The Civil War Experience
The Civil War is one of the lowest points in American history, pitting brother agains brother, American against American. The development of photography shortly before the war allowed for a unique window into the true horrors of war that had not been available for any previous wars. These groundbreaking images, coupled with the telegraph, railroads, and advanced presses, allowed for faster, more up to date distribution of information, and also showed the true nature of the bloody war. Although there were two different American perspectives during the war, all people shared one American identity:That of a country immersed in total war. The death toll was unprecedented, both in sheer number dead and in the gruesome yet preventable ways that soldiers died because of new, advanced weapon technology. Bodies of Northerners, Southerners, blacks and whites fell together, near indistinguishable in the indiscriminate face of death. In many of these images, it's difficult to tell the Northerners and Southerners apart. All Americans felt the effects of the war, as their lifestyles and identities changed. Irrespective of territory, families without fathers worried as horrifying news from the fronts came back on a weekly basis. Civilians saw their lands and livelihoods destroyed. Weariness ran rampant, yet production and industry expanded, as more and more railroads, factories, arms, ammunition, and all other trappings of war were in high demand. Transportation was key, both of these good and of the soldiers themselves. As so many fell, the War moved towards a war for freedom, and blacks joined the fight, beginning their integration into society and the eventual rise of the civil rights movement. The American identity changed drastically during the war, as death and destruction erased all thoughts of progress and American exceptionalsim, leaving only that of a war weary country hungry for peace.
"Union and Confederate dead, Gettysburg Battlefield, PA" Taken on July 1863, after the pivotal, 3 day battle of Gettysburg. Photographed by Timothy O'Sullivan. National Archives number 165-SB-36.
"Ruins in Charleston, South Carolina" -between 1861 and 1865, Library of Congress.
"Confederate prisoners captured in the Shenandoah Valley being guarded in a Union camp" Taken May 1862. National Archives number 111-B-497.
"Group of freed negroes by canal" -April 1865. Library of Congress.
This former slave, shown in the center leaning against the hut, stands as an equal amongst his comrades outside Fredericksburg. Photographed by Mathew B. Brady.