USA Civil War Photography

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

... pictures are worth thousands of words .... these remarkable collections are potent reports on the birth of the Republic in war ... in many ways that we fail to appreciate but that these pictures bring out clearly .... not least the engineering and capital intensity of the war efforts

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

[Stunsworth]

Thanks, there's some excellent photography there.

[gamba]

Grim - but do we ever learn

[Petrushka]

Many of these images are familiar from Ken Burns' epic Civil War documentary which has been broadcast twice by the BBC. Another outing for it would be most timely in this anniversary year. For those who never saw it, it was strongly influenced by Jeremy Isaacs' The World at War and the music for the series was unforgettably haunting.

Edit: Here is an Amazon link to the DVD set http://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Civ...9046400&sr=1-1

[Roehre]

... pictures are worth thousands of words .... these remarkable collections are potent reports on the birth of the Republic in war ... in many ways that we fail to appreciate but that these pictures bring out clearly .... not least the engineering and capital intensity of the war efforts

If you are interested in the Civil War and pictures made at that time, I'd like to recommend you the Ken Burns series which Petrushka mentions and this 2 (reprint in 2 vols of an originally 6 vol set) volume photographic set vol.1 and vol.2
The music Petrushka mentions to be found here, but a good and instructive set including the noise made by weapnry is this 2CD set

[mercia]

were they more advanced photographically than we were in Britain? I recently bought a book of photos of Victorian London and they don't seem as sharp or defined as these American ones.

[Roehre]

were they more advanced photographically than we were in Britain? I recently bought a book of photos of Victorian London and they don't seem as sharp or defined as these American ones.

I don't know, as I've got books with photos from German and French cities and people from the 1850s, and these are really sharply focussed (provided the people didn't move )

[Petrushka]

If you are interested in the Civil War and pictures made at that time, I'd like to recommend you this Ken Burns DVD series and this 2 (reprint in 2 vols of an originally 6 vol set) volume photographic set vol.1 and vol.2
The music Petrushka mentions to be found here, but a good and instructive set including the noise made by weapnry is this 2CD set

Looks like we cross-posted there, Roehre, just as I was sorting out the link. Beware though, if you don't have a multi-region player the Amazon.com DVD is Region 1 for US and Canada only.

[Roehre]

Looks like we cross-posted there, Roehre, just as I was sorting out the link. Beware though, if you don't have a multi-region player the Amazon.com DVD is Region 1 for US and Canada only.

Thanks Petrushka, I've changed my original posting and refer to your link.

[John Wright]

... pictures are worth thousands of words .... these remarkable collections are potent reports on the birth of the Republic in war ...

Great photos Calum, but erm, doesn't the term 'birth of the Republic' refer to the years leading up to the War of independence (1775–1783)?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

doesn't the term 'birth of the Republic' refer to the years leading up to the War of independence (1775–1783)?

i am sure you are correct in that John Wright ....

i would like to make the point however that i see much of contemporary USA culture [especially guns etc] as rooted in the civil war experience; thet though the war was won the conflict was not resolved and to this day it resonates in American discourse ...

may i recommend this movie

[John Wright]

Calum, if you have read closely about the American Civil War, try reading contemporary reports on the English Civil War (1642–1651), two hundred years previous but it will read all very familiar.

Armies travelling around the country, 'engineering supplies' to organise, skirmishes, massacres in towns, lynchings, full scale battles, historic buildings destroyed, it's all there, and of course not just England, the war spread to Scotland, Wales and Ireland and the effects of the Irish events still haunt us today.

[groovydavidii]

Haunting images Aka, in similar context look up Winslow Homer's civil war wood engravings, a supreme illustrator who captured incidentals of the conflict in enduring authenticity.

[Segilla]

My gt.gt.grandfather, a surgeon to a troop of colored soldiers died a month before the end of the American Civil War (ACW). His death was from typhoid, a disease which carried off many, many more soldiers than rifles and cannon.

[mangerton]

My gt.gt.grandfather, a surgeon to a troop of colored soldiers..............

Colored? Grey or blue?