When I first looked at this picture, my brain processed the light shining through the trees, and the blurred branches as plumes of smoke.

Dad always taught me to try to frame nature shots with trees acting as natural frames but this is kinda ridiculous!

[The pine boughs are part of a brush arbor -- a shelter made of tree limbs. - Dave]

Military telegraphers were usually civilians, so no uniforms. The Major is fitting in nicely with his crew. Straw hats were frequently worn by soldiers and sailors during hot months and sold by sutlers. When Custer marched to his doom 12 years later many were wearing shoddily made straw hats that fell apart.

Easy to see the straw hats on the three gents to the left morphing into the Boater that became popular 20 or so years later.

This reminds me of the South Park episode where they take photos for an album cover and everyone looks purposefully in a different direction. Except the lead singer. So the two in the middle must be the lead singers, with the one guy to the right trying to creep up on their territory. The guy walking away is the eccentric drummer.

In the I.T. department. Apparently lax dress codes are an old tradition for techies.

What in tarnation, the camera is over here!