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
Rights
Public Domain
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...