Photography had
a tremendous
impact on
American society
over the course
of the Civil War
and beyond. Yet, it was not a new
technology. By the time of the
American Civil War photography had
been through several evolution.
President Lincoln and Gen. George B. McClellan, Antietam MD; Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Prior to the development of photography, Americans observed war through the
medium of paintings and lithographs.
The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill
John Trumbull, 1786; Yale University Gallery
www.the-athenaeum.org
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
With photography, Americans witnessed the reality of war for the first time.
Unburied Confederate Soldier
Antietam, Sept. 1862, Photography by Alexander Gardner;
Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Photography got its start in the early nineteenth century.
• The daguerreotype was the first
functional photography and became
popular in the United States shortly
after its invention by Louis Daguerre.
• The collodion process, also
known as the wet plate process,
was developed in 1851 and was
extremely important because it
allowed the duplication of images.
• With the development of the wet
plate process, several other forms of
photography came about, including
ambrotypes and tintypes.
• Stereo view images could be
created as daguerreotypes, but their
real popularity was stimulated by the
reproductive abilities of the wet plate
process.
Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre,
Inventor of the Daguerreotype
Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Daguerreotype
The Daguerreotype
was invented in 1839
by Frenchman Louis
Daguerre and was the
first practical form of
photography.It created
an image on silverplated copper and
required about 15
minutes of exposure
time. The image was
one-of-a-kind, which
meant that no
reproductions could be
made. Although less
expensive to have
made than a portrait,
daguerreotypes were
not affordable for all
Americans.
United States Capitol
Washington D.C., 1846
Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Occupational Portrait of Unidentified Woman, Library of Congress
Daguerreotypes were stored in a case like this one
because they were very thin and delicate.
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
The earliest known portraits of Abraham and Mary
Lincoln were daguerreotypes taken in 1846 or 1847.
Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
The world’s first
known
photographs of
war were
daguerreotypes
taken of the
MexicanAmerican War in
late 1846 or
early 1847.
Winfield Scott, c1849;
Photograph by Mathew Brady,
Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Sarony, Mexico, c1847
The Mexican Army evacuating Vera Cruz and surrendering their arms to the U.S.
Army under General Winfield Scott.
Library of Congress
An unknown
cameraman from
Texas photographed
scenes of camp life
at Saltillo Mexico
during the war.
Unfortunately,
because they were
daguerreotypes,
those images were
not reproducible.
Therefore, they
were not viewed by
the general public
until the mid
twentieth century.
This lithograph,
printed in 1847, is
an example of how
the war was
depicted to the
public.
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
There were further developments in photography in 1851 with the invention of the
collodion process, also known as wet-plate photography. Collodion is a
chemical mixture used to coat a plate of glass or iron, sensitizing it to light. Once
coated with collodion, the plate could then be used to create an image. The wet
plate process remained the most advanced photographic technology until after the
Civil War and was used by Civil War photographers. Click here to view demonstration
Developing plate glass image; Courtesy of Garry Adelman,
Center for Civil War Photography
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
The most
significant
aspect of the
invention of the
collodion
processes was
the fact that it
could produce a
negative image
capable of
reproduction.
Now images
could be copied
and sold
nationwide.
22nd New York State Militia, Harpers Ferry, Va., 1861; Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Ambrotypes were
pictures taken on glass
using the collodion
process. They became
popular in the mid 1850s
because they were
cheaper and more
convenient to produce
than daguerreotypes.
The glass of the
ambrotype was also less
easily damaged than the
thin copper plate of the
daguerreotype and its
exposure time was
between two and 12
seconds.
Ambrotype
Ambrotype of African American black soldier; Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
The first images of war to be
viewed by the public were
taken in 1855 during the
Crimean War by Roger Fenton
and James Robertson.
The town of Balaklava; Photograph by Roger Fenton;
Library of Congress
Colonel Brownrigg C.B. and two Russian boys, Alma & Inkermann;
Photograph by Roger Fenton; Library of Congress
Men of the 68th Regiment; Photograph by Roger Fenton; Library of Congress
Mortar Battery outside Sebastopol
Photography by Roger Fenton; Library of Congress
Artillery wagons, view looking toward Balaclava; Photography by Roger
Fenton; Library of Congress
Because they were created using the newly
developed collodion process, Robertson’s
images were reprinted. Copies were brought
back to the United States by a military
commission sent to observe the Crimean War,
which included future Union General George B.
McClellan. The images were the first to be
used as a direct source of military intelligence,
including such things as the analysis of gun
placements.
Mortar batteries in front of the picket house of the Light Division at the
Siege of Sebastopol; Photograph by Roger Fenton; Library of
Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
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Ruben Farwell (right) and an unidentified man; Library of Congress
Tintypes used the same collodion process but were made on iron
plates, making them very durable and inexpensive. Most Civil War
soldiers had their pictures taken on tintypes because they typically
cost less than 25 cents and their durability made them easy to
transport.
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
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Yorktown, Va. Confederate fortifications; Library of Congress
Twin lens camera; Courtesy of Garry Adelman,
Center for Civil War Photography
Stereo photographs are a kind of ambrotype.
Today, one might identify them as a 3-D image. To
create a stereo view image a twin-lens camera was
used to capture the same image from two separate
lenses, in much the same way that two human eyes
capture the same image from slightly different
angles on the head. The images were developed
using the same wet-plate process, but stereoscopic
photography produced two of the same image on
one plate glass, like the one above. Most battlefield
and camp pictures were taken in this format.
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Sir Charles Wheatstone, Library of Congress
Stereoscope with stereo view card, © Peter Stubbs. www.edinphoto.org.uk
Physicist Sir Charles
Wheatstone discovered
stereoscopic vision in 1838
and invented a stereoscope
with which to view 3D
images. Combining this idea
with the collodion process,
which allowed for the
reproduction of images,
negatives could be used to
produce stereo cards, seen
here with the stereoscope
viewer. This technology was
reproducible and by 1854
had become very popular
nationwide.
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
While most Americans
were familiar with
photographs before the
outbreak of war, there
were no photos that
depicted a battlefield
immediately following a
battle. Felice Beato was
the first to take pictures
of dead soldiers in 1860
during the Second
Opium War between
Anglo-French forces and
the Chinese. Although
they were the first, like
the Saltillo images, they
remained obscure until
the late twentieth
century.
Partial view of the ruins of a Chinese fort
shortly after it was captured
China August 21, 1860.
Art Icono.http//:phomul.canalblog.com/archives
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Considered a watershed
moment in history,
images taken during the
American Civil War were
the first to be distributed
to a large public audience
and many graphically
depicted dead soldiers
following battle. Unlike
the Crimean War, for
which there were only two
photographers, dozens of
photographers and
assistants followed each
army during the Civil War,
and several of these
professionals, including
Mathew Brady, attempted
to completely document
the war in images,
beginning a new genre of
documentation:
photojournalism.
Alexander Gardner began
as Brady’s assistant, but
went on to take the first
pictures of the Gettysburg
battlefield for his own studio;
Library of Congress
Mathew Brady took over
10,000 photographs of the
Civil War including the First
Battle of Manassas, during
which he was lost behind
enemy lines; Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
The wet-plate photographic process was very challenging in a photography
studio, but completing the procedure while working out of a horse-drawn, portable
studio was even more difficult. Each professional photographer typically had one
to three assistants who aided in the creation of an image, which included the
production of collodion from scratch using raw materials such as ethyl ether,
sulfuric acid, and silver nitrate.
Wagons and Camera Equipment of Southern
Photographer Sam Cooley; Library of Congress
Photographer's wagon and tent
Cold Harbor, VA Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Advancements in
photography proved to
be immensely
important. The ability
to the reproduce
images allowed for
distribution to a wide
audience, bringing the
horrors of war to the
home front. These
realistic images of
war, brought directly
into American
households for the
first time, forever
altered society’s view
of war.
Deceased Confederate Soldier
Petersburg April 3, 1865;
Library of Congress
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Perhaps the best example of this can be found
in a New York Times article from October 20,
1862, one month after the battle of Antietam.
An unknown author addresses society’s
experience with war both before and after the
introduction of photographs.
“The living that throng Broadway care
little perhaps for the Dead at
Antietam, but we fancy they would
jostle less carelessly down the great
thoroughfare, saunter less at their
ease, were a few dripping bodies,
fresh from the field, laid along the
pavement….As it is, the dead of the
battle-field come up to us very rarely,
even in dreams. We see the list in the
morning paper at breakfast, but
dismiss its recollection with the
coffee….There is nothing very terrible
to us, however, in the list, though our
sensations might be different if the
newspaper carrier left the names on
the battle-field and the bodies at our
doors instead….
This image of dead confederate soldiers was taken in
September 1862 and appeared in Brady’s New York
exhibit Dead at Antietam;
Mr. Brady has done something to
bring home to us the terrible reality
and earnestness of war. If he has not
brought bodies and laid them in our
door-yards and along the streets, he
has done something very like it.”
Library of Congress
(italics added)
Dead Confederate sharpshooter at foot of Little Round Top
Gettysburg July 1863; Library of Congress
Sharpshooters, 18th Corp, Alfred Waud August 6, 1864; Library of Congress
Like photographers, Civil War artists traveled with the army, documenting images
of war. While both of these images depict sharpshooters, the realism of the
photograph is accentuated when placed next to the sketch. Done by artist Alfred
Waud, the sketch represents the format through which Americans were used to
viewing images of war. The sketch is entitled Sharpshooters 18th Corps and was
published in Harper’s Weekly. The photograph, taken by Alexander Gardner at
Gettysburg, is entitled The Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter and has come to be one
of the most recognizable photographs of the Civil War.
Civil War Preservation Trust
www.civilwar.org
Because of these advancements in photography, the Civil
War became a true watershed in the history of
photography. While pictures were taken of other wars, the
iconic photos of the American Civil War would directly
affect how war was viewed from the home front, and
inspire future combat photographers who would take their
cameras to the trenches of Flanders…
Confederate dead at Corinth, Mississippi, 1862;
Library of Congress
the black sands
of Iwo Jima...
A French assault on German positions. Champagne, France,
1917; National Archives
Marines land on Iwo Jima, 1945; Library of Congress
the
steaming
jungles of
Vietnam…
and the
mountains of
Afghanistan…
Helicopter drops soldiers, Vietnam 1959; U.S.
Army www. army.mil/images
Kunar Province, Afghanistan; U.S. Army www.army.mil