Rear entrance of Fort Corcoran atop Arlington Heights, Virginia, winter c.1862 (b/w photo)

Union officers and soldiers posing at the sally-port or rear entrance of Fort Corcoran, atop Arlington Heights, Virginia, possibly during the winter of 1861-62 or 1862-63; note the wooden palisades with gun-slits, as well as the felled tree-branches forming a defensive tangle called an “abatis.” The contingent on guard-duty are standing at attention with fixed bayonets, while other soldiers lounge nearby; the weather seems damp and cold. The colourfully-attired civilian smoking a cheroot at right, was most likely the “whiskey man” — a fixer who hovered outside most military bases to sell goods (both licit and illicit) to the soldiery. This image has been enhanced by combining its stereographic pair of wet-collodion glass negatives into a single extra-wide photograph, as well as being cleaned and repaired