Two weeks after Antietam lincoln checked Lee's invasion of Maryland and had enabled the President to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Brady's camera has preserved this remarkable occasion, the last time that these two men met each other. "We spent some time on the battlefield and conversed fully on the state of affairs. He told me that he was satisfied with all that I had done, that he would stand by me. He parted from me with the utmost cordiality," said General McClellan. The plan to follow up the success of Antietam in the effort to bring the war to a speedy conclusion must have been the thought uppermost in the mind of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army as he talked with his most popular General in the tent. A few days later came the order from Washington to "cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive him South." McClellan was relieved in the midst of a movement to carry out the order. http://www.sonofthesouth.net/
Peninsula Campaign. This almost circular fort was constructed in the village of Centreville, Va., by the Confederates during the winter of 1861-2. All about it on the North can be seen the quarters in which the Confederate troops wintered after their victory at Bull Run. This picture was taken in March, 1862, when the Federals had occupied the abandoned works. From Centreville McDowell sent a reconnaisance in force July 18, 1861, under General D. Tyler to feel for the Confederate position. A strong force under Longstreet was encountered at Blackburn's Ford and a spirited engagement followed. This was the prelude to the battle of July 21st. Photographer unknown. http://www.sonofthesouth.net/
The ruins of an extensively damaged Roundhouse in Atlanta, Georgia after the Atlanta Campaign in the summer of 1864. After Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman captured the city, he began his destructive March to the Sea, finally taking the port of Savannah on December 21. (Mathew Brady/NARA) http://www.theatlantic.com/