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When someone mentions the American Civil War, I immediately think of the hundreds of black and white images that have left a visual record of that event. The war marks the first time the horror and carnage of war became viewable away from the battlefield.
On October 20, 1862, merely a month after the Antietam battle, Mathew Brady premiered his collection of battlefield images in his New York gallery, which was open to the public. People were absolutely shocked. The morbid images showed the stark reality of the ever-escalating war and no doubt contributed to the New York draft riots six months later.
Interestingly, Mathew Brady recorded few, if any, of the many Civil War images attributed to him. He was, nevertheless, the primary organizer and financial backer of a staff of photographers. The Antietam images were taken by his assistants–Alexander Gardner and James F. Gibson. Gardner broke with Brady in early 1863 over copyright issues, taking Gibson with him.
The Antietam battle, as well as Brady's gallery and the emerging art of photography in general, feature prominently in Ella Wood, which you can grab for free on all major vendors. Below are some of the most notable images in Brady’s Antietam collection. Imagine the effect these would have had on a population who had never had exposure to the like before.
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