Civil War Photos

[Chrismat]

I recently viewed some great Civil War portraits from National Review online:

http://www.nationalreview.com/slideshows/civil-war-soldiers

 

[BrianShaw]

Very interesting. Thanks.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I've had the opportunity to see that collection when it was first donated to the Library of Congress and put on display in the Jefferson building on Capitol Hill. Seeing a few selections from it online does not do the expanse or quality of it justice. If you get the chance to come to DC sometime and go to the Library, make the effort to view the collection. You will be extremely glad you did.

 

[gone]

War Between the States photos. Or, just The War. Or, The War of Northern Aggression. I like that one :]

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

War Between the States photos. Or, just The War. Or, The War of Northern Aggression. I like that one :]

The proper legal name for it was The War of the Rebellion.

 

[michaelorr]

TFC, would love to visit the collection. I have spent a great deal of time online in the LOC photo archive in the civil war photos from the Brady enterprise. Some really fantastic stuff. It must be stunning to see real prints and plates face to face. Wow! Incidentally, i downloaded the tiff's of the hanging of the 4 assassination conspirators. Just something about those photos....

I had a social studies teacher at Roger B Taney (how ironic that was) Middle School (Camp Springs, MD) named Mudd. His great-grandfather was Dr. Mudd of assassination conspiracy fame. Of 12 years of primary school, i remember fondly about three teachers. Mr. Mudd was one of the most cool, interesting and encouraging dudes i have ever known.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

TFC, would love to visit the collection. I have spent a great deal of time online in the LOC photo archive in the civil war photos from the Brady enterprise. Some really fantastic stuff. It must be stunning to see real prints and plates face to face. Wow! Incidentally, i downloaded the tiff's of the hanging of the 4 assassination conspirators. Just something about those photos....

I had a social studies teacher at Roger B Taney (how ironic that was) Middle School (Camp Springs, MD) named Mudd. His great-grandfather was Dr. Mudd of assassination conspiracy fame. Of 12 years of primary school, i remember fondly about three teachers. Mr. Mudd was one of the most cool, interesting and encouraging dudes i have ever known.

If you go visit the Mudd homestead in southern Maryland (which is open for tours), the Mudd family descendants who operate it are barely reconstructed Confederates. 150 years later, they still get misty eyed and clench their fists when talking about the Yankee soldiers who killed the goat and the pigs when they came looking for John Wilkes Booth.

 

[benjiboy]

It's a little known fact that more American soldiers in the U.S. Civil War died of disease than of injuries sustained in combat, and more soldiers in total died in that terrible war than the total of all the US soldiers who died in WW1,WW11 Korea, and the Vietnam conflict put together.

 

[Alan Johnson]

An article from "Amateur Photographer" 1 Feb 2014 summarised by me notes that photographer Matthew Brady had a hard time following his decision to document the war in 1861.
He borrowed $100,000 to finance a team of photographers and thought he could sell the resulting 10,000 plates to the US Govt., but in 1865 when the war ended the Govt declined to buy them, eventually paying $2840 plus a donation of $25,000.
He went bankrupt in 1873 but continued working as a portrait photographer.

 

[skorpiius]

An article from "Amateur Photographer" 1 Feb 2014 summarised by me notes that photographer Matthew Brady had a hard time following his decision to document the war in 1861.
He borrowed $100,000 to finance a team of photographers and thought he could sell the resulting 10,000 plates to the US Govt., but in 1865 when the war ended the Govt declined to buy them, eventually paying $2840 plus a donation of $25,000.
He went bankrupt in 1873 but continued working as a portrait photographer.

Holy craps is that $100k in 1861 dollars? Would be almost $3 million today

 

[Wallendo]

One facet about Photography from the Late Unpleasantness, is how many of these photos were "photoshopped". One of the most famous photos of the Abraham Lincoln is simply the head of Abe glued unto the body of John C. Calhoun. Other images were cropped or edited to play up the "heroic" nature of the conflict and downplay the carnage.