April 11, 1865: Washington DC socialite, Miss Clara Harris, was at the White House listening to President Abraham Lincoln address a mostly jubilant crowd. Just a few days before, Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General, Ulysses S. Grant, at Appomattox Court House. This surrender marked the beginning of the end for the Confederacy and the long fought Civil War.
Sometimes chance encounters are fated to spark spontaneous adventures. While photo shooting at a recreated Union encampment at the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House Museum in Southern, Maryland, an unassuming man rode towards us in his ATV. Dad, my photographer, worried he would kick us off the set. (more…)
The Dr. Mudd farmhouse, known as St. Catherine, was an 1857 wedding gift to Dr. Mudd and his wife, Sarah Frances. It is a two story farmhouse on about 218 acres of land. John Wilkes Booth and David Herold banged on the door seen in this pic, bottom right in the early morning hours of April 15, 1865.
The week leading up to Easter in the Spring of 1865 marked a pivotal time in American history. Confederate General, Robert E. Lee’s hope for a victorious South was dashed with the defeat at Sailor’s Creek on April 6. This, in part, led to Lee’s sorrowful surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant three days later at Appomattox Court House in rural Virginia. Though other battles persisted for a few more months, this act effectively ended the American Civil War. (more…)