Select Audiovisual Records from the Civil War

Military Records

National Archives and Records Administration · Washington, DC 20408

Engineers of the 8th New York State Militia in front of a tent, 1861.

The War Between the States was the first large and prolonged conflict recorded by photography. During the war, dozens of photographers, both as private individuals and as employees of the Confederate and Union Governments, photographed civilians and civilian activities; military personnel, equipment, and activities; and the locations and aftermaths of battles. Because wet-plate collodion negatives required from 5 to 20 seconds exposure, there are no action photographs of the war.

The name Mathew B. Brady is almost a synonym for Civil War photography. titlehough Brady himself actually may have taken only a few photographs of the war, he employed many of the other well-known photographers before and during the war. Alexander Gardner and James F. Gibson at different times managed Brady's Washington studio. Timothy O'Sullivan, James Gardner, and Egbert Guy Fox were also employed by Brady during the conflict.

The pictures listed in this publication are in the Still Picture Branch of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Most are part of the Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, Record Group 111, and Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, Record Group 165. The records include photographs from the Matthew B. Brady collection, purchased for $27,840 by the War Department in 1874 and 1875, photographs from the Quartermaster's Department of the Corps of Engineers, and photographs private citizens donated to the War Department. These collections were once part of the War Department Library and have been cataloged and published as "List of the Photographs and Photographic Negatives Relating to the War for the Union" (War Department Subject Catalogue No. 5, 1897; 219 p.), filmed as National Archives Microfilm Publication T251.

Photographs included in this leaflet have been listed under one of four main headings: activities, places, portraits, and Lincoln's assassination. Items in the first two parts are arranged under subheadings by date, with undated items at the end of each subheading. Photographs of artworks have also been included in the list. Any item not identified as an artwork is a photograph. Names of photographers or artists and dates of items have been given when available, and an index to photographers follows the list.

At the end of this leaflet, there are instructions for ordering photographs. Many photographs of the Civil War held by the National Archives are not listed in this leaflet. Separate inquiries about other Civil War photography should be as specific as possible listing names, places, events, and other details.

Sandra Nickles and Joe D. Thomas did the research, selection, and arrangement for this list and wrote these introductory remarks.

Engineers of the 8th New York State Militia in front of a tent, 1861.

Activities

1. Log hut company kitchen, 1864.

2. Soldiers at rest after drill, Petersburg, Va., 1864.

3. A regimental fife-and-drum corps.

4. Winter quarters

5. Engineers of the 8th New York State Militia in front of a tent, 1861.

6. The 26th U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry on parade, Camp William Penn, Pa., 1865.

7. The 21st Michigan Infantry, a company of Sherman's veterans

8. Ringgold, Ga., battery at drill

9. Army blacksmith and forge, Antietam, Md., September 1862.

10. Dismounted parade of the 7th New York Cavalry in camp, 1862.

11. Federal cavalry column along the Rappahannock River, Va. 1862.

12. A black family entering Union lines with a loaded cart.

13. A refugee family leaving a war area with belongings loaded on a cart.

14. Black laborers on a wharf, James River, Va.

15. Allan Pinkerton, chief of McClellan's secret service, with his men near Cumberland Landing, Va., May 14, 1862.

16. Federal observation balloon Intrepid being inflated. Battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 1862.

17. Scouts and guides for the Army of the Potomac, Berlin, Md., October 1862.

18. Constructing telegraph lines, April 1864

19. Signal Tower at Cobb's Hill, near New Market, Va., 1864

20. A New York Herald Tribune wagon and reporters in the field.

Places

87. Fort Sumter, S.C., April 14, 1861

88. Ruins of Stone Bridge, Bull Run, Va., March 1862.

89. Confederate fortifications, Manassas, Va., March 1862.

90. 'General Headquarters near Yorktown, Va., April 1862.'

91. Main street and church guarded by Union soldiers, Centreville, Va., May 1862.

92. 'Battle of Gaines Mill, Valley of the Chickahominy, Virginia, June 27, 1862.'

93. Antietam Bridge, Md., September 1862

94. Street scene, Warrenton, Va., ca. 1862.

95. Fredericksburg, Va., February 1863.

96. Confederate dead behind the stone wall of Marye's Heights, Fredericksburg, Va.

97. Fairfax Court House, Virginia

98. Dead Confederate sharpshooter in the Devil's Den, Gettysburg, Pa., July 1863.

99. Union and Confederate dead, Gettysburg Battlefield, Pa., July 1863.

116. High-angle view toward the capitol, 1862.

117. Ruins in front of the Capitol, 1865.

118. Silhouette of ruins of Haxall's mills, 1865

119. The 'White House of the Confederacy,' Jefferson Davis' home

Index to Photographers

How to Order

Individual Photographs

Complete Slide Sets

Order Information

What are people asking on History Hub about Civil War records?