Samuel Morse, c.1866

‘Samuel Morse’

J. Gurney & Son

c.1866

 

Samuel Morse is well-known as the co-inventor of the communication system that bears his name. He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1791 and died at New York in 1872. Less well-known is the fact that he was also an accomplished artist and gained entry into the Royal Academy of Art in 1811. He also believed that slavery was a practice sanctioned by God. The stereograph shows Morse with the medals he was awarded in his lifetime. For example, the large medal under the top six was the Order of Isabella the Catholic, given to him in 1859.

 

‘Burst of Sunlight After a Shower’, New York, c.1865

‘Broadway – Burst of Sunlight after a Shower’

E. & H. T. Anthony

c.1865

 

‘Indian Charlie, a Ute Brave’, c.1880

‘Indian Charlie, a Ute Brave’

C. R. Savage

c.1880

 

‘Federal Entrenchments at Nashville’, 1864

‘Outer line of Federal Entrenchments at Nashville, December 16 1864’

1864

 

 

The stereograph shows the Unionist camp stretching away to the horizon with tents, cooking fires and troops. Nashville was the site of a major battle during the Civil War. Unionist forces attacked the entrenched Confederate army on 15 December 1864, the day before the stereograph was taken. Over the following few days the Confederates, led by General Hood and heavily outnumbered, were routed and fell back to the other side of the Tennessee River. It was one of the Union’s biggest victories.

 

Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, c.1885

‘First Incline, Switchback Railroad, Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, U. S A.’

Keystone View Company

c.1885

 

 

The stereograph shows the view up the steep incline towards Mount Pisgah. This section of the railroad, originally built to transport coal, was created in 1846. Given the excitement of the ride and the beauty of the scenery the railroad soon became a tourist attraction. The ascent was powered by a ratchet system that later evolved into the mechanism used in rollercoasters. The descent was gravity-driven. The line closed in 1932 and the tracks were dismantled but parts of the route are now on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

‘On the trunk of the Fallen Monarch’, 1905

‘Troop D, 9th Cav., on the trunk of the Fallen Monarch, Mariposa Grove, California’

H. C. White & Co.

1905

 

 

The Fallen Monarch in Yosemite National Park was toppled centuries ago but its gigantic trunk can still be seen today. At the end of the 19th century its hollowed-out core was used as a temporary stables by the U. S. Cavalry.

 

‘A Wood Train, Oxen Power, Cailfornia’, c.1875

‘A Wood Train, Oxen Power, California’

J. F. Jarvis

c.1875

 

‘Broadway near Metropolitan Hotel, c.1875

‘Broadway near Metropolitan Hotel’

E. & H. T. Anthony

c.1875

 

‘Broadway, New York’, c.1875

‘Broadway, N. Y.’

E. & H. T. Anthony

c.1875

 

 

Broadway is one of the oldest streets in New York City. Originally called Wickquasgeck Trail it was simply a Native American track through swampy land on Manhattan Island. When the colony of New Amsterdam was established in the early 17th century the track evolved into a street that the Dutch called ‘Heerestraat’. Following the English capture of the colony in 1664 the street was renamed ‘Broadway Street’.

 

Group Photograph, c.1865

 

I’m not sure where or when this stereograph was taken. Some of the men seemed to dressed in a uniform of some sort which I don’t recognise at all.