Traveling Trunk Additional Activities: Civil War Photographs

Civil War Photographs:
Background Information and Classroom Activity Ideas

Objectives: To provide students with an introductory history of photography during the Civil War; to have students explore photographs from the Civil War period in order to contemplate the various soldiers’ emotions when the photographs were taken. A soldier’s environment in camp will also be visible to the students allowing them an opportunity to ponder in depth a soldier’s life. Finally, another activity will allow students the opportunity to examine and contemplate the cost and consequences of the war by studying images of Gettysburg taken directly after the battle.

Civil War Photography: An Overview:

Photographs are lasting images that allow us to see people and their surroundings “frozen” for a single moment in time. While the Crimean War (1853-1856) was the first war during which photographs were taken, the American Civil War encompassed a much larger spectrum of photographs and photography less than ten years later.It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of photographs were taken during the course the American Civil War. Most were photographs of soldiers taken at the outset of war or at some point during their enlistment either in a photographer’s studio in a town or city, or at his traveling studio set up in camp. There were also many hundreds of photographs taken of battlefields in the immediate aftermath of battle as well as photographs of battle-scarred, destroyed cities, all bearing mute testimony to the devastation wrought by war. Additionally, many photographs were taken of soldiers during their free time in camp, sometimes in playful poses.

At the time, photography was considered very modern technology, and the Civil War occurred at a time when photographs came to dominate visual culture in America. Non-action or “still photography” was the only manner in which a clear image could be taken. Soldiers often had to pose for several minutes while the photographer got his glass plates ready.

Daguerreotypes, Cartes de Visites, Ambrotypes and Tintypes were all various kinds of 19^th century photography but the collodion (or wet plate) process dominated the scene up through the 1870s.

As one can imagine, images taken of battlefields were especially appalling as they very clearly showed the grim and horrific realities of war.

Fortunately, thousands of photographs that were taken during the Civil War are still in existence today, providing us with a provocative insight into the lives of these soldiers and offering a different source for learning about the American Civil War.

Activities For Your Classroom

Activity 1: Faces of the Civil War

A Research Assignment

Many thousands of Civil War photographs are housed at the Library of Congress and many are available to view on the Library of Congress website. And one of the most remarkable collections of Civil War images available at the Library of Congress is the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs.

Have students, either individually or in small groups, select an image of a Civil War soldier or even a civilian. Notice that there are over 2,500 images in this collection which the Library of Congress has broken down into several categories, including Confederate Images, Union Images, and Women & Children.

After the students select an image (and encourage your class to select many different images), have them prepare a brief report on the image itself. Is the person in the photograph identified? Is it known when the photograph was taken? After gathering all the data on the photograph, have the students think about and report out on why they think the photograph was taken and what the person in the photograph may have been thinking. Were they proud? Scared? Sad? Determined? For further inquiry and activities, a Teacher’s Guide to the Liljenquist Collection is available at the website.

Please note also that all of these images are within the Public Domain.

Activity 2: Life In Camp
Examining Civil War Camp Life Photographs

For Civil War soldiers, battles were the exception, not the rule. Most of their time in uniform was spent in camp. In fact, camp became a soldier’s second home, or his home away from home, and much can be learned about how soldiers lived in camp simply by examining photographs of Civil War camp scenes. Fortunately, there are many still in existence.

Have the students examine the following four images of Civil War soldiers in camp. Encourage your students to look not only at the soldiers themselves, but also their surroundings. In some photographs wooden barracks and tents that housed the soldiers are featured, as is a company kitchen. It is possible these camps were located near where a battle was fought. Ask the students to think about what might have happened to one of the soldiers depicted in the photograph. Did they survive the war? Or did they become a casualty of war? Perhaps a few of these men are relaxing in camp and even clowning around only days before they were to be killed in battle. Or if it wasn’t the violent death of combat, then surely sickness and disease could be counted on to take even more lives. Soldiers were not the best at maintaining clean camps. As a matter of fact, a Sanitary Commission was formed during the war in an attempt to reduce the number of lives that were being lost as a result of poor diet and sanitation.

After examining the photographs, have the students answer the following questions:
Reflection Questions:

1. What do you see in this image? Identify at least three things.
2. How many soldiers do you see in this image?
3. What are the soldiers doing?
4. What can you tell about Civil War camp life just from this image?
5. What do you find most interesting about this image?

Finally, working either individually or in small groups, write a concise caption for each of the images.

Activity 3: The Impact of Battle:
Examining the Cost of War

While many thousands of Civil War photographs are soldier portraits and others depict scenes in camp, there are also many that show the grim realities and the sheer horrors of war. Some show cities that were devastated and even destroyed by war; others show wounded soldiers lying in makeshift field hospitals. There were also many photographs taken of soldiers who had limbs amputated, or which show other wounds sustained in battle. Perhaps the most shocking of all are the many images taken of dead soldiers on the field of battle. The Civil War was the first war in which photographs were taken of the dead where they fell on the field of battle, prior to burial. Such images were taken upon the fields of Antietam, Gettysburg, Petersburg, and elsewhere. The impact of these images on the nation was profound.

For this activity, have your students examine the images below that were taken in the days immediately following the battle of Gettysburg. These images depict some of the widespread destruction and devastation wrought upon the houses and farms of the local residents, whose homes were caught up in the midst of the battle. Please Note: Some of the images you may see while searching for the following photographs are those that show dead horses on the battlefield and so you may want to download these images prior to class. At the time of the battle, Gettysburg was home to about 2,400 people. While many residents in the town remained in their homes during the battle, most of those who resided on the land where the battle was fought fled for safety. The three-day battle would be fought in their town, on their streets, and on their farm fields. Their schools, churches, and in many cases, their homes would be turned into temporary field hospitals. It is estimated that during the course of the battle, between seven-to-eight million bullets were fired, as were tens of thousands of artillery shells. Over 160,000 soldiers and tens of thousands of horses went into position and into camp on their farm fields, depleting resources and destroying crops. Afterward, the dead were buried in their crop fields and in their backyards.

After closely examining these images, have the students examine them closely and then answer the following questions in an effort to illustrate just one example of the impact or consequences of battle.

Reflection Questions:

1. What do you see in the photographs? Identify at least three things from each of the images.

2. From examining the photographs, identify three ways in which the battle impacted the lives of the people who lived at Gettysburg.

3. How do you think the people who lived in these homes felt once they returned home and saw the damage done to their property?

4. If you were forced to flee your home at a moment’s notice, name one thing you would take with you? What do you think children of the town of Gettysburg in 1863 would have taken with them?

Finally, working either individually or in small groups, write a concise caption for each of the images, describing the impact of battle.

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