Photo Finish

series of images captured by Alexander Gardner and James F. Gibson across the Antietam battlefield on September 19-22, 1862, one that stands out is the photograph of four 10-pounder Parrott rifled guns of Captain James Knap’s Battery E, Pennsylvania Light Artillery. There are two notable things about this image, which was captured on September 19. First, it shows soldiers as they looked in battle, taken nearly on the very ground that the unit had fought upon two days before. Knap’s artillerymen wear a mixture of fatigue coats and shell jackets as well as a variety of hats. These are fighting men, not garrison troops. Second, under high resolution, we can