Photography and photographers of the American Civil War
Encyclopedia
There were a good number of battles and other scenes of the American Civil War, and collectively they have provided the world with a visual first hand account of this otherwise fleeting period in American history. The American Civil War
(1861–1865) was the fourth war
in history to be caught on camera
. The first Mexican-American War (1846–1848), the Crimean War
(1854–1856), and the Indian Rebellion of 1857
.
Mathew B. Brady, a son of Irish
immigrants, was born in 1823 in Warren County, New York. Brady can be viewed as the father of photojournalism
. He was the most prominent photographer of the Civil War because of his commitment and mastery of his job. He mastered the art when he was in his 20s. Brady would later spend his own accumulated earnings to take pictures of the war. In 1844, Brady opened a private studio
in New York City
displaying photographs of famous Americans. He himself said, "From the first, I regarded myself as under obligation to my country to preserve the faces of its historic men and mothers."
At the beginning of the war in 1861, Mathew Brady organized his employees into groups, in order to spread them across the country, and to get work. Brady provided carriages, which were rolling darkrooms (to develop the photographic plates into pictures), to all his parties at his own personal expense. The total cost was about $100,000. The First Battle of Bull Run
provided the initial opportunity to photograph an engagement between opposing armies. Brady was very calm during battle, as can be seen from Lt. J. A. Gardner's notes:
Brady was almost killed at Bull Run and in the confusion got lost for three days, eventually making his way to Washington nearly dead from starvation.
Brady recorded more than just photographs. Commentaries found in his traveling journal are used by historians studying the war in detail. One of his commentaries recorded an event that would otherwise have been lost to history. On the night before a battle, Brady heard when the silence was broken as a Confederate soldier across the field began singing patriotic songs. Soon, a second voice was heard, followed by more voices. In no time at all, both armies were singing together in a spirit of common fellowship. Yet, they still attacked each other in the morning.
After the war, Brady went bankrupt and was forced to live off his friends' generosity. The government bought his collection of 5,712 plates for $25,000, rather than the much higher $125,000 he asked. He once said that long after his death, his work will be appreciated. Some familiar with Brady's efforts feel that he was as much a hero as the soldiers who fought. He died in 1896, in poverty and isolation.
Another important photographer of the Civil War was Alexander Gardner
(October 17, 1821 – 1882), Brady's colleague. Gardner was born in Paisley
, Scotland
, in 1821. He became an apprentice silversmith jeweler at the age of fourteen. In his youth, Gardner found out that his interests and talents lay in photography and journalism
, not jewelry. So, as a committed socialist
, Gardner published pamphlets promoting emigration to a colony called Clydesdale in the wilderness of Iowa
. Gardner persuaded many of his friends and relatives to settle in this semi-socialist "Utopia." He intended to join them but, because of an epidemic
in the settlement, never did. In 1856, Brady invited, and paid, Gardner to come to New York to work for him. When the war began, Gardner was made the official photographer of the Union
armies. He took one of the most renowned pictures of the war, which he named "Home of the Rebel Sharpshooter."
In November 1861 Gardner was appointed to the staff of General George McClellan, the commander of the Army of the Potomac. He was given the honorary rank of captain and in this capacity photographed the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and the siege of Petersburg.
Gardner also photographed Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Michael O'Laughlin, Edman Spangler and Samuel Arnold who were arrested for conspiring to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. He also took photographs of the execution of Surratt, Powell, Atzerodt and Herold were hanged at Washington Penitentiary on 7 July 1865. Four months later he photographed the execution of Henry Wirz, commanding officer at the infamous Andersonville Prisoner of War camp in Georgia.
For a brief time following the war, Gardner worked for the Washington police force taking photographs of convicted criminals and eventually, according to some, became Lincoln
's favorite photographer. Gardner was known as quiet, intelligent, and dour. In 1865, he was charged with photographing Lincoln's assassins. He published his classic, two-volume work, Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War, in 1866. Each book contained 50 hand-mounted original prints. However, it was not a sales success. Although Gardner never found his utopia in the wild west, he unexpectedly found himself a new home in America. He stayed in Washington
until his death, but he never forgot his Scottish heritage, as he was a member of Saint Andrew
's Cross. When asked about his work he said, "It is designed to speak for itself. As mementos of the fearful struggle through which the country has just passed, it is confidently hoped that it will possess an enduring interest."
George N. Barnard, yet another Northern photographer, was born in 1819, in Coventry, Connecticut
. During his childhood, he lived throughout the country, including the South. In New York, he opened a studio; to this day, it is not known where he learned his skill. He married Sarah Jane Hodges in 1843, with whom he had two children, a daughter, Mary Grace, and a son, who died in infancy. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Barnard was sent to photograph various locations in Virginia
, including Harper's Ferry, Bull Run
and Yorktown
, as well as in, and around, Washington, D.C.
was born in 1840, in New York City
. As a teenager, he was employed by Mathew Brady. When the war began, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant. Over the next few years, he fought in Beaufort
, Port Royal
, Fort Walker
and Fort Pulaski. After being honorably discharged, he rejoined Brady's team. In July 1862, O'Sullivan followed the campaign of Gen. John Pope
in Virginia
. In July 1863, he reached the pinnacle of his career when he took pictures of "The Harvest of Death." In 1864, following Gen. Grant
's trail, he photographed the Siege of Petersburg
and the siege of Fort Fisher
. That brought him to the Appomattox Court House
in April 1865.
Following the end of the Civil War, O'Sullivan was granted a job in the United States Geographical Survey, west of the 100th Meridian. His job was to photograph the West to help attract settlers. O'Sullivan's pictures were among the first to record the prehistoric ruins, Navajo
weavers, and Pueblo
villages of the Southwest. Returning to Washington, D.C., he spent the last years of his short life as the official photographer of the U.S. Geological Survey
and the Treasury Department
. He died at age 42, in 1882.
's Peninsula Campaign
, Seven Days Battles
, Battle of Gaines' Mill
, and Battle of Malvern Hill
. He died in 1905.
Photography was relatively new at the time of the Civil War. Cameras were much larger than they are today. Taking pictures was a slow and complex process.
Photographers would often follow armies into battle to get pictures of the battle scene. These included both newspaper and Army photographers. These photographers would travel by horse and wagon to different locations.
. Born in Connecticut
in 1819, he had tried, but failed, as a merchant in his home town. He moved to New Orleans and became a painter, but that also proved futile. In 1842, however, he began working with the newly invented daguerreotype
. He finally settled in Charleston, South Carolina
, where he raised his family.
He is one of the foremost Confederate
photographers, thanks to his recording of the gradual destruction of Charleston, and Fort Sumter
, by enemy action. He even photographed the naval action of ironclads at Fort Sumter. Unfortunately, most of Cook's photographs were lost in a fire in 1864. Cook moved his family to Richmond
in 1880, and his older son, George LaGrange Cook, took charge of the studio in Charleston. In Richmond, Cook bought the businesses (and the negatives) of the photographers who were retiring or moving from the city. He thus amassed the most complete photographic collection of the former Confederate capital, held in one location. Cook remained an active photographer for the remainder of his life. His younger son, Huestis Cook, eventually went into business with his father. After his brother George's death on November 27, 1902, Huestis took over the Richmond studio.
The results of the efforts of all Civil War photographers can be seen in almost all of the history texts of the conflict. In terms of photography, the American Civil War is the best covered conflict of the 19th century. It presaged the development of the wartime photojournalism
of World War II
, the Korean War
, and the Vietnam War
.
The number of Civil War photographs that are available contrasts
sharply with the scarcity of pictures from subsequent conflicts such as the Russia
n wars in Central Asia
, the Franco-Prussian War
, and the various colonial wars before the Boer War
.
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
(1861–1865) was the fourth war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
in history to be caught on camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
. The first Mexican-American War (1846–1848), the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
(1854–1856), and the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
.
Mathew Brady
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
immigrants, was born in 1823 in Warren County, New York. Brady can be viewed as the father of photojournalism
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
. He was the most prominent photographer of the Civil War because of his commitment and mastery of his job. He mastered the art when he was in his 20s. Brady would later spend his own accumulated earnings to take pictures of the war. In 1844, Brady opened a private studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
displaying photographs of famous Americans. He himself said, "From the first, I regarded myself as under obligation to my country to preserve the faces of its historic men and mothers."
At the beginning of the war in 1861, Mathew Brady organized his employees into groups, in order to spread them across the country, and to get work. Brady provided carriages, which were rolling darkrooms (to develop the photographic plates into pictures), to all his parties at his own personal expense. The total cost was about $100,000. The First Battle of Bull Run
First Battle of Bull Run
First Battle of Bull Run, also known as First Manassas , was fought on July 21, 1861, in Prince William County, Virginia, near the City of Manassas...
provided the initial opportunity to photograph an engagement between opposing armies. Brady was very calm during battle, as can be seen from Lt. J. A. Gardner's notes:
- On July 21, 1861, Brady, the photographer, drove his light wagon out to the entrenchmentsTrench warfareTrench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
. Approaching Captain Cooper, Brady politely asked if he could take a picture of the batteryArtilleryOriginally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
when just about to fire. The enemy, observing the movement of the preparations, began firing. (Note: In other words, the Confederates started bombarding Cooper's battery, where Brady was standing). Brady, seeing his camera was uninjured, recalled his assistant and took more pictures from a little to the rear.
Brady was almost killed at Bull Run and in the confusion got lost for three days, eventually making his way to Washington nearly dead from starvation.
Brady recorded more than just photographs. Commentaries found in his traveling journal are used by historians studying the war in detail. One of his commentaries recorded an event that would otherwise have been lost to history. On the night before a battle, Brady heard when the silence was broken as a Confederate soldier across the field began singing patriotic songs. Soon, a second voice was heard, followed by more voices. In no time at all, both armies were singing together in a spirit of common fellowship. Yet, they still attacked each other in the morning.
After the war, Brady went bankrupt and was forced to live off his friends' generosity. The government bought his collection of 5,712 plates for $25,000, rather than the much higher $125,000 he asked. He once said that long after his death, his work will be appreciated. Some familiar with Brady's efforts feel that he was as much a hero as the soldiers who fought. He died in 1896, in poverty and isolation.
Alexander Gardner
Alexander Gardner (photographer)
Alexander Gardner was a Scottish photographer who moved to the United States in 1856 where he developed his profession. He is best known for his photographs of the American Civil War, American President Abraham Lincoln, and the execution of the conspirators to Lincoln's...
(October 17, 1821 – 1882), Brady's colleague. Gardner was born in Paisley
Paisley
Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, in 1821. He became an apprentice silversmith jeweler at the age of fourteen. In his youth, Gardner found out that his interests and talents lay in photography and journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, not jewelry. So, as a committed socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, Gardner published pamphlets promoting emigration to a colony called Clydesdale in the wilderness of Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
. Gardner persuaded many of his friends and relatives to settle in this semi-socialist "Utopia." He intended to join them but, because of an epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
in the settlement, never did. In 1856, Brady invited, and paid, Gardner to come to New York to work for him. When the war began, Gardner was made the official photographer of the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
armies. He took one of the most renowned pictures of the war, which he named "Home of the Rebel Sharpshooter."
In November 1861 Gardner was appointed to the staff of General George McClellan, the commander of the Army of the Potomac. He was given the honorary rank of captain and in this capacity photographed the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and the siege of Petersburg.
Gardner also photographed Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Michael O'Laughlin, Edman Spangler and Samuel Arnold who were arrested for conspiring to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. He also took photographs of the execution of Surratt, Powell, Atzerodt and Herold were hanged at Washington Penitentiary on 7 July 1865. Four months later he photographed the execution of Henry Wirz, commanding officer at the infamous Andersonville Prisoner of War camp in Georgia.
For a brief time following the war, Gardner worked for the Washington police force taking photographs of convicted criminals and eventually, according to some, became Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's favorite photographer. Gardner was known as quiet, intelligent, and dour. In 1865, he was charged with photographing Lincoln's assassins. He published his classic, two-volume work, Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War, in 1866. Each book contained 50 hand-mounted original prints. However, it was not a sales success. Although Gardner never found his utopia in the wild west, he unexpectedly found himself a new home in America. He stayed in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
until his death, but he never forgot his Scottish heritage, as he was a member of Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...
's Cross. When asked about his work he said, "It is designed to speak for itself. As mementos of the fearful struggle through which the country has just passed, it is confidently hoped that it will possess an enduring interest."
George Barnard
Coventry, Connecticut
Coventry is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 11,504 at the 2000 census. The birthplace of Captain Nathan Hale, Coventry is home to the Nathan Hale Homestead, which is now a museum open to the public....
. During his childhood, he lived throughout the country, including the South. In New York, he opened a studio; to this day, it is not known where he learned his skill. He married Sarah Jane Hodges in 1843, with whom he had two children, a daughter, Mary Grace, and a son, who died in infancy. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Barnard was sent to photograph various locations in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, including Harper's Ferry, Bull Run
Bull Run, Virginia
Bull Run is a census-designated place in Prince William County, Virginia. The population was 11,337 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Bull Run is located at ....
and Yorktown
Yorktown, Virginia
Yorktown is a census-designated place in York County, Virginia, United States. The population was 220 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1634....
, as well as in, and around, Washington, D.C.
Timothy O'Sullivan
Timothy H. O'SullivanTimothy H. O'Sullivan
Timothy H. O'Sullivan was a photographer widely known for his work related to the American Civil War and the Western United States.O'Sullivan was born in New York City. As a teenager, he was employed by Mathew Brady...
was born in 1840, in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. As a teenager, he was employed by Mathew Brady. When the war began, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant. Over the next few years, he fought in Beaufort
Beaufort, South Carolina
Beaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. The city's population was 12,361 in the 2010 census. It is located in the Hilton Head Island-Beaufort Micropolitan...
, Port Royal
Port Royal, South Carolina
Port Royal is a town in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Largely because of annexation of surrounding areas , the population of Port Royal rose from 3,950 in 2000 to 10,678 in 2010, a 170% increase. As defined by the U.S...
, Fort Walker
Fort Walker
Fort Walker was a Civil War redoubt located on what is now the southeastern corner of Grant Park in Atlanta, Georgia.-History:The redoubt was built by Confederate forces in 1863....
and Fort Pulaski. After being honorably discharged, he rejoined Brady's team. In July 1862, O'Sullivan followed the campaign of Gen. John Pope
John Pope (military officer)
John Pope was a career United States Army officer and Union general in the American Civil War. He had a brief but successful career in the Western Theater, but he is best known for his defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run in the East.Pope was a graduate of the United States Military Academy in...
in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. In July 1863, he reached the pinnacle of his career when he took pictures of "The Harvest of Death." In 1864, following Gen. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
's trail, he photographed the Siege of Petersburg
Siege of Petersburg
The Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War...
and the siege of Fort Fisher
Fort Fisher
Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865....
. That brought him to the Appomattox Court House
Appomattox Court House
The Appomattox Courthouse is the current courthouse in Appomattox, Virginia built in 1892. It is located in the middle of the state about three miles northwest of the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, once known as Clover Hill - home of the original Old Appomattox Court House...
in April 1865.
Following the end of the Civil War, O'Sullivan was granted a job in the United States Geographical Survey, west of the 100th Meridian. His job was to photograph the West to help attract settlers. O'Sullivan's pictures were among the first to record the prehistoric ruins, Navajo
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
weavers, and Pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
villages of the Southwest. Returning to Washington, D.C., he spent the last years of his short life as the official photographer of the U.S. Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
and the Treasury Department
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
. He died at age 42, in 1882.
James F. Gibson
James F. Gibson was probably the least known of the Civil War photographers. He, too, was born in New York City. He learned the art under Brady. Gibson eventually photographed Gen. McClellanGeorge B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan was a major general during the American Civil War. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Early in the war, McClellan played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army for the Union...
's Peninsula Campaign
Peninsula Campaign
The Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War was a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. The operation, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B...
, Seven Days Battles
Seven Days Battles
The Seven Days Battles was a series of six major battles over the seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, away from...
, Battle of Gaines' Mill
Battle of Gaines' Mill
The Battle of Gaines's Mill, sometimes known as the First Battle of Cold Harbor or the Battle of Chickahominy River, took place on June 27, 1862, in Hanover County, Virginia, as the third of the Seven Days Battles of the American Civil War...
, and Battle of Malvern Hill
Battle of Malvern Hill
The Battle of Malvern Hill, also known as the Battle of Poindexter's Farm, took place on July 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, on the seventh and last day of the Seven Days Battles of the American Civil War. Gen. Robert E. Lee launched a series of disjointed assaults on the nearly impregnable...
. He died in 1905.
Photography was relatively new at the time of the Civil War. Cameras were much larger than they are today. Taking pictures was a slow and complex process.
Photographers would often follow armies into battle to get pictures of the battle scene. These included both newspaper and Army photographers. These photographers would travel by horse and wagon to different locations.
Southern photographers
Many photographs were taken by Southerners, but most were lost to history. According to the Photographic History of the Civil War- The natural disappointment in the South at the end of the war was such that photographers were forced to destroy all negatives, just as owners destroyed all the objects that might serve as souvenirs or relics of the terrible struggle, thinking for the moment at least, that they could not bear the strain of brooding over the tragedy.
George S. Cook
The most noted Southern photographer was George CookGeorge S. Cook
George Smith Cook was a prominent early American photographer.-Biography:He was born on February 23, 1819 in Stamford, Connecticut and was orphaned at an early age. Unsuccessfully, he worked in the mercantile business. He later moved to New Orleans and was studying art when daguerrotype...
. Born in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
in 1819, he had tried, but failed, as a merchant in his home town. He moved to New Orleans and became a painter, but that also proved futile. In 1842, however, he began working with the newly invented daguerreotype
Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
. He finally settled in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, where he raised his family.
He is one of the foremost Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
photographers, thanks to his recording of the gradual destruction of Charleston, and Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...
, by enemy action. He even photographed the naval action of ironclads at Fort Sumter. Unfortunately, most of Cook's photographs were lost in a fire in 1864. Cook moved his family to Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
in 1880, and his older son, George LaGrange Cook, took charge of the studio in Charleston. In Richmond, Cook bought the businesses (and the negatives) of the photographers who were retiring or moving from the city. He thus amassed the most complete photographic collection of the former Confederate capital, held in one location. Cook remained an active photographer for the remainder of his life. His younger son, Huestis Cook, eventually went into business with his father. After his brother George's death on November 27, 1902, Huestis took over the Richmond studio.
Robert M. Smith
Confederate Lieutenant Robert M. Smith was captured and imprisoned at Johnson’s Island, Ohio. He is unique in that he was able to secretly construct a wet-plate camera using a pine box, pocket knife, tin can, and spyglass lens. Smith acquired chemicals from the prison hospital to use for the photographic process. He used the camera clandestinely to photograph other prisoners at the gable end of the attic of cell block four.Legacy
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, and the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
The number of Civil War photographs that are available contrasts
sharply with the scarcity of pictures from subsequent conflicts such as the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n wars in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, and the various colonial wars before the Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
.
See also
- Thomas C. RocheThomas C. RocheThomas C. Roche was a photographer known for his photographs of the American Civil War.Roche's first job as a professional photographer was for Henry T. Anthony, a chemist in New York, and his brother Edward, for whom he took photographs of the city and the harbor starting in 1859...
- Panoramic photographyPanoramic photographyPanoramic photography is a technique of photography, using specialized equipment or software, that captures images with elongated fields of view. It is sometimes known as wide format photography. The term has also been applied to a photograph that is cropped to a relatively wide aspect ratio...
- DaguerreotypeDaguerreotypeThe daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
- CalotypeCalotypeCalotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. The term calotype comes from the Greek for 'beautiful', and for 'impression'....
External links
- http://www.civilwarphotography.org/
- Civil War Photographs collection, Prints & Photographs division, Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
- Selected Civil War photographs, American Memory, Library of Congress
- Civil War photos, U.S. National Archives and Records AdministrationNational Archives and Records AdministrationThe National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
- 3-D Photography in the Civil War: An Online Exhibit (CWPT)
- The photographic history of the civil war... Francis Trevelyan Miller, editor-in-chief; Robert S. Lanier, managing editor. Thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities. Publisher: New York, The Review of Reviews Co., 1911–12
- Civil War Band Collection: 1st Brigade Band of Brodhead, Wisconsin
- Photographic History of the Civil War An etext of the 1912 10 volume edition (Also available from Google Books at http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC01467122)
- Civil War Era Digital Collection at Gettysburg College Collection contains photographs of Civil War soldiers
Mathew Brady
- http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/brady/timeline/timeli2.htm
- http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/cwbrady.html
- http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/mbrady.html
- http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/brady/
Alexander Gardner
- http://www.americancivilwar.org.uk/articles/gardener.htm
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAPgardner.htm
- http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/photo_database/image/a_sharpshooters_last_sleep/
- http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/chapter6.html
George Barnard
- http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/collections/panoramic_photo/pnbnard.html
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAPbarnard.htm
- http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/hargrett/barnard/?link=zlbp
Timothy O'Sullivan
- http://www.kbnet.co.uk/rleggat/photo/history/o'sulliv.html
- http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr014.html
- http://www.treasurenet.com/images/civilwar/civil018-va.html
- http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/Photowest/photo_west.html
- http://www.cedarville.edu/dept/ed/story/s97story/erspicts.htm
Others
- http://www.treasurenet.com/images/civilwar/welcome.html
- http://gopher.nara.gov:70/0h/inform/dc/audvis/still/civwar.html
- http://lcweb2.loc.gov
- http://www.cwc.lsu.edu
- http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/brady/gallery/68gal.html