Work

Sam Cooley and his camera on the parapet of Fort Sumter

Samuel Cooley standing beside his camera on the battered parapet of Fort Sumter.

One photographer’s picture of another at work. Cooley stands to the right of his camera on the broken parapet; the wagon that made the whole thing possible is behind him.

It is the most useful single photograph in this section, because it shows the apparatus a wet-plate field photographer had to move, set up and use before his plate dried.

On the attribution

The Library of Congress record carries no creator. Davis and Melton credit George N. Barnard with the exposure. The attribution is theirs and is published as theirs.

The repository’s notes

Caption from negative sleeve: Fort Sumter. Stereo filed in LOT 4166C.

Research notes

The word copyright scratched into the emulsion is a period assertion of ownership on the negative itself.

The record

Title, as catalogedCharleston, South Carolina. Samuel Cooley, photographer with his camera on the battered parapet of Fort Sumter
Title used hereSam Cooley and his camera on the parapet of Fort Sumter
PhotographerGeorge N. Barnard
AttributionAttributed
Date, as cataloged1865 April.
PlaceFort Sumter, Charleston Harbor
Controlling forceUnion-held
Processwet collodion glass negative
Formatstereograph negative (2 plates)
Negative or printnegative
CollectionCivil war photographs, 1861-1865 (Library of Congress)
Call numberLC-B811- 3053 [P&P]; LOT 4166-C (corresponding photographic print)
Reproduction numberLC-DIG-cwpb-02302 (left half); LC-DIG-cwpb-02303 (right half)
Inscription on the mountAnnotation from negative, scratched on emulsion: copyright.
RepositoryLibrary of Congress
Credit lineCivil war photographs, 1861-1865, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
RightsNo known restrictions on publication
Rights advisory, verbatimNo known restrictions on publication. For information, see “Civil war photographs, 1861-1865,” http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/120_cwar.html
Catalog recordhttps://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018670975/
ConfidenceVerified
Last verified2026-08-30

Sources

  • Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/
  • Stephen Davis and Jack W. Melton Jr., 100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Charleston in the War (Charleston: Historical Publications LLC, 2020).