Timothy H. O’Sullivan, Gettysburg from Cemetery Hill, July 1863
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania — Albumen photograph, 7 x 9 in., on original mount
 
A rare and historically significant Civil War photograph by Timothy H. O’Sullivan depicting Gettysburg in the immediate aftermath of battle, taken from Cemetery Hill in July 1863. Looking west toward the town, the view shows Union encampments spread across the open ground with the Baltimore Pike at left, the principal roadway later identified in Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War, where the image was published as plate I:35. Taken within days of the Union victory, the photograph preserves one of the earliest and most important visual records of the battlefield following the decisive engagement widely regarded as the turning point of the Civil War.
 
Published in Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War with an extended caption identifying the Federal skirmish line after Confederate occupation of the town, the image stands among the most recognizable and historically resonant photographs of Gettysburg. Its distinguished provenance further enhances its significance, descending through the Vermont family of George Franklin Davis, Quartermaster General of Vermont, and his son-in-law Captain Charles Gilbert Gould, Medal of Honor recipient for heroism at Petersburg in 1865.
 
Condition: Minor foxing; inscribed on verso “Gettysburg, Pa.”; mounted on original plain card