Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia
Artist
A. J. Russell
CultureAmerican
Datenot dated
MediumAlbumen print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 9 7/8 × 14 1/4 in. (25.1 × 36.2 cm)
Overall, Support: 17 × 20 5/8 in. (43.2 × 52.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 23 15/16 × 28 in. (60.8 × 71.1 cm)
Overall, Support: 17 × 20 5/8 in. (43.2 × 52.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 23 15/16 × 28 in. (60.8 × 71.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of David L. Hack and Museum purchase, with funds from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., by exchange
Object number98.32.6
Collections
Not on view
DescriptionThe David L. Hack Civil War Photography Collection. A photograph of soldiers standing in a dirt road. There are a few covered wagons off to the edges of the photo while their tracks can be seen in the dirt road. There are at least two men in the photo holding a rifle. There are also four wooden buildings branching off from the road. Next to one of the buildings is a sign reading "Wright". A grassy area and trees surround the road while a forest is evident in the far background. This is from _Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War_ (Hack Collection No. 210).Label TextAttributed to Andrew J. Russell American (1820-1902) Bailey's Cross Roads, Virginia, ca. 1861 Albumen print on original mount 98.32.6 This sleepy crossroads has now become a part of the booming suburban metropolis of Washington, D.C. During the war it served as an advanced sentry post for the Union within sight of Munson's Hill, the Confederate outpost. A writer described it in the October 5, 1861 Harper's Weekly: I always find Bailey's Cross Roads the most attractive point of the long line of army outposts, not because of the proximity of that wretched and innocuous bugbear, Munson's Hill, but because of the brisk picket work that is generally carried on there. Our picket guards at this post are really of the first quality. ….For the corn-fields are very rich hereabout, and the men cannot possibly resist their seductions. Cookery is practiced with neatness and dispatch in secure retreats. Corn is boiled and roasted in ample quantities…. The pickets at this station do not suffer for luxuries. "The chickens from the deserted farm-houses," says a lieutenant, "are very aggressive. They attack and bite our men, and our men are bound to resent it." So the odor of hot corn is not the only perfume that sometimes charges the atmosphere at Bailey's Cross Roads. Edited By: DS Edited Date: 01/2006Exhibition History"Civil War Photographs from the David L. Hack Collection and Civil War Redux: Pinhole Photographs by Willie Anne Wright," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, February 3 - October 29, 2006; Cape Fear Museum, Wilmington, NC, February 15 - May 28, 2007; Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV, July 26 - September 21, 2008
