Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 3/8 x 4 card. Prominent view of a gatling gun on carriage in the foreground. In the background can be seen banners, Welcome To The Brave! 9th Army Corps, American flags, battle honors, etc. Backmark: W.C. North, Photographer, Utica, N.Y., with vignette of building and waving American flag. Tiny chip at the left edge of photographic print. Light age toning. Very fine. Very rare, Civil War period photograph of a gatling gun. I believe this image was taken at one of the 1864 Sanitary Commission Fairs.

Dr. Richard J. Gatling, an American inventor, designed this rapid fire gun in 1861. It was patented in 1862, and was named, "The Gatling Gun," after its inventor. It became the best known rapid fire weapon of it's era, and was first tested by the Union army during the Civil War. It was officially accepted into the arsenal of the U.S. Army in 1866.