Civil War Photographers and Sketch Artists

Imagine the lives of Civil War photographers, and you'll appreciate their work even more. Photographers followed the troops, marching across the country and living in tents. They witnessed the carnage of war firsthand and had to convey it to others who weren't on the scene, such as the soldiers' family members back at home.

Photographers and sketch artists came in after the actual fighting to record the scene. Early cameras photographed very slowly, so there was too much movement to take photos during the actual battle. Images were recorded onto a specially treated glass plate. The glass was the negative that tin and paper copies were made from. Newspaper printing presses did not have the technology to print photographs yet, so images had to come from sketches that were then carved into lithographs.

Below is a photo of Alfred R. Waud at Devils' Den in Gettysburg shortly after the battle. He was working on a sketch for Harper's Weekly. He was paid by the paper to follow the Union troops and record major battles with his drawings. Please visit the The Civil War Historical Preservation Site to see historical Harper's Weekly publications from the Civil War era.

Dishonest Photographer
Matthew Brady was one of the photographers of the aftermath at Gettysburg. He can be seen in some of his Civil War photographs as a man in a straw hat. He took the body of one Confederate soldier and posed him for several photographs in the Devils Den and Slaughter Pen area, dragging the body into position for each picture.

You can research photos by Brady and other Civil War photographers easily from your computer.