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Wartime Photography
The American Civil War was the first major conflict to be extensively photographed. Civilians for the first time could view the shockingly realistic carnage of battlefields. Photography was only two decades old in 1861. The photographer carried heavy equipment by wagon, which served as his darkroom where he processed cumbersome light-sensitive images on glass. Taking a photograph was a slow process, and battlefields were too chaotic and dangerous for photographers. Wartime photographs, therefore, consisted of individual and group portraits, camp scenes, and the grisly aftermath of battle. Artists traveling with the armies were better able to provide depictions of actual battle. Both drawings and photographs fed a home front population hungry for information. Urban photographers produced inexpensive portraits carried by soldiers in the field and kept by loved ones at home. |