Inauguration of James Buchanan (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Montgomery C. Meigs (1816-1892), the supervisory engineer of the Capitol expansion and the future quartermaster general of the Union Army, pasted the first-known photograph of an inauguration beside his journal entry for March 4, 1857. Photographer John Wood experimented with the photographic process in anticipation of documenting James Buchanan's (1791-1868) inauguration. Meigs wrote: "Wood has been trying some photography process of great speed for the purpose of taking a view of the inauguration. He made a view of the front of the Capitol in which the figures are, many of them, quite distinct. It took about 4 seconds."