Locating the Famous Civil War Photos of Atlanta

Join us on the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta for another one of Garry Adelman's Civil War Photography extravaganzas!
This video is part of our Battlefield Tour Series covering Civil War Georgia. View the full playlist here: • Civil War Georgia/Tenn...
The American Battlefield Trust preserves America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educates the public about what happened there and why it matters. We permanently protect these battlefields for future generations as a lasting and tangible memorial to the brave soldiers who fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.

[@chuglyc]

I absolutely loved this. Nothing “painfully”about anything Gary speaks about. I need more in fact. Thank you

[@h.j.d.2624]

My vote will always go to Gary Adelman.

[@TheHistoryUnderground]

Great episode. Really is a shame to think of how much of the battlefield has been lost. Just puts an exclamation point behind the work that you all are doing now.

[@takyram96]

Gary I love your photographic research. It is really is amazing. Especially when you can tie trees or rocks or structures to an old photograph. It really gives a new perspective to our ties in the present to the past.

[@spikejonze6182]

You're my favorite guide Garry!!!

[@shiloh6519]

Gary, haters are gonna hate. Love that enthusiasm and knowledge.

[@stacyvonn8036]

Civil War photos are tremendously interesting and absolutely extraordinary.... They hold a bridge through time that I find to be absolutely Amazing....❤️

[@stevearchtoe7039]

Good job Garry!

[@model-man7802]

I have always been amazed at the clarity of these photos and gary just explained why😊

[@Salukicyclist]

Hey Gary, Thanks for your insights and research. I have always enjoyed pouring over old historic photos for details. I used to work as a corporate historian in charge of a very large photographic collection. One thing I have learned is using prominent features of known landmarks or buildings … eg, corners, of exterior walls, roof gables, cupolas, porches … and a period map … it is possible to pinpoint the exact location of the camera that took the photo through triangulation. Draw lines from two or three points and the camera position is at the intersection of those points. Once you know the exact position of a photo you can work out other features of the photo that you discussed in this video. It’s another tool you can use. Love the recent Atlanta, Chicamauga, Chattanooga swing. Thanks.

[@fredrickrougerson3928]

Garry was the first guide I saw on this channel. We love u Garry and what you guys do for history nerds like myself

[@tomjones2202]

I LOVE looking at old photographs of the Civil War. I am 65 and I have been doing this since I was in Jr. High.. Each photo tells a story other than what the headline usually says. Look deeper.

[@lizlittle1641]

Garry, your my favorite battlefield guide! This was a terrific video! Thank you for the photos!

[@frankofva8803]

Love the photos. Terrific.

[@rogerward3185]

Fantastic stuff. One of my favorite videos to date. And I love the enthusiasm as well.

[@johnsimms4501]

Great content and I like Gary's enthusiasm!

[@mikey29211]

I love the passion Gary puts into his videos.

[@richardglady3009]

That was the most amazing video since the last video Garry discussed photos. The explanation of wet plate photography and why it can be used for super fine detail was also great. I look forward to the time when we have the technology to show, today, what the photos show 160 years ago. Thank you so very much for the videos of this tour!

[@Robotguy115]

great energy

[@johnresto1603]

I use to work and live there. I lived in the apartments that were built for the Olympics.

[@roberthill91]

Absolutely fantastic. I've spent countless hours studying Barnard's photos of Atlanta. I've converted them to 3D (they were taken in steregraphic pairs), colorized them, and learned so very much. Big credit to the LOC! And this video is tremendous!

[@Gramma-Bambi-Lynn]

Great job, Gary...I appreciate your time and effort looking into the details!

[@JonStallings]

Gary you are my favorite battlefield guide 😁 And you surround yourself with more great guides. As a native of metro Atlanta it is great to learn the actual locations of those famous photographs. Keep the photos coming

[@jxxxxxx6364]

Freaking love Gary. This is yet another great video. Greeting from Mexico to all the people at ABT!

[@edwardaustin740]

Love all the hard work everyone puts into this channel. Gary, you are my favorite teacher on the Civil War videos. Pictures are a great teaching tool. But nothing beats seeing it with your own eyes. To put ourselves in these spots and to be in these places... That opens your eyes and makes my mind wonder. Thanks again for the great history lesson. It is greatly appreciated. I can't get enough of this channel.

[@astaboy]

This is WAY cool. When I first moved to Atlanta in 1999 my first objective was to find the site of the Ponder house. It took about a month but I was able to locate it. And yes; It's in the exact spot you guys point out in this presentation.

[@drpeterc12]

Fantastic to see how even with modern urban development you can with some enthusiastic efforts reconstruct views of 160 years ago so absolutely accurately.

[@DogTotem]

We love you, Gary! 😀 I was going to say, before you said it at the end, I hope he publishes what you've just shown us comparing and linking photographs.

[@Goblues1234]

Another vote for Garry as my favourite Battlefield Guide!

[@ShutTheMuckUp]

If Garry shaved his chin, he'd have some sweet civil war era facial hair.

[@roberto49ism]

G'Day, Thanks for the excellent video. Garry, your photo comparisons are amazing! My great great grandfather Francis Seibert was with company G of the 36th Indiana at Atlanta. My gg grandmother's first husband Charles Wesley Morris was with Co. D of the 47th Ohio and was killed during the break through at the railway cutting on the 22nd of July, 1864. I believe from my research that Charles ended up with the Union "Unknowns" at Marietta. Thanks for this excellent series. Keep up the good work! Cheers, Rob Far North Queensland, Australia

[@Idol76]

This was really interesting and just plain awesome....thanks guys,and i'm so glad that I subscribed.

[@nathanfisher1826]

Great job guys!

[@earlyriser8998]

it is exciting to see photo interpretation still going on

[@brettbradshaw3297]

Well done! Thank you for the fine analysis!

[@dano7369]

Looking at Google maps in relation to Fort X, Fort W looks like it still might be intact. High ground south of the rail line in pretty close proximity compared to the fortifications map you showed. Would it be possible to preserve that?

[@dewayneray2072]

Great work 🔥

[@bball94133]

Brilliant example of scholarly persistence leading to new information that can be appreciated by anyone. I've never been to Atlanta so starting off with a Google map that showed some key sites of present day Atlanta really made this photo episode relevant. So well done that I'm going to watch the prior episodes in this series. Great find for me! Bravo!!

[@glennrishton5679]

Since discovering Frassanitos books years ago Antietam, Gettysburg, Grant and Lee I have been fascinated with the photography of the war. I appreciated how he studied the photos, determining the where, the who and the when of the photos. Great work in doing that same treatment to Atlanta photographs.

[@davegoodridge8352]

Gary, you are my favorite battlefield guide!

[@Imtahotep]

Fantastic job Gary! Q: Are you gps recording the vantage points you have identified/cross referenced with wet plate (Collodion?) C/W battlefield images? Those very cameras might possibly still exist [privately] or at least manufacturer's data/drawings publically; perhaps even the photographers itinerary.

[@chasemanhart]

"Glass plate" "wet plate" or "Ambrotype" Photography is definitely some of the highest resolution photos that exist. The protons are literally frozen onto the glass plate.

[@hickmantn]

The builder of the Ponder House, Ephraim Graham Ponder, was my 1st cousin, 5x removed. He was originally from Thomasville, GA. My grandmother was Audrey Ponder, from Jefferson County (Louisville), GA. There is a fascinating history associated with this house, including it being the childhood home of Henry Ossian Flipper, the son of one of Ponder's slaves, Festus Flipper. Henry would become the first African-American graduate of West Point in 1877. Flipper recounts much of the history of the house in his autobiography, The Colored Cadet at West Point, which is available in several editions and formats on Amazon. There is also a recently written biography of Flipper by Tom Mangelsdorf, also on Amazon. Flipper is buried in Thomasville. Ponder's original home in Thomasville still exists and is a private residence today.

[@johnthomas2557]

Very Good documentary.

[@stacyvonn8036]

Gary is my favorite Battlefield Guy.... He brings an element of brilliance with a little bit of comic relief...And so animated with those hands I can't help but think the guy behind the camera better watch out or he will accidentally slap them back to Shiloh....🤣😂

[@Wsushocks33]

Everyone knows it goes Matt Atkinson then Gary for best battlefield guide…just kidding! Keep it up Gary!

[@ocrow8079]

I would watch whole shows of the photo stuff........

[@eddieevans6692]

I love all this information and your identification of civil war sites but I would love it more if, after pointing and referring to something offscreen, you would cut to a shot of what you are referring to. As handsome and charming as you gentlemen are, I am actually more interested in being able to identify those spots when I visit those areas of Atlanta. Perhaps an attempt to duplicate the framing of the original shot and posing it next to the archival photo. Kinda like Atlanta, now and then or the photos of WWII now and then. Watching talking heads, you could be anywhere.

[@jerroldbates355]

Thanks for the photos of the battle damaged city. I hope you can spend a lot more time at some point, going through the Atlanta photos and their locations today. Great stuff.

[@Chiller01]

Hey Gary I know God gave you a little more cortisol than the average person but I appreciate your hard work and your energy.

[@mthompson0331]

Gary if you're not someone's favorite battlefield guide then i dont trust that person. :)

[@MrTree]

Outstanding! I live and work in this area and have spent lots of time doing exactly what y’all are doing.

[@tumbleweedweed3691]

Thanks Garry, have often wondered where these photos were taken, especially the one of General Sherman on his horse!

[@Shawnroberts1980]

You're so awesome Gary. I love your enthusiasm for history. These are my favorite videos, comparing photos to now.

[@paulschroder9884]

Excellent work! Thank you!

[@30thIL]

Very cool

[@milt6208]

What I thought interesting about the Atlanta Campaign was how the Georgians couldn't understand how Sherman knew so much about Georgia. In 1844 as a lieutenant in the army he visited most of Georgia and knew more about the State than most locals did.

[@douglasturner6153]

He was part of a Topographical Survey that worked through North Georgia. He also used his time off pursuing his interests in old Indian Mounds and relics. Thus his added explorations.

[@robertweber567]

Hey Gary, do I get an assist on seeing that picket post building from the Fort X image that you posted originally in face book? I had commented on it then and pointed it out. I assume you had at that point already known that was the building from the picket post image.

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

I had known but props to you!

[@Dd13200]

Awesome work

[@margospringer9082]

You are my favorite also Gary!

[@Photograph1974]

Georgia Tech is located in midtown Atlanta - not downtown as stated by the first man in the video. Downtown Atlanta is south of Georgia Tech’s campus…. think Mercedes Benz Stadium, College Football Hall of Fame, and Centennial Olympic Park.

[@dekebrodie]

Thank you for this. Happened to see a New York Times article in the UK (A Photo Can Tell the Truth About a Lie. Or a Lie About the Truth, Sept. 18, 2023) with the famous photo of the rebel lines and was keen to find out what the setting looked like now. You certainly solved that one for me. Great vid, have subscribed.

[@haynes1776]

I've been a civil war buff since I was a kid. My late uncle's great great grandfather served in the 54th Massachusetts and fought at the second battle of Fort Wagner. I lived in Columbus, Georgia for many years and later learned about the Atlanta campaign and that Georgia was a battleground, starting at Tunnel Hill. If you ever traveled up I-75 north of Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tennessee, the starting point of Sherman's army as they advance towards Atlanta, you can imagine the route Sherman took using the Western and Atlantic railroad as his main supply. To see the actual sites of where the battle of Atlanta took place, I would like to have this guy to take me to the battlefield sites. Great video.

[@danherrmann8755]

Thanks for the information I will head to Atlanta some day. To visit the historical site. I will bring my President Lincoln book to get it stamped. Lincoln book was put together by Steven Lafant. Steven was the editor of Hitlers news paper. In the beginning of WWII. Steven was put in a Jewish camp and was able to read about Lincoln and the civil war. Thanks Later.

[@daniel_sannguyen]

Georgia Tech student and Civil War reenactor here. Fort X sits not even 5-minutes’ walk away from where I live on campus.

[@bella-xj1nl]

Excellent video!! Thank you - Wishing they would not have built on this precious piece of history. So sad

[@keithanderson6465]

As a hobbiest shutterbug I have found this video extremely interesting! Thanks so much for the work you've done and for posting this!

[@josephcolflesh6367]

History hast be taught with enthusiasm...It's infectious. Keep up the good work!

[@wendykenney8145]

Love the way you guys all interact with each other! I love old photos of anything for the reason Gary mentioned - detail. Thanks for the insight.

[@charlescollins9413]

I wish y’all would come down here to Mobile AL. This entire place is littered with CW fortifications

[@edwarddabal3587]

as a history geek i love this stuff, especially the civil war, it bothers me how much academia ignores and is trying to change our history instead of recognizing and preserving it.

[@zcoosa1648]

Have been watching now for over a year and Gary is by far my favorite presenter with Chris and Bill coming in close seconds

[@evdallas123]

My grandparents lived in atlanta in Loring heights overlooking the city it was part of the civil war

[@dadsongs]

You know guys, if you gave Gettysburg as much attention as you have all this Atlanta stuff....Wait for ABT heads to explode 😁! Actually, I've learned more about this theater in the last week than I ever have. Thanks so much!

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

😆

[@robbrown1918]

Your work inspires! Does anyone know of a photo of Bald Hill?

[@hoytoy100]

Great work!! Thanks for the detailed analysis.

[@clarkbuckner4900]

Glad to see this important campaign getting so much attention!

[@sterlingkingdoesit]

crazy how the whole reason for the war anyway was over slaves yet it wasnt mentioned once lol

[@justinellison4214]

The glass plates were huge

[@crimony3054]

Most were sold off to make into green houses in the late 19th century. Matthew Brady's work was considered a painful reminder of an ugly war that was best forgotten.

[@barrymcclaughry9229]

Gary, is the most liked battlefield guide

[@tumbleweedweed3691]

Did anyone take a pic of the Troup Hurt house?

[@andyhall4599]

Enjoy this team’s passion for history.

[@knickyak7268]

You think its the same tree 150 years later ?

[@miwinterdays6707]

I like these photograph lessons they do.

[@GaryParris-sd8gg]

Yes you are Garry !!!!!!!!

[@danherrmann8755]

I had no idea. That American was in a opioid pandemic in 1860. Mary Todd Lincoln was an opioid addict self induced by a doctor. Many soldiers where addicted and gone crazy. The pandemic ended in 1890 30 years the American people took this drug to there grave. Now we are in another opioid pandemic that Americans are dying from this drug. So sad. Doctors and attorneys are making American society disfunctional. Later.

[@NPB0067]

Good job!!!!

[@jimmyjames9752]

SAVE OUR BATTLEFIELDS AMERICA 🇺🇸

[@matthewmcswegan7403]

Keep it up guys .

[@tylerarrigoni7700]

I've always wanted to go to battlefields of the civil war, ww1, and ww2. So interesting to me...