Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2012.

General Edwin V. (Bull) Sumner and Staff, Kent Court House, St. Peter's Church, Virginia

ArtistPossibly Mathew B. Brady (American, 1823-1896)

CultureAmerican

Date1862

MediumAlbumen print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 9 × 7 in. (22.9 × 17.8 cm)
Overall, Support: 13 7/8 × 11 1/2 in. (35.2 × 29.2 cm)
Overall, Mat: 19 7/8 × 16 in. (50.5 × 40.6 cm)

Credit LineGift of David L. Hack and Museum purchase, with funds from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., by exchange

Object number98.32.103

Collections

Photography

Not on view

DescriptionThe David L. Hack Civil War Photography Collection. This is a black and white photograph depicting seven men standing in front of a brick building. The buildings windows all have shutters. In front of the seven men, down in the grass is a pile of items and articles. An African American man is seated low to the ground by all the equipment. Two huge trees flank both sides of the picture. In the background eyes are drawn to the center left where a dark silhouette of another man is standing on stairs underneath an open section of the building. This is from _Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War_ (Hack Collection No. 2].

Label TextMathew B. Brady Studio American (1823-1896) General Edwin Vose (Bull Head) Sumner and Staff, Kent Court House, St. Peter's Church, Virginia, 1862 Albumen print 98.32.103 The nickname, "Bull Head," came from a legend that a musket ball once bounced off of Sumner's head. Sumner (1797-1863) was the oldest general in the Army of the Potomac. In 1863 he was relieved of duty at his own request. He traveled home to Syracuse, where he died from a heart attack. Saint Peter's Church is located approximately twenty miles southeast of Richmond, and is quite likely the location of George Washington's marriage to Martha Dandridge Custis in January of 1759. The church still exists, and with the exception of the stairs, looks remarkably as it does in this photograph. 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