“My dear parents…” (1 June, 1864)

An opening spread from Freeman Colby Vol. 4:

NOTES & PRINTABLES >>

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TEXT SOURCE:

Freeman Colby’s letter of 1 June 1864 >>

Colby’s salutation gives us scant details about his location:

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VISUAL SOURCES:

Fortunately several “Special Artists” were on hand to sketch the army crossing at Hanover Ferry:

^ “The Army of the Potomac crossing the Pamunkey, on the march to Cold Harbor” (Forbes / May 1864) [LOC.gov]

My favorite part of this quick sketch by Forbes is the rushed shortcuts — Instead of drawing a hundred marching men, he just writes “infantry marching over the bridge” across the pontoon span!

^ “Crossing on the Pamunkey–at Hanover Ferry” (Waud / ~27-29 May 1864) [LOC.gov]

Waud takes more time to draw his figures — fleshing out a couple & leaving the rest for his home-office engravers to fill in.

I had to mirror both these images horizontally, so that the action moved from left to right across the comics pages:

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE SCENE:

^ “Hanovertown, Ferry, Virginia. Pontoon bridge over the Pamunkey River” (O’Sullivan / 28 May 1864) [LOC.gov]

Amazingly, Timothy O’Sullivan was right up on the hill in Waud’s background, looking down with his camera equipment! (Is that Forbes & Waud sketching in the tent across the river?)