Ruins of Richmond & Petersburg Railroad Bridge, Richmond, Virginia

Alexander Gardner|Mathew B. Brady

ca. 1865 · Albumen silver print from glass negative · Photographs

Alexander Gardner, John Reekie, and other members of Gardner’s corps of photographers were the first to document Richmond, Virginia, after its evacuation by the Confederate government on April 2, 1865. Gardner had not been in the field with his cameras since leaving Gettysburg in July 1863. He arrived in Richmond on April 6 and worked for five days producing dozens of stereo and large-format views of the destroyed bridges across the James River and in the twenty square blocks of the city that came to be known as the “Burnt District.” While recording the destruction of the Confederate capital, Gardner would learn of Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox and of war’s end.

Artist

Alexander Gardner|Mathew B. Brady

Date

ca. 1865

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1933