Civil War Reenactment – Mock Execution

One of my favorite parts of photography is telling a story with my photographs.   Photographers have the ability to communicate emotions and drama through their photographs.  Telling a story with photographs helps to engage and captivate your viewers, and people are also attracted to photos that evoke emotions.

During a recent trip to a Civil War Reenactment at Hale Farm and Village in Bath, Ohio, I was able to capture a sequence of photos that tell a story.   Prior to the battlefield reenactment, the actors staged a mock execution of a Union girl that was charged and convicted of treason for kissing a Confederate.  It was fun to watch this drama unfold and even more fun to record it in my photos.  I converted the photos to black and white to align with the times and also to capture the mood of this performance.

Below is a sequence of images that captured the mock execution.  For more information on the Civil War Reenactment at Hale Farm and Village, visit my blog post on the topic.

The Prisoner Being Marched to the Trial in Shackles

Prisoner Defends Herself at the Trial

The Verdict is Guilty!  The Firing Squad Marches in.

The Prisoner is Blindfolded

Ready, Aim, Fire

The Firing Squad Sergeant Checks the Body

Related Blog Posts
Photographing the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg
Hale Farm and Village Civil War Reenactment
How to Photograph a Civil War Reenactment

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