Let him who wishes to know what war is look at this series of illustrations... It was so nearly like visiting the battle-field to look over these views, that all the emotions excited by the actual sight of the stained and sordid scene, strewed with rags and wrecks...

In the fore-ground of which are a number of dead bodies grouped in every imaginal [sic] position, the stiffened limbs preserving the same attitude as that maintained by the sufferers in their last agonies. Minute as are the features of the dead, and unrecognizable by the naked eye, you can, by bringing a magnifying glass to bear on them, identify not merely their general outline, but actual expression.

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. 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. Of all objects of horror one would think the battlefield should stand preeminent, that it should bear away the palm of repulsiveness. But, on the contrary, there is a terrible fascination about it that draws one near these pictures, and makes him loath to leave them. You will see hushed, reverend groups standing around these weird copies of carnage, bending down to look in the pale faces of the dead, chained by the strange spell that dwells in dead men's eyes.

It is a block, barren plain and above it bends an ashen sullen sky; there is no friendly shade or shelter from the noonday sun, or the midnight dews: coldly and unpityingly the stars will look down them and darkness will come with night to shut them in.

These pictures have a terrible distinctiveness. By the aid of the magnifying glass, the very features of the slain may be distinguished. We would scarce choose to be in the gallery, when one of the women bending over them should recognize a husband, a son, or a brother in the still, lifeless lines of bodies, that lie ready for the gaping trenches. For these trenches have a terror for a woman's heart, that goes far to outweigh all the others that hover over the battle-field. Have heart poor mother; grieve not without hope; mourn not without consolation. This is not the last of your boy. With pealing of trumpets and beating of drums, These trenches shall open -- the Son of Man comes. And then is reserved for him the crown which only heroes and martyrs are permitted to wear -- a crown brighter than bays, greener and more lasting than laurel.

Many people would not look at this series. Many, having seen it and dreamed of its horrors, would lock it up in some secret drawer, that it might not thrill or revolt those whose soul sickens at such sights. It was so nearly like visiting the battlefield to look over these views, that all the emotions excited by the actual sight of the stained and sordid scene, stewed with rags and wrecks, came back to us, and we buried them in recesses of our cabinet as we would have buried the mutilated remains of the dead they too vividly represented.

Yet through such martyrdom must come our redemption. War is the surgery of crime. Bad as it is in itself, it always implies that something worse has gone before. Where is the American, worthy of his privileges, who does not now recognize the fact, if never until now, that the disease of our nation was organic, not functional, calling for the knife, and not for washes and anodynes?

Here lie three Americans. What shall we say of them? Shall we say that this is a fine thing, that they should give their lives for their country? Why print this picture anyway of three American boys, dead on an alien shore? The reason is that words are never enough. The eye sees.

An overdose of such photographs would be unhealthy. But in proper proportion they can help us to understand something of what has been sacrificed for the victories we have won... If we are to behave as adults in meeting our civilian responsibilities, we must be treated as adults. This means simply that we must be given the truth without regard to fears about how me may react to it.

If we are to behave as adults in meeting our civilian responsibilities, we must be treated as adults. This means simply that we must be given the truth without regard to fears about how we may react to it.

14. Media will not be prohibited from viewing or filming casualties; however, casualty photographs showing recognizable face, name tag or other identifying feature or item will not be published. In respect to our family members, names, video, identifiable written/oral descriptions or identifiable photographs of wounded service members will not be released without the service member's prior written consent. If the service members died of his wounds, next-of-kin reporting rules then apply. Media should contact the PAO for release advice.

Your lack of compassion and common sense in choosing to put this images of their maimed and stricken child on the front page of multiple American newspapers is appalling. The issue here is not law, policy or constitutional right -- but judgement and common decency. Photographer Julie Jacobson and AP had followed the embed rules in place at the time, something Secretary Gates did not dispute. The AP responded to Secretary Gates that the picture was run because it "... conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it." A Los Angeles Times study of photos published during six months of the Iraqi conflict in 2005 showed one effect of this policy. US publications ran numerous photos of dead Iraqis but virtually none of Americans.

CBMSOD_181018_144.JPG: Non Media 21st Century Battleground Information Sources Because of the worldwide restrictions on accredited journalists, much current battleground information is being produced by non-media individuals. This recalls that Alexander Gardner was not an accredited journalist when he went to Antietam. He was an employee of a commercial gallery using a new technology, stereoscopic photography, to take photos for commercial sale. The Internet and low-cost digital cameras have provided individuals the opportunity to create video or photographic reports of firefights and the aftermath of battles, often from their own neighborhoods. These reports by "citizen journalists," available on You Tube and other websites, have at their best given the public an eyewitness account of conflicts where accredited journalists are barred. However, since many of these videos [are] not verified, there is always the possibility that images projected as objective news may in fact be produced as propaganda. Another source of current battle zone information is the photographs and videos taken by the combatants themselves. The photos published in 2004 showing prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison were taken by a [sic] US military stationed at the prison. The "Collateral Murder" video released by Wikileaks in 2010 of a 2007 US helicopter attack in Baghdad that resulted in the death of eleven individuals, including two Reuter news service employees, was a US army video. The distribution of this video, which was classified at the time, resulted in the detention of Army PFC Chelsea Manning by the US military for allegedly releasing it along with thousands of additional documents to Wikileaks. She was charged under terms of the 1916 Espionage Act. Manning's defense before a military court was that her action did not aid the enemy but was a legitimate case of whistleblowing.

I'm a "transparency advocate." I feel that the public cannot decide what actions and policies are or are not justified if they don't even know the most rudimentary details about them and their effects.

-- Chelsea Manning, October 7, 2013 While convicted of 20 counts of stealing government documents, Manning was acquitted of the most serious Espionage Act charge -- Aiding the Enemy. "Collateral Murder" is still available to the public. Since 1862, when Alexander Gardner and Mathew Brady first showed the public what the human cost of war looked like, there has been a debate over what the public should be allowed to see. Those who argue that the release of such images is necessary are not limited to journalists, politicians, or Constitutional lawyers.

"That is not an image you want to see like that," said Hernandez, still shedding tears of fury and sadness six months after her son's death. "Your kid is lying like that and there is no way you can get their to help them." "I do think it's an important thing, for people to see what goes on over there," Hernandez said in a phone interview. "It throws reality more in your face. And sometimes we can't help reality."

-- Kathy Hernandez, mother of Army Spc. Travis Babbitt, on the published photo of her mortally wounded son. PORTRAITS OF WAR, Unseen Pictures, Untold Stories Los Angeles Times, James Rainey, May 31, 2005.

CBMSOD_181018_166.JPG: "Bringing the Story of War to Our Doorsteps" Alexander Gardner's Antietam Photographs Matthew [sic] Brady's New York City Gallery: 1862 In 1862, Mathew Brady's gallery of photography in New York City had won renown for its formal portraits of historical greats. "The new Brady Gallery has been baptized the 'National Portrait Gallery.' It deserves the name, and more. It is cosmopolite as well as national. "The ample stairway of rich carved wood introduces you to a very Valhalla of celebrities, ranging over two continents, and through all ranks of human activity." The gallery had also become the place for society to gather. "... we understand, for to-morrow night, a general reception of ladies and amateurs, which bids fair to be one of the most unique and interesting entertainments of the current season." -- New York Times, October 6, 1860 Brady's Gallery in 1862: A New View of Death in Battle: In October of 1862, Brady showed the patrons of his gallery something completely different. "At the door of his gallery hangs a little placard, 'The Dead of Antietam.' Crowds of people are constantly going up the stairs; follow them, and you find them bending over photographic views of that fearful battlefield, taken immediately after the action." Mathew Brady's photographer Alexander Gardner had arrived on the Antietam Battlefield two days after the battle had ended on September 17th, 1862. Over the next few days he did something never done before in America. He chronicled the human carnage of battle. The Battle of Antietam is, even to this day, the single worst day in American military history. Over 23,000 soldiers were killed or wounded out of a population of about 30 million, which was only one-tenth of today's population. These photos were very different from the 'Beautiful Death' that 19th Century people had imagined was the reality of death in battle. A Restaging and Rediscovery: Using articles in the press from 1862 as well as original Gardner photographs purchased during the Civil War (5 are displayed in our Gallery) as our guides, Brady's "The Dead of Antietam" has been restaged. Alexander Garner's [sic] photos, reproduced in similar size and format are displayed in the Victorian parlor you will now be entering. The photos were small: "Next to it is a smaller photograph, some seven inches square, which tells a tale of desperate contention." -- Harper's Weekly, October 18, 1862 Viewers had to bend over to observe them: "You will see hushed, reverend groups standing around these weird copies of carnage, bending down to look in the pale faces of the dead, chained by the strange spell that dwells in dead men's eyes." -- New York Times, October 20, 1862 And magnifying glasses were present: "By the aid of the magnifying glass, the very features of the slain may be distinguished." -- New York Times, October 20, 1862 The reproductions used in this exhibit are prints made form the original negatives via digital files. The Library of Congress recently produced high resolution .tif digital files of Gardner's photographs. These digital files were used to produce these prints. These images of the dead were taken with a stereo camera. These large images, clumsy and difficult to use by today's standards, produced two side-by-side photographs. When viewed with a handheld viewer, the image appeared in 3-D. Using modern technology a 3-D show of some of these photos concludes this exhibit. You will be able to see details in these photos never available before this show. Prints of Alexander Gardner's photos are available for purchase, as they were in the Brady Gallery in 1862.

CBMSOD_181018_169.JPG: Brady's Gallery in 1862: A New View of Death in Battle: In October of 1862, Brady showed the patrons of his gallery something completely different. "At the door of his gallery hangs a little placard, 'The Dead of Antietam.' Crowds of people are constantly going up the stairs; follow them, and you find them bending over photographic views of that fearful battlefield, taken immediately after the action." Mathew Brady's photographer Alexander Gardner had arrived on the Antietam Battlefield two days after the battle had ended on September 17th, 1862. Over the next few days he did something never done before in America. He chronicled the human carnage of battle. The Battle of Antietam is, even to this day, the single worst day in American military history. Over 23,000 soldiers were killed or wounded out of a population of about 30 million, which was only one-tenth of today's population. These photos were very different from the 'Beautiful Death' that 19th Century people had imagined was the reality of death in battle.