FALLEN FORTS

ost followers of the Civil War are familiar with the wartime photographs of Mathew Brady, as well as Alexander Gardner and Timothy O’Sullivan, two of his associates who branched out on their own during the war. A lesser-known former Brady photojournalist was George Norman Barnard. ¶ In December 1863, Barnard was hired as the Union Army’s principal photographer in Nashville. Then, after Sherman’s army captured Atlanta in September 1864, the 44-year-old from Coventry, Conn., was summoned south to take a collection of photos in the Gate City, including many of former Confederate fortifications and earthworks. Construction of those embrasures began in May 1863, at the request of the City Council, to protect Atlanta against future Union raids after an incursion by Colonel Abel Streight came within 80 miles of the city. ¶ The Chief Engineer’s Office in Richmond oversaw