: An Overview

(1894–1895). A new generation of literate children were Among these was a relatively small ready to make these works their own. group who worked as the first photographers of the devas- tations of war. The most notable members of the group BIBLIOGRAPHY were Alexander Gardner (1821–1882), Timothy H. O’Sul- Baker, A. R. Lowell Daily Citizen and News (Lowell, livan (c. 1840–1882), and James F. Gibson (b. 1828), all of MA), January 1, 1864. whom began their careers working for Bingham, Jane, and Grayce Scholt. Fifteen Centuries of (1823–1896), an enterprising producer of Children’s Literature: An Annotated Chronology of whose name became all but synonymous with Civil War British and American Works in Historical Context. photography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980. Popular American photography began in the 1840s Boston Daily Advertiser (Boston), October 26, 1864, with the , a process for reproducing images col. H. on a light-sensitive, silver-coated metal sheet. The process, patented in 1839, had been developed by Louis Daguerre Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper (), (1787–1851), a French artist and chemist. There was one December 17, 1864. image produced with each sitting, and the subject was Meigs, Cornelia, et al. A Critical History of Children’s required to hold completely still for a period of time that Literature: A Survey of Children’s Books in English, could last up to a full sixty seconds in order to effect the rev. ed. London: Macmillan, 1969. proper . These proto- were generally Quayle, Eric. The Collector’s Book of Children’s Books. kept in decorative boxes designed to protect the product. London: Clarkson N. Potter, 1971. Daguerreotype studios flourished in New York City in the Jeanne M. Lesinski 1840s, and one of the more successful of these studios was owned by the enterprising Mathew Brady. n Photography Brady’s Early Work Brady, the son of Irish immigrants, began as an art student PHOTOGRAPHY: AN OVERVIEW Richard C. Keenan who also made watch and instrument cases, including cases for daguerreotypes, which awakened his interest in WAR PHOTOGRAPHY this new technology. He took lessons in the daguerreotype Christina Adkins method from Samuel F. B. Morse (1791–1872), an art CIVILIAN PHOTOGRAPHY instructor and portrait painter who learned the process Christina Adkins from its inventor, Louis Daguerre (Morse is better known to posterity as the inventor of the single-wire telegraph and the Morse code). PHOTOGRAPHY: AN OVERVIEW Brady enjoyed great success with daguerreotypes, and The was the first war to be extensively in 1842 opened his own studio and portrait gallery in New documented by photography. The photographic process York. In 1849 he opened a second gallery in Washington, was still in its infancy in the first quarter of the nineteenth DC In 1854 he opened an additional gallery in New York. century; by modern standards it was a cumbersome and He became world-renowned, winning prizes for his work primitive process. With the advent of the war, photogra- at the 1851 World Exposition in London and the 1853 phy, which had been largely limited to portraiture and the World’s Fair in New York. Brady photographed every visual recording of landmarks, both natural and humanly president of the from John Quincy Adams constructed, took a new direction and discovered a new to William McKinley, with the exception of William Henry purpose. It recorded history with a graphic reality un- Harrison, who died in 1841 after a little more than a realized in any written description; it largely dispelled month in office. Brady’s best-known presidential photo- the romantic imagery of equestrian prowess, flashing graphs are those of , most notably the sabers, and desperate but heroic stands by larger-than- one that for many years appeared on the American five- life figures—images derived from paintings and illustra- dollar bill. tions that had been the more commonly depicted views In the 1850s Brady began to turn his attention from of war before the . Photography presented to the daguerreotype to a new method of photography known the public the devastation of war and its destructive after- as the wet plate process, developed by an Englishman math in all their grim reality. Although the Civil War was named Frederick Scott Archer. This process used a mixture not definitively documented on film, there were approx- of nitrocellulose dissolved in acetone called collodion. The imately one million photographs taken between 1860 collodion was mixed with additional chemicals, applied to a and 1865, and there were more than 3,000 photogra- carefully cleaned glass plate, and allowed to stand until it phers actively practicing their profession in the United formed a glutinous, jelly-like consistency. The plate was States (Schwarz 2000, p. 1515). then immersed in liquid silver nitrate in a ,

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War dead at Gettysburg. Images captured by Civil War photographers delivered the brutality of the conflict to the American public in a way never before seen. Photograph by Alexander Gardner. The Library of Congress. creating sensitivity to light in the gelatinous collodion that the Imperials, both for the money they brought to the would last only as long as the plate remained wet. The wet studio and, in particular, for their artistic prestige. plate was then placed in an opaque holder and subsequently transferred to the focused and positioned , with the Cartes de visite and the Civil War subject already in place for the exposure. After exposure, Brady’s assistant, later the manager of his Washington, DC, the collodion plate was removed from the camera, again in studio, Alexander Gardner, wanted to place greater empha- its opaque holder, and returned to the darkroom, where it sis on the carte de visite, a smaller photograph (2 ½x 4 was placed in a bath of chemical developer followed by a inches) printed on thin cardboard. This process had first bath of fixer, usually potassium cyanide. The plate was then been developed by a Frenchman, Andre´ Disde´ri, who washed in water, dried, and given a protective coat of light patented his concept in 1854. His process allowed eight varnish. The wet plate process was less expensive and gave a negatives to be taken on an 8 x 10 glass plate. The carte de sharper image with a greater contrast on the gray scale, visite, a descendant of the Victorian calling card, from unlike the darker quality of the daguerreotype. Moreover, which it derives its name, was extremely popular with the the wet plate process produced a negative from which the public. The paper print photograph could also be mounted could make additional positive photographs on a slightly larger and heavier piece of card stock with a in the darkroom. sentiment (usually a poem or quotation) printed below. With the addition of the wet plate process, Brady’s The photograph might be a famous landmark or person, studios went on to even greater success. Brady placed or a family member. During the Civil War, thousands particular emphasis on large portraits, some as large as of proud young soldiers in new uniforms, on duty and 17 by 21 inches, which were called ‘‘Brady Imperials.’’ far from home, would stand in line at the photographer’s An Imperial could be carefully retouched with paint or wagon found at almost every encampment to have a carte ink to create an impressive lifelike portrait that would sell de visite taken. It would then be mailed home, where it for fifty to a hundred dollars on average. Brady favored would be placed in the family album for posterity.

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The carte de visite also went the other way, and many a Stereographs soldier carried with him a small likeness of his wife, children, Another photographic innovation that became extremely mother or sweetheart. Brady was initially resistant to mak- popular in the 1850s was the stereograph. The stereo- ing these mementos and wanted to concentrate more of graph was a set of photographs (paper prints from glass the studio’s time on the Imperial portrait, with its greater negatives) printed side by side, with one print having immediate profit and prestige. Gardner, an astute business- a slightly different, all but indiscernible , man as well as a talented photographer, saw greater profit in taken by a double-lens specially designed camera. These the volume that cartes de visite, which sold individually for dual photographs, placed side by side on cardboard, were between ten and twenty cents, would bring. Using existent viewed through a handheld binocular frame with a slight equipment, Gardner improvised a four-lens camera that magnification. The view for the spectator was a single could make four images on one glass plate, quadrup- three-dimensional image. The stereograph remained a ling the studio’s volume of production of the small pho- popular entertainment device in American homes into tographs. At Gardner’s urging, Brady entered into an the early twentieth century. It brought to quiet domestic agreement with the Anthony Brothers, who operated the parlors not only the visual pleasures of faraway places with largest photographic supply company in the country, to strange-sounding names never before seen, but also the produce and distribute the small photographs. The Brady destruction and devastation of the American Civil War. studios would supply the negatives and in return would The continuing demand for cartes de visite and stereo- receive a substantial royalty from the sales (Sullivan 2004, graphs greatly increased Brady’s profits and reputation. In pp. 26–27). 1864 he opened a new and highly luxurious studio at Perhaps the most poignant story concerning the carte Broadway and Tenth Street in New York City. Frank de visite is that of an unknown soldier, a sergeant who Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, one of the most popular served with the 154th New York Volunteer Regiment. periodicals of the time, waxed eloquent about the studio’s On July 1, the first day of the , the ‘‘costly carpet . . . elegant and luxurious couches . . . and sergeant was mortally wounded and died before he was able artistic gas fixtures.’’ There was also a private entrance for to reach the safety of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge. ladies arriving in evening dress ‘‘to obviate the unpleasant After the battle, his body was found, but without identi- necessity of passing, so attired, through the public gallery.’’ fication. In his hand was an ambrotype photograph of three The greatest experience of Brady’s career came with the small children. The young woman who found the body visit of the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, son of Queen gave the photograph to her father, the owner of a local Victoria, and heir to the British throne. The prince, later tavern. The tavern keeper displayed the photograph, and it King Edward VII (1841–1910), was on a diplomatic visit became a curiosity and conversation piece. to Canada and North America, the first member of the Some months later, in November 1863, Dr. John British royal family to visit the United States. Brady invited Francis Bourns, a Philadelphia physician who had come the prince and his entourage to visit the studio, and the to the battlefield hospital to lend assistance to the sick and prince readily accepted. He and others sat for individual wounded, saw the photograph and became intrigued with and group portraits, and spent several hours touring the the case of this unknown soldier. After first locating and studio and viewing Brady’s prized collection of photo- graphs of prominent Americans. The New York Times marking the grave where the sergeant was buried, he set reported that the royals ‘‘complimented Brady highly upon out to identify and locate the children. Bourns had the his proficiency and art’’ (Sullivan 2004, 28–29). photograph of the children duplicated as a carte de visite. Brady at the peak of his career enjoyed his artistic Because the format was not expensive, he made multiple recognition and high social standing, but he was not a copies and circulated them widely. On October 19, 1863, man with a sound fiscal sense. He lived a life of luxury, the Philadelphia Inquirer carried the story, and other traveled often, made some bad investments, and spared newspapers throughout the Northeast gave it widespread little or no expense for the equipment and interior dec- distribution. Finally, in Portville, New York, Mrs. Philinda oration of his studios. In later years he lost everything, Humiston responded to the story. She was the wife of Sgt. including a large collection of negatives held by the Amos Humiston and the mother of eight-year old Franklin, Anthony Brothers as security for the purchase of photo- six-year-old Alice, and four-year-old Frederick. She had graphic supplies. sent the photograph to her husband months before but had not heard from him since the conclusion of the Gettys- Battlefield Photography burg battle. Sgt. Humiston was thus conclusively identified. The relatively new technology of photography and the The public was greatly moved by the story, and Dr. Bourns American Civil War came together on July 21, 1861. Brady, sold hundreds of copies of the carte de visite with the among a handful of Washington photographers, followed poignant image of the orphan children. He donated the the Federal Army to Manassas, Virginia, just south of the proceeds of the sales to Mrs. Humiston and her family capital, where Union troops engaged the new Confederate (Dunkleman 1999, pp. 12–17). Army near Bull Run Creek in the first land battle of the war.

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Mathew Brady (1822–1896) and company, Petersburg, Virginia. Developments in photography allowed the Civil War to be the first conflict to be captured on still media. Mathew Brady, already a well-known professional photographer before the war, and his staff became famous for images capturing different aspects of Civil War battles. The Library of Congress.

Initially Brady was motivated by the opportunity for busi- with Gardner, who resented not receiving credit for his ness profit, but gradually he developed the idea of photo- work. Sometime in 1862 or 1863, he left Brady and graphing the war as an important contribution to the new opened his own studio in Washington with his brother visual dimension of history presented by photography. This James. Timothy O’Sullivan and others also left Brady and first experience, however, produced no known photo- went to work for Gardner. Both Gardner and O’Sullivan graphs whatever. The newly formed Confederate Army went on to distinguish themselves in the annals of photog- overwhelmed the Federal troops, and the engagement raphy, receiving due recognition for their compositions. turned into a rout. Brady and other photographers had Gardner photographed the meeting between McClellan to hastily pack up their equipment (delicate and easily and President Lincoln, formally posed with military staff damaged in the great urgency) and toss it into darkroom outside McClellan’s tent, which is perhaps his best-known wagons as they joined the hasty retreat of soldiers and photograph, as well as much of the destruction of the civilian spectators back to Washington. city of Richmond. At the end of the war Gardner photo- Brady’s studios continued to be in the forefront graphed the conspirators convicted in Lincoln’s assassina- of efforts to document the war in photographs, although tion and their subsequent execution. Another associate of Brady, afflicted with deteriorating eyesight, gradually took Gardner’s, George Barnard, followed General Sherman’s a less active part in on-site photography. Others, particu- Army on its march through Georgia and made memorable larly Gardner and O’Sullivan, along with James Gibson, photographs of the stark devastation of the countryside took many of the photographs that came to the public’s and the destruction of Atlanta. attention as the work of ‘‘Mathew Brady Studios.’’ This Gardner’s and Gibson’s photographs of the aftermath identification became a point of contention, particularly of the Antietam battlefield were the first graphic images of

278 GALE LIBRARY OF DAILY LIFE: AMERICAN CIVIL WAR Photography: An Overview battlefield dead to reach the American public. The photo- in the same area, demonstrated conclusively that the body graphs could not be directly reproduced in newspapers of the sharpshooter had been moved and rearranged, and a because the half-tone process that enables such reproduc- number of exposures had been taken of the various posi- tion of photographs was not invented until the 1880s. tions (Frassanito 1975, pp. 191–192). Engravings, however, were made from the photographs, Most of the Civil War photographs that have survived depicting such scenes as the Confederate dead who fell near were taken by Northerners. Southern photographers were the Burnside Bridge and along the fenced area known as active in the beginning of the war, and were in fact the first Bloody Lane. The engravings were initially reproduced in Civil War photographers on record. The photographs of the Harper’s Weekly, and the original photographs, displayed at Confederate general staff that appear most often in books Brady’s New York studio, both horrified and fascinated the about the war, along with other high-ranking officers in public, who came to see them in great numbers (Schwarz Southern uniforms, were taken by photographers in the 2000, p. 1516). South. Noted Southern photographers include Andrew A reporter for the New York Times visited the studio Lytle of Baton Rouge and George S. Cook of Charleston, during the Antietam exhibit, and recognized a deeper among others. As the Union blockade gradually but effec- significance and value that transcended the more lurid and sensational aspects of the exhibit. In the October 20, tively reduced all commerce with the world outside the 1862 edition of the newspaper, the unidentified reporter Confederacy only contraband goods were readily obtain- wrote the following: ‘‘Mr. Brady has done something to able. Photographic supplies and necessary chemicals, includ- bring home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of ing and replacement parts, became increasingly war. If he has not brought bodies and laid them in our scarce and were simply unavailable in the South by 1863. door-yards and along streets, he has done something very By the end of the four-year conflict, several hundred like it’’ (Frassanito 1978, p. 16). O’Sullivan’s photographs thousand photographs had been taken; a large percentage of the , appearing in a later exhibit, of those were portraits. Mathew Brady’s photographic produced a similar reaction—particularly the photograph collection consisted of some 6,000 negatives and photo- of the bloated bodies of Federal dead lying in a field near graphs taken by his studio and those of other photo- the McPherson woods, titled ‘‘A Harvest of Death’’ graphers, which he purchased during his lifetime. These (Schwarz 2000, p. 1446). photographs were acquired by the War Department in In addition to corpses on the battlefield, skeleton- 1874 and are now stored in the National Archives. In ized buildings, and devastated countryside, photogra- addition, there are major collections in the Library of phers of the Civil War period recorded in both quantity Congress and the Connecticut State Library in Hartford. and detail soldiers posing on captured breastworks and Other substantial collections can be found in the Boston gun emplacements, regiments on parade or drilling in the Public Library, Princeton University’s Firestone Library, fields, army encampments, and the formidable and grow- and the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. ing ironclad navy. The only missing element is the actual combat. There are no photographs of armies moving into BIBLIOGRAPHY active combat or the explosions, caught at the moment of impact, that are such a distinctive part of war photogra- Dunkelman, Mark H. Gettysburg’s Unknown Soldier: phy in later generations. The Life, Death, and Celebrity of Amos Humiston. This omission had nothing to do with the courage Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999. or initiative of the photographers; it was the primary limi- Frassanito, William A. Antietam: The Photographic tation of photography at the time. The exposure time for Legacy of America’s Bloodiest Day. New York: the wet plate process took approximately ten to thirty Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1978. seconds, depending on the intensity of the light. Officers Frassanito, William A. Early Photography at Gettysburg. and enlisted men could hold such poses without difficulty, Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1995. but horses, mules, and flying flags could be a problem. Any Frassanito, William A. Gettysburg: A Journey in Time. movement before the exposure was complete would pro- Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1975. duce a blur in the final image. The photographing of actual battle or combat action was not possible in the 1860s. To Schwarz, Angela. ‘‘Photography.’’ In Encyclopedia of the compensate for this limitation, photographers would often American Civil War: A Political, Social, and recreate a particular battlefield scene to enhance its dramatic Military History, ed. David S. and Jeanne T. Heidler. effect, moving corpses, equipment and weapons into a New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2000. variety of poses. A good example of this technique is the Sullivan, George. In the Wake of Battle: The Civil War often-reproduced photograph taken by Alexander Gardner Images of Mathew Brady. Munich and New York: of a dead Confederate sharpshooter in the Devil’s Den area Prestel Verlag, 2004. of the battle of Gettysburg. William Frassanito, after a painstaking analysis of the photograph and of others taken Richard C. Keenan

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WAR PHOTOGRAPHY made their well-known death studies at Antietam soon after the battle ended. Many of the dead remained where The Civil War was the first conflict to be extensively docu- they had fallen on the battlefield in abject postures mented by photographers. Between 1860 and 1865, and in various stages of decomposition (Frassanito 1978, about one million photographs depicted some aspect of a pp. 51–52). Gardner’s images presented a terrible spectacle nation at war (Sullivan 2004, p. 6). During this time, to the viewers who studied the images in Brady’s gallery. military photography radically altered the vision of battle A reporter who covered the story for The New York held in America’s popular imagination. In illustrated week- Times acknowledged that though most civilians ‘‘recog- lies, popular histories, and children’s textbooks, antebel- nize the battle-field as a reality . . . it stands as a remote lum print culture produced scenes that celebrated and one.’’ The photos in the exhibit had begun to change that romanticized war with little acknowledgment of its attend- conception. According to the Times, the photographer ant loss (Frassanito 1978, pp. 27–28). Though images of had ‘‘done something to bring home to us the terrible battlefield casualties constituted only a small portion of the reality and earnestness of war. If he has not brought bodies photographs taken during the war, the pictures of the dead and laid them in our dooryards and along the streets, he captured by such Civil War photographers as Mathew has done something very like it’’ (October 20, 1862, p. 5). Brady (1823–1896) and his associates confronted the public with drastically different and haunting tableaus. Some of the battlefield scenes were so graphic that Though a few photographic images of war had when they were redrawn as magazine illustrations, artists been produced during the (1853–1856) in and editors had to select the subjects carefully so as not to Europe and the Mexican-American War (1846–1848) offend the sensibilities of their readers. According to the in the Southwest, they were not widely circulated in the historian Donald Keyes, however, ‘‘There was no escaping United States. Rather, the most abundant visual represen- the truth of the photograph when the camera dispassion- tations of combat were artist illustrations, particularly ately surveyed the carnage and wreckage of humanity woodcut engravings. The technology did not yet exist to and buildings’’ (Keyes 1976–1977, p.121). As the Times replicate photographs in newspapers or magazines, so dur- reporter noted, the photos bore a ‘‘terrible distinctiveness’’ ing the Civil War these publications employed graphic so that with the use of a magnifying glass, ‘‘the very features artists to redraw photographic images for their readers. of the slain may be distinguished’’ (October 20, 1862, But before that, artists worked without photographic re- p. 5). The reporter also speculated that ‘‘Of all objects of ferents, and the illustrations they produced, according to horror one would think the battle-field should stand preemi- historian William Frassanito, depicted war as ‘‘a glorious nent.’’ But rather than the repulsiveness one would antici- adventure.’’ Most depicted action scenes of troops in the pate, the photographs elicited ‘‘a terrible fascination . . . that midst of battle or of individual soldiers in heroic postures. draws one near these pictures, and makes him loth [sic]to The dead and wounded were pictured, but their presence leave them.’’ The article continued, ‘‘You will see hushed, was subordinated to the unity of the heroic battle scene. reverend groups standing around these weird copies of carn- The casualties were almost never shown as mutilated, age, bending down to look in the pale faces of the dead, dismembered, or rotting (Frassanito 1978, p. 28). chained by the strange spell that dwells in dead men’s eyes’’ (October 20, 1862, p. 5 ). The 1862 Antietam Exhibit In a study of photography that was published in the That type of representation changed when a series of July 1863 Atlantic Monthly, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. battlefield photographs, titled ‘‘The Dead at Antietam’’ (1809–1894), an eminent Boston physician, discussed the went on display in Mathew Brady’s New York studio. Antietam exhibit as evidence that ‘‘the field of photography The photographs had been made by Alexander Gardner is extending itself to embrace subjects of strange (1821–1882), one of Brady’s associates. Portable photo and sometimes fearful interest.’’ Holmes had traveled to laboratories in horse-drawn wagons gave photographers the site in search of his son soon after the battle ended, and the mobility to perform field work and follow the military the photographs in ‘‘The Dead at Antietam’’ captured the engagements (Bleiler 1959 [1866]). But as the photo consequences that Holmes had witnessed firsthand. He process required extended exposure, the technology did testified to the realism of the photographs by declaring, not lend itself to recording action shots of engagements, ‘‘Let him who wishes to know what war is look at this series nor did the obvious hazards of setting up equipment in the of illustrations’’ (Holmes 1863, p. 11). Holmes also middle of combat zones (Cobb 1962, pp. 128–129). The process was also complicated by possession of the battle- described his own experience of viewing these ‘‘terrible field after the fighting had ended. Thus, the most dramatic mementos’’ and their capacity to ‘‘thrill or revolt those battlefield images taken by photographers were necessarily whose soul sickens at such sights’’ (pp. 11–12). Looking taken afterward. If burial details had finished clearing the over the prints, Holmes remarked, was ‘‘so nearly like visit- battlefield and interring the dead before the photographers ing the battlefield’’ that ‘‘all the emotions excited by the arrived, they documented the aftermath by focusing on the actual sight of the stained and sordid scene . . . came back to scarred landscape. Alexander Gardner and his assistant us, and we hurried them in the recesses of our cabinet as we

280 GALE LIBRARY OF DAILY LIFE: AMERICAN CIVIL WAR War Photography would have buried the mutilated remains of the dead they too vividly represented’’ (Holmes 1863, p. 12). MATHEW BRADY

Stereographs and Portraits Mathew Brady was perhaps the preeminent figure of Civil War photography, but his role in photographing the war has often What no doubt increased the vividness of the photographs been misunderstood. Brady was the first person to dispatch a and amplified the viewer’s response was that many of the corps of photographers to document the war (Trachtenberg photographs were produced as three-dimensional, or ster- 1985, p. 3). While the images that resulted were copyrighted in eoscopic, images. A camera containing two side-by-side the names of individual photographers, the press largely credited lenses would capture almost identical images. When viewed Brady for the work of his employees. Many have speculated that simultaneously under a stereograph viewer—the forerun- this fact ultimately led to Alexander Gardner’s decision to leave ner of children’s 3D View-Master toys—the two distinct Brady’s employ in 1863 (Zeller 2005, p. 103). Brady’s reputation images were combined by the viewer’s brain to create the remains largely unchallenged throughout the postwar nineteenth century—for example, an 1891 New York World article referred optical illusion of a single image with depth (Zeller 1997, to Brady as ‘‘the grand old man of American photography’’ and as pp. 13, 16). Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was an avid collec- ‘‘a man who has photographed more prominent men than any tor of stereographs and had invented the first practical other artist in the country’’ (Townsend 1891, p. 26). handheld viewer in 1859 (Zeller 1997, p. 14). The images Later, however, as scholars began to differentiate the work from ‘‘The Dead at Antietam’’ were reproduced and sold of several photographers, some questioned whether Brady’s widely—stereographs for fifty cents each, two-dimensional name was merely the equivalent of a corporate brand (Panzer cartes de visite and album cards for a quarter. The scenes 1997, p. 3). In fact, Brady did personally continue to produce were also redrawn by artists and printed in the illustrated images consistent with his earlier portraits of famous subjects. magazine Harper’s Weekly (Zeller 1997, p. 38). But he also devoted much of his effort to compiling as com- While the battlefield photos generated the most reac- prehensive a collection as he could, through directing the work tion from viewers, they actually constituted only a small of his employees and buying negatives of pictures taken by other photographers (Library of Congress, n.p.). He spent portion of the photographs taken to document the war. $100,000 to finance his war enterprise, but sold his collection to More than three thousand photographers were working in the U.S. government for approximately $25,000 to pay his debts the United States at the time (Sullivan 2004, p. 6); at least (Townsend 1891, p. 26; Panzer 1997, p. 19). ‘‘No one will ever three hundred of those photographed some aspect of the know what I went through to secure those negatives,’’ Brady war (Moyes 2001, p. 17). Most worked as portrait artists, later lamented. ‘‘The world can never appreciate it. It changed taking pictures of individual soldiers (Zeller 2005, p. 88). the whole course of my life’’ (Library of Congress, n.p.). In his study of the Union soldier, The Life of Billy Yank, the historian Bell Irvin Wiley cites an official from the U.S. CHRISTINA ADKINS

Sanitary Commission who commented on the ‘‘immense BIBLIOGRAPHY number’’ of soldiers who had their likenesses taken by Library of Congress. ‘‘Mathew B. Brady: Biographical Note.’’ In American photographers (Wiley 1971, p. 367). According to Wiley, Memory: Selected Civil War Photographs. Available from http://memory. ‘‘during their first weeks in uniform countless soldiers loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwbrady.html. visited the ’daguerrean artists’ who set up shop in camp Panzer, Mary. Mathew Brady and the Image of History. Washington, DC: or in near-by towns’’ (Wiley 1971, p. 25). In a letter dated Smithsonian Books, 1997.

February 1862, Warren Hapgood Freeman wrote to his Townsend, George Alfred. ‘‘Still Taking Pictures.’’ New York World, April father, ‘‘There is a photograph artist about the camp, but 12, 1891, p. 26. Reprinted in Mary Panzer’s Mathew Brady and the he has such a crowd about his saloon all the time that Image of History. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 1997. I have not been able to get a picture yet’’ (Freeman 1871). Trachtenberg, Alan. ‘‘Albums of War: On Reading Civil War Photo- A few photographers, such as Alexander Gardner, graphs.’’ Representations 9 (Winter 1985): 1–32. who left Brady and established his own gallery in 1863, Zeller, Bob. The Blue and Gray in : A History of Civil War reproduced maps, took images of large landscape views, Photography. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2005. and documented various aspects and activities of army life. Of the extensive collections of Civil War photographs that survive in the National Archives, ‘‘Soldiers at Rest after a Drill’’ depicts troops seated on the ground reading letters Between November 1861 and March 1862, Timothy and playing cards. Other prints include regimental group O’Sullivan (c. 1840–1882) visited the war zone in Beaufort, portraits, an army blacksmith’s forge, cavalry columns, South Carolina, where defeated planters had abandoned refugees fleeing a combat zone, religious services, railroad their lands but former slaves were not yet recognized as free bridges, the construction of telegraph lines, councils of by U.S. government policy (Wilson 1999, p. 108). During senior generals with President Lincoln, people and places his time in Beaufort, O’Sullivan photographed the African related to Lincoln’s assassination, and fugitives who fled Americans of the ‘‘Old Fort Plantation,’’ which became the slavery as they arrived at Union lines. largest group photo of enslaved men and women ever

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Union unit posed with cannons and horses. More than one million photos are thought to have been taken during the Civil War, capturing numerous facets of army life. Photograph by Mathew Brady. The Library of Congress. recorded (Wilson 1999, p. 108). Photo collector and author taken twenty minutes after the battle (Zeller 2005, pp. 91– Jackie Napolean Wilson notes the symbolism in the photo- 99). Russell is credited with raising the bar of Civil War graph as the subjects ‘‘stand in a wake of light emerging from photographic achievement in that he was able to follow an the darkness of shadows.’’ As Wilson explains, the men and army in action (Zeller 2005, p. 91). women in the photograph are bewildered survivors of an American tragedy (Wilson 1999, p. 108). Other Applications of Civil War Photography But the documentary value of photography was employed A Military Photographer for other purposes as well. The U.S. Congress commis- Most of the photographers who documented the war, sioned photographs to record the condition of prisoners at either for their own enterprise or as military contractors, Andersonville, Georgia, the site of a notorious Confeder- did so as civilians (Zeller 2005, p. 88). A notable exception ate prison camp (Orvell 2003, p. 65). The images, which was a Union officer, Captain Andrew J. Russell (1830– revealed prisoners near starvation, were used as evidence in 1902), who was uniquely positioned to capture much the trial of the jailer in charge of the camp, Henry Wirz, more with his camera. Officially, Russell’s assignment as who was ultimately convicted and executed for war crimes. the photographer of military railroads required him to The Daily National Intelligencer reported the testimony photograph aspects of railroad infrastructure. The photos of a U.S. Army surgeon, V. A. Vanderkief, who supervised were then reproduced and distributed to various military the treatment of reclaimed prisoners at Annapolis, Mary- and government authorities (Zeller 2005, pp. 89–90). land. The Intelligencer reported that ‘‘a photograph of But Russell also photographed war scenes because he a man . . . reduced to a mere skeleton was exhibited,’’ to was often traveling with the troops. Most notably, he took which the witness testified that ‘‘a large number of pri- rare shots of the second battle of Fredericksburg. Russell soners who came from Andersonville were of the appear- photographed soldiers huddled together ready to move ance of that exhibited by the photograph’’ (August 30, on a moment’s notice. He also set up his camera on the 1865, col. A). periphery of the battle and documented the engagement In addition, a report issued by the Surgeon General’s as it progressed. His photos include pictures of what may Office gauging the material available for a medical history be smoke from an artillery battery and images of casualties of the war recounted the early uses of medical photography.

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Ravages of war. Although photographic technology did not yet allow for images of actual fighting, some camera operators would take images of the battlefield after the hostilities ended, before dead soldiers were removed. Newspaper editors often sanitized the etchings based on those pictures, fearing their readership would be too unsettled by the graphic nature of war captured by the photos. The Library of Congress

In 1862, the Surgeon General’s Office directed army med- over a thousand photographic representations of wounded ical officers to forward monthly reports with details of their or mutilated men’’ (Otis 1865, p. 7). This early medical surgical cases and pathological specimens. The plan was to photography allowed army surgeons to document and dis- establish the Army Medical Museum for the advancement seminate knowledge of injuries and treatments that were of medical study. Eventually a photograph gallery was also developed during the war. established at the museum. According to George Otis, the After the Civil War, the commercial market for mili- author of the Surgeon General’s report, ‘‘Typical specimens tary photographs rapidly disappeared. In 1865 and 1866, were reproduced, and the photographs, accompanied by Alexander Gardner published two volumes of Gardner’s brief printed histories, were distributed to medical direc- Photographic Sketch Book of the War. Rather than reproduc- tors, to be shown to the medical officers serving with them. ing the original photographs with artist sketches, the book [...] Numerouspatientsinhospitalswerephotographed, was produced with actual photographic positives pasted and the Museum now possesses four quarto volumes, with into the pages. The collection was expensive to produce

GALE LIBRARY OF DAILY LIFE: AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 283 Civilian Photography and sold few copies (Bleiler 1959 [1866]). By then, many CIVILIAN PHOTOGRAPHY Americans eschewed reminders of the devastating conflict, During the Civil War, photography became an impor- especially images that so vividly preserved its violence. tant medium through which Americans documented the conflict in their own private collections, communicated BIBLIOGRAPHY sentiment to loved ones, and mourned the losses they Bleiler, E.F. Introduction to Gardner’s Photographic endured. Sketch Book of the Civil War, by Alexander Gardner. At the beginning of the Civil War, new army recruits New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1959 [1866]. and civilians on the home front rushed to take portraits for ‘‘Brady’s Photographs: Pictures of the Dead at exchange with distant loved ones. By one account, nearly Antietam.’’ New York Times, October 20, twenty thousand letters and ‘‘two or three bushels’’ of 1862. p. 5. photographs were mailed daily from a single post office Cobb, Josephine. ‘‘Photographers of the Civil War.’’ at Nashville (Fitch 1863, p. 313). Military Affairs 26, no 3 (1962): 127–135. was so prevalent that newspaper Frassanito, William A. Antietam: The Photographic articles offered advice on ‘‘How to Photograph Pleasing Legacy of America’s Bloodiest Day. New York: Countenances’’ and ‘‘How to Dress for a Photograph.’’ Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1978. The Washington (DC) Daily National Intelligencer advised that when dressing for a photograph, ‘‘violent contrasts of Freeman, Warren Hapgood. ‘‘Letter from Warren should be especially guarded against.’’ It also advo- Hapgood Freeman to J. D. Freeman.’’ In Letters from Two Brothers Serving in the War for the Union cated the use of the powder ‘‘puff box,’’ as freckles appeared to Their Family at Home in West Cambridge, Mass. ‘‘most painfully distinct’’ when photographed (February 3, Cambridge, MA: H.O. Houghton and Co., 1871. 1865). The San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin reported that a photographer in Cleveland, Ohio, had attempted to Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. ‘‘Doings of the Sunbeam.’’ alleviate the ‘‘stereotyped solemnity’’ of the portrait-sitter Atlantic Monthly, July 1863, 1–15. by placing a mirror next to the camera. Subjects could then Keyes, Donald. ‘‘The Daguerreotype’s Popularity in see their own expressions as they were captured by the America.’’ Art Journal 36, no. 2 (1976–1977): camera. Reportedly, the result was that the ‘‘stern scowl is 116–122. suddenly changed to a pleasant smile’’ (April 25, 1863). Moyes, Norman B. American Combat Photography As a corollary to the small card-mounted portraits from the Civil War to the Gulf War. New York: known as cartes de visite, photo albums became popular, MetroBooks, 2001. as they allowed people to arrange their own personal Otis, George Alexander. Reports on the Extent and photo archives and place them on display in their homes Nature of the Materials Available for the (Trachtenberg 1985, pp. 6–7). Preparation of a Medical and Surgical History Newspaper classifieds regularly contained advertise- of the Rebellion. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & ments for new types of photo albums. Eastman’s Book Co., 1865. and Stationary Store in Lowell, Massachusetts, for example, Sullivan, George. In the Wake of Battle: The Civil War claimed to offer the best albums on the market, purportedly Images of Mathew Brady. New York: Prestel manifesting ‘‘decided improvements over any heretofore Publishing, 2004. made’’—though what these innovations might have been ‘‘Trial of Henry Wirz: The Proceedings of Yesterday.’’ they did not specify (Lowell Daily Citizen, February 19, Daily National Intelligencer. August 30, 1865, 1862). An 1865 article in the Daily Cleveland Herald col. A. announced the introduction of a new type of album, Wiley, Bell Irvin. The Life of Billy Yank: The Common the Photograph Family Record, which was intended to Soldier of the Union. Garden City, NY: Doubleday preserve the ‘‘likeness, descriptions, and records’’ of each & Company, Inc., 1971 [1952]. family member. Each record included spaces for two Wilson, Jackie Napolean. Hidden Witness: African photographs taken at different times in a person’s life, a American Images from the Dawn of Photography blank marriage certificate, and places to record birth dates, to the Civil War. New York: St. Martin’s Press, genealogy, education, politics, and various other personal 1999. information up to the date of death and place of burial. The Zeller, Bob. The Civil War in Depth: History in 3-D. San article concluded that the new album ‘‘affords opportunity Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1997. for a complete family history, which cannot but become a Zeller, Bob. The Blue and Gray in Black and White: highly-prized memorial’’ (August 3, 1865). A History of Civil War Photography. Westport, CT: Indeed, these personal photo collections were among Praeger Publishers, 2005. the valuables saved in times of crisis. For example, one wit- ness to the Confederate raid on Chambersburg, Pennsylva- Christina Adkins nia, recalled seeing ‘‘ladies escaping from their houses with

284 GALE LIBRARY OF DAILY LIFE: AMERICAN CIVIL WAR Civilian Photography nothing but a few photographs or an album’’ (Schneck due time ‘‘cannonaded’’ her with marriage proposals 1864, p. 64). Another resident who lived near the soon- (Chesnut 1981, p. 445). to-be-burned courthouse recalled salvaging a few books, Photography was so integral a part of the cultural the family Bible, and a photograph album by stowing them experience of the war that it became the subject of literary in a neighbor’s house (Schneck 1864, p. 47). While the fact compositions. For example, an anonymous poem titled that so few things were salvaged was due to the desperation ‘‘The Carte de Visite’’ appeared in the September 1862 of the situation, the choice of what to save reveals much issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. It tells the story about the importance of photographs. of a soldier who stops to rest on a stranger’s front porch. For hospital supervisor Elvira Powers, the photo During this respite, he describes a terrible battle to a mother album she received from her patients was a token of and daughter. An unidentified youth killed in action mutual esteem. The album had her name engraved on it becomes the subject of particular concern, as the daughter and was ‘‘of a size to hold one hundred pictures.’’ No gift, begins to worry that the soldier is referring to her beloved. she declared, was ‘‘more acceptable than the album, espe- When the soldier reveals a photograph of the young ensign, cially . . . [if it contained] the faces of the donors’’ (Powers the image confirms the daughter’s worst fears. The poem 1866, pp. 201–202). concludes, ‘‘when we buried our dead that night / I took By the 1860s, though, photo collecting was not exclu- from his breast this picture—see! / It is as like him as like sively a personal matter; photo-reproduction processes had can be / . . . One glance, and a look, half sad, half wild, / created new commercial possibilities. Whereas the earlier passed over her face, which grew more pale, / Then a daguerreotype portrait had allowed for only a single copy of passionate, hopeless, heart-broken wail’’ (pp. 479–480). a photograph, the carte de visite process, developed in While this poem is fictional, during the war it indeed 1850, allowed for multiple prints from a single negative. became common practice to identify casualties from family Meanwhile, the reproduction and sale of celebrity por- photographs and other items they carried on their person. traits meant that in addition to pictures of their nearest ‘‘Ordinarily,’’ wrote Edward Parmelee Smith, who minis- and dearest, people could purchase small portrait prints tered among the casualties, ‘‘in the inside breast pocket of of famous figures. Whereas enthusiasts previously had to the blouse, there would be a letter from friends, a photo- attend galleries to view images of the most prominent graph, a Christian Commission Testament or Hymn Book , public figures of the time, they could now collect prints of with the name and regiment and home address’’ (Smith such images in their own album archive. 1869, p. 236). This became the pastime of Southern diarist Mary At Gettysburg, a soldier was found slain on the battle- Chesnut, who in 1861 recorded a peculiar morning field with no identification but the ambrotype of his three encounter with South Carolina Governor John Manning. children. In Incidents of the United States Christian Com- When Manning arrived for breakfast in full formal attire as if mission (1869), Smith reflected that perhaps no other story dressed to attend a ball, Chesnut ‘‘looked at him in amaze- of the war ‘‘became so widely known or excited such deep ment.’’ But Manning assured her, ‘‘I am not mad. . . . I am sympathy.’’ According to Smith, the soldier was found only going to the photographer.’’ Manning’s wife wanted a clutching the photograph so that it ‘‘must have met his dying gaze’’ (pp. 175–176). The case came to the attention portrait taken in his dress attire. Chesnut accompanied of civilian doctor J. Francis Bourns. To discover the identity Manning to the studio, along with her husband James of the soldier and notify his family, Bourns had the photo- Chesnut Jr. and the former governor, John Means. After- graph reproduced, then furnished the image and details to ward, the diarist received a gift of a photo album in which the press. The incident and the search became a national she was to ‘‘pillory all celebrities’’ (Chesnut 1981, p. 37). story, and copies of the children’s image were reproduced Though Chesnut’s social circle comprised a veritable who’s and sold for the benefit of the family. Eventually, the soldier who of famous Confederates, she may have acquired pho- was identified as Sergeant Amos Humiston. When the tographs for her album not only from personal acquaintan- Humiston family was finally located, Bourns arranged to ces but also from the portrait copies that were widely meet them. According to the Washington Daily National available for sale. Chesnut later wrote that her photograph Intelligencer, Bourns ‘‘found them living in the same hum- book contained ‘‘one of all the Yankee generals’’ (Chesnut ble house in which the father had left them when he went 1981, p. 731). To amuse the young son of a Confederate forth to the service of his country; and when the children colonel, Chesnut handed him a photo album; on flipping gathered together and grouped as they are in the ambro- through it, the child exclaimed ‘‘You have Lincoln in your type, it was seen that there could be no mistake in the book! I am astonished at you’’ (Chesnut 1981, p. 412). family’’ (February 24, 1864). Bourns returned the original Chesnut also recorded an instance in which a suitor portrait to Humiston’s widow, along with the money col- submitted his portrait to his intended, a common ritual in lected from the sale of the photo reprints and various nineteenth-century courtships. Sally ‘‘Buck’’ Preston was contributions. Copies of the children’s photograph, the the object of a Confederate major’s attentions—though article added, were still available for sale at a Seventh Street only after her own older sister had rejected him. The bookstore and in the Patent Office at the National Fair. On officer, Chesnut noted, sent Sally his photograph, and in January 23, 1866, the Scioto Gazette (Chillicothe, OH)

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Last thought of a dying father. Soldiers on both sides of the Civil War often kept pictures of their loved ones close to their person. After the Battle of Gettysburg, an unknown fallen soldier clutching a portrait of his children became famous after a doctor reproduced the image in newspapers, hoping to identify the man. The Library of Congress. reported continued fundraising efforts for the support of While the case of the Humiston family was excep- Frank, Frederick, and Alice, the children of the patriot tional for the amount of media attention it received, Wil- martyr of Gettysburg’’ (The Scioto Gazette,January23, liam Howell Reed recounted a similar scene of pathos in 1866). A musical composition entitled ‘‘The Children of his memoir Hospital Life in the Army of the Potomac the Battle-field’’ was published and sold with a brief narra- (1866). Reed recalled conducting a roadside funeral and tive of the family history and a reproduction of the child- interment for a man who had died on an ambulance ren’s likenesses. The music sold for fifty cents per copy, and bivouac. The man had no identification, and Reed found card-sized photographs for a quarter. According to the in the man’s packet ‘‘only a photograph of a little infant, Gazette, the music would be a welcome addition ‘‘in every which showed that there was one tie at least to bind him to circle where music is a part of home enjoyment, and where this world.’’ After placing the photo ‘‘upon his breast, and are those who with gratitude remember our country’s covering it with his blouse,’’ Reed began the burial and the brave defenders.’’ According to Smith, the Humiston fam- man ‘‘was laid down to rest’’ (pp. 16–17). ily relocated to the National Orphan Homestead, founded Such stories, however fact-based, were influenced by a at Gettysburg, where Mrs. Humiston worked as an under- cultural association between mourning and photography. matron and where seventy war orphans then resided. Offer- Since the development of the daguerreotype in the 1830s, ing an appropriate conclusion to the sentimental story, it had become common to commission memorial pho- Smith reported that the ‘‘morning after the children came tographs of recently deceased loved ones. As the genre to the institution, it was found that they had gone out developed, subjects were commonly posed in lifelike pos- quietly and decked their father’s grave with beautiful flow- tures. Children, whose memorial photos were sometimes ers’’ (Smith 1869, p. 176). their only recorded likenesses, were pictured as if sleeping.

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According to historian Miles Orvell (2003), such images documentary A Family Undertaking. PBS.org, were consistent with the Victorian view of death as a bodily 2004. Available from http://www.pbs.org/. sleep from which the deceased would awaken in heaven, Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. ‘‘Doings of the Sunbeam.’’ and thus offered comfort to the bereaved (pp. 24–25). Atlantic Monthly, July 1863, pp. 1–15. ‘‘Spirit photography,’’ the discovery of which coincided ‘‘How to Dress for a Photograph.’’ Washington (DC) with the Civil War, also became a popular form of memorial Daily National Intelligencer, February 3, 1865. image in the nineteenth century. In March 1861, William ‘‘How to Photograph Pleasing Countenances.’’ San Mumler photographed himself alone in his studio, but when Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, April 25, 1863. he developed the plate he found an additional figure in the Kaplan, Louis. ‘‘Where the Paranoid Meets the frame. Several people claimed that this ‘‘spirit extra’’ was the Paranormal: Speculations on Spirit Photography.’’ ghost of Mumler’s dead cousin, to whom the image bore a Art Journal 62, no. 3 (2003): 18–29. strong resemblance (Kaplan 2003, p. 18). Soon, other pho- Orvell, Miles. American Photography. New York: Oxford tographers began to discover their own ‘‘spirit extras.’’ University Press, 2003. ‘‘Photograph Albums: Just Received a Large and Well Though spirit images were the result of double exposures Selected Stock Direct from the Manufacturers.’’ superimposed by these photographers, some photographers Advertisement. Lowell (MA) Daily Citizen and may have actually believed in the authenticity of their appa- News, February 19, 1862. rition (‘‘Gone but Not Forgotten,’’ p. 6). ‘‘Photograph Family Record.’’ Daily Cleveland (OH) Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., a photo collector and Herald, August 3, 1865. doctor by profession, dismissed spirit photographs as the Powers, Elvira J. Hospital Pencillings: Being a Diary result of overwrought mourners and unscrupulous pho- While in Jefferson General Hospital, Jeffersonville, tographers. ‘‘The actinic influence of a ghost on a sensi- Ind., and Others at Nashville, Tennessee, as Matron tive plate is not so strong as might be desired,’’ Holmes and Visitor. Boston: Edward L. Mitchel, 1866. wrote sarcastically, ‘‘but considering that spirits are so Reed, William Howell. Hospital Life in the Army of the nearly immaterial . . . the effect is perhaps as good as Potomac. Boston: W. V. Spencer, 1866. ought to be expected.’’ Holmes elaborated on what he Schneck, B. S. The Burning of Chambersburg, perceived to be the usual scenario: ‘‘Mrs. Brown, for , 2nd rev. ed. Philadelphia: Lindsay & instance, has lost her infant, and wishes to have its Blakiston, 1864. spirit-portrait taken with her own. A special sitting is The Scioto Gazette, Tuesday, January 23, 1866, issue 49, granted, and a special fee is paid. In due time the photo- col C. graph is ready, and, sure enough, there is the misty ‘‘Sergeant Humiston.’’ Washington (DC) Daily image of an infant in the background. Or, it may be, National Intelligencer, February 24, 1864. across the mothers lap.’’ It may be impossible to identify Smith, Edward Parmelee. Incidents of the United States the child. But, wrote Holmes, ‘‘it is enough for the poor Christian Commission. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, mother, whose eyes are blinded with tears, that she sees a 1869. print of drapery like an infant’s dress, and a rounded Trachtenberg, Alan. ‘‘Albums of War: On Reading Civil something, like a foggy dumpling, which will stand for War Photographs.’’ Representations 9 (Winter 1985): a face: she accepts the spirit-portrait as a revelation from 1–32. the world of shadows’’ (Holmes 1862, p. 14). But even after belief in the authenticity of spirit photography had Christina Adkins subsided, the genre maintained its popularity (‘‘Gone but Not Forgotten,’’ p. 6). According to art historian Louis Kaplan (2003), spirit photography during the n Reading and Reading Groups Civil War helped mourners to feel connected with dead loved ones and to withstand the daily tragedies and Civil War soldiers avidly read newspapers to learn about losses that surrounded them. news from home. Newspapers obtained by soldiers were sometimes traded with the enemy in picket exchanges. All

BIBLIOGRAPHY types of paper were used for these newspapers, from wall- paper to wrapping paper. The exchange of letters, news- Chesnut, Mary. Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, ed. C. Vann papers, and fiction among soldiers and their families Woodward. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981. helped them to maintain their emotional connections even Fitch, John. Annals of the Army of the Cumberland: while at a physical distance. Soldiers gained access to books Comprising Biographies, Descriptions of Departments, from shipments from home, picket exchanges, religious Accounts of Expeditions, Skirmishes, and Battles, 5th and charitable sources, and traveling loan libraries. Men ed. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1864. also read while convalescing after battle injuries. ‘‘Gone but Not Forgotten.’’ Special online feature A field nurse, Jane Stuart Woolsey, wrote in her 1870 prepared in conjunction with the P.O.V. book Hospital Days that ‘‘Soldiers were omnivorous

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