Group at Secret Service Department, Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, Antietam, October 1862
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Florance Waterbury Bequest, 1970
Accession Number
1970.537.8
Tags
Art Historical Context
Captured in October 1862, just weeks after the brutal Battle of Antietam—the bloodiest single day in American history—Alexander Gardner's *Group at Secret Service Department, Headquarters, Army of the Potomac Antietam* offers a rare glimpse into the Union Army's inner workings. This albumen silver print from a negative shows soldiers gathered amid tents at the headquarters of General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac. The "Secret Service Department" likely refers to an early intelligence unit, highlighting the shadowy side of wartime strategy. Gardner, a pioneering Scottish-born photo...
About the Artist
Alexander Gardner
Alexander Gardner was born on 17 October 1821 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, and came of age in a culture shaped by radical social thought. Influenced by the cooperative ideals of Robert Owen, Gardner initially apprenticed as a jeweler and harbored dreams of founding a utopian community in America. His encounter with photography changed the course of his life. After seeing Mathew Brady's cele...