Photography During The Civil War

Photography during the Civil War

The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865. The war happened because eleven southern states seceded from the union to form the Confederate States of America. They did this to avoid the abolishment of slavery. The war was brutal and costed sixty two hundred thousand lives, that is more than any other American war ever. It took the lives of two percent of the entire population at the time. It lasted four years and and destroyed many cities. The main goal for the north was to maintain a united, undivided nation, while the south’s goal was to maintain the right to own a slave.

It was the the fifth war ever to be photographed and the first war ever for the United States. Photographing was difficult at the time because it was extremely dangerous for the photographers and the photograph technology wasn't the best back then. Photographers that supported the north had to stay in the northerners territory while southern photographers had to stay on their side.("10 Facts You Should Know About the Civil War.").

At the beginning of the war, daguerreotype photographing was used. It was hard because it took up to two minutes to take one picture and the objects or people in the picture had to be absolutely still the whole two minutes or else the whole picture would look blurry. Photographers would have to carry all of their heavy equipment, including a portable dark room, to the battlefield on a wagon and risk their lives in the process. This made photography of the combat nearly impossible. Instead of taking pictures of the actual battle, they had to take pictures of the aftermath of the battle, the camps, and the soldiers and people affected by the