9 x 7 in. albumen photograph on 16 x 12 1/4 in. mount (toning, occasional spotting to print; toning and corner/edge wear to mount). Mount recto with title, publication information, negative credit to O'Sullivan, and positive credit to Gardner printed below image. Accompanied by 16 x 12 1/4 in. page describing the scene, titled "Evacuation of Aquia Creek." The photograph captures Union transport vessels at the landing at Aquia Creek as Federal troops were withdrawn following the news of the Confederate advance into Pennsylvania by Lee’s army.

Published as Plate 33 in Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War.

Alexander Gardner (1821-1882) was one of the foremost photographers of the Civil War. Gardner was born in Scotland in 1821. In 1851, Gardner paid a visit to the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, New York, where he saw the photographs of Mathew Brady for the first time. In 1856, Gardner moved to New York and found employment with Mathew Brady as a photographer. In 1858, Brady put him in charge of the entire gallery. With the start of the Civil War in 1861, the demand for portrait photography increased, as soldiers on their way to the front posed for images to leave behind for their loved ones. Gardner became one of the top photographers in this field. After witnessing the battle at Manassas, Virginia, Brady decided that he wanted to make a photographic record of the war. Brady dispatched Gardner and other photographers to the field to record the images of the conflict. In November of 1861, Gardner was granted the rank of honorary Captain on the staff of General George McClellan. He made a number of photographs of the aftermath of America’s bloodiest day, the Battle of Antietam. Gardner went on to cover more of the war’s terrible battles, including Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the siege of Petersburg. He also took what is considered to be the last photograph of President Abraham Lincoln, just 5 days before his assassination. After the war, Brady established a gallery for Gardner in Washington, DC. In 1867, Gardner was appointed the official photographer of the Union Pacific Railroad, documenting the building of the railroad and the Native American tribes that he encountered. In 1871, Gardner gave up photography to start an insurance company. He lived in Washington until his death in 1882.