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George N. Barnard
Destruction of Hood's Ordnance Train, from Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign, 1864

During the Civil War, George Barnard was named official photographer for General Sherman’s command. He accompanied the general and his troops through the South on the infamous March to the Sea campaign. As Sherman entered Atlanta in September 1864, the Confederate Army, under General John B. Hood, abandoned the city. Before they left, however, they set fire to 81 railroad cars bearing munitions so they would not fall into the hands of the enemy.

Like many of the photographs Barnard published after the war in The Sherman Campaign (1866), this image documents the apocalyptic aftermath rather than the event itself. A ghostly figure walks amid the rubble, where the train’s wheels, the only thing that survived the conflagration, are lined up like giant barbells. Barnard used another negative to add an incongruously spectacular cloudscape above the desolate wreckage, heightening the otherworldly appearance of the scene.

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Destruction of Hood's Ordnance Train, from Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign
Artist name
George N. Barnard
Date created
1864
Classification
photograph
Medium
albumen print
Dimensions
10 1/16 in. × 14 1/16 in. (25.56 cm × 35.72 cm)
Credit
Collection of the Sack Photographic Trust
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/ST1998.0046
Artwork status
On view on floor 3 as part of Selections From the Sack Photographic Trust: American Industry

Other Works by George N. Barnard

See other works by George N. Barnard

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