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The Photographic History of the Civil War

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The photographic history of the Civil War: thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities
Before the Battle of Atlanta: This image of Confederate defenses around Atlanta, Georgia, as encountered by Gen. Sherman, appears in The photographic history of the Civil War – in ten volumes
AuthorFrancis Trevelyan Miller, editor-in-chief; Robert S. Lanier, managing editor
Languageen-us
PublisherReview of Reviews Co.
Publication date
1911
Publication placeNew York City, NY, USA
OCLC1467122
973.7
LC Class11011566

The Photographic History of the Civil War is a 10-volume compilation of war photography of the American Civil War of 1861–1865. Published in 1911 for the semi-centennial of the beginning of the war, and featuring a hitherto unprecedented total of 3,389 photographic images, a hard copy weighs 42 lb (19 kg) but the work is in the public domain and has been digitized for use online.[1] The lead editor was Francis Trevelyan Miller, who "conducted a nationwide hunt for old photos,"[2] though most of the actual legwork and discoveries made was done by his assistant Roy M. Mason, a recent Yale University graduate he had specifically hired for the chore, but did not bother to credit as such (though he was in the contents of each volume credited for the "Photograph Descriptions").[3] The work is considered a "landmark"[4] and "the bible of Civil War photography."[5] It remains a crucial reference resource for historians and is considered a classic work in the field.[2] A 1963 bibliography called it "the great photographic source work for the war...The text has many errors, but the photographs are superb."[6]

A 1988 bibliography retold a bit of the history of the compilation:[5]

Edited by one of the time's leading historians, Francis T. Miller, it first appeared as a series of paperback, magazine-like booklets. A ten-volume, blue-backed set of the complete series appeared in 1911, on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the war. Perhaps the most interesting chapter is the very first one in the first volume, "Photographing the Civil War," by Henry Wysham Lanier, which both describes period efforts to photograph the war and shows pictures of photographers in the field. Many of the images in this book were obtained from veterans who were able to provide first-hand captions.

By the early 1950s it was "long out of print" but the "desideratum" of avid Civil War collectors and historians; reprinting was considered but it was determined that it would be an "economic impossibility."[7]

That early assessment notwithstanding though, a first five-volume (each collecting two of the original volumes) facsimile reprint was already published by Thomas Yoseloff, New York in 1957 with an introduction by Henry Steele Commager (OCLC 444833).[6] And as if to underscore that the early 1950s assessment had become completely invalid by then, a second ten-volume facsimile reprint edition was in the same year released by Castle Books, also based out off New York (OCLC 1118180). Several further reprint editions from a wide variety of publishers have followed suit since.

Volume titles:

  1. The Opening Battles.
  2. Two Years of Grim War.
  3. The Decisive Battles.
  4. The Cavalry.
  5. Forts and Artillery.
  6. The Navies.
  7. Prisons and Hospitals.
  8. Soldier Life and Secret Service.
  9. Poetry and Eloquence.
  10. Armies and Leaders.

Emulation

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A significant later effort to collect photos of the American Civil War in similar vein of the 1911 release, was the National Historical Society's The Image of War, 1861–1865 in six volumes under the overall auspices of renowned Civil War historians William C. Davis and Bell I. Wiley as Editors-in-Chief.[2] Aside from including more than a thousand newly discovered photographs since 1911, Davis and Wiley made it their specific mission to correct Roy Mason's numerous erroneous photograph captions of the 1911 edition for their edition – not being a professional historian, original caption writer Mason had taken what information the photograph donors had been able to provide him with at face value.[3] The introductory essays on the other hand are entirely unrelated to the original ones of the 1911 edition, but are written anew by Davis' and Wiley's staff of historians.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The Photographic History of the Civil War". CivilWarDigital.com.
  2. ^ a b c Boney, F. N. (1982). "Review of The Image of War: 1861–1865. Volume I: Shadows of the Storm". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 90 (4): 513–514. ISSN 0042-6636. JSTOR 4248601.
  3. ^ a b William C., Davis; Wiley, Bell I. (July 14, 1981). Shadows of the Storm: The Image of War, 1861-1865, Vol. 1. New York City, NY, USA: Doubleday. p. 464. ISBN 0385154666. (pp. 10-14)
  4. ^ Holcomb, David B. (2022). "The rise and fall of Union spy chief: SCOUNDREL Lafayette Curry Baker". Military Images. 40 (3 (221)): 59–68. ISSN 1040-4961. JSTOR 27141364.
  5. ^ a b Katcber, Philip (1988). "History, Photography & the Civil War: A critical bibliography". Military Images. 10 (1): 25–27. ISSN 1040-4961. JSTOR 44032074.
  6. ^ a b Newman, Ralph G.; Long, E. B. (1963). "A Basic Civil War Library". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 56 (2): 391–411. ISSN 0019-2287. JSTOR 40190648.
  7. ^ Harwell, Richard Barksdale (1953). "Review of Divided We Fought: A Pictorial History of the War, 1861–1865". The Journal of Southern History. 19 (2): 239–240. doi:10.2307/2955027. ISSN 0022-4642. JSTOR 2955027.
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