Artist's commentary
Ruins in Richmond
- Caption label from exhibit "American Treasures Memory": Ruins in Richmond. The "Burnt District" in Richmond was a pitiable sight for the various photographers who scrambled to record the Confederate capital in the last days of the Civil War. As the government collapsed and people rioted, the fires meant to destroy the arsenal, bridges, and anything of military value spread to a large part of the city's prime commercial districts. Richmond's weary and long-suffering inhabitants searched for missing friends and relations and combed the ashes for what could be saved. Photographs such as this, of two soldiers and three young boys with piles of cannonballs in the foreground, serve as a reminder to posterity of the terror and devastation of the war.
- Title from item.
- Exhibited: "With Malice Toward None : The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition" at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 2009.

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