The old hero of Gettysburg

1863 photo of John L. Burns, War of 1812 veteran and sharpshooter in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Burns, born ca. 1793, was a 70-year-old veteran of the War of 1812 when he was wounded in the Battle of Gettysburg, having volunteered his services as a sharpshooter to the Federal Army. He died of pneumonia in 1872.

And from the comments:

Mr Burns' flintlock is at half-cock with the frizzen down, ready to ready to fire.

Has Abe Lincoln been discovered in the

Has Abe Lincoln been discovered in the background of a pair of photographs taken right before the Gettysburg Address?

The new photos are enlarged details from much wider crowd shots; they were discovered by a Civil War hobbyist earlier this year in the vast trove of Library of Congress photographs digitized since 2000, and provided to USA Today. They show a figure believed to be Lincoln, white-gloved and in his trademark stovepipe hat, in a military procession.

The funny thing is, if you look at a similar photograph of Lincoln taken shortly after his speech, there are at least three men seated around him who are wearing stovepipe hats. The photographic evidence alone is not compelling. "Paging Errol Morris. Would Errol Morris please come to the information desk. Thank you."

Timelapse video of a map showing Civil

Timelapse video of a map showing Civil War battles and movements...four years of war in four minutes. The video was produced by Harvest Moon Studio for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

A wonderful collection of 19th century shipping

A wonderful collection of 19th century shipping posters on Flickr. (via quipsologies)

Update: That Flickr user also has several other interesting sets of images to look at, including book covers, typography of The Electric Company, Soviet children's books, and Civil War posters.

Over 1,000 photos and carte de visites of

Over 1,000 photos and carte de visites of the Civil War. (What's a carte de visite?)