A touching photograph of Union amputees at Gettysburg is published in print for the first time. The young soldiers looked so vulnerable

Peter Weaver took this image at Camp Letterman (Courtesy Fred Sherfy Collection)

Even after 160 years, unpublished photographs associated with the Battle of Gettysburg occasionally come to light, including one depicting Federal amputees and other wounded recovering at a hospital.

The Center for Civil War Photography and the Adams County Historical Society on Sunday evening unveiled a compelling image made by Peter Weaver at Camp Letterman, a military hospital that operated for several months outside Gettysburg.

The scene is a mix of wounded soldiers with civilians in front of a large tent. In the center, an older man places his hands on a young man and woman.

“My sense is that that man touching the two heads could very well be the father,” renowned Civil War photography expert William A. Frassanito told the crowd at a battle anniversary event at the society’s new “Beyond the Battle” museum in Gettysburg.

“He is touching the son and then the wife. It is not just happenstance, he just happened to be there. The young soldier, he is so very young, I don’t recall ever seeing a photograph with such a touching, almost family type connection with it,” said Frassanito.

The photograph was likely taken by Weaver in October or November 1863, a few months after the battle. The Center for Civil War Photography has published the image for the first time on the printed page in the new issue it historical journal “Battlefield Photographer.”

Copies were made available for the audience and they were given 3D glasses to view it and other Weaver photos in the issue. (About 70 percent of photos taken during the conflict were in 3D).

Fred Sherfy, whose family managed the Peach Orchard, the scene of furious fighting during the Battle of Gettysburg, obtained the albumen print and others from a collection in Hanover, Pa., where Weaver had a studio.

Weaver took about 75 photos after the battle at Camp Letterman and other locations. There are other known photos taken by other artists of the wounded at the hospital that treated thousands of soldiers from both sides.

Sherfy found eight Weaver prints wrapped in newspapers while going through a box, said Bob Zeller, president and co-founder of the CCWP. Three, including “A few of the Wounded,” had not been seen before. Sherfy is a member of the CCWP.

Camp Letterman operated for several months in 1863 (Library of Congress)

American Battlefield Trust chief historian Garry Adelman, a Gettysburg licensed battlefield guide and vice president of CCWP, told the large crowd, “I remain astounded that we continue to find images that haven’t been seen on the printed page.”

“I have never seen a photo with so many young wounded in it. Look at these kids,” Adelman said, adding their identities and circumstances are unknown.

In a press release about the unveiling of the Weaver image, Adelman says:

“This is a photograph that allows you to step back into the moment and be able to see soldiers who are vulnerable in a way that no other photo from Camp Letterman seems to show. In that sense, it is one of the most striking and emotional of all of the photographs at Gettysburg.”