The Photographer of the Confederacy

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BY CONLEY L. EDWARDS III

In an attempt to explain why he undertook the task of battlefield photography during the Civil War, Mathew Brady said, “I felt I had to go, a spirit in my feet said go, and I went.” The modern student of the Civil War indeed owes a great debt of gratitude to the spirit that moved Brady to overcome the complexities of his equipment, the necessity for a portable darkroom, and the great expense involved in photographically recording the first modern war.

The sheer volume of Brady’s work, in addition to the excellence of his photographs, has made his work overshadow that of some of his contemporaries, especially his Southern counterparts. Only recently has attention been given to Southern photographers such as S. R. Seibert of Charleston, Edwards of New Orleans, Vannerson and Miley and camera-spy S. B. Lytle of Baton Rouge. Almost forgotten is the fact that in 1851, when Brady left the United States to travel in Europe, he turned over management of his New York gallery to a Southern photographer, George S. Cook of Charleston, South Carolina. Once the Civil War started, Cook became “the photographer of the Confederacy,” producing photographs that rivaled Brady’s in their excellence.

An orphaned George Smith Cook, born in Stratford, Connecticut in 1819, had gone south at the age of 14. Travelling down the Mississippi, he eventually settled in New Orleans where he was introduced to the newly developed process of daguerreotype photography and quickly established a prosperous business. Cook also attempted to establish an art gallery in New Orleans to display the works of American and European painters, but his plans for the gallery never materialized; by 1845 he was travelling through the South establishing daguerreotype galleries and spreading photography inland.

By 1849 Cook had settled in the port city of Charleston and established himself as a master of his photographic craft. Two years later, when Brady asked him to manage his New York gallery, Cook took the opportunity and subsequently opened a gallery of his own in New York. When Brady returned in the spring of 1852, Cook closed his New York gallery and returned to Charleston, but he later opened galleries in Chicago (1857) and Philadelphia (1858). As the possibility of civil war approached, Cook relinquished his northern enterprises and concentrated on events in Charleston.

The city was a center of secessionist activity and national attention was focused upon it and the small garrison manning the defenses in Charleston Harbor. Cook was kept busy taking photographs in ambrotype and producing cartes-de-viste, or card photographs, of military men anxious for mementos to send their families. As tensions increased, Cook was urged by photographic supplier Thomas Faris to obtain pictures of the principals involved. Cook responded in February 1861 by going to Fort Sumter and taking photographs of Major Robert Anderson and his staff. Cook sold the negatives to Faris and E. Anthony in New York for twenty-five dollars. Anthony shortly announced, “MAJOR ANDERSON TAKEN!’ and offered Cook’s photograph for sale in carte-de-viste form for twenty-five cents. The Charleston photographer himself sold twelve copies of the Anderson photograph the following month and sent copies as far away as Kentucky, Anderson’s native state.

Meanwhile, tension in Charleston grew as Major Anderson strengthened the defenses at Sumter and the military authorities of South Carolina took possession of Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie and made demands for Anderson to evacuate Sumter. Finally, on April 12, 1861 George Cook wrote in his business diary, “Shut up. War, war, war,” and in the margin noted, “Firing comm’d at Forts 20 to 5 oclock, at Fort Sumter 7 am.” On the following day the photographer wrote, “War. Still firing. Ships also. Fort Surrendered.”

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