armies at different times. I also made images in the Historic Cassville Cemetery. It was a cool old cemetery. From the cemetery I was able to make images of the locations of the ridge lines that held both the Federal lines on the west the Confederate lines on the east.
From Cassville I traveled south on U.S. 41 into Cartersville. Here, I made images of the Train Depot. It was used as cover by elements of the Confederate Army as the fought a rear guard action during their retreat across the Etowah River. They knocked out bricks in the walls to make shooting ports. It was damaged by Federal Artillery and later abandoned when the rear guard retreated across the river.
From Cartersville I moved south west towards Euharlee, where elements of the Union Army crossed Euharlee Creek via a covered bridge. I made images of the bridge, which was built in the late 1800’s, to replace the one burned during the Civil War. I also went through Stilesboro and made images of Stilesboro Academy. I was also able to make images of Plant Bowen, which sits about half way between Euharlee and the Stilesboro Academy and was along the path taken by elements of the Federal Army. The Army passed by the Academy and used some of the benches as feed troughs for their horses.
I left the Stilesboro Academy and made my way back towards Cartersville and took U.S. 41 south to the Etowah River. On the north bank of the river, on the east side of U.S. 41, is an old abandoned plant for mineral production. On the hill behind the plant was a Federal Fort. It overlooked the Western and Atlantic Railroad as it crossed the Etowah River. I was granted permission by the company that owns the property to make images there. I was attempting to recreate a period image made by George Barnard. The climb up the hill was tough. It was covered with poison ivy, briars, and “Devil’s Walking Stick”. Not to mention all the other undergrowth. I made it to the top of the hill and found the remnants of the old Federal Fort. I am 90% sure I found the spot the images was made. The only problem is all the trees and undergrowth obscured the view. I made the image anyway as well as other images of the remains of the fort. I hiked down the back side of the hill that appeared less steep, but it was even more difficult due to being overgrown. It was the most difficult terrain I have ever gone through to make an image. Looking forward to next week. Lots of action at New Hope Church, Pickett’s Mill, and Dallas.
War Was Here 