Image: ExplodingShellATFortSumter1863

Description: Photo of a John R. Key painting, based on three half stereos taken by George S. Cook inside Fort Sumter on Sept. 8, 1863 and published in The Photographic History of The Civil War (1911). Note: The famous "exploding shell" photo falsely attributed to George Smith Cook is in reality a painting by C.S.A. Lt. John R. Key, based on three half stereos taken by Cook inside Fort Sumter on Sept. 8, 1863. Noted Civil War photo historian and author Bob Zeller of the Center for Civil War photography personally inspected the negative, which is the source for all known "exploding shell" prints, and is archived at the Valentine Richmond History Center. The negative had been carefully masked to show the Key painting only and not the parlor table it sat on, nor the the three chairs behind it. Francis Miller's experts, in compiling The Photographic History of The Civil War, had obviously overlooked the fact that no camera of the time was capable of taking the wide angle depicted.
Title: ExplodingShellATFortSumter1863
Credit: File from The Photographic History of The Civil War in Ten Volumes: Volume One, The Opening Battles. The Review of Reviews Co., New York. 1911. p. 100.
Author: John Ross Key
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No