1865 Lincoln 2nd Inauguration Photos Newly Discovered

[ShaneGR]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/16/lincoln.inauguration/index.html

Slideshow

Incidentally, this was the first time that African Americans participated in the ceremonial parade.

[skipos]

1. That guy was too inexperienced to be President.

Those photos are great.

[Perry Logan]

20. Hadn't he just had four years experience?

[skipos]

22. 1 term as a US congressman

A few terms as a Illinois state congressman

[Recursion]

36. For all the hooplah of the Lincoln-Douglas debates...

...people tend to forget Lincoln lost that year.

[AP]

37. and that was 10 years before he became president. His job before getting elected: lecture circuit

[mdmc]

41. I can't see them

:shrug:(bad pc)

[Mojambo]

2. Wow! That's awesome. n/t

[msongs]

3. wonder how many of those people actually heard him speaking nt

[ShaneGR]

7. I wondered the same..... I would imagine that Lincoln would have literally yelled his speeches nt

[smalll]

16. Probably a lot more than you think, because -

1) Up until recently, people knew how to PROJECT their voices (unlike now, where you can go to Broadway, or the opera, or even some little 20-person meeting and the speaker/performer has to be "miked." :puke: )

2) Back then, with no TV, movies, internet, or radio, a speech was real entertainment for people: people had an appreciation for language and the spoken word, and as such, they knew how to be QUIET.

[eppur_se_muova]

29. And there were no boombox trucks driving by. That was the main thing. nt

[Recursion]

34. Amen

The depths to which the art of elocution has fallen in the past half-century or so quite saddens me...

[Poiuyt]

26. The real first words to the Gettysburg Address...

"Hello!"... tap,tap,tap..."Is this thing on?"

[SeattleGirl]

4. Cool photos.

Especially the second one, with Lincoln in it.

[Subdivisions]

5. Fascinating! K&R n/t

[rodeodance]

9. Whow--you can see the heavy frost on the trees (think it is frost)

[Thothmes]

10. Probably

I see all the the Union soldiers are wearing overcoats.

[NoPasaran]

40. Probably not frost

According to Robert Krick's recent book Civil War Weather in Virginia, the temperatures recorded in DC on March 4, 1865 were:
7 AM 42
2 PM 64
9 PM 40
Rain that morning, ending around 10 AM

[annabanana]

6. pretty nifty... I love when

something new surfaces...

[Postman]

8. I've always wondered how did anybody ever hear what they said...

I mean your voice can only travel so far. Did he yell his speeches to the crowd?

Seems it would have been awfully difficult for people to hear a person speaking from atop a building....

[Cooley Hurd]

11. Here's the link to the loc.gov site:

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2008/08-012.html
You can view the larger images there.:thumbsup:

[rug]

12. I see Skinner and EarlG holding a sign.

[Cooley Hurd]

19. Holy Crap! I think you're right!

:rofl:

[rug]

25. That's a keeper.

:thumbsup:

[TahitiNut]

13. CNN made an error in identifying the one photo (inaugural) as one of the newly-discovered.

[KatyMan]

17. I noticed that too

isn't that the pic that has John Wilkes Booth in it?

[Cooley Hurd]

18. This particular photo, you can't make out Booth, but two other conspirators...

...are said to be standing directy below Lincoln:


1 - Lewis Powell (aka Payne) and 2 - John Surratt.

Another daguerreotype, taken very shortly before or after the above photo (in which Lincoln's face is obscured by a thumbprint), shows what is believed to be Booth almost directly above Lincoln.

[Recursion]

35. Booth, at least, was something of a DC celebrity, no?

I mean, the kind of high-society guy who was likely to get an inauguration ticket.

[Recursion]

14. Weird to see DC that undeveloped

If I'm not mistaken that 3rd photo would be at approximately 4th and Constitution today.

[ShaneGR]

30. Correct, Most of the population would have been up near Eastern Market

Opposite side of the building up past the hill.

[Recursion]

31. Meanwhile, my old hood...

...of Columbia Heights was still a separate city within Washington County in DC. Did the trolley run yet, back then? I think it did because it was built for all the "suburban" (ie, north of Florida Ave) workers who were brought in for Civil War contracts.

[autorank]

15. K*R Thank you!

[MadHound]

21. That's very odd

Since a photo take during that time period had to be exposed for a couple of minutes at least. Yet these photos are crisp and clear. No blurrin of windblown branches or windblown flag. Hmmm, one might think about forgery.

[semillama]

24. Actually, an American flag is blurry in one of those photos

And if it was a calm day, you wouldn't have much movement of trees and flags. I don't think there's a case for forgery here. How would one go about forging the images to begin with, and what would be the point anyhow, since none of the new images even show Lincoln?

[ShaneGR]

28. "A couple minutes at least" not true

On a sunny day, with the right camera using the glass negatives, you could have gotten a decent shot with about 5 seconds exposure.

[Recursion]

33. Actually it's somewhat comparable to WWII

The media lagged behind "personal" and "tourist" photographers. Just like WWII is fairly well-documented in color from home videos shot by GI's, the Civil War era is surprisingly well-documented with low-latency (eg, 5-10 second) shutter cameras, which were available for the general market.

In both cases, professional photographers considered those "low" forms of photography.

[bigtree]

23. what's that other flag??

[Recursion]

32. US Battle Colors

if we're looking at the same flag.

[SaveElmer]

27. More here...including close up detail of one photo showing cheering supporters...

Very cool

http://www.civilwarphotography.org/press/LincolnPhotos.pdf

[Xenotime]

38. Some people appear to be yelling at him...

I know I would have been.

[ShaneGR]

39. Actually, they're cheering

Lincoln would of been yelling his speech, and his audience would of been yelling and cheering back at him when he paused. By this time, Sherman would of started his ass kicking of the south.