AFTERMATH

My heart’s a scrapbook pasted by a child.
The lines run rampant and the colors wild
In pictures unrelated, and the words
Hop inconsistent like the tracks of birds.
And every other page holds empty space
Where time tore out the pictures of your face.

Luise Putcamp jr from Sonnets for Survivors, Kaleidograph Press, 1952
“Aftermath” published here with permission of the author

Harper’s Pictorial History of the Great Rebellion
Alfred H. Guernsey (1824-1902)
Chicago, IL: McDonnell Bros, 1866-1868
E468.7 G932 1866 oversize

Culled from the pages of Harper’s Weekly, the most popular magazine of its day, Harper’s Pictorial History of the Great Rebellion illustrated the chronology of the Civil War and a brief history of the United States with an emphasis on the causes of the war. Most of the copy was taken directly from issues of the magazine as it covered the war. Harper’s sent both reporters and artists with the troops. Nearly one thousand original engravings kept recent past in memory: battle scenes, camps, marches, soldier life, portraits of officers, and maps. Artists such as Thomas Nast and Winslow Homer contributed to the magazine. Editors Alfred H. Guernsey and Henry M. Alden worked to compile and publish a definitive history of the war, using their own magazine as their main source, adding unpublished information as well. The Chicago edition was issued contemporaneously with the New York first edition, using the same sheets.