The first monument erected on a Civil War battlefield was put up, appropriately enough, at the battlefield of First Bull Run, where the first major land battle was fought.
The edifice is rather crude and unimpressive when compared to the many hundreds of monuments that were erected on Civil War battlefields in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Then again, it was dedicated June 10, 1865, less than two months after Robert E. Lee’s surrender.
William Morris Smith, a photographer for Alexander Gardner’s Gallery in Washington, D.C., made the trip out to the old battlefield for the dedication ceremony and made at least five large plate photographs. One of the images, which featured a mixed group of women and men, civilian and military, was featured as the 100th and final plate in Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War. The image featured here was taken from the same angle, but shows mostly military officers.
The monument is made of chocolate colored sandstone and stands 27 feet tall, with a 100-pound shell at the top and at each corner. The inscription is simple and crudely affixed: “To the MEMORY of the PATRIOTS who fell at Bull Run, July 21, 1861.”
A Union cavalry brigade stationed at Fairfax Court House created and erected the monument, placing it on hotly contested Henry House Hill, where it still stands today.
About this site
Photography of the American Civil War is perhaps the single most important element that stimulates our interest in the conflict. More Civil War battlefield photographs were taken in Virginia than any other state.
Here you'll find the Virginia Civil War photograph of the month, featuring images from Bob Zeller's collection, some of which appear in his two books, The Civil War in Depth and The Civil War in Depth Volume Two. For more information about the book, click here. Click here to contact the author about purchasing a signed copy of either volume.
Most of the battlefield photographs of the Civil War originally were stereographs. They were a 3-D viewing experience for 19th century Americans, who had no other form of home entertainment. To see the stereo views in 3-D, you'll need 3-D stereoscope glasses. Click here for more information on how to get those glasses.
For more information about Civil War photography in general and the National Center for Civil War Photography, visit www.civilwarphotography.com.
Buy Bob Zeller's "The Civil War in Depth, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2" and get a personally signed edition
You'll need a 3-D Print Viewer to see this photograph properly. Get one with Zeller's books or order it separately.
Bob Zeller is the former motorsports writer of the Roanoke Times and Landmark Newspapers. He has published several books on NASCAR racing and Civil War photography and is the president of the National Center for Civil War Photography, a non-profit organization dedicated to the presentation, preservation and study of Civil War photography.
