Here’s an odd thing: The Library of Congress holds a pair of 1864 photographs of Civil War soldiers participating in a cockfight, while an officer reads a copy of the Atlantic Monthly. Talk about your high and your low. From Garry Adelman at, of course, the Atlantic:

“As the siege was getting under way, [Timothy] O’Sullivan and [David] Knox took two photos of a cock fight about to begin. Here, Union General Orlando B. Willcox (seated, center) and his staff gather around to watch as camp servants prepare to release the fowl for a fight to the death. Two of the soldiers hold small whips. Alcohol and cigars round out the brutal but genteel scene. A young soldier smiles broadly—a rare occurrence in Civil War photographs.

By zooming into the original glass plate negatives, another refinement emerges: Staff officer Levi C. Brackett, serving on General Willcox’s staff, is displaying a copy of The Atlantic in both cock-fighting photos. It is the latest issue: July 1864.“