1784.a.13, 2(63)

Genre: War Photography

Showing a black servant posed next to the brick fireplace and plank flooring, from which the tent has been removed: 'Here is represented the deserted quarters of Gen. Sharp, Chief of the Secret Service of the Army of the Potomac, at Brandy Station, Virginia. The tents have been removed, and the sketch depicts the scene when the camping ground, which had been occupied by the headquarters during the winter, is being abandoned for the spring campaign. In the back-ground are the stalls for the staff horses, and the stockade or 'bull pen' for prisoners arrested by the Provost Marshal General. The photograph possesses interest only as an illustration of the mode of life of the army in winter. No sooner is it known that the quarters are likely to be permanent, than every man commences the erection of substantial quarters, which, in the winter season are made as comfortable as any village. Floors are laid in the tents, log huts are built ... Storms and frost are unheeded, and the long evenings pass in mirth, with no care for to-morrow's hardship or future perils.'