Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: Civil War

" E pluribus unum . Remember me." A Victorian-era hidden-name calling card with an illustration of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). The colorful die-cut scrap was a memorial to the president, and it lifts up on the right-hand side to reveal the name of "Mabel E. Emerich" printed underneath.

A souvenir photo of three families in automobiles at Devil's Den , a rock formation located on the Gettysburg Battlefield in Adams County, Pennsylvania. For other photos, see my album of Souvenir Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield .

For more information, see the original photo :

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of "what’s that on his shoe?" or other unexpected details . In this snapshot, a woman sits for a souvenir photo in front of the giant book that's part of the High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania. When I purchased this photo, I noticed that there's a man on the right who's oddly standing behind the woman and near the back of the monument. I didn't think anything of it until I got home and scanned the photo. When I took a look at an enlarged version (mouse over the image above to see it), I made the unexpected discovery that the fellow was irreverently thumbing his nose as the photographer snapped the picture. Photobombing , of course, is nothing new! See below for monument photos from 1906 and 1912 as well as a recent view .

For more information about the monument and an earlier postcard view of it, see High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., December 2, 1906 (below).

Handwritten message on the front of this real photo postcard (see writing at right, above): "High Water Mark. 12/2/06. This was all done today. What do you think of that grin? The fellow tried to take the picture without exposing the plate and we were trying to keep from laughing." The giant book behind the two men is part of the High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument , which is, as Wikipedia explains, "a Gettysburg Battlefield memorial which identifies the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia units of the infantry attack on the Battle of Gettysburg, third day, with a large bronze tablet, as well as the Union Army of the Potomac's 'respective troops who met or assisted to repulse Longstreet's Assault.' The memorial is named for the line of dead and wounded of Pickett's Charge which marked the deepest penetration into the Union line at The Angle when '4,500 men threw down their arms and came in as prisoners.'" For later views of the monument, see Bicyclists at the High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., 1912 and High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., August 8, 2013 (below).

"Worst clam bake I ever went to. Tables set in open field. Broiling hot sun. Clams half done. One waiter to our table. Everything in the bake was smoky. Everybody disgusted. C. L. Deane." Complaints about the food and service at a clambake that was held over 125 years ago. For more information, see the front of this ticket :

"Bristol County Association. G.A.R. Clambake. Riverview Park, Labor Day. Seat No. 332." Handwritten additions to the front of this ticket: "C. L. Deane & J.D.H. Jr. Sep. 6/88. (over.)" Handwritten note on the back (see below): "Worst clam bake I ever went to. Tables set in open field. Broiling hot sun. Clams half done. One waiter to our table. Everything in the bake was smoky. Everybody disgusted. C. L. Deane." "C. L. Deane" was clearly displeased with the food and service at the clambake that he and "J.D.H. Jr." attended as part of an early observance of Labor Day in 1888. The Bristol County Association, based in Bristol County, Massachusetts, was a local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), an American Civil War veterans' organization. C. L. Deane may have been Charles Learned Deane (1871-1955). If so, he would have been only 17 years old when he registered his complaints about the clambake on his ticket for seat no. 332.

A "Step Down" sign (featuring a manicule or pointing hand mark, like this: ☞) at the Lincoln Train Museum, Gettysburg, Pa., August 12, 2011.

"Reward of Merit for Punctuality, Industry, and Good Conduct presented to Mary Geller by Virginia Fair, teacher." With an illustration of a U.S. Civil War soldier in the middle panel.

Lewis S. Harman, Lancaster City. For Prothonotary, 1890 He entered the army as a private soldier, carried a musket for three years in the 1st Reg't, Penn'a Reservers, and was severely wounded, May 30, 1864, at the battle of Bethesda Church, in front of Richmond, on the day his three years' term of service expired. Your assistance respectfully solicited. Subject to Republican rules. Election, May 3, 1890. Blanket roll and knapsack: "U.S. Co. B, 1st Reg;'t. P.R.V."

Albert Charles Leonard also was the author and publisher of The Boys in Blue of 1861-1865: A Condensed History Worth Preserving (Lancaster, Pa.: A. C. Leonard, 1904). Compliments of Chaplain A. C. Leonard, Lancaster City Who as a candidate for Clerk of Orphans' Court in 1893 received almost 3,000 complimentary votes, and respectfully asks your kind consideration fot the same office at the Republican primary election in 1896. Four years a soldier and ten months a prisoner of war in Belle Isle and Andersonville prison pens where 14,000 of his companions died from privation and exposure. Andersonville prison pen.

"Gen. Hancock. With fond greetings." American Civil War General Winfield Scott Hancock appears on this hidden name calling card. See also calling cards for General Logan and General Sherman .

"Gen. Sherman. Trust in me!" Printing hidden under scrap: "Our Generals. 12 for 30 cents. Fringed 12 for 80 cents." See also calling cards for General Hancock and General Logan .

"Gen. Logan. With fond greetings!" See also calling cards for General Hancock and General Sherman .

A Memorial Day postcard.

A real photo postcard. Caption: "#5268. High-Water Mark. 1912." Four young men pose with their bicycles near the High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument , which is located on the Gettysburg Battlefield in Gettysburg, Pa. The woman in the background is taking a closer look at the monument. For an earlier postcard view of the monument, see High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., December 2, 1906 . For a recent photo, see High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., August 8, 2013 .

"When can their glory fade."