Three First Traverses on Land End, Fort Fisher, North Carolina
January 1865
Medium
Albumen print, pl. 78 from the album "Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, Volume II" (1866)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 17.7 × 22.6 cm (7 × 8 15/16 in.); Album page: 31.1 × 44.3 cm (12 1/4 × 17 1/2 in.)
Classification
photograph
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
196215
Art Historical Context
In the waning days of the American Civil War Timothy O'Sullivan captured a stark moment of Union triumph with *Three First Traverses on Land End, Fort Fisher, North Carolina* in January 1865. albumen print, plate 78 from Alexander Gardner's seminal 1866 publication *Photographic Sketch Book of the War, Volume II*, depicts soldiers navigating the bomb-scarred landscape at Fort Fisher—a massive Confederate stronghold on the North Carolina coast that guarded the vital port of Wilmington. The Union assault, led by General Ulysses S. Grant, marked one of the war's final major naval-infantry operati...
About the Artist
Timothy O'Sullivan · 1840–1882
Timothy H. O'Sullivan (c. 1840–1882) emerged as one of America's pioneering photographers during a transformative era. His early life remains sparsely documented, with records suggesting he was born either in New York City or Ireland before immigrating young, possibly growing up on Staten Island. As a teenager, he apprenticed under Mathew Brady at his Fulton Street gallery in New York, mastering w...