PAPER TRAIL

his is the story of two items found in the collections of the Library of Congress. One is a photograph taken by the most famous of Civil War–era portrait-makers; the other is a page from an obscure newspaper that now likely exists only on microfilm. Together, they help tell a tiny piece of the story of what was happening at an Army of the Potomac general’s headquarters on a warm June 1864 Sunday. The photograph in question is officially called LC-B811-2433, or “Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside (reading newspaper) with Mathew B. Brady (nearest tree) at Army of the Potomac headquarters.” The photograph was taken at the very end of the notorious May 31- June 12 Battle of Cold Harbor during the Overland Campaign, when Maj. Gen. Burnside was in command of the 9th Corps. In the view, General Burnside is shown with several of his staff members as well as Brady, sitting facing