Description
This is a well documented staged photo taken sometime after the Battle of Gettysburg. Titled “Sights and Scenes from The Battlefield of Gettysburg”. This view was taken by Peter S. Weaver, on November 11, 1863. Looking northeastward toward Little Round Top from Devil’s Den. It depicts 9 Union soldiers posing as dead on the Gettysburg battlefield with Doctors Lyford (standing at left) and Doctor Chamberlain (standing at right) looking over this staged scene of carnage. One of the posed dead is Musician Jacob Shenkel, Co. L, 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry. He is lying below the man with the wide brimmed hat (Dr. Chamberlain). During the battle, Shenkel helped to attend to the wounded. He was among those ordered to stay behind in Gettysburg after the battle, and in the nearly 5 months he remained there, he served as hospital attendant, first at the 5th Corps field hospital, and then at the general hospital at Camp Letterman. He was one of those who witnessed President Lincoln deliver his immortal Gettysburg Address during the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, Nov. 19, 1863. This view is the earliest known photograph to depict both Devil’s Den and Little Round Top which makes it a very important image in the study of the Gettysburg battlefield! Weaver’s original series was produced on large plate negatves; the smaller versions were contemporary copies made by local area photographers. Doctors Chamberlain and Lyford, the standing men in this view, operated the embalming firm of Drs. Chamberlain & Lyford. It is also noted along the bottom to depict the position of members of Berdan’s Sharpshooter’s. The reverse if marked from the famed Danner Museum reading, “J.A.Danner Museum Agt. for Gettysburg Spring Waters Gettysburg, PA.”.
