TunnelHill

TUNNEL HILL

For a little history of the 35th click here click here.

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Battle of Tunnel Hill, GA Sept. 2002

United Confederate Veterans Reunion in Supply North Carolina

submitted by Ken Sumner

School Day 9-6-02

Our medical people instructing a group of school children at Tunnel Hill School day.

Ladies Tea 9-7-02

"The Vacant Chair" or "We Shall Meet But We Shall Miss Him" (1861)
(Thanksgiving, 1861)
Words by Henry S. Washburn
Music by George Frederick Root

1.
We shall meet, but we shall miss him
There will be one vacant chair;
We shall linger to caress him
While we breathe our evening prayer.
When a year ago we gathered,
Joy was in his mild blue eye,
But a golden cord is severed,
And our hopes in ruin lie.

CHORUS
We shall meet, but we shall miss him,
There will be one vacant chair;
We shall linger to caress him
When we breathe our evening prayer.

2.
At our fireside, sad and lonely,
Often will the bosom swell
At remembrance of the story
How our noble Willie fell;
How he strove to bear the banner
Thro' the thickest of the fight,
And uphold our country's honor,
In the strength of manhood's might.

(CHORUS)

3.
True they tell us wreaths of glory
Evermore will deck his brow,
But this soothes the anguish only,
Sweeping o'er our heartstrings now.
Sleep to[-]day, O early fallen,
In thy green and narrow bed,
Dirges from the pine and cypress
Mingle with the tears we shed.

(CHORUS)

"Wendel R. Decker, Vintage Images Studios, is a Wet Plate Artist or collodian Artist, who has spent 3 years in researching the techniques and process involved in the making of the Ambrotype or Wet Plate Images as were done in the 1860 to capture images of people of the times. These "new" inventions were largely a novelty then, as very few actually had any photographic evidence to exhibit of themselves or relatives, other than perhaps something from a newspaper they had cut out and this taken from a wood engraving or plate. Wendell's work has been that of the traveling Wet Plate Artist traveling with the Armies of 1860 and capturing the images of these men and yes even the families who follow the Armies. His work is of the scale and achievement of Gardner and Brady, no less in artistic merit. Wendell's motto is that " I am here to take you home" ( and it should be a lasting image..."good", as Wendell states, "for 300 years") is aptly shown in any work that he finally "allows" his customer to take back with him, as I have seen him destroy as many as 3 plates before having one that is sufficiently good to pass along to his paying customer. The skill and dedication to presenting you with the image as you would have received it in 1861-65 were you to sit for him then is a most pleasing experience. A skilled craftsman and artist, Wendell Decker can be contacted for special works at : Vintage Images Studios Telephone: 270-793-9724. His Glass Plates are taken from old Kentucky homes that have been torn down and the glass is perhaps 100 or more years old, thus the Ambrotype Image will be contain upon glass that may show slight blemish, as would that of the Ante-Bellum era. Wendell's work is truly that of an Artist and comes in 3 sizes, at a reasonable rate, between $30-$50 depending upon the size of the glass plate (these prices are those of 1999 and you should determine the costs for the present, as expenses for chemicals do affect this). Wendell Decker is the Ambrotype Artist for the 35th Tennessee, The Battle of Tunnel Hill Georgia.