Photography and photographers of the American Civil War

The American Civil War was the most widely covered conflict of the 19th century. The images would provide posterity with a comprehensive visual record of the war and its leading figures, and make a powerful impression on the populace. Something not generally known by the public is the fact that roughly 70% of the war's documentary photography was captured by the twin lenses of a stereo camera. The American Civil War was the first war in history, whose intimate reality would be brought home to the public, not only in newspaper depictions, album cards and cartes-de-visite, but in a popular new 3D format called a "stereograph" or "stereocard." Millions of these cards were produced and purchased by a public eager to experience the nature of warfare in a whole new way.

The American Civil War (1861–65) was the fifth war in history to be photographed, the first four being the Mexican-American War (1846–48), the Crimean War (1854–56), Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Second Italian War of Independence (1859).

Mathew B. Brady (1823?-1896), the son of Irish immigrants, was born in Warren County, New York. Brady would spend his fortune to accumulate photos of the war. In the early 1840s, Brady was a manufacturer of "jewel cases" for daguerreotypes in New York City. By 1844 he had opened his own daguerreian gallery at 205 Broadway, the "New-York Daguerreian Miniature Gallery", having with Edward Anthony in 1840 received instruction from Prof. Samuel B. Morse for a fee of $50. Still in his 20s, Brady's next goal was to establish at his gallery a hall of fame, a Gallery of Illustrious Americans. "From the first, I regarded myself as under obligation to my country to preserve the faces of its historic men and mothers." Brady returned to New York in May 1852 after a long absence in Europe. While there he sought treatments for the ill effects of mercury poising, a common occurrence among daguerreians. In 1856, seeing the tremendous potential for reproducible and enlarged prints and illustrated newspapers, Brady hired photographer and businessman, Alexander Gardner, who instructed him in the new art of wet-plate collodion photography.

...
Wikipedia