Three Doors Above Ford's Theatre - the Shop of Otto Kosack - Union Veteran and Manufacturer of Artificial Legs - Circa 1872
3D red/cyan anaglyph created from two non-matching glass plates at the Library of Congress. This is a new cropped version with increased depth over my 2019 posting; I've reworked some of the shadows and other shading to attempt a better match between the left and right images. The two images were taken maybe an hour or so apart from the same camera location, but due to all the street activity, etc., they do not match up well, and were never intended to be utilized as a stereoscopic pair.
This image was restored and used as the right side image: "Old Ford's Theatre, 10th St. N.W., Washington D.C. (where Lincoln was shot)": www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017897854/
This image was restored and editing done in Photoshop (e.g. people or objects added, removed, or moved about, etc.) to make a matching left side image: "Ford's Theatre, Wash., D.C.": www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017897853/
Date: From reviewing D.C. city directories for the addresses in the photo, the likely date range is 1872 - 1876. Property deeds indicate that Otto Kosack had just purchased this property in 1871 and so he would need time to construct this brick building and fit-out his shop. By the time the 1877 directory is compiled (late 1876?) and published, 517 10th St. is no longer the Philadelphia Dye House - it's listed as a Florist shop and greenhouse.
Photographer: Mathew B. Brady (1823 - 1896)
Notes: This is the shop of Otto Kosack, Union Civil War veteran, at 521 10th St., NW, three doors above Ford’s Theatre, which by 1872, was home to the Record and Pension Division and Army Medical Museum. On the store front window of Otto's shop are depictions of two artificial legs, each surrounded by lettering, which can be partially made out as: “O. Kosack _????_ of Jewett’s Patent Legs.” As indicated above, this brick building did not exist at the time of Lincoln's assassination, and close inspection of 1865 photographs show that the lot was then occupied by a wooden structure, similar to the one at the extreme left. Note, however, that the two buildings between Otto's shop and Ford's theatre were here on April 14, 1865, and seven or so years later, appear virtually unchanged. The Philadelphia Dye House, just to the left of Ford's, was the Greenback Saloon in 1865, and often visited by John Wilkes Booth.
Otto Kosack was born in Prussia on August 10, 1837, and around age twenty-one, he immigrated to the U.S., along with his mother, two sisters, and three brothers, sometime in 1858 (according to his brother Leo's obituary). NARA index cards indicate that three of the four brothers, Otto, Edward, and Frederick, enlisted in the Union army, all three in Co. K, 2nd Maryland Infantry. According to his compiled service record, Otto enlisted at Camp Carroll on August 24, 1861, and was mustered into service as sergeant on September 18, 1861, to serve 3 years. He is described by his papers as being 5 feet 6 inches tall, with light complexion, grey eyes, and blonde hair.
One year and three months later, on December 13, 1862, at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Otto's left leg was struck by an artillery shell, and within 10 minutes the lower half was amputated, presumably in a near-by field hospital. Otto was transported to Douglas Hospital in Washington, D.C., for treatment, where infection would set in; see the Civil War era watercolor illustrating his condition, and the medical report regarding his case, in my next Flickr posting.
Just a couple weeks before Otto was wounded, the N.Y. Times of November 29, 1862, carried an article stating that, “a board of surgeons has recommended to the Medical Department the use, for the mutilated soldiers, of the artificial legs manufactured by the different makers, PALMER, JEWETT, HUDSON, SELPHO and BLY.” According to the article, the Surgeon General then issued instructions as to which manufacturer was to be used in which city, and the specific hospital where the legs were to be made available. The article further states that, “the price paid to the manufacturers for these limbs is $50 each.” In Washington, D.C., the manufacturer selected was B.W. Jewett, and the hospital selected was St. Elizabeth's Hospital.
Otto survived his ordeal at Douglas Hospital, and on May 4, 1863, was transferred to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital where he would obtain an artificial leg. According to the medical report, "This man was seen several months after walking with great ease on his artificial leg." On June 16, 1864, at Washington, D.C., Otto was discharged from service, with a surgeon's "Certificate of Disability for Discharge," a copy of which can be seen online at NARA's website.
After the war, D.C. city directories indicate that Otto was engaged in cabinet making, and eventually, he and two brothers in the making of Jewett’s artificial legs. Otto purchased the property at 521 10th St., in January 1871, where he constructed this shop. The Boyd's D.C. directory for 1872 is the first one with a full advertisement showing Otto as open for business at this location. The advertisement in Boyd's 1872 D.C Directory: "Otto Kosack, Manufacturer of Jewett's Patent Leg, 521 10th st., bet. E and F nw, Near Medical Museum, Washington D.C. Artificial legs of the most approved pattern, combining strength, lightness and perfect finish, furnished on short notice."
By 1877, Boyd's Directory lists the three brothers as all residing or working at 521 10th Street - but time was running out for Otto Kosack, and after six years at this address, he died later that year. I've not yet been able to find his cause of death. From his obituary in the National Republican of October 2, 1877: "On Monday morning, October 1, at 8:30 o'clock, Otto Kosack, born in Prussia, August 10, 1837, aged forty-one years, one month and twenty-one days....funeral will take place at his brother's residence...." Note, there seems to be an arithmetic issue here, as Otto would have been only 40 years of age based on those dates. After Otto's death, his brother Edward took over the artificial limb business, which remained at this location until around the turn of the century.
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Link to 1863 watercolor of Otto's leg and the 1864 report on his medical case: www.flickr.com/photos/110677094@N05/53788679093/in/photos...
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Red/Cyan (not red/blue) glasses of the proper density must be used to view 3D effect without ghosting. Anaglyph prepared using red cyan glasses from The Center For Civil War Photography / Civil War Trust.
Three Doors Above Ford's Theatre - the Shop of Otto Kosack - Union Veteran and Manufacturer of Artificial Legs - Circa 1872
3D red/cyan anaglyph created from two non-matching glass plates at the Library of Congress. This is a new cropped version with increased depth over my 2019 posting; I've reworked some of the shadows and other shading to attempt a better match between the left and right images. The two images were taken maybe an hour or so apart from the same camera location, but due to all the street activity, etc., they do not match up well, and were never intended to be utilized as a stereoscopic pair.
This image was restored and used as the right side image: "Old Ford's Theatre, 10th St. N.W., Washington D.C. (where Lincoln was shot)": www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017897854/
This image was restored and editing done in Photoshop (e.g. people or objects added, removed, or moved about, etc.) to make a matching left side image: "Ford's Theatre, Wash., D.C.": www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017897853/
Date: From reviewing D.C. city directories for the addresses in the photo, the likely date range is 1872 - 1876. Property deeds indicate that Otto Kosack had just purchased this property in 1871 and so he would need time to construct this brick building and fit-out his shop. By the time the 1877 directory is compiled (late 1876?) and published, 517 10th St. is no longer the Philadelphia Dye House - it's listed as a Florist shop and greenhouse.
Photographer: Mathew B. Brady (1823 - 1896)
Notes: This is the shop of Otto Kosack, Union Civil War veteran, at 521 10th St., NW, three doors above Ford’s Theatre, which by 1872, was home to the Record and Pension Division and Army Medical Museum. On the store front window of Otto's shop are depictions of two artificial legs, each surrounded by lettering, which can be partially made out as: “O. Kosack _????_ of Jewett’s Patent Legs.” As indicated above, this brick building did not exist at the time of Lincoln's assassination, and close inspection of 1865 photographs show that the lot was then occupied by a wooden structure, similar to the one at the extreme left. Note, however, that the two buildings between Otto's shop and Ford's theatre were here on April 14, 1865, and seven or so years later, appear virtually unchanged. The Philadelphia Dye House, just to the left of Ford's, was the Greenback Saloon in 1865, and often visited by John Wilkes Booth.
Otto Kosack was born in Prussia on August 10, 1837, and around age twenty-one, he immigrated to the U.S., along with his mother, two sisters, and three brothers, sometime in 1858 (according to his brother Leo's obituary). NARA index cards indicate that three of the four brothers, Otto, Edward, and Frederick, enlisted in the Union army, all three in Co. K, 2nd Maryland Infantry. According to his compiled service record, Otto enlisted at Camp Carroll on August 24, 1861, and was mustered into service as sergeant on September 18, 1861, to serve 3 years. He is described by his papers as being 5 feet 6 inches tall, with light complexion, grey eyes, and blonde hair.
One year and three months later, on December 13, 1862, at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Otto's left leg was struck by an artillery shell, and within 10 minutes the lower half was amputated, presumably in a near-by field hospital. Otto was transported to Douglas Hospital in Washington, D.C., for treatment, where infection would set in; see the Civil War era watercolor illustrating his condition, and the medical report regarding his case, in my next Flickr posting.
Just a couple weeks before Otto was wounded, the N.Y. Times of November 29, 1862, carried an article stating that, “a board of surgeons has recommended to the Medical Department the use, for the mutilated soldiers, of the artificial legs manufactured by the different makers, PALMER, JEWETT, HUDSON, SELPHO and BLY.” According to the article, the Surgeon General then issued instructions as to which manufacturer was to be used in which city, and the specific hospital where the legs were to be made available. The article further states that, “the price paid to the manufacturers for these limbs is $50 each.” In Washington, D.C., the manufacturer selected was B.W. Jewett, and the hospital selected was St. Elizabeth's Hospital.
Otto survived his ordeal at Douglas Hospital, and on May 4, 1863, was transferred to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital where he would obtain an artificial leg. According to the medical report, "This man was seen several months after walking with great ease on his artificial leg." On June 16, 1864, at Washington, D.C., Otto was discharged from service, with a surgeon's "Certificate of Disability for Discharge," a copy of which can be seen online at NARA's website.
After the war, D.C. city directories indicate that Otto was engaged in cabinet making, and eventually, he and two brothers in the making of Jewett’s artificial legs. Otto purchased the property at 521 10th St., in January 1871, where he constructed this shop. The Boyd's D.C. directory for 1872 is the first one with a full advertisement showing Otto as open for business at this location. The advertisement in Boyd's 1872 D.C Directory: "Otto Kosack, Manufacturer of Jewett's Patent Leg, 521 10th st., bet. E and F nw, Near Medical Museum, Washington D.C. Artificial legs of the most approved pattern, combining strength, lightness and perfect finish, furnished on short notice."
By 1877, Boyd's Directory lists the three brothers as all residing or working at 521 10th Street - but time was running out for Otto Kosack, and after six years at this address, he died later that year. I've not yet been able to find his cause of death. From his obituary in the National Republican of October 2, 1877: "On Monday morning, October 1, at 8:30 o'clock, Otto Kosack, born in Prussia, August 10, 1837, aged forty-one years, one month and twenty-one days....funeral will take place at his brother's residence...." Note, there seems to be an arithmetic issue here, as Otto would have been only 40 years of age based on those dates. After Otto's death, his brother Edward took over the artificial limb business, which remained at this location until around the turn of the century.
--------------------------------------------------
Link to 1863 watercolor of Otto's leg and the 1864 report on his medical case: www.flickr.com/photos/110677094@N05/53788679093/in/photos...
-------------------------------------------------
Red/Cyan (not red/blue) glasses of the proper density must be used to view 3D effect without ghosting. Anaglyph prepared using red cyan glasses from The Center For Civil War Photography / Civil War Trust.