1864 Everett Bird's-Eye Civil War View of Point Lookout, Maryland

This is an 1864 George Everett chromolithograph bird's-eye view of Point Lookout, Maryland, at the height of the American Civil War (1861 - 1865). Point Lookout was home to the Hammond General Hospital (illustrated here in the foreground) and a notorious Prisoner of War camp.

A Closer Look

Hammond Hospital appears in the foreground next to the lighthouse. The patient wards were arranged in a circle around the central buildings, resembling the spokes of a wheel. A chapel, 'half diet' kitchen, baggage room, and library/reading room occupied the center. The main or 'full diet' kitchen and dining room appear below and to the left of the 'wheel' (No. 2) and were connected to the hospital via a covered walkway. Sixty-three locations throughout are numerically identified (including the hospital wards and the other related buildings) and correspond with an index below the bottom border. Among these are the laundry, the bakery, camps of regiments based at Point Lookout, the quarters of the commanding officers of these units, and the Confederate prisoner of war camp. Perhaps the most jarring of the identified locations is the 'dead house' (morgue).

A Short History of Point Lookout

Situated at the point where the Potomac River enters the Chesapeake Bay, the history of Point Lookout begins with the construction of a lighthouse in 1830. A seaside resort opened in 1859, the remains of which appear here. During the war, the hotel and its bungalows housed officers. The U.S. government rented the land from the resort owner in July 1862 and Hammond General Hospital received its first patients on August 17, 1862. The first Confederate prisoners were confined on the hospital grounds in early 1863 after being accused of aiding and abetting the Confederacy. The prisoner of war depot was established following the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 and was designed to house 10,000 prisoners. Initially, it covered 1,000 square feet but was soon expanded. 4,000 prisoners were at Point Lookout by September, but the prison reached its highest population in June 1864, around when this view was made, with some 20,000 prisoners. Living conditions at Point Lookout were as notorious as any other Civil War prisoner of war camp. Confederate prisoners were housed in tents deemed unfit for Union soldiers. Insufficient blankets and inadequate clothing compounded the problems. Many of the 4,000 prisoners who died at Point Lookout froze to death, but sanitary conditions were also abysmal, and disease also took a toll - especially due to the many nearby swamps. After the war, the owner attempted to reopen the hotel and bathing resort, but the horrific memories of the prison camp (the hospital was mostly forgotten) discouraged recreation. However, as time passed and memory faded, the hotel's popularity rebounded, until it burned around 1878. A Coast Guard station opened in 1908 and was repeatedly damaged by storms and ice. It ceased operation in 1937 and was abandoned in 1948. The state of Maryland bought nearly 500 acres of Point Lookout in 1962 and eventually built a museum. A national cemetery on the point is the final resting place of 3,389 Confederate dead.

Chromolithography

Chromolithography, sometimes called oleography, is a color lithographic technique developed in the mid-19th century. The process involved using multiple lithographic stones, one for each color, to yield a rich composite effect. Oftentimes, the process would start with a black basecoat upon which subsequent colors were layered. Some chromolithographs used 30 or more separate lithographic stones to achieve the desired product. Chromolithograph color could also be effectively blended for even more dramatic results. The process became extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when it emerged as the dominant method of color printing. The vivid color chromolithography produced made it exceptionally effective for advertising and propaganda imagery.

Publication History and Census

This map was created and published by George Everett in 1864 and lithographed by Edward Sachse. Two states of this view exist. One includes an inset view of Headquarters of the General Commanding St. Mary's District in the upper left corner. The other (of which the presently offered example is representative) does not include the inset. The publication information is identical on both, as is the index below the view, making it extremely difficult to know which state came first. We know of a single cataloged example of the present edition, part of the collection of the H. Furlong Baldwin Library at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. We note one other instance when the present state has appeared on the private market.