Ruins of Stone Bridge, Bull Run
March 1862
Medium
Albumen print, pl. 7 from the album "Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, vol. 1" (1866)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 17.3 × 22.6 cm (6 13/16 × 8 15/16 in.); Album page: 31.2 × 44.5 cm (12 5/16 × 17 9/16 in.)
Classification
photograph
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
196178
Art Historical Context
Captured in March 1862 by photographers George N. Barnard and James F. Gibson, *Ruins of Stone Bridge Bull Run* offers a poignant glimpse into the Civil War's devastation. The image depicts the shattered remnants of the stone bridge over Bull Run Creek in Virginia, a strategic site during the First Battle of Bull Runalso known as First Manassas) in July 1861—the war's first major clash that shattered illusions of a quick Union victory. As plate 7 from Alexander Gardner's landmark 1866 album *Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, Volume 1*, this albumen print preserves the raw aftermat...