A War Exposed
(The Civil War)

Brady’s photographs profoundly shaped public perceptions of the war. They were the basis for hundreds of engravings printed in the mass-marketed Harper’s Weekly, and the public thronged to exhibitions in Brady’s galleries. In 1862 the New York Times wrote that “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 dooryards and along the streets, he has done something very like it.”

Abolitionist and women’s-rights leader Sojourner Truth (1799-1883) worked tirelessly for the poor and the disenfranchised in mid 19th century America. Born into slavery, Truth traveled and lectured about the inhumanity of slavery and the rights of African-Americans and women. Famously, she asked, “And ain't I a woman?” To heighten awareness of her work and to raise funds to support it, Truth sold copies of this photograph with the caption, “I sell the shadow to support the substance.”

The Union Army used photography extensively to document wounds and treatments. These images show a severe dislocation and a gunshot wound. The photograph of the gunshot wound bears detailed medical annotations. Private Cyrus Straus of Illinois was shot at Atlanta on August 6, 1864 and was admitted to hospital in Nashville on September 21. On October 1 part of the bone was removed. Gangrene set in on October 4 but was arrested with the use of bromine.

Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War. Volume 1. Philip & Solomons. Publishers, Washington DC. 1865.

This poignant image of a fallen Confederate soldier was published in Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War. One of the most famous series of Civil War photographs, the collection of 100 prints helped define a new view of the realities of war. A century after this photograph was taken, scholars determined that Gardner and his assistant had moved the body of the fallen soldier, using the corpse and a prop gun for several different images including this dramatic view.

Known as the “Angel of the Battlefield,” Clara Barton (1821-1912) was a leading figure in the distribution of medical supplies, food, and clothing to wounded soldiers. She was present at a number of the war’s grimmest battlefields. After the war she founded the American Red Cross and became a key figure in the woman’s suffrage and civil rights movements.

This ambrotype portrait of a young soldier was probably taken shortly before his deployment. The patriotic brass mat features two flags, a cannon, a gunship, and the words “Constitution and Union, July 4, 1776.” Families treasured photographs of loved ones who went off to war, many never to return.

This tintype portrait has a hand-painted background, seemingly transforming the portrait from a studio to a battlefield setting. Inexpensive, durable, and easily mailed home, tintypes were immensely popular with soldiers and their families.

Dupree was one of the three fully commissioned black officers of the renowned 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The chaplain of the famous regiment called Dupree and his two fellow black officers, “Three as worthy men as ever carried a gun.” They were promoted from the ranks in 1864 but the army refused to muster them in as officers until the end of the war.

The text on the verso notes that this carte de visite is a copy of an ambrotype found in the hands of Sgt. Humiston of the 154th New York Volunteers, found dead on the Gettysburg battlefield. A Philadelphia physician printed and sold these photographs to raise funds for support and education of the orphans.