George Barnard was an expert in stereography, a form of 3-D photography very popular during the 1860s. Two separate photographs of the same scene were printed on a card which were inserted into a device called a stereoscope. When a person held the stereoscope up to his eyes, a simple optical illusion merged the two photos together in his mind, giving the illusion he was looking out a window onto a real, three dimensional scene.

Many of the photographs Barnard took in Atlanta were stereographs, but the scarcity of 19th Century technology makes viewing them as they were

intended difficult, especially on a computer screen. However, an innovative guy named Joshua Heineman has discovered how to do this. Using old stereographs he found at the New York Public Library, he created a simple method of using Persistence of Vision to allow people to see these stereographs even without a stereoscope.

I have adapted Heineman's technique to Barnard's photographs below. The result is pretty awesome, even if the pictures are a little jerky. The effect, which is more pronounced in some photos than in others, is almost like taking a video camera into the past.

 
Whitehall Street (now Peachtree Street), from the intersection of Alabama Street, looking northward into Five Points
From the middle of Whitehall Street, looking northeasterly toward the intersection of Decatur and Loyd Streets, now Central Avenue.
Another view from the middle of Whitehall Street, centering on the offices of the Atlanta Daily Intelligencer newspaper
The T.R. Ripley Crockery store on Whitehall Street was located over the offices of the Thomas Frazer auction house.This is now the site of the Five Points MARTA station
Northward from the Railroad Gulch into Five Points, looking to the modern-day intersection of Marietta and Peachtree streets
Southward along Whitehall Street from the Alabama Street intersection
Eastward along Alabama Street from the Whitehall Street intersection
Decatur Street looking west into Five Points. Georgia State University now occupies most of the space where these buildings stood.
From Loyd Street (now Central Avenue) looking onto Decatur Street. Federal troops have built small shacks inside the old City Park to the left.
From inside the Georgia Railroad freightyard looking westward into the Central Business District and along the Railroad Gulch.
From inside the Georgia Railroad freightyard looking into the center of the city. None of these buildings were left standing after the Federal occupation.
Another view from the rail yard, this time focusing on the Macon and Western Depot, which stood across from the 100 X 300 - foot Union Station, commonly called the "Car Shed."
Looking back toward the same vantage point as in the above photos, this time from a point west of Whitehall Street.
The Western & Atlantic Railroad Roundhouse and other facilities, located west of downtown near the present-day Federal Building.
The ruins of the Car Shed after demolition by Sherman's troops. The view is near today's intersection of Central Avenue and Wall Street, looking toward Peachtree Street.
Soldiers break up the tracks of the Western & Atlantic Railroad northwest of the central city.
Gen. William T. Sherman made the house on the left his headquarters. It was located across from the present-day state Capitol.
Federal troops stand outside the former headquarters of Confederat Gen. John B. Hood south of the main city.