Railroad Battery Before Petersburg
Photograph
Taylor & Huntington
American
Railroad Battery Before Petersburg
From The War for the Union 1861–1865
ca. 1863
Albumen silver print, printed ca. 1885
Image (each): 3 1/8 × 2 15/16 in. (8 × 7.5 cm)
Mount: 4 × 6 15/16 in. (10.2 × 17.7 cm)
Museum accession
1981.5971.0009
Inscriptions printed in black ink on mount recto, LC: 1861 / The War For the Union. / 1865 [sideways along edge]
printed in black ink on mount recto, BR: 1171. / Railroad Battery Before Petersburg. \ [FOR DESCRIPTION OF THIS VIEW SEE THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS CARD.]
printed in black ink on mount recto, RC: 1861 / Photographic War History. 1865 [sideways along edge]
printed in black ink on mount verso, RC: 1171. / Railroad Battery Before Petersburg. \ This is another battery on General Grant's Military Railroad, \ operated the same as the mortar "Dictator" shown in view \ No. 831. The heavy cannon is mounted on a very strong, special \ made car, protected with a roof of railroad iron. The car is \ readily moved along the line and the cannon is fired whenever \ required; it is thus made very effective and annoying to the \ enemy, for it is something like the Irishman's flea: "when they \ put their hand on it, it aint there," in other words, when they \ turn the fire of their batteries on the Railroad Battery, our boys \ hitch on to the car and run it along out of the line of fire, and \ commence pegging away again. By the time the "Johnnies" \ find out where the Railroad Battery is, and get the range to \ smash it, "it aint there" again; the boys run it along to a new \ stand for business. \ 1861—PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY.—1865 \ This series of pictures are ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS taken [...] [sideways]
printed in black ink on mount recto, BR: 1171. / Railroad Battery Before Petersburg. \ [FOR DESCRIPTION OF THIS VIEW SEE THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS CARD.]
printed in black ink on mount recto, RC: 1861 / Photographic War History. 1865 [sideways along edge]
printed in black ink on mount verso, RC: 1171. / Railroad Battery Before Petersburg. \ This is another battery on General Grant's Military Railroad, \ operated the same as the mortar "Dictator" shown in view \ No. 831. The heavy cannon is mounted on a very strong, special \ made car, protected with a roof of railroad iron. The car is \ readily moved along the line and the cannon is fired whenever \ required; it is thus made very effective and annoying to the \ enemy, for it is something like the Irishman's flea: "when they \ put their hand on it, it aint there," in other words, when they \ turn the fire of their batteries on the Railroad Battery, our boys \ hitch on to the car and run it along out of the line of fire, and \ commence pegging away again. By the time the "Johnnies" \ find out where the Railroad Battery is, and get the range to \ smash it, "it aint there" again; the boys run it along to a new \ stand for business. \ 1861—PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY.—1865 \ This series of pictures are ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS taken [...] [sideways]
