The "Hell Hole", New Hope Church, Georgia, from Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign, plate 27
ca. 1866
Medium
Photography-Photoprint
Classification
Photography-Photoprint
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Accession Number
1994.91.7
Tags
Art Historical Context
George N. Barnard, a Civil War photographer, captured *The "Hell Hole", Hope Church, Georgia* around 1866 as plate 27 in his seminal album *Photographic Views of Sherman's*. Working as General William T. Sherman's official photographer Barnard documented the Union's devastating March to the Sea and Atlanta Campaign through stark, on-the-ground images. This photoprint, now in the Smithsonian American Art, preserves a visceral glimpse of Georgia's scarred landscape, likely featuring the ominous "Hell Hole"—a rugged, tree-dotted ravine infamous for its role in brutal skirmishes during the May 186...
About the Artist
George N. Barnard · 1819–present
George N. Barnard (1819–1902) was a pioneering American photographer whose six-decade career spanned the dawn of the medium, from daguerreotypes to Civil War documentation. Born into a farming family in Coventry, Connecticut, on December 23, 1819, he lost his father at age seven and apprenticed in family businesses before marrying in 1843 and relocating to Oswego, New York. There, he launched one ...