Photographer Report: Day 1

Alexander Gardner, Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter

Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter is a plate within Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War. It was taken in Gettysburg in July 1863. It shows a dead soldier lying on a blanket between two large stones. He built a third wall of rocks from which to shoot at enemy lines. His rifle leans forgotten against this wall and his hat and other supplies are scattered around his crevice. This photo is one in his sketchbook in which Gardner photographed it himself. He describes how the outside of the sharpshooter's home is littered with marks where the enemy tried to shoot him from the outside, and how the disarray of the sharpshooter’s small camp suggests a long, painful death after he was injured. The sharpshooter, however, seems to have simply fallen asleep in an uncomfortable position.

Of all of the photographs displaying the horrors of the Civil War, Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter is very personal, as it seems to bring you into one man’s fate.  Gardner describes how he later visited this site, and the sharpshooter’s bones were still there. This only contributes to the tragedy.

 Information and photo from rmc.library.cornell.edu:7milVol:images.html.webloc.