Girls in Blue, Friends of Frank
By Richard Look Two young ladies put on the uniform of a soldier named Frank and posed for their portraits in 1863. We know this from notes tucked into the
Tag: Civil War soldiers
Reading a Portrait
By Buck Zaidel and Ronald S. Coddington Portrait painters had been telling stories for centuries before photography arrived. A painted likeness was never simply a face. Artists placed their subjects
New Books: Civil War Photo Forensics, the 14th New York State Militia
A Fresh, Exciting Look at Battlefield Images Battlefield photographs created by the teams of Mathew B. Brady and Alexander Gardner have shaped American memory since the earliest part of the
A Trio of USCT Group Portraits Identified
By Kurt Luther and Bryan Cheeseboro Group portraits of U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), like all photos of USCT, are rare, and identifying their subjects rarer still. Back in 2015, this
Gettysburg: Echoes of Three Days in July 1863
Curated by Charles Joyce, with contributions from Rick Brown, Scott Hann, Robert May, Dale Niesen, Paul Russinoff, and Melissa Winn July 1 Amputation at the Express Office The first Union
War Compromised His Health. Photography Gave Him a New Lease on Life. The Life and Times of Enos F. Hilton, 8th Missouri State Militia Cavalry
By M. Jane Johansson On August 22, 1889, Union veteran Enos Franklin Hilton arrived in Alamosa, Colo. He brought with him his wife, Sarah Jane, along with their three daughters
Ball’s Wartime Camp Scene
By Buck Zaidel Four cartes de visite produced in Cincinnati during the Civil War years reveal how one of America’s most important 19th century photographers used painted backdrops as visual
“‘Died at Gettysburg!’ No Prouder Epitaph Need Any Man Covet.”: The Tragedy of Capt. Richard Wistar Davids of the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry
By Charles T. Joyce Visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park encounter stone sentinels of all shapes and sizes. One of them, an austere granite marker on the north side
Applying the “Trinity” to ID Some Faces in a 557-Image Album in the National Archives
By Kurt Luther Civil War photo sleuthing is more than just giving a name to an unidentified soldier or sailor portrait. While a name is a critical clue in rediscovering
Cruising the Potomac and Elsewhere with Brig. Gen. John P. Slough’s Brigade Band
By Ronald S. Coddington, with images from the Mark Jones Collection On an April day in 1864, in a field near Alexandria, Va., thousands of soldiers and civilians gathered to