The Last Parade: Cameras captured the pomp and circumstance in New York City on July 4, 1860. Nine months later, the Civil War began

By Ron Field

Photographer Edward Anthony and his assistants set out from their Broadway studio in New York City on the morning of July 4, 1860, with a grand purpose. Anthony planned to turn his lens on the New York State Militia as it marched from Broadway to City Hall Park as part of the Independence Day parade.

MYSTERY MAN: This individual appears in six of the nine stereoviews. He may be photographer Edward Anthony. — **MYSTERY MAN:** This individual appears in six of the nine stereoviews. He may be photographer Edward Anthony.

CLASSIC NEW YORK MILITIAMAN: The dress uniform worn by Sgt. Edwin W. Finley of the 71st State Militia in this portrait represents the city’s militia style circa 1860. He wears a dark blue frock coat with sky blue collar and cuffs trimmed with black cord and gold lace, and white epaulets with light blue worsted crescents. His cap features a sunburst plate with the number 71 at its center. Finley went on to participate in the Gettysburg emergency and Draft Riots as first lieutenant of Company E. After the war he settled in Avon, N.J., where he died in 1900 at age 63. Albumen print by an anonymous photographer. Collection of the late Michael J. McAfee. — **CLASSIC NEW YORK MILITIAMAN:** The dress uniform worn by Sgt. Edwin W. Finley of the 71st State Militia in this portrait represents the city’s militia style circa 1860. He wears a dark blue frock coat with sky blue collar and cuffs trimmed with black cord and gold lace, and white epaulets with light blue worsted crescents. His cap features a sunburst plate with the number 71 at its center. Finley went on to participate in the Gettysburg emergency and Draft Riots as first lieutenant of Company E. After the war he settled in Avon, N.J., where he died in 1900 at age 63. Albumen print by an anonymous photographer. Collection of the late Michael J. McAfee.

Anthony selected stereoscopic cameras able to capture movement using quick exposure shutters. The resulting “instantaneous views,” as they became known, were celebrated in the U.S. and Europe.

Anthony placed his cameras in two locations. A study of period maps suggest that one must have been placed in an upper story window of the New York Times offices. From this vantage point, citizen soldiers entered Center Street from Chambers Street, and then turned right into City Hall Park, where they marched past Mayor Fernando Wood with a salute. Seven of the nine images shown were taken here. Six images picture a man in the foreground dressed in a dark frock coat, light pants and straw hat. The figure in question may be Edward Anthony, who, like Mathew B. Brady, James F. Gibson and George N. Barnard during the Civil War, inserted themselves into the scene.

The other two images originate from a camera possibly placed on a first floor windowsill, or on a temporary platform or scaffold, outside the warerooms of Kirtland, Bronson & Co., manufacturers and jobbers of clothing at Nos. 45 and 47 Chambers Street.

Throngs of parade-goers added to the excitement. The New York Herald reported, “Early in the morning the air reverberated with the strains of martial music attending the various military companies and regiments … As the troops pursued the route of march, the sidewalks and door stoops, the windows of private houses and stores, from the first floors to the roofs, contained all classes and conditions of spectators … and this, added to the good order preserved by the police, made the affair a very grand scene.”

Against this backdrop, Anthony and his team produced a landmark series of photos of the four brigades of the First Division. The stereoviews provide a fascinating glimpse of antebellum life in New York City, and illustrate the powerful support that existed among the population for its citizen soldiery.

These images also documented soldiers, many of whom in less than a year’s time answered the call to defend the Union with the eruption of the Civil War. The units included hussars, kilted highlanders, artillerists, and the elite National Guard of the 7th New York State Militia.

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