Rare Original Civl War CDV photo Fort Sumter South Carolina carte de visite

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Rare Original Civl War CDV photo Fort Sumter South Carolina carte de visite:
$195.00

Please note thislisting is for one CDV card described below, other photos are shown forreference purposes only and are not included.
Charleston, South Carolina, 1865. Carte deVisite albumen photograph. Measuring about 2-1/2” x 4”. This appears to be an original photograph of Fort Sumteron or about April 14, 1865,Extremely rare, I cannot find this image anywhere. It is a greatcuriosity, and a show and tell conversation piece for visitors to yourcollection, and a real “what is it” test for Civil war buffs. It is by J.R.Foster a rare Civil war era photographer.The only picture in the Smithsonian by this photographer is one he took onMorris Island,in Charleston Harbor.

Here is what the Smithsonian says about him:

“Very little is known about J.R.Foster. Active as a photographer in the 1860s…in New Hampshire… he may havefollowed local regiments to war in hopes of making salable views or portraitsof soliders…In several instances, soliders who had worked as photographers incivilian life set up shop temporarily in their camps. It is possible thatFoster was a relative of photographer Henry C. Foster, who was based on Morris Islandduring the Civil War.”

There are several possible clues for identifying what isseen in this CDV photograph, which is mostly a shadowy silhouette, and does nothave a caption,

First, the very large, and distinctive peaked arbor like structureseen to the left of center in the photograph is recognizable as the one erectedover the speaking platform for the April 14th Union Flag raisingceremony on Fort Sumter.The frame for the structure (which is easily 30 or so feet tall) was putup and then draped in bunting and garlands.If this was much before or after April 14th the bunting wouldnot have been in place.

Second, it is clearly an island of steep rubble embankmentsand walls, about the same proportions of the ruins of Fort Sumter.

Third, what are the vertical elements rising out of the topof the island? Well, aside from thespeaking platform arbor, most of these are smokestacks, or masts of ships, onthe other side of the island. The day ofthe event many ships where in the harbor, and several anchored along side theisland to ferry dignitaries and attendees to the event. These smokestacks andmasts can be seen in other photographs of the day’s events.

A few other things to keep in mind. There are innumerable vantage points to lookat an island from, so the profile will change depending on the vantage point.

The other thing is that the center area of the fort, the paradegrounds, was mostly depressed below the surrounding rubble parapets, but insome areas more so than others. What wesee may be just the top 20 or so feet of the arbor. People would be concealed below the parapetlevel. Or it might just have been before,or after the event, but then again there probably would not be so many shipsbehind the island if that were the case.

There are also various possible shadow and light effectsfrom the angle of the sun that produce the profile we see along the top edge ofthe island.

I can’t imagine there being any other steep rubble embanked andwalled islands in the vicinity of the US east coast during the civil warera with this huge distinctive arbor, and several ships behind it inbackground. I have searched and can’tfind anything similar, plus, the photographer has only one picture in theSmithsonian and it happens to be “The Ruins of the Charleston Lighthouse,Morris Island, South Carolina”.

April 14th, 1865, is a day that would see theUnion raising the Federal Flag again over the very place the opening shots ofthe Civil War took place, and later that evening the celebration of the Union would be abruptly halted with news of President Lincoln’sassassination at Ford’s Theater.

Condition of this antique photo is aboutacceptable. The image was taken at atime of day which puts the island in shadowy silhouette, so you can not seemuch detail. It is not clear because ofthe shadow and silhouette what exactly you are looking at, hence the mysterydescribed above. The CDV has dust or dirt on the surfaces and various scattereddiscolorations. Two corners were trimmed(to facilitate inserting this in to an album long ago).

One other thing I noticed is that it appears that theoriginal negative had the island at the top of the frame, and the photographerwhen printing this ‘centered’ the island on the print. You can see a faint shadow of the upper andright edge of the negative with the shore on the right side abruptly endingwhere the negative edge is.

A very rare view of what appears to be Fort Sumterencompassing the whole width of the island with the April 14thceremony arbor visible. Extremely rare.

It is possible that what is seen in this photograph is someother island with steep rubble slopes and walls, with a huge arbor that lookslike the one on April 14 at Fort Sumter (but not very likely)

However, if you agree with the above analysis, and you alsothink that this is Fort Sumter,South Carolina, then please consideradding this unusual and rare photograph and curiosity to your collection beforeit is gone.