BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Ford's Theatre NHS (Center for Education and Leadership) -- Exhibit: Technology of War

DC -- Ford's Theatre NHS (Center for Education and Leadership) -- Exhibit: Technology of War:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 18.118.145.114 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

[1] CELTEC_140116_002_STITCH.JPG

[2] CELTEC_140116_003.JPG	[3] CELTEC_140116_006.JPG	[4] CELTEC_140116_013.JPG
[5] CELTEC_140116_015.JPG	[6] CELTEC_140116_020.JPG	[7] CELTEC_140116_025.JPG
[8] CELTEC_140116_027.JPG	[9] CELTEC_140116_033.JPG	[10] CELTEC_140116_058.JPG
[11] CELTEC_140116_062.JPG	[12] CELTEC_140116_070.JPG	[13] CELTEC_140116_075.JPG
[14] CELTEC_140116_082.JPG	[15] CELTEC_140116_091.JPG	[16] CELTEC_140116_099.JPG
[17] CELTEC_140116_103.JPG	[18] CELTEC_140116_110.JPG	[19] CELTEC_140116_113.JPG
[20] CELTEC_140116_122.JPG	[21] CELTEC_140116_129.JPG	[22] CELTEC_140116_136.JPG
[23] CELTEC_140116_140.JPG	[24] CELTEC_140116_145.JPG	[25] CELTEC_140116_148.JPG
[26] CELTEC_140116_151.JPG	[27] CELTEC_140116_154.JPG	[28] CELTEC_140116_157.JPG
[29] CELTEC_140116_163.JPG	[30] CELTEC_140116_177.JPG	[31] CELTEC_140116_189.JPG
[32] CELTEC_140116_206.JPG	[33] CELTEC_140116_209.JPG	[34] CELTEC_140116_214.JPG
[35] CELTEC_140116_217.JPG	[36] CELTEC_140116_225.JPG	[37] CELTEC_140116_231.JPG
[38] CELTEC_140116_234.JPG	[39] CELTEC_140116_242.JPG	[40] CELTEC_140116_249.JPG
[41] CELTEC_140116_252.JPG	[42] CELTEC_140116_258.JPG	[43] CELTEC_140116_262.JPG
[44] CELTEC_140116_265.JPG	[45] CELTEC_140116_268.JPG	[46] CELTEC_140116_275.JPG
[47] CELTEC_140116_279.JPG	[48] CELTEC_140116_283.JPG	[49] CELTEC_140116_291.JPG
[50] CELTEC_140116_296.JPG	[51] CELTEC_140116_302.JPG	[52] CELTEC_140116_307.JPG
[53] CELTEC_140116_311.JPG	[54] CELTEC_140116_316.JPG	[55] CELTEC_140116_320.JPG
[56] CELTEC_140116_323.JPG	[57] CELTEC_140116_325.JPG	[58] CELTEC_140116_327.JPG
[59] CELTEC_140116_334.JPG	[60] CELTEC_140116_337.JPG	[61] CELTEC_140116_345.JPG
[62] CELTEC_140116_352.JPG	[63] CELTEC_140116_356.JPG	[64] CELTEC_140116_358.JPG
[65] CELTEC_140116_360.JPG	[66] CELTEC_140116_366.JPG	[67] CELTEC_140116_369.JPG
[68] CELTEC_140116_373.JPG	[69] CELTEC_140116_387.JPG	[70] CELTEC_140116_390.JPG
[71] CELTEC_140116_397.JPG	[72] CELTEC_140116_421.JPG	[73] CELTEC_140116_425.JPG
[74] CELTEC_140116_435.JPG	[75] CELTEC_140116_438.JPG	[76] CELTEC_140116_445.JPG
[77] CELTEC_140116_447.JPG	[78] CELTEC_140116_451.JPG	[79] CELTEC_140116_453.JPG
[80] CELTEC_140116_456.JPG	[81] CELTEC_140116_457.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. CELTEC_140116_003.JPG: The Exhibition: In April 1858 Lincoln wrote his Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions, and presented it to audiences in four Illinois towns during 1848 and 1859. Lincoln's speech failed to impress his audiences. However, the speech demonstrates Lincoln's early recognition of the importance of technology. Abraham Lincoln and the Technology of War showcases Lincoln's fascination with technology, as well as the impact of new ideas in the conduct of war. This exhibition explores inventions in weaponry, photography, communication, and military surveillance. It also explores expanded uses of existing technology, such as railroads being used as troop transports. Throughout the war, Lincoln's "hands-on" approach to technological advances demonstrating his fascination with new ways of thinking. He test fired the Spencer seven-shot repeating rifle on the Executive Mansion grounds, and spent hours at the War Department Telegraph Office reading military communications. He was intrigued by the model of the USS Monitor and even expressed an interest in riding aloft in a hot air balloon. Lincoln's support of technological improvements pushed the envelope of the possible during a very troubled time in American history, thus ensuring the future of the Union.
2. CELTEC_140116_006.JPG: Fort Sumter: The Confederate bombardment of Union Fort Sumter, April 12-14, 1861, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, ignited a war that shattered the nation. It was a traditional battle, artillery against brick fortification, with only one death, and both sides behaving gallantry. By the end of the war, Fort Sumter would be reduced to a pile of shattered bricks, and the nation would have lost more than 620,000 American dead.
3. CELTEC_140116_015.JPG: City Point: Union General Ulysses S. Grant established the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac at City Point, Virginia. City Point was a huge supply base for the Union troops. stocked with food, clothing and ammunition. Nearly 25 locomotives and 275 railcars were shipped in to transport materials to the advancing army. From City Point, Grant began his assault on Petersburg, Virginia. With a continuous influx of men and materials by rail and steamer, Grant was able to build an immense army for the campaign that eventually captured Richmond and defeated Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army.
4. CELTEC_140116_020.JPG: Union Soldiers at Work: Union soldiers destroyed many of the South's railroads and telegraph lines, denying the Rebels communication and the ability to move troops and supplies. Destruction of the South's limited communications network added greatly to the Confederacy's inevitable decline.
5. CELTEC_140116_027.JPG: The Tools of War: This pile of cannon balls and shells represents a problematic truth about warfare -- armies are equipped with a wide variety of weapons each requiring specialized ammunition. Large artillery was the second cause of death and wounding on the battlefield (the first was small arms fire). The production and supply of munitions to the Union army required an industry unparalleled in the history of warfare in America.
6. CELTEC_140116_033.JPG: Billinghurst-Requa Battery (Volley Gun): Invented early in the war, this predecessor to the modern-day machine gun consisted of a 25-barrel battery, firing .58- or .52-caliber rounds. Rejected by the head of Union Army Ordnance, Colonel James Wolfe Ripley, the gun's inventors, appealed to President Lincoln who after a demonstration urged production of the weapon. Although never accepted into official service, it did see action with the Union army. The gun was mechanically sound but tactically limited, ultimately finding a use defending bridges where its limited field of fire could sweep the approaches of the enemy.
7. CELTEC_140116_058.JPG: War of Logistics: Armies advancing against the enemy are always concerned with lines of supply and communication. This Union work detail is repairing a railroad bridge that was possibly destroyed by Confederate raiders. This scene illustrates the Union's strength in men, materials and transportation.
8. CELTEC_140116_062.JPG: Iron and Smoke: Railroads were of critical importance during the Civil War, carrying cast quantities of troops and supplies. But the North had the advantage from the very beginning, with 22,000 miles of railroad compared to the South's less than 10,000 miles of railroads. The South was faced with another challenge; it could not readily repair its lines or maintain its rolling stock because the largely agrarian Confederacy did not have a strong manufacturing base.
9. CELTEC_140116_070.JPG: Union Army Balloon Corps: Professor Thaddeus SC Lowe's balloons were inflated by two hydrogen gas generators, part of the wagon train that accompanied these aeronautical wonders. Lowe's balloons achieved their greatest success during Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsular Campaign in 1862, carrying Union soldiers aloft to observe Confederate troop movements and scout rebel fortifications, approaches of the enemy.
10. CELTEC_140116_075.JPG: The Reconnaissance Balloon: This color print shows, inaccurately, a desperate encounter between Union and Confederate forces neatly arrayed on a picturesque battlefield. A Union observation balloon floats high above the carnage.
11. CELTEC_140116_082.JPG: Gideon Welles: Nicknamed "Neptune" by Abraham Lincoln, the bewigged Welles was a capable administrator and increased the Union navy by ten-fold during the Civil War. A conservative, despite his anti-slavery leanings, Welles was never comfortable as a member of Lincoln's sometimes boisterous and confrontational cabinet. Welles remained Secretary of the Navy into President Andrew Johnson's administration, supporting the besieged president despite being appalled by Johnson's behavior.
12. CELTEC_140116_091.JPG: Lincoln's "Brown Water Sailors": Lincoln knew from his experience on western rivers that every river in the Western Theater was an avenue for the Union to invade the South, and to carry thousands of tons of supplies necessary to provision an army. Soldiers, sailors, former slaves and landsmen became members of the riverine war, manning ironclads, tinclads, mortar barges and civilian vessels pressed into service. Brown water refers to the mud and silt in the water, coloring the river.
13. CELTEC_140116_122.JPG: German Herman Haupt: Intensely loyal to Lincoln and the Union, Haupt (Chief of Construction and Transportation United States Military Railroad) was a genius at logistics and built a vast web of railroads to support the Union armies' efforts in the Virginia theater. Brusque and disdainful of most army officers, Haupt's career in railroads began with his graduation from West Point. Lincoln, a former railroad attorney, was amazed by Haupt's accomplishments. During the war, he built a 400-foot-long bridge, Lincoln marveled, with nothing "but cornstalks and beanpoles."
14. CELTEC_140116_129.JPG: Battle of the Iron Horses: Railroads were valuable assets to both the North and the South. They transported materials, food, munitions and soldiers. Railroads were also a key to victory for the North, as two-thirds of America's 30,000 miles of track were located in the North, along with four-fifths of the manufacturing power. There were 200 separate railroad lines in the North and South. In the North, rails were a standard 56.5 inches apart. In the South, the gauges of the rails varied widely, thus preventing rail cars from being transferred to another railroad line. The First Battle of Bull Run was a Confederate victory because they were able to use their rail system strategically. The battle occurred near the Confederate rail center of Manassas, Virginia, near the tributary known as Bull Run Creek. As a result of being able to shift their troops rapidly by rail, a smaller Confederate force was able to defeat a larger Union force.
15. CELTEC_140116_148.JPG: "The Lazy Whining of the Bullets": According to Earl Hess, author of The Union Soldier in Battle, the invention of rifling and the Minie ball played a significant role in the Civil War. Prior to the war, smooth-bore muskets using road lead balls were the common infantry weapon. This type of weapon had a maximum effective range of approximately 300 feet. Rifling created spiral groves inside the gun barrel, which then required a conical bullet called a Minie ball. When fired, the expanding grooves in the base of the Minie ball seated into the rifling, making the bullet spin faster and increasing the weapon's accuracy. The Minie ball was a large (.57-.58 caliber) round that had a devastating effect when it hit a soldier, shattering bones and destroying organs and tissue. The innovation of the rifled musket and the Minie ball contributed to the tremendous loss of life on the Civil War battlefield.
16. CELTEC_140116_151.JPG: Advancements in Weaponry: The act of war inspires new technologies. During the Civil War, advancements in weapons proved to be both a blessing and a curse -- facilitating victories, but an incredible cost to human life. Some new designs, such as ironclads, changed the face of warfare forever. Others, like the Minie ball, mowed down advancing armies with deadly effect. The battle between the states proved to be a brutal affair. More than 620,000 men died during the Civil War, either on the battlefield or in captivity. Civilians, especially in the South, were as affected by war as soldiers, suffering the breakdown of services, property loss, starvation, disease and random acts of violence by advancing or retreating troops.
17. CELTEC_140116_209.JPG: USS Monitor: It was described as being "unlike anything on the earth or the waters of the earth" by an old salt, and for many traditional sailors it was an abomination. Its only method of propulsion was a single screw propeller, its deck was inches above the water, and it carried just two guns encased within a revolving turret. With a length of 179 feet, a beam -- or width -- of 49 feet, and a draft (how deep in the water the vessel rests) of 10 feet, the Monitor was not an imposing ship. The dominant feature of the warship was turret resting on the deck, 21 feet in diameter and nine feet high.
18. CELTEC_140116_214.JPG: Ironclads: USS Monitor and CSS Virginia: At the start of the Civil War, the Union Navy of wooden ships blockaded Confederate ports at Hampton Roads, Virginia. To break this blockade, the Confederacy built a slow, but powerful, ironclad ship. The ship was actually a casement of timbers and iron plating built atop the remains of the USS Merrimack, burned and sunk by the Union in April 1861 to avoid capture. The Confederacy raised her, retrofitted her with iron cladding, and sent her down the Elizabeth River to break the Union blockade. The rechristened CSS Virginia was successful in sinking two ships, driving one aground, and driving off the others. However, the next-day arrival of the Union ironclad USS Monitor ended the domination of the CSS Virginia. Battling the rebel ship to a draw, the USS Monitor prevented the further destruction of the blockading fleet. In a matter of hours, the contest between these two ironclad ships rendered obsolete every wooden warship in the world.
19. CELTEC_140116_217.JPG: Buckeye State Steamboat Sidewheeler Packet: Launched in 1850, the Buckeye State was designed for runs on the Ohio River between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. In May 1850, it set a record of 468 miles in 43 hours. A young Abraham Lincoln dreamed of becoming a riverboat pilot, but circumstances prevented him from realizing his goal.
20. CELTEC_140116_225.JPG: Signal Lantern, USS Monitor: This brass signal lantern used a burning candle, with the light amplified by a convex glass window. A small thumb switch near the vertical handle was used to drop a shield over the candle flame to signal to other ships.
21. CELTEC_140116_231.JPG: Worden Speaking Trumpet: Ironclad ships were noisy vessels and speaking trumpets were the ideal means for officers to direct and focus orders. Used by Captain John L. Worden aboard the USS Monitor, this brass speaking trumpet enabled Worden to be heard by his crew over the din of engines.
22. CELTEC_140116_242.JPG: Carte de Visite Album: Created in response to the CDV craze, albums varied in size and design. They generally had thick, slotted pages to hold the CDVs and clasps to prevent the covers from springing open. Some people used simple scrapbooks to preserve CDVS, pasting the photographs directly to the pages. This album illustrates a common outcome of new technology, the invention of related products. Albums could be quite plain or extremely ornate. Some of the more stylized books featured inlaid pearls, gilded edges or illuminated pages. Engraved hinges and clasps as well as leather bindings were quite popular.
23. CELTEC_140116_265.JPG: Case Photographs Glossary: Gutta-Percha: A rigid, natural sap from trees located in Asia, this substance was used for a number of purposes in the 19th century. It is highly durable and protects the fragile contents of the case. Daguerreotype: Created in 1839, the daguerreotype was a copper plate coated with silver and highly polished. After controlled exposure to chemicals, the plate was mounted in a camera. The finished image was a reverse of the original with belt buckles backwards and buttons that appear to be on the wrong side. When held at a certain angle, the daguerreotype subject appears to be a negative image, rather than positive. By the end of the Civil War, daguerreotypes had faded from use. Ambrotype: At one time called daguerreotypes on glass, an ambrotype is a negative image on glass, given positive qualities when mounted on a backing. Ambrotypes, like the earlier daguerreotypes, were set in gutta-percha or lether-bound cases for protection. Ferrotype: More often referred to as a tintype, this process was patented in 1856 and was considered a less expensive alternative to ambrotypes and daguerreotypes. The photographic image was affixed to thin sheet iron and was sturdy enough to be mounted in a cardboard frame.
24. CELTEC_140116_268.JPG: Belle Boyd, Confederate Spy: Photograph-cabinet card: This standard cabinet photograph shows Belle Boyd, celebrated female Rebel spy. Besides carrying secret messages for the South, she carried information to Stonewall Jackson that enabled him to defeat a Federal force. Grateful, Jackson bestowed an honorary captaincy on her. Ironically, in 1900 she was asked to speak to a Grand Army of the Republic Meeting (a Union fraternal organization) -- a task she never completed, having suffered a heart attack on the way to the talk.
25. CELTEC_140116_275.JPG: Stereoscope: Invented by Charles Wheatstone in 1838, the stereoscope device added an entirely new dimension to the burgeoning field of photography. Utilizing a stereo card (two copies of essentially the same image side by side on a single card), the viewer placed the card in the scope to see the image in three dimensions. Popular well before the current craze for cinematic 3-D, this device proves there is nothing new under the sun, or seen through the lenses of 3-D glasses.
26. CELTEC_140116_279.JPG: Lincoln's Funeral Procession in New York City: This stereoscopic card shows buildings draped in black and white crepe to honor the fallen president's procession, escorted by the Seventh New York Volunteer Infantry on April 25, 1865. Stereoscopic cards (suggesting the cards were three dimensional) were created by a dual lens camera that caught slightly different views of the subject. Peering through the eye pieces of a stereoscope, the viewer "sees" the combined images as three dimensional.
27. CELTEC_140116_291.JPG: General George B. McClellan: Carte de Visite: Originating in France, the name carte de visite (CDV) erroneously suggests these items were handed out as calling cards, which was a common custom during the period. In fact, these rather inexpensive cards were souvenirs and keepsakes, much like another century's baseball cards. General George B. McClellan, shown here looking positively Napoleonic, was just one of many famous generals whose image was collected for cartes de visite.
28. CELTEC_140116_296.JPG: Lincoln and Union Commanders: Composite Photograph-Cabinet Card: A souvenir of the Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company, this post-Civil War piece combines the images of Lincoln, several Union officers and a presidential-looking US Grant. Probably tailored for Civil War veterans, this advertising piece invokes nostalgia and promotes insurance.
29. CELTEC_140116_302.JPG: General William Tecumseh Sherman: Carte de Visite: This embossed CDV is more elaborate, and therefore a more expensive souvenir manufactured by the Salisbury, Bro. & Co. of Florence, Rhode Island. This subject is Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, generally lauded by the North and vilified in the South.
30. CELTEC_140116_307.JPG: General JB Longstreet: Photograph-Cabinet Card: Commemorating the Civil War became a veritable industry in the late 19th century and ranged from cartes de visite photographs to sugar cubes and everything in between. This grim-visage belongs to "Old Pete" Longstreet, described by his admirers as General Robert E. Lee's "old war horse." Longstreet was one of the South's best generals, capable of driving his Confederate troops through most Union lines. Generals, battles, famous incidents and Lincoln's assassination were recalled to life by photographs, lithographs, woodcuts and engravings. Sacrifice was dimmed by the passage of time, and hardship was replaced by nostalgia.
31. CELTEC_140116_311.JPG: Photography: The American Civil War was the first major conflict where photography played a key role in influencing public opinion. Images of corpse-strewn battlefields and massive destruction of property stripped away all romantic illusions of war. These graphic images were displayed at contemporary exhibits and widely sold as engravings in newspapers and magazines. Capturing photographic images was a complicated process that required using hand-mixed hazardous chemicals to develop glass plate negatives. Photographers used portable dark rooms, pulled in wagons to the battle site. The negatives were then printed onto paper, or reproduced as ambrotypes or ferrotypes (popularly known as tintypes). The battle images increased an immense public interest in photography and spurred the growth of new photographic processes. Three-dimensional images, called stereographs, were created by using a twin-lens camera to take two slightly different images of the same picture. These images were then printed on cards side by side and looked at through a stereo viewer. The popularity of cartes de visite also increased, especially among enlisted soldiers and officers who wanted their image captured for posterity and their families. President Lincoln was photographed more than a hundred times during his life. While not the first president to be photographed, he recognized the public relations importance of a good photographic image. Lincoln is said to have remarked, "Brady and the Cooper Institute made me president." He was referring to the day in February 1860 when he was campaigning in New York City. Lincoln gave his famous Cooper Union address and afterwards stopped at photographer Matthew Brady's studio for a portrait. Brady's photograph of Lincoln was widely distributed, printed onto buttons to be worn by supporters, and was reproduced as lithographs and woodcuts.
32. CELTEC_140116_316.JPG: John Wilkes Booth: Carte de Visite: Called by some the "handsomest man in America," John Wilkes Booth handed out CDVs bearing his image to his numerous fans, including many a dedicated female admirer. After the Lincoln assassination made him infamous, the photographs were altered by artists to depict Booth as either a murderous fiend, or an agent of Satan.
33. CELTEC_140116_325.JPG: Souvenir of the CSS Virginia: This bit of iron is a remnant of the Confederate vessel that almost broke the Union blockade at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The CSS Virginia was blown up on May 11, 1862, just a month after her battle against the USS Monitor, while trapped in the James River below Richmond at the mercy of advancing Union troops. Virginia drew too much water to escape upriver.
34. CELTEC_140116_327.JPG: Lincoln Relief from USS Cumberland bronze cannon: The Union sloop's spirited encounter with CSS Virginia on March 8, 1862 off Hampton Roads, Virginia, nearly resulted in the Confederate vessel's destruction when the CSS Virginia drove her four-foot ram into USS Cumberland's hull with some force that the two ships became locked together. The CSS Virginia finally disengaged herself, and the USS Cumberland sank shortly afterwards. Most of the ship and her contents were eventually salvaged, some being turned into souvenirs such as this piece from a melted-down bronze cannon. As the Virginia withdrew for the evening, some crew members caught sight of a strange craft entering the Roads. It was the USS Monitor -- an omen of things to come.
35. CELTEC_140116_334.JPG: Souvenir from the Jamestown Bicentennial Exposition: This painting-on-glass souvenir was sold during the 1907 Jamestown Exposition by AC Bosselmen & Co., New York. There appear to have been other details protruding from the tin frame, but they have since disappeared. In this work the CSS Virginia is identified as the "USS Merrimac." In fact, the Confederate Virginia was constructed from the Union warship USS Merrimack's charred hull, raised from the waters of the Norfolk Navy Yard.
36. CELTEC_140116_337.JPG: Nicolay's Walking Stick: The USS Monitor's defeat of the CSS Virginia produced thousands of commemorative pieces celebrating the Union triumph. This gentleman's engraved walking stick with silver knob belonged to John G. Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln's Private Secretary. Engraved on the knob is "Jno. G. Nicolay, Esq. Monitor" with an image of the famous vessel.
37. CELTEC_140116_345.JPG: Lincoln the Inventor: Armed with a pocket knife and his fertile imagination, Lincoln created an invention that earned a patent, the riverboat buoyancy device.
38. CELTEC_140116_352.JPG: United States Patents "The patent system... secured to the inventor, for a limited time, the exclusive use of his invention; and thereby added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things." -- Abraham Lincoln, Second Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions, Jacksonville, Illinois, February 11, 1859 As a young man, Abraham Lincoln was awarded a patent for an invention to lift flat bottom boats over river shoals. More than 150 patents for military and non-military purposes were granted just prior to and during the Civil War. They include the kinematoscope (a precursor to the movie camera), water proof cloth, the hand-cranked machine gun, artificial limbs and the double-barreled cannon. Of particular interest in the double-barreled cannon, which consisted of two cannonballs fired simultaneously, connected by a metal chain. It was invented and proposed to the Confederacy by John Gilleland, a dentist. Conceptually fascinating, the technical imperfections of uneven combustion and barrel castings proved its downfall. Witnesses reported that on its first firing it "plowed up about an acre of ground, tore up a cornfield, mowed down saplings, and then the chain broke, the two balls going in different directions." The third firing proved equally disastrous, as the chain broke at firing with one ball plowing through the chimney of a nearby cannon and the other killing a cow. The Confederacy, unimpressed by the invention, declined to purchase it.
39. CELTEC_140116_356.JPG: Buoying Vessels Over Shoals: This shows a portion of Lincoln's petition to the United States Patent Office on March 10, 1849. He was a newly minted Congressman when he received his patent. Even as President, Lincoln continued to find machines fascinating.
40. CELTEC_140116_358.JPG: Flatboat to New Orleans -- 1828 by Louis Bonhajo In the spring of 1828, Abraham Lincoln and Allen Gentry took a flatboat loaded with goods to New Orleans, the first of two trips to the Crescent City for Lincoln. He saw the power of the Mississippi River as an avenue of commerce. He also saw slavery on a massive scale, and it is likely that he carried those images with him the rest of his life.
41. CELTEC_140116_366.JPG: Model of a Wagon made by Abraham Lincoln about 1840 The front wheels turn instead of the axle. The forerunner of modern automobile construction. (Original in Lincoln Museum, Washington, DC.)
42. CELTEC_140116_373.JPG: Lincoln's Patent Model: This is a replica of the model Lincoln presented to the United States Patent Office in 1849. His invention would lift heavily laden vessels over shallow river shoals. When the vessel ran aground, seven plungers would drive air into the black bellows mounted on the bow and stern. The bellows expanded into the water increasing the boats buoyancy and lifting it free of the obstruction. While the idea was sound, the concept was flawed. With such a complex apparatus on board, there would be no room for cargo.
43. CELTEC_140116_390.JPG: Samuel F.B. Morse: Morse, an accomplished artist, gave up his profession to pursue his interest in communications. Over several decades, and in the face of increased competition, he was able to refine his telegraph until, in 1844, he sent the famous message "What hath God wrought," from Washington DC to Baltimore, Maryland. He received a patent on his device in 1847. Fourteen years later the telegraph would become one of the most essential instruments of war.
44. CELTEC_140116_397.JPG: Stringing Telegraph Lines: During the Civil War the largely civilian Telegraph Construction Corps of the US Military Telegraph Corps strung more than 1,500 miles of telegraph lines. Prior to the war, there had been no army telegraph department; when the fighting began, the three major telegraph companies were called upon to fill the void. As the Civil War progressed, the Union army's telegraph system became a complex communications web that enabled the military to keep appraised on its operations, and allowed President Abraham Lincoln to evaluate his generals.
45. CELTEC_140116_421.JPG: Union Telegraph Operator with Beardslee Machine: The operator pictured is using an innovative but ultimately unsuccessful portable telegraph machine. Conventional devices used heavy batteries and relied on trained, professional civilian telegraphers. The Beardslee used a pointer that required the operator only be literate. The problem lay in the slow rate of keying (less than 10 words a minute) and limited range. Commercial telegraph machines, such as those used by the US Military Telegraph Corps, proved far more effective than the Beardslee machine.
46. CELTEC_140116_425.JPG: Civilian Telegraph: These five pieces are representative of a civilian telegraph of the 1860s, although some of the items post-date that period. The telegraph key was used to transmit messages through a "sounder" that was mounted in a resonator box. The box amplified the sound of the keying for the telegrapher. One of the most interesting pieces is the telegraph register. The soft paper coils in the register are imprinted with the appropriate dots and dashes of the transmission, providing a relatively permanent record of the message.
47. CELTEC_140116_447.JPG: Abraham Lincoln and the Technology of War: Abraham Lincoln's America was a nation of rapid change, providing tremendous growth opportunities for its burgeoning population. Some new inventions, like the cotton-gin, exploded the agro-economic growth of the South, but increased its dependence on slavery. Other inventions facilitated the mass production of Northern goods and materials, spurring intense industrial growth.
48. CELTEC_140116_451.JPG: Telegraphy and the War: The US Military Telegraph Corps was established in late 1861 at the Washington Navy Yard. The corps grew to approximately 1,500 civilian operators, directed by commissioned supervisors. President Lincoln often strolled across the Executive Mansion lawn to the War Department Telegraph Office in order to follow the activities of Union armies in the field, scan incoming telegrams, and chat with the young operators. Later in the war, Lincoln had a telegraph station established in the Executive Mansion to review troop movements. The relatively new invention of the telegraph was used during the first battle of the war at Bull Run Creek near Manassas Junction. Manassas was only 30 miles outside of Washington, DC and many DC inhabitants could hear the rumble of the cannons. Lincoln pressed for news of the battle, but the telegraph line did not run all the way to the battlefield. A messenger relayed information by galloping 10 miles from the battle site to the end of the telegraph line. "Lincoln hardly left his seat in our office and waited with deep anxiety for each succeeding despatch [sic]," recorded the manager of the War Department's new telegraph office.
49. CELTEC_140116_457.JPG: Abraham Lincoln and the Technology of War
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].