City Point, Virginia, ca. 1865.
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Related Resources at the Library of Congress
Many rich resources relating to the Civil War exist in a variety of formats and locations at the Library of Congress. Selected holdings of the Prints and Photographs Division are highlighted below, as well as some of the resources (particularly online offerings) of other Library of Congress Divisions. Other institutions with strong Civil War holdings are also mentioned.
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs
Division (P&P)
101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC
20540-4730
Civil War Photographs (Select List)
Many of the items in the groups discussed below have been digitized, and more are being added. To check for online images and individual descriptions from each group, select the "check for online items" link that follows the summary.
Photographs by Andrew J. Russell
Captain Andrew. J. Russell, of the 141st New York Infantry, was the first U.S. Army photographer. He worked under the direction of General Herman Haupt. General Haupt worked as chief engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad before he was appointed to the post of chief of construction and transportation for the United States Military Railroad during the Civil War. His troops repaired war-damaged railroad lines quickly, in order to facilitate the movement of soldiers and supplies.
Russell’s photographs document railroad maintenance and construction in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Other views include military facilities in and around Washington, D.C., Maryland, and in Virginia, from Alexandria to Richmond and Petersburg.
Albumen and salted paper prints documenting the work of the United States Military Construction Corps between 1861 and 1865 are available in the LOTs (groups) described below.
LOT 9209
82 salted paper prints showing military construction and
transportation in Northern Virginia and other locations,
attributed to Andrew J. Russell. The photographs document
some of Gen. Haupt’s unusual designs for troop and
supply conveyances and show laborers, including African
American workers. [View group description | Check for online items]
LOT 4336
64 large-format albumen photographs made by Captain Andrew
J. Russell for the U.S. Military Railroad Construction
Corps., 1861-1865. Photographs are on their original
mounts. Includes views related to the Civil War and images
of Washington, D.C.; Alexandria, Virginia; and the
surrounding area. Civil War views include troops near
Fredericksburg and Falmouth, Virginia; the headquarters of
Generals Meade and Beauregard; a telegraph station at
Manassas; and scenes along the Orange & Alexandria
Railroad. [View group description] | Check for online items]
LOT 11486
146 albumen silver prints and 1 salted paper print by
Andrew J. Russell made under the direction of Herman Haupt. Some images are variants of those found in LOT 4336. Images
were mounted by the Library of Congress many years ago. Some of the images are accompanied by Gen. Haupt's
handwritten text.
Highlights include:
- Rebel Caisson destroyed by Federal shells at Fredericksburg, 1863
- railroad mortar at Petersburg, 1864
- Richmond in ruins, 1865
- Potomac Creek Bridge, 1863
- sailors on the Russian Frigate "Osliaba.
[View group description] | [Check for online items]
Other Groups of Photographs (LOTs)
LOT 4196
44 albumen silver prints by Haas & Peale in an album
entitled "Siege of Charleston Illustrated: Views on Morris
Island."
The lot also contains 23 mounted albumen silver prints
that duplicate images from the album and a complete set of
copy prints made by the Library. [View group description] | [Check for online items]
LOT 4321
5 large-format albumen prints documenting troops,
batteries, and artillery in Port Hudson, Louisiana,
1863. [View group description] | [Check for online items]
LOT 6271
12 cartes de visite, including a group portrait of General
Dodge's staff and headquarters, views relating to the
execution of a rebel spy, and studio portraits of military
personnel. Photographs by George Armstead and Armstead
& White of Corinth, Mississippi. [View group description] | [Check for online items]
LOT 6440
17 albumen cartes de visite from the series Views of the
Rebel Capital and Its Environs, copyright by Levy &
Cohen. Includes views of the ruins of Petersburg Bridge,
Galego Flour Mills, and the Arsenal; residence of General
Lee; and Libby Prison. [View group description] | [Check for online items]
LOT 6592
General John White Geary's carte de viste album. Geary
served as a general in the Civil War, commanding troops at
Gettysburg. His album includes numerous portraits of
military personnel who served during the Civil War
including Nathaniel Banks, Henry A. Barnum, Jefferson
Davis, Joseph Hooker, and a group portrait of General Geary
and his staff at Harper's Ferry. [View group description] | [Check for online items]
LOT 7863
14 cartes de visite portraits of Confederate leaders,
including Daniel Coleman De Jarnette, James M. Mason, and
Louis T. Wigfall. [View group description] | [Check for online items]
LOT 8751
Adolph G. Metzner's carte de visite photograph album. The
album contains 78 portraits, primarily members of the 32nd
Indiana Infantry Regiment. [View group description] | [Check for online items]
LOT 10432
An album with portraits of 44 U. S. Army officers who
served during the Civil War, including Generals
Heintzelman, Lyon, and Sherman. [View group description] | [Check for online items]
LOT 13461
47 Civil War stereographs of Charleston, Fort Sumter, and
Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, from the papers of Orlando
M. Poe. Photographed by George N. Barnard. Photographs show
ruins and surviving structures in sections of Charleston;
houses along the Battery; street views, one taken at Vendue
Range another at Meeting Street; churches, including
Catholic Cathedral and Circular Congregational Church;
cemeteries; ruins of a railway depot. Also includes
exterior and interior views of Fort Sumter and Fort
Moultrie; one view of Fort Beauregard (taken from Fort
Moultrie) and one of Fort Johnson. [View group description] | [Check for online items]
LOT 13464
34 Civil War stereographs of Atlanta, Georgia, and Lookout
Mountain, Tennessee, from the papers of Orlando M. Poe.
Attributed to George N. Barnard. Includes views of Lookout
Mountain; Umbrella Rock and Pulpit Rock; Rock Creek Falls;
one view of Orlando Poe and O.E. Babcock at Ft. Sanders,
Knoxville, Tenn. Views of Atlanta include Union and
Confederate fortifications and entrenchments; also some
ruins of buildings; railroad facilities; the site where
General McPherson was killed; two views of Fort McAllister.
Also includes one photograph of a grove of oak trees at
Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Ga. [View group description] | [Check for online items]
Brady Handy Collection
The Brady Handy Collection includes portrait photographs of individuals prominent during the Civil War period, sometimes taken after the Civil War. Military officers are sometimes depicted in uniform and sometimes in civilian clothes. The original glass plate negatives in the collection have been digitized.
Case Books
Books, serials and published, bound portfolios assigned to
the Prints and Photographs Division because they contain
original photographs, engravings, and other kinds of
graphic materials. Among those relating to the Civil War
are:
-
Gardner, Alexander. Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War. Washington: Philp and Solomons, 1866.
The 100 photographs contained in Gardner's Sketch Book are presented chronologically showing the major sites of conflict in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Every photograph is accompanied by a lengthy caption. The photographers responsible for exposing the negatives as well as the people who worked in the darkroom to make the prints are credited. Three copies of this two-volume set are in the collection of the Prints & Photographs Division; the prints are identical with the exception of a few variants.
Call number: E468.7 G19 P&P Case; E468.7 G2 [P&P Case Y] [View description] | [Check for online items] -
Barnard, George N. Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign. NY: Press of Wynkopp & Hallenbeck, 1866.
Barnard's 61 photographs of Army operations in Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia, document important places, notable battlefields, and military works, such as bridges and fortifications along the route of Sherman's campaign to capture Atlanta, the railhead of the Confederacy.
Call number: E476.7.B24 [P&P Case Z][View description] | [Check for online items]
Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs
Almost 350 images showing African Americans and related military and social history. The Civil War era is the primary time period covered, with scattered examples through 1945. [More information] | [View the collection]
Liljenquist Family Collection
Rare ambrotype, tintype and other photographs highlight Civil War soldiers and their families, both North and South. [More information] | [View the collection]
PH Filing Series
94 photographs by George N. Barnard, including an unbound set of
photographs from his album of Photographic Views of Sherman's
Campaign, and 9 panoramas documenting Atlanta, Georgia, before
the fire and Civil War forts and bridges in Tennessee, 1864.
[Check for online items]
The PH series also includes additional Civil War photographs by various photographers. [Search the PH filing series]
Prints and Drawings (Select List)
Tobacco labels (LOT 10618) [View group description]
- Battle scenes, etc. (LOT 10618-5)
14 nineteenth-century tobacco labels depicting battle scenes, zouaves, and Union soldiers saluting the flag. [Check for online items] - Leaders LOT 10618-6
11 nineteenth-century tobacco labels depicting Civil War generals, including Anderson, Corcoran, Farragut, Grant, Joseph E. Johnson [i.e., Johnston], McClellan, Sherman, and Stanley [Check for online items]
Civil War Drawing Collection
The Civil War Drawing Collection contains more than 2,000
sketches by the “Special Artists” who drew for
the nation's illustrated newspapers. Records for all the
drawings, many accompanied by digital images, are available
online in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog as part
of the Drawings
(Documentary) group.
- Most of the drawings were produced by Northern artists and reflect their sympathy for the Union cause, although a few portray Confederate subjects and are among the finest surviving images we have of Southern troops and their leaders.
- These on-site sketches provide a comprehensive visual record of military life in the Union army, from the entrance of volunteer recruits into Washington in spring 1861 to the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Courthouse four years later.
-
They depict:
- battles and battlefields
- camp fires and camp followers
- ironclads and steamships
- street scenes and landscapes
- politicians and ordinary citizens
- military hardware and military men.
- Almost three-quarters of the Library's Civil War sketches were drawn by Alfred Waud. Other artists include his brother William Waud, Edwin Forbes, Arthur Lumley and Winslow Homer.
Popular Graphic Arts
The Popular Graphic Arts Collection comprises prints and
illustrated broadsides of historical, graphic and/or
documentary importance. Records for a large proportion of
the collection are available in the Prints and Photographs
Online Catalog (see Popular Graphic
Arts Collection); many are accompanied by digital
images.
- It includes hundreds of prints with Civil War subjects, including battle scenes, camp life, and portraits.
- Notable publishers of Civil War prints include the firm of Kurz & Allison and Currier & Ives.
Library of Congress,
Geography & Map Division (G&M)
101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC
20540-4650
The Civil War Maps collection contains approximately 2,240 Civil War maps and charts and 76 atlases and sketchbooks. They depict battles, troop positions and movements, engagements, and fortifications. Also included are reconnaissance maps, sketch maps, coastal charts, and theater of war maps. The collection contains printed, photoreproduced, annotated, and hand-drawn maps made between 1861 and 1865, and also maps made later to illustrate or explain specific events, movements, and battles of the war. The vast majority of the maps were prepared by Federal forces or by commercial firms in the North, but there are also a substantial number by Confederate military authorities and a few by Southern publishers. A portion of the collection may be viewed is available online as Civil War Maps.
Library of Congress,
Manuscript Division
101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC
20540-4680
The Manuscript Division holds more than one thousand collections relating to the Civil War, including the papers of Gen. George B. McClellan. Among their relevant online offerings are:
Washington
during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft,
1861-1865
Presents three manuscript volumes, totaling 1,240 digital
images, that document daily life in Washington, D. C.,
through the eyes of Horatio Nelson Taft (1806-1888), an
examiner for the U. S. Patent Office. The diary details
events in Washington during the Civil War years including
Taft's connection with Abraham Lincoln and his family. Of
special interest is Taft's description of Lincoln's
assassination, based on the accounts of his friends and his
son, who was one of the attending physicians at Ford's
Theatre the night Lincoln was shot, on April 14, 1865.
Transcriptions for all three volumes have been made by
Library of Congress staff and are available online along
with the digital images.
James Wadsworth Family Papers - Civil War photograph album,
ca. 1861-65
John Hay, a personal secretary to President Abraham
Lincoln who later had a successful diplomatic and political
career of his own, is thought to have assembled the cartes
de visites in this album. Many of the two hundred
individuals represented in Hay's album, including numerous
army and navy officers, politicians, and cultural figures,
were undoubtedly visitors to the Lincoln White House.
Others, such as Confederate president Jefferson Davis and
generals Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet, were unlikely
to have called at the Executive Mansion. The album pages
and the individual cartes de visite they contain are
available as digital images as part of the Manuscript
Division's Words and Deeds in American History.
The
Gettysburg Address Drafts
Of the five known manuscript copies of the Gettysburg
Address, the Library of Congress has two.
Library of Congress, Music
Division
101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC
20540-4710
Among the division's online offerings is Band Music from the Civil War Era, which makes available examples of a brilliant style of brass band music that flourished in the 1850s in the United States and remained popular through the nineteenth century. Bands of this kind served in the armies of both the North and the South during the Civil War. This online collection includes both printed and manuscript music (mostly in the form of "part books" for individual instruments) selected from the collections of the Music Division of the Library of Congress and the Walter Dignam Collection of the Manchester Historic Association (Manchester, New Hampshire). The collection features over 700 musical compositions, as well as 8 full-score modern editions and 19 recorded examples of brass band music in performance.
Library of Congress, Main
Reading Room
101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C.
20540-4660
The Main Reading Room provides general reference assistance, particularly with the Library of Congress's book and periodical collections. Among their online reference aids is U.S. Civil War Regimental Histories in the Library of Congress.
Related Resources Outside the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress does not maintain these sites. Users should direct concerns about these links to their respective site administrators or webmasters.
Washington, D.C.
National Archives and Records Administration
Still Picture unit
URL:
https://www.archives.gov/research/still-pictures
The National Archives, which is the repository for official government records, has extensive Civil War photograph holdings, some of which overlap with those of the Library of Congress.
Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer (Record Group 111) - In 1940 the National Archives acquired several thousand glass plate negatives by Mathew Brady and his associates. These negatives were originally purchased by the War Department from the Brady studio. The collection includes portraits of well-known Union and Confederate commanders of the war, President Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet officers, congressmen and senators, and other noted personalities of the time. In addition, the collection includes Union and Confederate naval vessels, railroads, supply dumps, hospitals, views of daily life in camp, and troops on the move.
Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs (Record Group 165) -- Includes photographs from Alexander Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War and images by Andrew J. Russell, Sam A. Cooley, and George N. Barnard.
Smithsonian Institution
URL: http://www.civilwar.si.edu/
The Smithsonian Institution houses an extraordinary array of Civil War artifacts in its museums and archives. They range in interest from personal effects—Abraham Lincoln's black beaver top hat—to examples of uniforms and weapons, some of which were manufactured in the tens of thousands. Topics included in their Web site are:
- Slavery & Abolition
- Abraham Lincoln
- First Blood
- Soldiering
- Weapons
- Leaders
- Cavalries
- Navies
- Life & Culture
- Appomattox
- Winslow Homer.
New York
New-York Historical Society
URL:
http://www.nyhistory.org/
The New-York Historical Society's online Civil War resources include Civil War Treasures--materials drawn from twelve archival collections that are presented as part of the Library of Congress American Memory/Ameritech offerings. The online materials include:
- 304 posters, such as recruiting posters for New York City regiments of volunteers
- 731 stereographic views, including views documenting the mustering of soldiers and of popular support for the Union in New York City
- photography showing the war's impact, both in the north and south
- 178 drawings; writings by ordinary soldiers on both sides of the conflict
- the first and only issue of The Prison Times handwritten by Confederate prisoners in Fort Delaware
- 32 letters written by Sarah Blunt, a nurse in hospitals at Point Lookout, Maryland and Harper's Ferry, West Virginia
- 3 letters by Walt Whitman; and almost 500 envelopes with printed or embossed decoration related to Civil War events and personalities.
Pennsylvania
U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center
URL: https://arena.usahec.org/welcome/
The U. S. Army Heritage and Education Center collections include a gift of photographs in albums from the Massachusetts Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS–MASS). Search for MOLLUS-Mass Collection (Most records do not include digital images.)
Center for Civil War Photography
URL: https://www.civilwarphotography.org/
Offers online resources and guides for finding Civil War imagery.
Virginia
American Civil War Museum
https://acwm.org/
The Museum has a large collection of copies of Civil War photographs found in Library of Congress and National Archives holdings. It also holds more than 310 "cased image" photographs of Confederate soldiers and Southern civilians.
