Military Bridge across the Chickahominy, Virginia

Artist David Woodbury (American, died 1866)

Date1862

MediumAlbumen print

DimensionsImage and sheet: 6 3/4 × 8 7/8 inches (17.15 × 22.54 cm)
Mount: 12 13/16 × 17 13/16 inches (32.54 × 45.24 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.203

SignedArtists' attributions on mount recto, bottom, in black ink: "Negative by D.B. WOODBURY." , "Postitive by A. GARDNER, 511 7th St., Washington."

InscribedTitled on mount recto, bottom, in black ink: "MILITARY BRIDGE, ACROSS THE CHICKAHOMINY, VIRGINIA." On cover sheet, attached and folded behind mount, in black ink: "Military Bridge, Across the Chickahominy, / OTHERWISE known by the name of its builder, and marked on the map, "Woodbury's Bridge." The picture is taken at a point where the accumulated waters / most presented the character of a stream, the swamp being in some places all of a mile in width, and supporting on its treacherous surface a luxuriant growth. ..."

MarkingsOn mount recto, bottom, in black ink: "Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1865, by A. Gardner, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Columbia."; Numbered and dated on mount recto, bottom, in black ink: "No. 17. / June, 1862.".

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of a wagon leading a line of men, some carrying shovels, across a wooden bridge. Large, leafy trees are reflected in the water below.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Developing Greatness: The Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9 – December 30, 2007, no. 458.

Rotation 24. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9 – November 12, 2017, no cat.

Gallery Label

This is a plate from Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War (1866), a publication of 100 original photographs. In the text accompanying this image, Gardner described the Union effort to construct bridges of “rough, unhewn, and twisted logs” through this swamp. Relatively little is known about David Woodbury other than that he worked for Alexander Gardner during the Civil War (1861–1865).

Provenance

Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1998;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

Published References

Keith F. Davis, The Origins of American Photography: from Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate, 1839-1885. With contributions by Jane L. Aspinwall. Kansas City, MO: Hall Family Foundation: in association with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007. Distributed by Yale University Press. Published in conjunction with Developing Greatness: the Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885, shown at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 182 (repro).

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