USA Civil War Photography

[John Wright]

mangerton, you are white, obviously

[marthe]

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.

Kevin Phillips in The Cousins' Wars and David Hackett Fischer in Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America feel that the American Civil War was partly a bit of unfinished business that was carried over from the mother country.

American Civil War photographs are compelling. The clarity of photos taken by large view cameras using large glass-plate negatives is quite astonishing.

In the early to mid 60s, at the time of the centenary of the American Civil War, there was quite a lot of interest. It was also the time of the Civil Rights Movement.

[Segilla]

Colored? Grey or blue?

A Wiltshire born MRCS, like many other medical men in an overcrowded profession, he emigrated with his family to the New World and eventually mustered into the Unionist army.
His widow (the descendant of a family who had to quit America in 1788) returned to London with her children.

Two treasured relics are a photo of him in his army uniform, and frail copy of the Ohio State Journal 6 May 1865 recording his death, the headlines of which carry news of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Family history, like the discovery of music, can be the journey of a lifetime.

[David Underdown]

Have you investigated the Civil War personnel records held by NARA?

[John Wright]

Calum, the sites of the American Civil War are fascinating to see. During a spell in USA (20 years ago) I spent some time in Washington DC and drove to war sites in Richmond and Petersburgh. There are trenches still in place. The museums are excellent. The war cemetries are an awesome sight.

Fleamarkets, or rather country barns that are used as 'anteeky stores' are full of contemporary books and memorabilia from the war.

[Segilla]

Have you investigated the Civil War personnel records held by NARA?

Yes, I have copies of all the documents in his army file.

Ironically, one of the questions put to him in a written exam when he applied to become a full surgeon was about the purity of water.

No.8. Hygiene. Dr. Merryweather. How would you determine whether the water at the site of a proposed camp is fit for use? If impure, how could you remedy the difficulty?

If clear and tastes good you may reasonably expect it to be fit for use but if you could not get very pure water have it boiled before allowing it to be drank.

A total of around 3 million men served in the armies, of whom around 20% died - more than all losses from 1776 to the Vietnam war. In the Union Army, four died of disease for every one killed by the enemy; dysentery and diarrhoeal diseases killed 57,000 Union soldiers, 13,000 more than the total killed in battle.

So, on a mug of water may hinge the fact that I'm English and not American.

[David Underdown]

I believe that for all its unique awfulness, the First World War was the first war where there were fewer deaths and casualties as a result of sickness than from enemy action

[Lateralthinking1]

Sorry, this isn't wholly relevant, it is the Daily Mail again which I don't buy, and nearly three months late. Still, the thread is about photography and history and these are also interesting photos with a good story. Wanted to post them somewhere -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2067581/Stripped-youve-seen-Pictures-Tower-Bridge-construction-dumped-skip.html