Rebel Sharp Shooter, 2004

Ink print, 16 x 22 finished to 23.25 x 28.25 inches. Private collection.

Alexander Gardner made one of the best-known and most infamous Civil War era photographs on July 4, 1863, Home
of a Rebel Sharpshooter. It was not until the mid-1970s that it was discovered that Garner had moved the corpse in
the photograph and arranged a “prop” rifle to create a composition more to his liking. Garner claimed that he returned
to the site on November 19th where he found “the musket rusted by many storms, still against the rock and the
skeleton of the soldier still lay undisturbed within the moldering uniform.” Not likely, but he claimed to have taken the
rifle as a souvenir on that day. It is one of the first documented instances of manipulating the “reality” of what was
taken to be the truth.