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Scarce early view of Baltimore, looking south from Washington Monument to the harbor, by Edward Sachse & Company. The former Calvert Street Station can be seen to the left of the obelisk and Baltimore Basilica to the right. Green pastures of the former Mount Clare Estate flank the southwest side of the city.
Edward Sachse & Company
Little is known about the founder of the company, German-born immigrant Edward Sachse. Born in Gorlitz, Germany in 1804, Edward Sachse arrived in the United States sometime around 1848. Already an established printer in his native country, he quickly found employment with lithographer E. Weber & Company. Within two years of arriving in Baltimore, he opened E. Sachse and Company, at 3 N. Liberty Street, in the recently completed Sun Iron Building. Joined by his brother Theodore, Edward soon established the company as one of the leading lithographic firms in the nation.
Edward Sachse apparently drew the majority of the prints published by his company. Some of the most famous were a series of views of Civil War era military campsites, barracks, and hospitals in Baltimore and Washington, DC. Sachse sold them cheaply for 25 cents a piece, primarily to soldiers as souvenirs. He often produced multiple versions of the same encampment as new regiments moved in and the tents, fortifications, and scenery were altered. The prints proved extremely popular-soldiers would mail the prints to their families back home with messages such as "X marks my tent" inscribed on them.
