Post by elisabeth on Aug 27, 2007 5:56:00 GMT -6
Major A. R. Calhoun was with General Wright's railroad survey party in 1867 as correspondent for the Philadelphia Press, and gives a very lively account of the first attack on Fort Wallace (June 22nd, he says) in William Bell's New Tracks in North America. He's an entertaining writer, and also has some reputation as an artist.
Now ... in the issue of Harper's Weekly that reports the Barnitz fight, there's an engraving of Bell's famous Wyllyams photo. There's a sketch of the battle, presumably done by Calhoun. And there's an engraving of Fort Wallace itself, complete with cavalry on the parade ground -- captioned by Harper's as "photographed by Major Calhoun and Dr. Bell". Here it is:
etext.virginia.edu/railton/roughingit/map/figures3/indharp.html
I'd never noticed that attribution before; had assumed that it, too, was simply a sketch. This is rather exciting. First, the original photograph could yet turn up somewhere, which would be lovely (especially for us Keogh fans). And second, it could mean that Calhoun and Bell between them might have taken a whole swathe of others in and around Fort Wallace. To date, as far as I know, the only ones we're aware of are (1) the Wyllyams corpse, (2) the improbably relaxed group of Barnitz and other officers sitting in front of the adjutant's office on the afternoon of the fight, and (3) just possibly, the one of a stagecoach with military escort.
Doubt arises over that last one because while Bell captions it as "Arrival of the mails at Fort Wallace" in his book, Gardner titled it "U.S. Express Overland Stage, starting for Denver from Hays City, Kansas". Despite Gardner's notoriously cavalier way with other men's photos, I'm inclined to believe his caption here, for three reasons: (a) the building shown looks a little too frilly and sophisticated for Fort Wallace, and (b) in Bell's engraved version there appears to be a wooden stockade in the background -- something unthinkable for Fort Wallace, which was so short of wood.
According to Leo E. Oliva in Fort Wallace: Sentinel on the Smoky Hill Trail, Gardner took possession of all Bell's negatives, refused to give him prints, and published Bell's photographs under his own name. Whether he did the same with Calhoun's, who knows. But it could be that there are some important Fort Wallace photos lurking in Gardner's collection perhaps under wrong captions ...? And/or that further photos could turn up in auctions somewhere along the line. Something to watch out for, I think ...
Now ... in the issue of Harper's Weekly that reports the Barnitz fight, there's an engraving of Bell's famous Wyllyams photo. There's a sketch of the battle, presumably done by Calhoun. And there's an engraving of Fort Wallace itself, complete with cavalry on the parade ground -- captioned by Harper's as "photographed by Major Calhoun and Dr. Bell". Here it is:
etext.virginia.edu/railton/roughingit/map/figures3/indharp.html
I'd never noticed that attribution before; had assumed that it, too, was simply a sketch. This is rather exciting. First, the original photograph could yet turn up somewhere, which would be lovely (especially for us Keogh fans). And second, it could mean that Calhoun and Bell between them might have taken a whole swathe of others in and around Fort Wallace. To date, as far as I know, the only ones we're aware of are (1) the Wyllyams corpse, (2) the improbably relaxed group of Barnitz and other officers sitting in front of the adjutant's office on the afternoon of the fight, and (3) just possibly, the one of a stagecoach with military escort.
Doubt arises over that last one because while Bell captions it as "Arrival of the mails at Fort Wallace" in his book, Gardner titled it "U.S. Express Overland Stage, starting for Denver from Hays City, Kansas". Despite Gardner's notoriously cavalier way with other men's photos, I'm inclined to believe his caption here, for three reasons: (a) the building shown looks a little too frilly and sophisticated for Fort Wallace, and (b) in Bell's engraved version there appears to be a wooden stockade in the background -- something unthinkable for Fort Wallace, which was so short of wood.
According to Leo E. Oliva in Fort Wallace: Sentinel on the Smoky Hill Trail, Gardner took possession of all Bell's negatives, refused to give him prints, and published Bell's photographs under his own name. Whether he did the same with Calhoun's, who knows. But it could be that there are some important Fort Wallace photos lurking in Gardner's collection perhaps under wrong captions ...? And/or that further photos could turn up in auctions somewhere along the line. Something to watch out for, I think ...