1863 Battle of Gettysburg – stereoscopic view of Confederate dead

Battle on July 1^st-3^rd 1863.  There were ~3,155 Union soldiers killed.

Produced by W.H. TIPTON Photographer, Gettysburg PA. 

Front has ‘Union Dead’ written in ink in margin.

On back:

Also list of stereoscopic photos in the Series.

Honesty:

“The series (from 475 to 499 ½ inclusive) are very inferior specimens of Photography, and we only continue to produce them from these plates because the public want them, and the opportunity for securing finer results is gone”.

This image is titled by Tipton #492 The Harvest of Death. As stated in the text, there is a fine pencil line under the number and name of the photo to identify it.

But…this is really the famous Timothy O’Sullivan’s photo "Confederate dead gathered for burial at the southwestern edge of the Rose woods" of ~July5, 1863. W.H. Tipton appropriated it for his Battlefield of Gettysburg series calling it “The Harvest of Death.”

Nice condition. On front, some color missing from border, corner chip. On back, some staining at bottom.

William H. Tipton (1850 – 1929) was a noted American photographer of the second half of the 19th century, most noted for his extensive early photography of the Gettysburg Battlefield and the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Tipton was born in Gettysburg. He studied photography as the apprentice of Charles and Isaac Tyson, who were among the earliest Gettysburg photographers. In 1868, Tipton purchased much of assets of the Tyson studio and went into business for himself. He became quite popular as an outdoor portrait photographer, taking thousands of photographs of visitors to the Gettysburg battlefield, where he established Tipton Park. By 1888, he had produced an estimated 5,000 views of the battlefield of Gettysburg and more than 100,000 portraits.

He eventually became one of America's best known photographers, but images of Civil War battlefields remained a mainstay, including Antietam and Harpers Ferry.

Timothy H. O'Sullivan (c. 1840 – 1882) was a photographer widely known for his work related to the American Civil War and the Western United States.

O'Sullivan was born in Ireland and came to New York City two years later with his parents. As a teenager, he was employed by Mathew Brady. When the Civil War began in early 1861, he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Union Army  and, over the next year, was present at Beaufort, Port Royal, Fort Walker, and Fort Pulaski. There is no record of him fighting. He most likely did civilian's work for the army such as surveying, and he took photographs in his spare time.

After being honorably discharged, he rejoined Brady's team. In July 1862, O'Sullivan followed the campaign of Maj. Gen. John Pope's Northern Virginia Campaign. By joining Alexander Gardner's studio, he had his forty-four photographs published in the first Civil War photographs collection, Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War. In July 1863, he created his most famous photograph, "The Harvest of Death," depicting dead soldiers from the Battle of Gettysburg.

He took many other photographs documenting the battle, including "Dead Confederate sharpshooter at foot of Little Round Top", "Field where General Reynolds fell", "View in wheatfield opposite our extreme left", "Confederate dead gathered for burial at the southwestern edge of the Rose woods", "Bodies of Federal soldiers near the McPherson woods", "Slaughter pen", and others.

WIKIPEDIA