Martyrs on Altar of Civilization

BY

FRANCIS TREVELYAN MILLER

EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN HISTORY

[Illustration: MATHEW BRADY, FIRST WAR PHOTOGRAPHER IN AMERICA

He followed the Armies during the Civil War and secured these remarkable

Negatives--In conference with Major-General Burnside at the Headquarters

of the Army of the Potomac near Richmond, Virginia--Brady occupies the

chair directly in front of the tree while General Burnside is reading a

newspaper--This picture was found among his negatives]

THIS is undoubtedly the most valuable collection of historic photographs

in America. It is believed to be the first time that the camera was used

so extensively and practically on the battle-field. It is the first

known collection of its size on the Western Continent and it is the only

witness of the scenes enacted during the greatest crisis in the annals

of the American nation. As a contribution to history it occupies a

position that the higher art of painting, or scholarly research and

literal description, can never usurp. It records a tragedy that neither

the imagination of the painter nor the skill of the historian can so

dramatically relate.

The existence of this collection is unknown by the public at large. Even

while this book has been in preparation eminent photographers have

pronounced it impossible, declaring that photography was not

sufficiently advanced at that period to prove of such practical use in

War. Distinguished veterans of the Civil War have informed me that they

knew positively that there were no cameras in the wake of the army. This

incredulity of men in a position to know the truth enhances the value of

the collection inasmuch that its genuineness is officially proven by the

testimony of those who saw the pictures taken, by the personal statement

of the man who took them, and by the Government Records. For forty-two

years the original negatives have been in storage, secreted from public

view, except as an occasional proof is drawn for some special use. How

these negatives came to be taken under most hazardous conditions in the

storm and stress of a War that threatened to change the entire history

of the world is itself an interesting historical incident. Moreover, it

is one of the tragedies of genius.

While the clouds were gathering, which finally broke into the Civil War

in the United States, there died in London one named Scott-Archer, a man

who had found one of the great factors in civilization, but died poor

and before his time because he had overstrained his powers in the cause

of science. It was necessary to raise a subscription for his widow, and

the government settled upon the children a pension of fifty pounds per

annum on the ground that their father was "the discoverer of a

scientific process of great value to the nation, from which the inventor

had reaped little or no benefit."

This was in 1857, and four years later, when the American Republic

became rent by a conflict of brother against brother, Mathew B. Brady of

Washington and New York, asked the permission of the Government and the

protection of the Secret Service to demonstrate the practicability of

Scott-Archer's discovery in the severest test that the invention had

ever been given. Brady was an artist by temperament and gained his

technical knowledge of portraiture in the rendezvous of Paris. He had

been interested in the discoveries of Niepce and Daguerre and Fox-Talbot

along the crude lines of photography but with the introduction of the

collodion process of Scott-Archer he accepted the science as a

profession and, during twenty-five years of labor as a pioneer

photographer, took the likenesses of the political celebrities of the

epoch and of eminent men and women throughout the country.

Brady's request was granted and he invested heavily in cameras which

were made specially for the hard usage of warfare. These cameras were

cumbersome and were operated by what is known as the old wet-plate

process, requiring a dark room which was carried with them onto the

battle-fields. The experimental operations under Brady proved so

successful that they attracted the immediate attention of President

Lincoln, General Grant and Allan Pinkerton, known as Major Allen and

chief of the Secret Service. Equipments were hurried to all divisions of

the great army and some of them found their way into the Confederate

ranks.

"THE black art," by which Brady secured these photographs, was as

mystifying as the work of a magician. It required a knowledge of

chemistry and, considering the difficulties, one wonders how Brady had

courage to undertake it on the battle-field. He first immersed eighty

grains of cotton-wool in a mixture of one ounce each of nitric and

sulphuric acids for fifteen seconds, washing them in running water. The

pyroxylin was dissolved in a mixture of equal parts of sulphuric ether

and absolute alcohol. This solution gave him the ordinary collodion to

which he added iodide of potassium and a little potassium bromide. He

then poured the iodized collodion on a clean piece of sheet glass and

allowed two or three minutes for the film to set. The coated plate was

taken into a "dark room," which Brady carried with him, and immersed for

about a minute in a bath of thirty grains of silver nitrate to every

ounce of water. The plate was now sensitive to white light and must be

placed immediately in the camera and exposed and developed within five

minutes to get good results, especially in the South during the summer

months. It was returned to the dark room at once and developed by

pouring over it a mixture of water, one ounce; acetic acid, one dram;

pyrogallic acid, three grains, and "fixed" by soaking in a strong

solution of hyposulphite of soda or cyanide of potassium. This

photograph shows Brady's "dark room" in the Confederate lines southeast

of Atlanta, Georgia, shortly before the battle of July 22, 1864. It is a

fine example of wet-plate photography.

[Illustration]

THE secret never has been divulged. How Mr. Brady gained the confidence

of such men as Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee, and was passed

through the Confederate lines, may never be known. It is certain that he

never betrayed the confidence reposed in him and that the negatives were

not used for secret service information, and this despite the fact, that

Allan Pinkerton and the Artist Brady were intimate. Neither of these men

had any idea of the years which the conflict was to rage and Mr. Brady

expended all his available funds upon paraphernalia. The government was

strained to its utmost resources in keeping its defenders in food and

ammunition. It was not concerned in the development of a new science nor

the preservation of historical record. It faced a mighty foe of its own

blood. It must either fall or rise in a decisive blow.

It was indeed a sorry time for an aesthete. Mr. Brady was unable to

secure money. His only recourse was credit. This he secured from

Anthony, who was importing photographic materials into America and was a

founder of the trade on this continent. The next obstacle was the

securing of men competent to operate a camera. Nearly every able-bodied

man was engaged in warfare. The science was new and required a knowledge

of chemistry. Brady was a man of speculative disposition and plunged

into the apparently impossible undertaking of preserving on glass the

scenes of action during one of the most tremendous conflicts that the

world has known. Pressing toward the firing-line, planting his camera on

the field almost before the smoke of artillery and musket had cleared,

he came out of the War with his thousands of negatives, perpetuating

scenes that human eyes never expected to look upon again. There can be

but very few important movements that failed to become imprinted on

these glass records.

[Illustration: FIRST CAMERAS EVER USED ON THE BATTLEFIELD

One of Brady's Photograph Wagons in the wake of the Army at Manassas on

the Fourth of July, in 1862--These mysterious canvas-covered wagons,

traveling under the protection of the Secret Service, aroused the

curiosity of the soldiers whose frequent queries "What is it?" soon

earned for them the epithet of the "What is it?" wagon--Found among

Brady's negatives]

With the close of the War, Brady was in the direst financial straits. He

had spent every dollar of the money accumulated in early portraiture and

was heavily in debt. Seven thousand of his negatives were sent to New

York as security for Anthony, his largest creditor. The remaining six

thousand negatives were placed in a warehouse in Washington. Brady then

began negotiations for replenishing his funds by disposing of the

property. He exhibited proofs of his negatives in galleries of the New

York Historical Society the year following the cessation of the

conflict. On the twenty-ninth of January of that same year, 1866, the

Council of the National Academy of Design adopted a resolution in which

it acknowledged the value of the Brady collection as a reliable

authority for art and an important contribution to American history. It

indorsed the proposal to place the collection permanently with the New

York Historical Society. General Ulysses S. Grant had been much

interested in the work of Brady on the battlefield, and in a letter

written on February third, 1866, spoke of it as "a collection of

photographic views of battlefields taken on the spot, while the

occurrences represented were taking place." General Grant added: "I knew

when many of these representations were being taken and I can say that

the scenes are not only spirited and correct, but also well-chosen. The

collection will be valuable to the student and artist of the present

generation, but _how much more valuable it will be to future

generations_?"

These were days of reconstruction. It was almost impossible to interest

men in matters not pertaining to the re-establishment of Commerce and

Trade. Brady had spent twenty-five years in collecting the portraits of

distinguished personages and endeavored to dispose of these to the

Government. The joint committee on libraries, on March third, 1871,

recommended the purchase of some two thousand portraits which they

called: "A National Collection of Portraits of Eminent Americans." The

congressmen, however, faced problems too great to allow them to give

attention to pictorial art and took no final action on the subject. In

the meantime Brady was unable to meet the bill for storage and the

negatives in Washington were offered at auction. William W. Belknap, the

Secretary of War, was advised of the conditions and in July, 1874, he

paid the storage bill and the negatives fell into possession of the

Government. The purchase was made at a public auction and the Government

bid was $2840 from money accumulated by Provost Marshals and turned in

to the Adjutant-General at the close of the Civil War. The Government

Records fail to give a list of the negatives made either at the time of

the purchase or for many subsequent years. The original voucher dated

July 31st, 1874, is silent as to the number of negatives received by the

Government.

THIS photograph is selected from the seven thousand negatives left by

Mathew B. Brady, the celebrated government photographer, as one of the

most valuable in existence. It seems to be the first instance on the

Western Continent, and possibly in the world, in which a camera

successfully imprinted on glass the actual vision of a great army in

camp. While scenes such as this are engraved on the memories of the

venerable warriors who participated in the terrific struggle this

remarkable negative preserves for all ages the magnificent pageant of

men, who have offered their lives in defense of their country, waiting

for the call to the battle-line. The photograph was taken on a day in

the middle of May in 1862 when the Army of the Potomac was encamped at

Cumberland Landing on the Pamunky River. A hundred thousand men rested

in this city of tents, in the seclusion of the hills, eager to strike a

blow for the flag they loved, yet such was the tragic stillness that one

who recalls it says that absolute quiet reigned throughout the vast

concourse like the peace of the Sabbath-day. On every side were immense

fields of wheat, promising an abundant harvest, but trammeled under the

feet of the encroaching armies. Occasionally the silence was broken by

the strains of a national song that swept from tent to tent as the men

smoked and drowsed, fearless of the morrow. The encampment covered many

square miles and this picture represents but one brigade on the old

Custis place, near White House, which became the estate of General

Fitzhugh Lee, the indomitable cavalry leader of the Confederacy and an

American patriot during the later war with Spain. The original negative,

although now forty-five years old, has required but slight retouching in

the background.

[Illustration]

GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD was fully acquainted with the conditions under

which the negatives were taken and the subsequent impoverishment of

Mathew Brady. He insisted that something should be done for the man who

risked all he had in the world and through misfortune lost the results

of his labors. General Benjamin Butler, Congressman from Massachusetts,

also felt the injustice, and on his motion a paragraph was inserted in

the Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill for $25,000 "to enable the Secretary

of War to acquire a full and perfect title to the Brady collection of

photographs of the War." The business element in Congress was inclined

to question the material value of the negatives. They were but little

concerned with the art value and the discussion became a matter of

business inventory. Generals Garfield and Butler in reply to the

economists declared: "_The commercial value of the entire collection is

at least $150,000._" Ten years after the War, but too late to save him a

vestige of business credit, the Government came to Brady's relief and on

April 15, 1875, the sum of $25,000 was paid to him. During these years

of waiting, Brady had been unable to satisfy the demands of his

creditors and an attachment was placed on the negatives in storage in

New York. Judgment was rendered to his creditor, Anthony, and the

negatives became his property.

Army officers who knew of the existence of the negatives urged the

Government to publish them as a part of the Official Records of the War.

The Government stated in reply: "The photographic views of the War

showing the battlefields, military divisions, fortifications, etc., are

among the most authentic and valuable records of the Rebellion. The

preservation of these interesting records of the War is too important to

be intrusted in glass plates so easily destroyed by accident or design

and no more effective means than printing can be devised to save them

from destruction." While a few proofs were taken for the purpose of

official records, the public still remained unacquainted with the scenes

so graphically preserved. One who is acquainted with the conditions

says: "From different sources verbal and unofficial, it was learned that

quite a number of the negatives were broken through careless handling by

the employees of the War Department." The negatives were transferred to

the War Records Office and placed under the careful supervision of

Colonel R. N. Scott.

[Illustration: BRADY'S "WHAT IS IT?" IN THE CIVIL WAR

The Photographer's Headquarters at Cold Harbor, Virginia, in 1862, where

he had taken refuge to prepare his paraphernalia for a long and

hazardous journey--It was with much difficulty that the delicate glass

negatives were protected from breakage on these daring rides through

forests and fields and proofs were taken at the first opportunity that

offered]

Twenty-five years ago, in 1882, Bierstadt, a chemist, informed the

Government: "The breakableness of the glass and the fugitive character

of photograph chemicals will in short time obliterate all traces of the

scenes these represent. Unless they are reproduced in some permanent

form they will soon be lost." Fifty-two negatives were sent to him and

he reproduced six of these by a photographic mechanical process. The

Government, however, decided that the cost was prohibitive, the expense

of making the prints was seventy-five dollars a thousand and would not

allow any general circulation.

Honorable John C. Taylor, of Hartford, Connecticut, a veteran of the

Civil War, believed that the heroes of the conflict should be allowed to

look upon the scenes in which they participated, and made a thorough

investigation. Mr. Taylor is now Secretary of the Connecticut Prison

Association and Past Commander of Post No. 50, Grand Army of the

Republic. In relating his experiences to me a few days ago he said; "I

found the seven thousand negatives in New York stored in an old garret.

Anthony, the creditor, had drawn prints from some of them and I

purchased all that were in his possession. I also made a deal with him

to allow me to use the prints exclusively. General Albert Ordway of the

Loyal Legion became acquainted with the conditions and, with Colonel

Rand of Boston, he purchased the negatives from Anthony who had a clear

title through court procedure. I met these gentlemen and contracted to

continue my arrangement with them for the exclusive use of the prints. I

finally purchased the Brady negatives from General Ordway and Colonel

Rand with the intention of bringing them before the eyes of all the old

soldiers so that they might see that the lens had forever perpetuated

their struggle for the Union. The Government collection had for nine

years remained comparatively neglected but through ordinary breakage,

lax supervision, and disregard of orders, nearly three hundred of their

negatives were broken or lost. To assist them in securing the prints for

Government Records I loaned my seven thousand negatives to the Navy

Department and shipped them to Washington where they were placed in a

fireproof warehouse at 920 E Street, North West. I did all that was

possible to facilitate the important work."

THE lens here perpetuates the interesting spectacle of an army wagon

train being "parked" and guarded from a raid by the enemy's cavalry.

With a million of the nation's strongest men abandoning production to

wage devastation and destruction the problem of providing them with food

barely sufficient to sustain life was an almost incalculable enigma. The

able-bodied men of the North and the South had turned from the fields

and factories to maintain what both conscientiously believed to be their

rights. Harvests were left to the elements and the wheels of industry

fell into silence. The good women and children at home, aided by men

willing but unable to meet the hardships and exposures of warfare,

worked heroically to hold their families together and to send to their

dear ones at the battle-front whatever comforts came within their humble

power. The supply trains of the great armies numbered thousands of

six-mule teams and when on the march they would stretch out for many

miles. It was in May, in 1863, that one of these wagon trains safely

reached Brandy Station, Virginia. Its journey had been one of imminent

danger as both armies were in dire need of provisions and the capture of

a wagon train was as good fortune as victory in a skirmish. To protect

this train from a desperate dash of the Confederate cavalry it was

"parked" on the outskirts of a forest that protected it from envious

eyes and guarded by the Union lines. One of Mr. Brady's cameras took

this photograph during this critical moment. It shows but one division

of one corps. As there were three divisions in each corps, and there

were many corps in the army, some idea of the immense size of the trains

may be gained by this view. The train succeeded in reaching its

destination at a time of much need.

[Illustration]

ENDEAVORS to reveal these negatives have been futile as far as rank and

file of the army and the public at large are concerned. The Government,

as the years passed, became impressed with the value of this wonderful

record, but has now officially stated with positive finality: "It is

evident that these invaluable negatives are rapidly disappearing and in

order to insure their preservation it is ordered that hereafter

negatives shall not be loaned to private parties for exploitation or to

subserve private interest in any manner."

The genius Brady, in possession of $25,000, which, came from the

Government too late to save his property, entirely lost track of his

collection. Misfortune seemed to follow him and his Government money was

soon exhausted. In speaking of him a few days ago, John N. Stewart, Past

Vice Commander of the Department of Illinois, Grand Army of the

Republic, told me: "I was with the Army of the Potomac as telegraph

operator. I knew that views of battlefields were taken by men with a

cumbersome outfit as compared with the modern field photographer. I have

often wondered what became of their product. I saw Mr. Brady in

Washington, shortly before his death, and I made inquiry of him as to

the whereabouts of his war scenes. I asked him if the negatives were

still in existence and where proofs could be procured. He replied: '_I

do not know!_' The vast collection must possess great value and be of

remarkable historical interest at this late date."

[Illustration: BRADY ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF GETTYSBURG IN JULY 1863--The

smoke of the terrific conflict had hardly cleared away when Brady's

"What is it" wagon rolled onto the bloody "wheat field"--This picture

shows Brady looking toward McPherson's woods on the left of the

Chambersburg Pike at the point near which the Battle of Gettysburg

began]

In talking with Mr. Taylor, in his office at the State Capitol at

Hartford, Connecticut, recently he recalled his acquaintance with Brady,

and said: "I met him frequently. He was a man of artistic appearance and

of very slight physique. I should judge that he was about five feet, six

inches tall. He generally wore a broad-brimmed hat similar to those worn

by the art students in Paris. His hair was long and bushy. The last time

I met him was about twenty-five years after the War and he appeared to

be a man of about sixty-five years of age. Despite his financial

reverses he was still true to his love for art. I told him that I owned

seven thousand of his negatives and he seemed to be pleased. He became

reminiscent and among the things that he told me I especially remember

these words: 'No one will ever know what I went through in securing

those negatives. The world can never appreciate it. It changed the whole

course of my life. By persistence and all the political influence that I

could control I finally secured permission from Stanton, the Secretary

of War, to go onto the battlefields with my cameras. Some of those

negatives nearly cost me my life.'" Mr. Brady told Mr. Taylor of his

difficulty in finding men to operate his cameras.

"PINKERTON" is a name associated with the discovery of crime the world

over. It is a word shrouded in mystery and through it works one of the

most subtle forces on the face of the earth to-day. Sixty-five years ago

an unassuming man fled from Scotland to America. It was charged against

him that he was a chartist. Eight years later he was in Chicago

established in the detection of crime. While the distant rumbles of a

Civil War were warning the nation, he went to Washington and became

closely attached to President Lincoln. When a plot was organized to

assassinate Lincoln in his first days of the presidency, this strange

man discovered the murderous compact. It was he who, in 1861, hurriedly

organized the Secret Service of the National Army and forestalled

conspiracies that threatened to overthrow the Republic. In speaking of

himself he once said: "Now that it is all over I am tempted to reveal

the secret. I have had many intimate friends in the army and in the

government. They all know Major E. J. Allen, but many of them will never

know that their friend, Major Allen and Allan Pinkerton, are one and the

same person." To those who knew Major Allen this picture is dedicated.

It reveals Allan Pinkerton divested of all mystery, father of the great

system that has literally drawn a net around the world into which all

fugitive wrongdoers must eventually fall. Under the guise of Major

Allen, chief of the Secret Service in the Civil War, he was passing

through the camp at Antietam one September day in 1862. He was riding

his favorite horse and carelessly smoking a cigar when one of Mr.

Brady's men called to him to halt a moment while he took this picture.

[Illustration]

BRADY said he always made two exposures of the same scene, sometimes

with a shift of the camera which gave a slight change in the same

general view. He related several interesting incidents of his early

experiences in photography in America. It is generally conceded that Mr.

Brady should be recognized as one of the great figures of the epoch in

which he worked.

It is here my duty to record an unfortunate incident that is not unusual

in the annals of art and literature. Brady's life, which seems to have

been burdened with more ill luck than the ordinary lot of man, found

little relief in its venerable years. Misfortune followed him to the

very threshold of his last hour. He died about eight years ago in New

York, with a few staunch friends, but without money, and without public

recognition for his services to mankind. Since Brady's death some of

those who knew and esteemed him have been interested in making a last

endeavor to bring his work before the world. Mr. Taylor has worked

unceasingly to accomplish this result. The late Daniel S. Lamont,

Secretary of War in President Cleveland's Cabinet, was much interested.

Brigadier-General A. W. Greeley, in supervisory charge of the Government

collection, said: "This collection cost the United States originally the

sum of $27,840, and it is a matter of general regret that these

invaluable reproductions of scenes and faces connected with the late

civil conflict should remain inaccessible to the general public. The

features of most of the permanent actors connected with the War for the

Union have been preserved in these negatives, where also are portrayed

certain physical aspects of the War that are of interest and of historic

value ... graphic representations of the greatest of American, if not of

all, wars."

[Illustration: SECRET SERVICE GUIDE DIRECTING BRADY TO SCENE OF

ACTION--Pointing toward the edge of the woods where General Reynolds was

killed at Gettysburg in July, 1863--Brady carried his cameras onto this

field]

The Government, however, has stated positively that their negatives must

not be exploited for commercial purposes. They are the historic

treasures of the whole people and the Government has justly refused to

establish a dangerous system of "special privilege" by granting

permission for publication to individuals. As the property of the people

the Government negatives are held in sacred trust.

Mr. Edward B. Eaton, the first president of the Connecticut Magazine,

one of the leading historical publications in this country, became

interested in the historical significance of the Brady collection and

conferred with the War Department at Washington about the Brady

negatives. He found that the only possible way to bring the scenes

before the public was through the private collection which not only

includes practically all of the six thousand Government negatives but is

supplemented by a thousand negatives not in the Government collection.

Mr. Johann Olsen of Hartford, who was one of the first operators of the

old wet-plate process used by Brady, personally examined many of the

negatives in storage in Washington and stated that some action should be

taken immediately. He says: "Many of the negatives are undergoing

chemical action which will soon destroy them. Others are in a remarkable

state of preservation. I have found among them some of the finest

specimens of photography that this country has ever seen. The modern

development of the art is placed at a disadvantage when compared with

some of these wonderful negatives. I do not believe that General

Garfield overestimated their value when he said they were worth

$150,000. I do not believe that their value to American History can be

estimated in dollars. I was personally acquainted with one of Brady's

men at the time these pictures were taken and I know something of the

tremendous difficulties in securing them." A few months ago Mr. Eaton

secured a clear title to the seven thousand Brady negatives owned by Mr.

Taylor with a full understanding that he would immediately place the

scenes before the public. The delicate glass plates were fully protected

and removed from Washington to Hartford, where they are today in storage

in a fire-proof vault.

THIS is conceded to be the most characteristic photograph of Lincoln

ever taken. It shows him on the battle-field, towering head and

shoulders above his army officers. It is said that Lincoln once sent for

this photograph and after looking at it for several minutes he remarked

that it was the best full-length picture that the camera had ever

"perpetrated." The original negative is in a good state of preservation.

The greater significance of this picture, however, is the incident which

it perpetuates. There had been unfortunate differences between the

government and the Army of the Potomac. The future of the Union cause

looked dark. A critical state of the disorder had been reached; collapse

seemed imminent. On the first day of October, in 1862, President Lincoln

went to the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac and traversed the

scenes of action, walking over the battlefields of South Mountain,

Crampton's Gap, and Antietam with General McClellan. As Lincoln was

bidding good-bye to McClellan and a group of officers at Antietam on

October 4, 1862, this photograph was taken. Two days later Lincoln

ordered McClellan to cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy.

Misunderstandings followed, and on the fifth of November, President

Lincoln, with his own hand, wrote the historic order that deposed the

beloved commander of the Potomac, and started controversies which are

still renewed and vigorously argued by army officers and historians. It

is one of the sad incidents of the passing of a hero, who had endeared

himself to his men as have few generals in the annals of war.

[Illustration]

MODERN photographers have experienced some difficulty in securing proofs

from the collodion negatives, due both to the years that the negatives

have been neglected and their inexperience with the peculiar wet-plate

process. Mr. Olsen is still working over them and has succeeded in

stopping the chemical action that threatened to destroy many of them.

Six thousand of the negatives are pronounced to be in as good condition

today as on the day they were taken, nearly a half-century ago.

Accompanying the collection is found an occasional negative that seems

to have been made by Alexander Gardner or Samuel Cooley. Gardner was one

of the photographers employed by Brady, but he later left him and

entered into competition. Cooley was an early photographer who conceived

a plan similar to Brady's, but operated on a very limited scale. Most of

his negatives were taken in South Carolina.

From this remarkable collection, witnessing the darkest days on the

American continent and the first days of modern American photography,

the prints are selected for these pages and are here dedicated to the

American People. Until recent years there has been no mechanical process

by which these negatives could be reproduced for general observation.

The negatives are here accurately presented from the originals, by the

modern half-tone process with only the slightest retouching where

chemical action has made it absolutely necessary.

In selecting these prints it has been the desire of the editor to

present, as nearly as possible, a chronological pictorial record of the

Civil War in the United States. At strategic points where the large

cameras could not be drawn into the conflict, Brady used a smaller and

lighter camera that allowed him to get very close to the field of

action. Many of the most critical moments in the long siege are embodied

in these small negatives. They link the larger pictures into one strong

chain of indisputable evidence. It would require forty volumes to

present the entire collection. This book can be but a kaleidoscopic

vision of the great conflict. Thousands of remarkable scenes must for

the present, at least remain unveiled. That the public may know just

what these negatives conceal, a partial record has been compiled in the

closing pages of this volume.

It has been estimated that since the beginning of authentic

history war has destroyed fifteen billions of human lives. I

have seen the estimate put at twice that number. The estimated

loss of life by war in the past century is fourteen millions.

Napoleon's campaigns of twenty years cost Europe six millions of

lives.

The Crimean War 1854 750,000

The Italian War 1859 63,000

Our Civil War, North and South

(killed and died in other ways) 1,000,000

The Prussian-Austrian War 1866 45,000

The expeditions to Mexico,

China, Morocco, etc 65,000

The Franco-German War 1870 250,000

The Russo-Turkish War 1877 225,000

The Zulu and Afghan Wars 1879 40,000

The Chinese-Japanese War 1894 10,000

The Spanish-American War 5,000

The Philippine War 1899 { Americans 5,000

{ Filipinos 1,000,000

The Boer War (killed and wounded) { Boers 25,000

{ British 100,000

The Russo-Japanese War 450,500

These are probably all under the actual facts.

BENJAMIN F. TRUEBLOOD,

Secretary American Peace Society.

The drama here revealed by the lens is one of intense realism. In it one

can almost hear the beat of the drum and the call of the bugle. It

throbs with all the passions known to humanity. It brings one face to

face with the madness of battle, the thrill of victory, the broken heart

of defeat. There is in it the loyalty of comradeship, the tenderness of

brotherhood, the pathos of the soldier's last hour; the willingness to

sacrifice, the fidelity to principle, the love of country.

Far be it from the power of these old negatives to bring back the memory

of forgotten dissensions or long-gone contentions. Whatever may have

been the differences that threw a million of America's strongest manhood

into bloody combat, each one offered his life for what he believed to be

_the right_. The American People today are more strongly united then

ever before--North, South, East and West, all are working for the moral,

the intellectual, the industrial and political upbuilding of Our Beloved

Land.

The path of Progress has been blazed by fire. Strong men with strong

purposes have thrown their lives on the altar of civilization that their

children and their children's children might live and work in the light

of a new epoch that found its birth in the agonizing throes of human

sacrifice. From the beginning of all ages the soldier has been, and

always must be, a _mighty man_.

He who will step deliberately into the demon's jaws to defend a

principle or to save his country must be among the greatest of men. His

is the heroic heart to whom the world must look for the dawn of the Age

of Universal Peace. It is his courageous arm that must force the world

to halt. The citizenship of the future must be moulded and dominated by

the men with the willingness to sacrifice for the sake of Justice and

such men are soldiers, whether it be in War or Peace.

There is a longing in the hearts of men, and especially those who have

felt the ravages of battle, for the day when there shall be no more War;

when Force will be dethroned and Reason will rule triumphant. The Great

Washington, who led the conflict for our National Independence, longed

for the epoch of Peace. "My first wish," he exclaimed, "is to see this

plague to mankind banished from the earth."

The mission of these pages is one of Peace--that all may look upon the

horrors of War and pledge their manhood to "Peace on Earth, Good Will

toward Men!"

"WAR is hell!" The daring Sherman's familiar truth is here witnessed

with all its horrors. War _is hell_, and _this is war_! If it were not

for the service that this negative should do for the great cause of the

world's Peace, this picture, which has lain in a vault in Washington for

an epoch, would never be exposed to public view. Its very gruesomeness

is a plea to men to lay down arms. Its ghastliness is an admonition to

the coming generations. It is a silent prayer for universal brotherhood.

The negative was taken after the third day's battle at Gettysburg. The

din of the batteries had died away. The clash of arms had ceased. The

tumult of men was hushed. The clouds of smoke had lifted and the morning

sun engraved on the glass plate this mute witness of the tragedy that

had made history. It was the nation's holiday--the Fourth of July in

1863. The camera was taken into the wheat-field near the extreme left of

the Union line. The heroes had been dead about nineteen hours. It will

be observed that their bodies are already much bloated by exposure to

the sun. These men were killed on July 3, 1863, by one discharge of

"canister" from a Confederate cannon which they were attempting to

capture. Tin cans were filled with small balls about the size of marbles

and when the cannon was fired the force of the discharge burst open the

can, and the shower of canister balls swept everything before it. When

this photograph was taken a detail had already passed over the field,

and gathered the guns and accoutrements of the dead and wounded. Shoes,

cartridge belts and canteens have been removed from these dead heroes as

it was frequently necessary to appropriate them to relieve the needs of

the living soldiers. From diamond at extreme right of picture these men

are identified as belonging to the second division of third army corps.

[Illustration]

IN the conflicts within the lifetime of men now living, more than three

billions of dollars sterling have been thrown into the cannon's mouth,

and nearly five millions of human lives have fallen martyrs to the

battlefield. In the United States of America, a government founded on

the Brotherhood of Man, the greatest expenditure since the beginning of

the Republic has been for bloodshed, over six billions for War, nearly

two billions for navy, and about three and one-half billions for

pensions--more than eleven billions out of a total of something over

nineteen billions of dollars. In the last half century the population of

the world has doubled; its indebtedness, chiefly for war purposes, has

quadrupled. It was but eight billions fifty years ago; it is thirty-two

billions today.

America has never been a war-seeking nation. Its one desire has been to

"live and let live." When once aroused, however, it is the greatest

fighting force on the face of the globe. It is in this peace-loving land

that civilization witnessed the most terrible and heart-rending struggle

that ever befell men of the same blood. "Men speaking the same language,

living for eighty-four years under the same flag, stood as enemies in

deadly combat. Brother fighting against brother; father against son;

mothers praying for their boys--one in the uniform of blue, and the

other wearing the gray; and churches of the same faith appealing to God,

each for the other's overthrow."

There were 2,841,906 men and boys sworn into the defence of their

country during the Civil War in the United States. The extreme youth of

these patriots is one of the most remarkable records in the annals of

the world's warfare. The average age of the soldier in the army and navy

was about nineteen years. Some of them followed the marching armies on

the impulse of the moment; most of them were enlisted with the consent

of their parents or guardians. Thousands of them never returned home;

thousands more came back to the pursuits of Peace and have contributed

for nearly a half century to the Good Citizenship of the Republic. Today

they are gray-haired patriarchs. One by one they are stepping from the

ranks to answer the call to the Greater Army from which no soldier has

ever returned. This record has been compiled for this volume from an

authoritative source. The men who re-enlisted are counted twice as there

is no practical way to estimate the number of individual persons:

682,117 were over 21 years of age;

1,159,789 were 21 years old and under;

1,151,438 were 18 years old and under;

844,891 were 17 years old and under;

231,051 were 16 years old and under;

104,987 were 15 years old and under;

1,523 were 14 years old and under;

300 were 13 years old and under;

278 were 12 years old and under.

When the Great Struggle began, the United States was the home of less

than thirty-two millions of people. Today it has passed eighty millions

and the peoples from all the nations of the earth are flooding into our

open gates to the extent of more than a million a year. A new community

of more than three thousand inhabitants could be founded every day from

the men, women and children who disembark from the sea of ships charted

to the American shores. There are among us today more than forty-eight

millions who have been born here or immigrated into this country since

the beginning of the Civil War. These people have no personal knowledge

of it and their information is gathered from the narrations of others.

These Brady negatives will come as a revelation to them and give a truer

understanding of the meaning of it all. The good service they may do for

the nation in this one respect cannot be overestimated.

With thirty-two millions of people aroused by an overpowering impulse

that dared them to follow the dictates of conscience by pledging their

loyalty to the states they loved--whether it be under Southern suns or

Northern snows--it is almost beyond comprehension that Brady came out of

the chaos with even one photographic record. While his extensive

operations could not begin until system and organization were

accomplished, he did secure many negatives in 1861.

Hardly had the news of the first gun passed around the globe when a half

million men were offering their services to their country. Loyal

Massachusetts was the first to march her strong and willing sons to the

protection of the Government. The shrill notes of the fife sounded

throughout the land and battle-scarred old Europe beheld in amazement

the marshalling of great armies from a nation of volunteer patriots

wholly inexperienced in military discipline--a miracle in the eyes of

older civilization that had been drenched in the blood of centuries.

It was the simultaneous uprising of a Great People. The first shot from

South Carolina transformed Virginia, the beloved mother of presidents,

into a battleground. The streets of Baltimore became a scene of riot.

The guns of the navy boomed on the North Carolina coast. The men of the

West moved on through Missouri, blazing their way with shot and shell.

Through Kentucky and Tennessee the reign of fire swept on until it

re-echoed from Florida on the gulf to the wilderness of New Mexico and

the borderline of Texas.

The American Republic was in the clutches of terrific conflict and in

the first twelve months nearly a million and a quarter of its manhood

was fighting for the National Flag. There was no turning from the

struggle. It must be waged to its deadliest end. From this moment, for

four dreadful years, fighting was taking place somewhere along the line

every day and more than seven thousand battles and skirmishes were

fought on land and sea.

Nearly three-fourths of the men who stood in the Union ranks in the

Civil War were native-born Americans. The others were the best and

bravest blood of fellow-nations.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT FORT SUMTER IN 1861]

"THEY have fired on Fort Sumter!" These are the words that rang across

the continent on the morning of the twelfth of April, in 1861, and the

echo was heard around the world. The shot that began one of the

fiercest conflicts that civilization has ever seen was fired just

before sunrise at four in the morning. Special editions of newspapers

heralded the tidings through the land. Thousands of excited men

crowded the streets. Trade was suspended. Night and day the people

thronged the thoroughfares, eager to hear the latest word from the scene

of action. Friday and Saturday were the most anxious days that the

American people have ever experienced. When the news came on Sunday

morning that Major Robert Anderson had evacuated the fort with flags

flying and drums beating "Yankee Doodle," the North was electrified with

patriotism. The stars and stripes were thrown to the breeze from spires

of churches, windows of residences, railway stations and public

buildings. The fife and drum were heard in the streets. Recruiting

offices were opened on public squares. Men left their business and

stepped into the ranks. A few days later, when the brave defenders of

Fort Sumter reached New York, the air was alive with floating banners.

Flowers, fruits and delicacies were showered upon the one hundred and

twenty-nine courageous men who had so gallantly withstood the onslaught

of six thousand. Crowds seized the heroes and carried them through the

streets on their shoulders. The South was mad with victory. It was

believed that its independence had been already gained. Several days

after the bombardment this picture was secured of the historic fort in

South Carolina, about which centered the beginning of a great war. It

was taken in four sections and this is a panoramic view of them all. The

photograph did not fall into the possession of the Government, but was

held for many years by a Confederate naval officer, Daniel Ellis,

commander of the twenty-gun ram "Chicora" and at one time in command of

Fort Sumter. It is now in possession of James W. Eldridge of Hartford.

It corrects the erroneous impression that the fort was demolished in

1861. It stood the bombardment with but slight damage, other than a few

holes knocked in the masonry as this picture testifies. In saluting the

American flag before the evacuation on April 15, Private Daniel Hough

was killed and three men wounded by the premature explosion of one of

their own guns.

"JOHN BROWN'S body lies a-mouldering in the grave; his soul is marching

on!" In every public meeting, through village and town, along the lines

of recruits marching to the front, around the army campfires, this song

became the battle-cry. It had been but three years since John Brown,

with seventeen whites and five negroes, seized the United States Arsenal

at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and began the freeing of slaves. It

required eighteen hours and 1,500 militia and marines to subdue the

ardent abolitionist. He took refuge in the armory engine house. The

doors were battered down. Eight of the insurgents were killed. Brown,

with three whites and a half dozen negroes, was captured and hanged. The

Confederates planned its capture, but upon their approach on the

eighteenth of April, in 1861, three days after the firing on Fort

Sumter, they found only the burning arsenal. They held the coveted

position with 6,500 men, but fearing the attack of 20,000 Unionists,

deserted it. It was held by the Union troops until 1862, when, on the

fifteenth of September, Stonewall Jackson bombarded the town and forced

its surrender. The Union loss was 80 killed, 120 wounded, 11,583

captured. The Confederate loss was 500. In this engagement were the

brave boys of the 12th New York State Militia; 39th, 111th, 115th, 125th

and 126th New York; 32nd, 60th and 87th Ohio; 9th Vermont; 65th

Illinois; 1st and 3rd Maryland "Home Brigade;" 15th Indiana Volunteers;

Phillips' Battery; 5th New York; Graham's, Pott's and Rigby's Batteries;

8th New York; 12th Illinois, and 1st Maryland Cavalry. It was during

these days that the Army of the Potomac engaged the Confederate forces

in bloody conflict at Turner's and Crampton's Gap, South Mountain,

Maryland, leaving Harper's Ferry again in the hands of the Union.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT HARPER'S FERRY]

THERE is not a fleet on the seas that can withstand a modern battery if

kept under fire by proper obstructions. Modern sea-coast artillery can

destroy a vessel at a single shot. The watchdog that guarded the

waterway to the National Capital in the Civil War was Fortress Monroe.

The old stone fort, partially protected by masses of earth that

sheltered it from the view and fire of the assailant, challenged the

ugliest iron-clads to pass through Hampton Roads. Fortress Monroe early

became the base of operations and under its protection volunteer

regiments were mobilized. When the 2nd New York Volunteers reached the

fort, about six weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter, the 4th

Massachusetts Volunteers had come to the assistance of the regular

garrison of four companies of artillery on duty day and night over their

guns. Something of the conditions may be understood by the statement of

an officer who says that his men had to appear on parade with blankets

wrapped about them to conceal a lack of proper garments, and sometimes

stood sentinel with naked feet and almost naked bodies. The volunteers

arrived faster than provisions could be furnished and there was a

scarcity of food. So great was the difficulty in procuring small arms

that some of the soldiers were not really fitted for war during the year

of 1861. The Government operations were centered around Fortress Monroe

and President Lincoln personally visited the headquarters to ascertain

the actual conditions. Brady was admitted behind the parapets with his

camera and secured this photograph of one of the heaviest guns in the

great fortification.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT FORTRESS MONROE]

[Illustration]

TO feed the millions of fighting men in both armies during the years

1861 to 1865, was an enigma equalled only by the problem of ammunition.

After the diets of hardtack on the long marches there is no memory

dearer to the heart of the old veteran than a good, old-fashioned

"square meal" from the log-cabin kitchen in the camp. This is a typical

scene of one of these winter camps. They were substantially built of

logs, chinked in with mud and provided on one end with a generous mud

chimney and fireplace. The most "palatial" afforded a door and a window.

Roaring fires burned on the hearths. With the arrival of the soldiers,

knapsacks and traps were unpacked. The canteen was hung on its proper

peg. The musket found its place on the wall. The old frying pan and tin

cup were hung near the fire. There was to be a real "old home feast."

The soldiers crowded around the sutler's tent dickering over canned

goods and other luxuries which cost perhaps a half-month's pay. The log

settlement was all astir. Smoke issued from the mud chimneys. Crackling

fires and savory odors lightened the hearts of the warriors and the

community of huts rang with jovialty, laughter and song. Stories of the

conflict were told as the soldiers revelled over the hot and hearty meal

and not until the late hours did the tired comrades wrap themselves in

their blankets and fall onto their beds of pine needles or hard board

bunks.

THE charge of the cavalry is an intense moment on the battlefield. At

the time of the Civil War nothing was known of the snap-shot process in

photography and Brady tried frequently throughout the four years to

secure negatives of the cavalry. It seems to have been an impossibility

under the long "time exposure process." He did, however, succeed in

securing negatives of horses. Frequent opportunity to try to secure a

photograph of the cavalry, is proven by the fact that there were 3,266

troops, or more than 272 regiments, in defense of the Government. This

picture is found in Brady's collection and shows the cavalry depot at

Giesboro Point, Maryland, just outside of Washington. At the beginning

of the war the mounted men were used as scouts, orderlies, and in

outpost duty. General "Joe" Hooker finally turned a multitude of

detachments into a compact army corps of 12,000 horsemen. The gallant

horseman, "Phil" Sheridan, under instructions from General Grant,

organized three divisions of 5,000 mounted men, each armed with

repeating carbines and sabers. It was with this force that Sheridan met

the Confederate cavalry at Yellow Tavern, near Richmond, and

demonstrated the importance of mounted troops by great military powers.

One of the most magnificent scenes in the war was when 10,000 horsemen

moved out on the Telegraph Road leading from Fredericksburg to Richmond,

and the column, as it stood in "fours," well closed up, was thirteen

miles long and required four hours to pass a given point.

[Illustration]

"CAPTURE the National Capital, throw the city into confusion and terror

by conflagration, seize the President and his Cabinet, and secure

control of the Government." This was the first cry of the Confederacy.

Thousands of volunteers were moving toward the city in answer to the

call for men to save the Nation. Orders were issued to hold back the

enemy from crossing the bridges that entered Washington. Two batteries

were thrown up at the east end of the Upper, or Chain Bridge, and a

heavy two-leaved gate covered with iron plates pierced for musketry, was

constructed at the center of the bridge. Blockhouses at Arlington

Heights and the battery at Georgetown Heights, guarded the Aqueduct

Bridge. The largest approach to Washington was the famous Long Bridge, a

mile in length, and connecting the National Capital with Alexandria,

Virginia, the gateway to the Confederacy. Three earthen forts commanded

its entrance. All soldiers of the Army of the Potomac remember Long

Bridge. It was over this structure that a hundred thousand men passed in

defense of their country, many of them never to recross it. This was one

of the strategic points in the first days of the war and consequently

one of the first pictures taken by Brady, with its sentinel on duty and

the sergeant of the guard ready to examine the pass. No man ever crossed

Long Bridge without this written oath: "It is understood that the within

named and subscriber accepts this pass on his word of honor that he is

and will be ever loyal to the United States; and if hereafter found in

arms against the Union, or in any way aiding her enemies, the penalty

will be death."

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT LONG BRIDGE ENTRANCE TO WASHINGTON]

THERE is nothing impossible to any army in time of war. Bridges are

thrown across rivers in a night; roads are constructed as the line

advances; telegraph wires are uncoiled in the wake of the moving

regiments. To protect from a delay that might mean defeat, the army

frequently carried its own "bridges" with it. These army or pontoon

bridges consisted of boats over which planks were thrown to span the

waterways. This view shows two of the boat's wheels ready for the march.

Each pontoon wagon is drawn by six mules. These pontoons were always

getting stuck in the mud, and the soldiers, struggling along under their

own burdens, were obliged to haul on the drag ropes, and raise the

blockade. Probably no soldier will see this picture without being

reminded of the time when he helped to pull these pontoons out of the

mud, and comforted himself by _shouting at the mules_. A view is also

shown of a pontoon bridge across the James River ready for the approach

of the army. It was often necessary to establish an immediate telegraph

service between different points in the lines. This photograph shows one

of the characteristic field telegraph stations. An old piece of canvas

stretched over some rails forms the telegrapher's office, and a

"hardtack" box is his telegraph table; but from such a rude station

messages were often sent which involved the lives of hundreds and

thousands of soldiers. The building of corduroy roads to allow

ammunition and provision trains to pass on their journeys was of utmost

importance. An hour's delay might throw them into the hands of the

enemy. Many disasters were averted by the ingenuity of the engineers'

corps.

[Illustration: PONTOON BOATS ON WHEELS]

[Illustration: BUILDING A CORDUROY ROAD]

[Illustration: FIELD TELEGRAPH STATION IN OPERATION]

[Illustration: PONTOON BRIDGE ACROSS JAMES RIVER]

"IF any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the

spot!" The order rang from town to town. Old Glory waved in the breeze

defiantly. "The flag of the Confederacy will be hoisted over Washington

within sixty days," came the retort from the far South. "Only over our

dead bodies," replied the men of the North. The National Government

discovered that a conspiracy had been in operation to denude its

armories and weaken its defenses. Political influences had secretly

disarmed the incoming administration, scattering the regular army in

helpless and hopeless positions far from the seat of the Government and

beyond its call in an emergency. Northern forts had been dismantled and

the munitions from Northern arsenals had been dispatched to Southern

vantage grounds to be used in case of necessity. The treasury had been

depleted and the Government was on the verge of bankruptcy. Eleven of

the historic old states of the Union had withdrawn and formed a new

republic, the "Confederate States of America." These were the conditions

that confronted Lincoln in his first days of the Presidency. Plots were

rampant to take his life. His steps were shadowed by Secret Service

detectives to safeguard him against assassins, and he was practically

held a prisoner in the White House. In further protection the defenses

around the city were strengthened. From every hillside grim guns turned

their deep mouths into the valleys until a chain of fortifications made

the city impregnable. Brady secured permission to take his cameras into

these fortifications. This is the best negative which he secured. It is

taken behind the breastworks at Fort Lincoln, near Washington.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT FORT LINCOLN]

THE first serious collision of the two great armies of divided Americans

took place at Bull Run, in Virginia, on the twenty-first of July, in

1861. The Government had confined its operations almost wholly to the

protection of Washington, and the public demand for more aggressive

action was loud and alarming. The Confederate pickets had become so

confident that they advanced within sight of the National Capital.

Accusations were strong against the seeming desire of the Government to

evade the enemy. Charges of deliberate delay and cowardice came from the

North. "On to Richmond," the stronghold of the Confederacy, was the

demand. So great became the public clamor that, despite the judgment of

military authorities, 29,000 Federals under McDowell advanced against

the 32,000 Confederates under Beauregard, driving them back only to be

repulsed, after one of the hardest and strangest combats that military

history has ever recorded. The Union ranks were so demoralized that they

retreated without orders and straggled back to Washington, although a

strong stand might have turned the tide of battle. The Union loss was

481 killed; 2,471 wounded and missing, besides 27 cannon and 4,000

muskets. The Confederate loss was 378 killed; 1,489 wounded and missing.

Brady's cameras were soon on the field. He did not reach it in time,

however, to secure pictures of the fighting armies. One of his negatives

shows the historic stream of Bull Run along which the battle occurred.

Another negative shows the field over which the hardest fighting took

place. A third negative is that of Sudley Church, which was the main

hospital after the conflict. It was here that, after a long detour, the

Union forces found a vulnerable point and crossed to meet the enemy.

Brady also secured a negative of Fairfax Court House, one of the

outposts of the Confederacy, in this campaign.

[Illustration: FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE IN 1861]

[Illustration: STREAM OF BULL RUN IN 1861]

[Illustration: SUDLEY'S CHURCH AND FORD AT BULL RUN]

[Illustration: BATTLEFIELD OF BULL RUN IN 1861]

THE man behind the gun risks his life on his faith in the ammunition

train to keep him supplied with powder and shell. An old warrior

estimates that an army of 60,000 men, comprising a fair average of

infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers must be provided with no less

than 18,000,000 ball cartridges for small arms, rifles, muskets,

carbines and pistols for six months' operation. In the field an infantry

soldier usually carries about sixty rounds. The lives of the men depend

upon the promptness of the ammunition trains. To supply these 60,000 men

requires one thousand ammunition wagons and 3,600 horses. The wagon

constructed for this service will carry 20,000 rounds of small-arm

munition. The cartridges are packed in boxes and the wagon is generally

drawn by four to six horses or mules. Several wagons are organized into

an "equipment," moving under the charge of an artillery, and there are

several such "equipments" for an army of this magnitude, one for each

division of infantry, a small portion for the cavalry, and the rest in

reserve. Early in the Civil War a chemist suggested to General McClellan

that he could throw shells from a mortar that would discharge streams of

fire "most fearfully in all directions." McClellan replied: "Such means

of destruction are hardly within the category of civilized warfare. I

could not recommend their employment until we have exhausted the

ordinary means of warfare." The Government preferred to depend largely

upon these silent, ghost-like wagons, with their deadly loads of

millions of cartridges, pressing toward the battle lines throughout the

conflict. This picture shows an ammunition train of the Third Division

Cavalry Corps in motion with the army encamped on the distant hills. It

is one of Brady's best negatives.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AS AMMUNITION TRAINS WERE MOVING]

SLAVE pens were common institutions in the days of negro bondage in

America. The system had developed from the early days of colonization

and was for many generations a legitimate occupation throughout the

country. So many rumors, false and true, were told of the "pens" that

Brady schemed to secure photographs of some of them. Early in 1861 he

succeeded in gaining entrance to one of the typical institutions in

Alexandria, Virginia. The results are here shown. The cell rooms with

their iron-barred doors and small cage windows relate their own story.

While they were installed by the larger slave traders they were wholly

unknown on most of the old Southern plantations. A picture is also here

shown of the exterior of the "slave pen" kept at Alexandria with the

inscription over the door, "Price, Birch & Co., Dealers in Slaves." This

shows the proportions to which the system had grown in the greatest

republic in the world. Enormous fortunes were being accumulated by some

dealers who had thrown aside sentiment and humanity and were herding

black men for the market. With the outbreak of the war many of the

slaves sought the protection of the Union Army, while others, who had

kind masters, were willing to remain on the plantations. Mr. Brady

secured several photographs of these typical slave groups. The one here

shown is a party of "contrabands" that had fled to the Union lines.

Another familiar scene in 1861 was the pilgrimage of poor whites to the

Union ranks. When the troops passed through many of the mountain

villages, these frightened white sympathizers would hastily gather their

scanty belongings, pile them onto an old wagon, desert their homes and

follow the army, to be passed on from line to line until they reached

the North.

[Illustration: IRON-BARRED CELLS IN AN OLD SLAVE PEN]

[Illustration: SLAVE DEALERS' HEADQUARTERS IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA]

[Illustration: REFUGEES LEAVING THE OLD HOMESTEAD]

[Illustration: CONTRABANDS IN WAKE OF THE UNION ARMY]

ONE of the greatest secret forces in the Civil War was the electric

telegraph. Wires were uncoiled as the army moved on its march toward the

enemy and over them passed the hurried words that frequently saved

hundreds and thousands of lives. While England was the first to

experiment with the new science on the battlefield, the war in America

demonstrated its permanent importance in the maneuvers of armies. Brady

was much interested in the development of telegraphy as a factor in war

and never missed any opportunity to take a photograph of the field

telegraph corps as they passed him on marches. This picture shows one of

the construction corps in operation. The wires were laid as each column

advanced, keeping the General in command fully informed of every

movement and enabling him to communicate from his headquarters in the

rear of the army with his officers in charge of the wings. The military

construction corps laid and took up these wires as fast as an infantry

regiment marches. An instant's intelligence may cause a charge, a flank

or a retreat. By connecting with the semi-permanent lines strung through

woods and fields, into which the enemy would have little reason to

venture unless aroused by suspicion, the commander on the field is kept

informed of the transportation of troops and supplies and the approach

of reinforcements. It was also the duty of the military construction

corps to seize all wires discovered by them and to utilize them for

their own army or tear them down. Constant watch is kept for these

secret lines. Great care must also be taken that false messages do not

pass over them. Their destruction is generally left to the cavalry. The

heavy construction wagons, carrying many miles of telegraph wire in

coils, were drawn by four horses.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AS MILITARY TELEGRAPH WAS BEING STRUNG]

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AS FIELD TELEGRAPH WAGON WAS SENDING

MESSAGE]

TELEGRAPH stations in wagons were not uncommon sights to the soldiers

between the years of 1861 to 1865. Great responsibility rested upon the

operators who halted alongside the road to send a message back to

headquarters that might change the whole course of events and defeat

into victory. The operators in the Civil War stood by their posts like

sentinels. The confidential communications of commanders and the

movements of the morrow were intrusted with them, but not in a single

instance is one known to have proven false to that trust. It was part of

the duty of the telegraph service to take messages from the scouts sent

out to ascertain the resources of the country, the advantages of certain

routes, and the general lay of the land. Every click of the instrument

transmitted secrets upon which might depend the rise or fall of the

nation. These field telegraph wagons, drawn by horses, carried the

instruments and batteries which had but recently been invented by an

American scientist, and by which an electric spark shot messages through

wire in the fraction of a second's time. The War of 1861 proved for all

time the advantages of this new science. It left the signal corps to

attend to only short-range communications and lightened the duties of

mounted orderlies, conveying messages in a flash of electricity that had

hitherto taken a day's reckless riding on horseback. While it saved the

orderlies from many hazardous journeys there were many more where the

telegraph wires did not penetrate and dependence was still placed on the

dashing mounted messenger. The chief service of the electric telegraph

was to maintain communication between corps and divisions and

headquarters. It was also utilized in some of the brilliant strokes of

the Secret Service in forestalling deep-laid plots.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN AN ARSENAL AT WASHINGTON]

THE downfall of Washington in the first days of the war would have meant

the downfall of the Republic. What changes this would have wrought in

the history of the Western Continent can never be known. Its

probabilities were such that the Treasury Building was guarded by

howitzers, the Halls of Congress were occupied by soldiers, the Capitol

building became a garrisoned citadel. Lincoln was virtually imprisoned

by guards in the White House, and the streets were patrolled by armed

men. Troops were quartered in the Patent Building. The basement

galleries of the Capitol were converted into store-rooms for barrels of

pork, beef and rations for a long siege. The vaults under the broad

terrace on the western front were turned into bakeries where sixteen

thousand loaves of bread were baked every day. The chimneys of the ovens

pierced the terrace and smoke poured out in dense black clouds like a

smoldering volcano. Ammunition and artillery were held in readiness to

answer a moment's call. So intense was the excitement that one of the

generals in command at the Government arsenal exclaimed: "We are now in

such a state that a dog-fight might cause the gutters of the Capital to

run with blood." There was the clank of cavalry on the pavements, the

tramp, tramp of regiments of men whose polished muskets flashed in the

sunlight as they moved over Long Bridge. Cavalcades of teams and

white-topped army wagons carrying provisions, munitions of war and

baggage followed in weird procession. Brady was then in Washington

negotiating with the Government and the Secret Service for permission to

follow the armies with his cameras. This is one of the pictures that he

took at that time, showing the artillery and cannon-balls parked at the

National Capital.

NO one, except the men who did it, can ever know the tremendous

difficulties overcome in preparing an army for warfare. The

transformation of a nation of peaceful home-lovers to a battle-thirsty,

fighting populace is almost beyond human understanding. To arm them

instantly with the implements of war is a problem hardly conceivable.

When the first guns of the Civil War were belching their death-fire, all

the man-killing weapons known to civilization were being hurried to the

front. There were flint and percussion and long-range muskets and

rifles; bayonets and cavalry sabers; field and siege cannon; mortars and

sea-coast howitzers; projectiles, shot, shell, grape and canister;

powder, balls, strap and buckshot; minie balls and percussion caps;

fuses, wads and grenades; columbiads and navy carronades; lances,

pistols and revolvers; heavy ordnance and carriages. Europe was called

upon to send its explosives across the sea. Caves were opened for the

mining of nitre, lead and sulphur. Factories were run day and night for

the manufacture of saltpeter. On land and sea the greatest activity

prevailed. This photograph was taken on the twenty-sixth day of August

in 1861, when the ammunition schooners, accompanying the fleet from

Fortress Monroe on the expedition to Fort Hatteras, N. C., were passing

through Hampton Roads. The fleet, sailing under sealed orders, in

command of Flag Officer Silas H. Stringham, arrived before sunset. Two

days later, in conjunction with the troops of the 9th, 20th, and 99th

New York Volunteers, under General Benjamin F. Butler, it forced the

surrender of Fort Hatteras without the loss of a man and took seven

hundred prisoners. The Confederates lost about fifty killed and wounded.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN HAMPTON ROADS--AMMUNITION SCHOONERS]

SPIES lived in the White House according to the rumors in 1861, and

every council of the Administration was reported to the enemy. Whether

this is true or not has never been verified, but by some mysterious

channel the Administration's plans invariably fell into the hands of the

Confederates. One of the first instances of this is the expedition to

Port Royal on the South Carolina coast. This was one of the finest

harbors along the South Atlantic and it was planned to take it from the

Confederates and use it as a base for future Union operations. The most

careful preparations were laid for two months. On the twenty-ninth of

October, in 1861, fifty vessels under sealed orders with secret

destination sailed from Hampton Roads. The fleet had hardly left the

range of Fortress Monroe when the full details of its sealed orders

reached the Confederates at Port Royal. Off Cape Hatteras it ran into a

severe gale; one transport was completely wrecked, with a loss of seven

lives; another transport threw over her cargo; a storeship went down in

the storm, and a gunboat was saved only by throwing her broadside

battery into the sea. The fleet was so scattered that when the storm

cleared there was only a single gunboat in sight of the flagship.

Undismayed by the misfortune, within a few hours the vessels that had

withstood the tremendous gale were moving on to Port Royal. Several

frigates that had been blockading Charleston Harbor joined them and on

the morning of the seventh of November the attack was made on Fort

Walker at Hilton Head and Fort Beauregard on St. Helena Island. The guns

of the fleet wrought dreadful havoc. The stream of fire was more than

the entrenched men had expected or could endure. The troops fled across

Hilton Head in panic from Fort Walker. When the commander at Fort

Beauregard looked upon the fleeing soldiers he abandoned his position

and joined the retreat. A flag of truce was sent ashore but there was no

one to receive it, and soon after two o'clock the National colors were

floating over the first permanent foothold of the Government in South

Carolina, a Confederate stronghold.

[Illustration: GUN IN BATTERY AT PORT ROYAL, S. C., 1861]

[Illustration: COOSAW FERRY, PORT ROYAL ISLAND, S. C.]

[Illustration: FORT BEAUREGARD, BAY POINT, S. C., 1861]

[Illustration: GENERAL ISAAC I. STEVENS' STAFF, BEAUFORT, S. C.]

THE American people, in their one hundred and twenty years of "Life,

Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness," have had but three wars with the

outside world. They have enjoyed a greater immunity from armed encounter

than any of their neighbors. Other than the grievous struggle which we

have had with our own people, it may be fairly said that we have been

blessed by Peace.

As if by magic the hundreds of thousands of volunteers were armed with

the munitions of War and marched to the battle-front. The great Lincoln,

under the constitutional provisions, was commander-in-chief of the

citizen armies, and worked in conjunction with his War Department at

Washington. The military genius of a trained fighter was needed and from

the outbreak of the War until November 6, 1861, Brevet-Lieutenant

Winfield Scott was in command; then came Major-General George B.

McClellan, a man of great caution, until March 11, 1862. From that time

until July 12, 1862, the Government was without a general commander

until Major-General Henry W. Halleck took control and continued till

March 12, 1864. It was then that Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant was

called upon to end the struggle. Under these military leaders the great

fighting force of volunteers was organized into armies. The first of

these patriot legions was the Army of the Potomac.

Army of the Potomac was called into existence in July, 1861, and was

organized by Major-General George B. McClellan, its first commander;

November 5, 1862, Major-General A. E. Burnside took command of it;

January 25, 1863, Major-General Joe Hooker was placed in command, and

June 27, 1863, Major-General George G. Meade succeeded him.

Army of Virginia was organized August 12, 1862. The forces under

Major-Generals Fremont, Banks, and McDowell, including the troops then

under Brigadier-General Sturgis at Washington, were consolidated under

the command of Major-General John Pope; and in the first part of

September, 1862, the troops forming this army were transferred to other

organizations, and the army as such discontinued.

Army of the Ohio became a power, November 9, 1861. General Don Carlos

Buell assumed command of the Department of the Ohio. The troops serving

in this department were organized by him as the Army of the Ohio,

General Buell remaining in command until October 30, 1862, when he was

succeeded by General W. S. Rosecranz. This Army of the Ohio became, at

the same time, the Army of the Cumberland. A new Department of the Ohio

having been created, Major-General H. G. Wright was assigned to the

command thereof; he was succeeded by Major-General Burnside, who was

relieved by Major-General J. G. Foster of the command of the Department

and Army. Major-General J. M. Schofield took command January 28, 1864,

and January 17, 1865, the Department was merged into the Department of

the Cumberland.

Army of the Cumberland developed from the Army of the Ohio, commanded by

General Don Carlos Buell, October 24, 1862, and was placed under the

command of Major-General W. S. Rosecranz; it was also organized at the

same time as the Fourteenth Corps. In January, 1863, it was divided into

three corps, the Fourteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-first; in September,

1863, the Twentieth and Twenty-first Corps were consolidated into the

Fourth Corps. October, 1863, General George H. Thomas took command of

the army, and the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps were added to it. In

January, 1864, the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps were consolidated and

known as the Twentieth Corps.

Army of the Tennessee was originally the Army of the District of Western

Tennessee, fighting as such at Shiloh, Tennessee. It became the Army of

the Tennessee upon the concentration of troops at Pittsburg Landing,

under General Halleck; and when the Department of the Tennessee was

formed, October 16, 1862, the troops serving therein were placed under

the command of Major-General U. S. Grant. October 24, 1862, the troops

in this Department were organized as the Thirteenth Corps; December 18,

1862, they were divided into the Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth and

Seventeenth Corps. October 27, 1863, Major-General William T. Sherman

was appointed to the command of this army; March 12, 1864, Major-General

J. B. McPherson succeeded him; July 30, 1864, McPherson having been

killed, Major-General O. O. Howard was placed in command, and May 19,

1865, Major-General John A. Logan succeeded him.

Army of the Mississippi began operations on the Mississippi River in

Spring, 1862; before Corinth, Mississippi, in May, 1862; Iuka and

Corinth, Mississippi, in September and October, 1862.

Army of the Gulf operated at Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, May, June,

and July, 1863.

Army of the James consisted of the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps and

Cavalry, Major-General Butler commanding and operating in conjunction

with Army of the Potomac.

Army of West Virginia was active at Cloyd's Mountain, May 9 and 10,

1864.

Army of the Middle Military Division operated at Opepuan and Cedar

Creek, September and October, 1864.

During the year 1862, Brady's men followed these legions. Both armies

were maneuvering to strike a decisive blow at the National Capital of

either foe--one aiming at Washington and the other at Richmond. The

scenes enacted in these campaigns are remarkable in military strategy,

and Brady's men succeeded in perpetuating nearly every important event.

Cameras were also hurried to the far South and West where great leaders

with great soldiers were doing great things. Several of these cameras

arrived in time to bear witness to the bravery of the men of the

Mississippi, who were waging battle along the greatest waterway in North

America--the stronghold of the Confederacy and the control of the inland

commerce of the Continent.

THE first naval conflicts of the Civil War took place early in 1862. On

the ninth of March, the revolving turret iron-clad "Monitor" met the

enormous Confederate ram, "Merrimac," in Hampton Roads. Both powerful

vessels forced the attack and stood under the fiercest bombardment only

to again invite assault. After four hours of the nerviest fighting that

the seas had ever known, the adversaries withdrew, undefeated, to repair

their respective damages. Brady secured several photographs of these

vessels immediately after the engagement. One of them on this page shows

part of the deck and turret of the "Monitor;" near the port-hole can be

seen the dents made by the heavy steel-pointed shot from the guns of the

"Merrimac." While the news of this conflict was amazing even old Europe,

naval operations along the American coast were creating consternation.

On the first anniversary of the Fall of Fort Sumter the National navy,

in an attempt to sweep the Confederates from the Atlantic coast,

bombarded Fort Pulaski in Georgia. All day long the bombardment was

terrific and firing did not cease until nightfall, when five of the guns

of the fortress were silent. All night long four of Gillmore's guns

fired at intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes and at daybreak the

onslaught became furious. At two in the afternoon a white flag appeared

from its walls. The spoils of victory were the fort, forty-seven heavy

guns, a large supply of fixed ammunition, forty thousand pounds of gun

powder, a large quantity of commissary stores; three hundred prisoners

and the port of Savannah was sealed against blockade runners--all this

with the loss of but one killed on each side. Brady seems to have had

unusual foresight. He was nearly always in the right place at the right

time and these negatives picture the ruins of Fort Pulaski.

[Illustration: ORIGINAL "MONITOR" AFTER HER FIGHT WITH THE "MERRIMAC"]

[Illustration: RUINS OF FORT PULASKI, GA., APRIL, 1862]

[Illustration: OFFICERS ON BOARD "MONITOR," JULY 9, 1862, AT HAMPTON

ROADS]

[Illustration: THE BREACHFORT AT PULASKI AFTER BATTLE]

[Illustration]

The most powerful fleet that had ever sailed under the American Flag

entered the deltas of the Mississippi River on the eighteenth day of

April, in 1862, to force the surrender of the largest and richest city

of the Confederacy. The strategic value of New Orleans was greater than

that of any other point in the Southern States. Its export trade in

cotton and sugar was larger than any city in the world. The great fleet

had sailed from Hampton Roads on the second of February under the

command of a man sixty years old, who was born in Tennessee, but offered

himself to the Union cause--David G. Farragut. This photograph was taken

as he stood on the deck of his flagship "Hartford." From the firing of

the first gun on New Orleans a rain of iron fell upon the forts. During

the first twenty-four hours Captain David Porter's gunners dropped

fifteen hundred bombs in and around the forts. The night was hideous

with fiery meteors and the day dense with smoke and flame. The roar of

the artillery was deafening and shattered the windows in the houses for

many miles. For six days and nights the terrific bombardment raged. When

Farragut attempted to run the gauntlet to the metropolis of the gulf he

swept the shores with a continuous fire of twenty-six thousand shells--a

million and a half pounds of metal. The Confederates pushed a fire raft

down the river to the daring admiral's flagship and the "Hartford" burst

into flame. While one part of the crew fought the fire, the others

poured metal from her guns onto the enemy. On the twenty-sixth day of

April, Farragut entered the harbor to New Orleans and on the

twenty-ninth unfurled the Stars and Stripes in the city.

WITH flags flying and bands playing "The Star Spangled Banner," the

troops from the transports, which brought fifteen thousand men under

command of General Benjamin F. Butler, marched into New Orleans on the

first day of May in 1862. Crowds of men and women surged the sidewalks

cursing the Yankees and hurrahing for Beauregard, Bull Run and Shiloh.

When Butler established military government over New Orleans the city

had a population of about 140,000. About 13,000 of these were slaves.

Nearly 30,000 of the best citizenship were fighting in the Confederate

ranks. The city was on the verge of starvation. More than a third of the

population had no money and no means of earning it. Prices rose

enormously. Butler contributed a thousand dollars of his own money to

relieve the suffering. Supplies were hurried from all sources and sold

under Butler's orders at cost to those who had funds. The price of flour

fell from sixty to twenty-four dollars a barrel. Butler proved to be a

great organizer. The people were set to work cleaning and improving

their city. His administration was always humane. The execution of a

gambler who tore down the American Flag from the mint, and the

condemning of a gang of thugs was his only show of the iron hand. This

photograph shows Major-General Butler, with his staff, as he appeared in

his fighting days. When leaving Lincoln and his cabinet to start on his

expedition, Butler exclaimed: "Good-bye, Mr. President; we shall take

New Orleans or you will never see me again!" With Farragut he kept his

promise.

[Illustration]

THE heaviest battery of artillery ever mounted in the world, up to 1862,

was before Yorktown when the Union army was maneuvering to enter

Richmond from the south. The intention was to shell the Confederates out

of a strongly intrenched position by overwhelming fire. This photograph

was taken inside of the fortification that threatened to annihilate an

entire army. In it were huge demons of death--that were hitherto unknown

in warfare--capable of throwing 900 pounds of iron at one broadside into

the lines of the enemy. There were five 100-pounder and two 200-pounder

Parrot rifled cannon. The topography of the country would not admit of

engagements with unfortified lines. The Confederates concentrated their

forces in the woods. The Union commanders at first despised picks and

shovels. They insisted that all defenses except those naturally

available were beneath a soldier's dignity. The battles of the East and

West were being fought on open ground. The campaign against Richmond,

however, proved the necessity of defenses to protect the lines from

unexpected attacks from the hidden enemy. The Confederates became uneasy

over this shift of fighting front and the magnitude of the preparations

at Yorktown so astounded them that they abandoned the position. On May

third the great battery threw a charge into the Confederate stronghold.

It was intended to open the bombardment on the following morning, but at

dawn it was found that the Confederates had evacuated. The heavy

artillery was known as Battery No. 1, and manned by Company B, First

Connecticut Heavy Artillery. It became a matter of discussion throughout

the world. Military attach├ęs from many foreign powers visited the

breastworks to report the situation to their governments.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BEHIND THE BREASTWORKS AT YORKTOWN, VA.,

IN 1862]

AT sunrise of the fourth of May, in 1862, the Union troops entered the

deserted Confederate works at Yorktown and found seventy-one heavy guns,

a large number of tents, with ammunition and materials of war. The works

were found to be of scientific construction and great strength and

undoubtedly could have withstood the heavy fire from the heaviest

battery in the world. This photograph shows the remains of one of the

heavy Confederate guns blown into atoms rather than leave it to the

Union forces. Fragments of the gun strew the ground, together with shell

and grape-shot. The soldiers seen in works are Union Zouaves. The

Confederate forces of 50,000 men under Magruder were pursued by

McClellan's 85,000 Union soldiers to Williamsburg, after which the enemy

retired unmolested behind the lines of Richmond. While Brady was taking

his photographs at Yorktown, he met the distinguished Prince de

Joinville and his royal companions of the House of Orleans, who, for

pure love of adventure, had come from France and were following the Army

of the Potomac as aides-de-camp, being permitted to serve without taking

the oath of allegiance, and without pay. The noblemen were eating dinner

in camp when Brady secured this picture. A few days later Brady met the

Battery C, 3rd U.S. Flying Artillery, on the road to Fair Oaks and

secured a remarkable photograph. Another picture in this campaign is the

ruins of the Norfolk navy-yard. It had been the chief naval depot of the

Confederates, but on the tenth of May, 1862, General John E. Wool, with

5,000 men, entered the city. The navy-yard, with its workshops,

storehouses and other buildings had been wrecked, but two hundred cannon

fell into the hands of the Union forces. The Confederate ironclad

"Merrimac" tried to escape up the James, but grounded and was blown up.

[Illustration: CONFEDERATE WORKS AFTER EVACUATION OF YORKTOWN]

[Illustration: ADVENTUROUS EUROPEAN NOBLEMEN WITH ARMY OF THE POTOMAC IN

1862]

[Illustration: RUINS OF NORFOLK NAVY YARD IN 1862]

[Illustration: FLYING ARTILLERY ON ROAD TO FAIR OAKS]

AFTER the evacuation of Yorktown on the fourth of May, in 1862, this

picture was taken. It shows the generals of the Army of the Potomac in

full uniforms after the hard siege, and at the very time when they were

maneuvering to drive back the Confederates, forcing them to stand in

defense of the Capital of the Confederacy--Richmond. It was through the

personal friendship of Major-General McClellan that Brady was allowed to

take this rare photograph. The warriors lined up in front of the camera

on the field at Yorktown. In the center is General McClellan--a man in

whose veins flowed the blood of Scotch cautiousness--"Be sure you're

right, then go ahead!" He was but thirty-six years of age when he held

the great army under his control. From boyhood he had been a military

tactician. When twenty years old he was graduated from West Point,

standing second in his class, and distinguished himself for gallantry in

the Mexican War. Six years before the outbreak of the Civil War, when

only thirty years old, McClellan was in Crimea and two years later he

submitted his report to the Government and resigned from the army to

become vice-president and chief engineer of the Illinois Central

Railroad. In 1860, he was general superintendent of the Ohio and

Mississippi Railroad. When the call swept across the continent for

troops to preserve the Nation, the old war spirit was aroused and

McClellan was one of the first to respond.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT YORKTOWN OF MCCLELLAN AND HIS

OFFICERS IN 1862]

BRADY'S cameras took an active part in the campaign about Richmond, the

Capital of the Confederacy. Four of the old negatives are here

reproduced. The first is a view of light field-works on the

Chickahominy, near Fair Oaks. The men are at the guns ready to receive

the attack and the infantry are hurrying into line on the right and left

of the battery. The second photograph is where the battle raged hottest

in June, 1862. In the rear of the battery of howitzers in the

foreground, is the left of Sickle's brigade in line of battle. Near the

twin houses, seen still further in the rear, the bodies of over 400

Union soldiers were buried after the battle. The Confederate loss was

7,997 men killed, wounded and missing; the Union loss, 5,739. The

headquarters of the army, at the opening of the seven days' fight, was

at Savage Station, where vast amounts of rations, forage, ammunition and

hospital stores were distributed for the use of the troops. This station

fell into the hands of the enemy together with many of our sick and

wounded soldiers during the seven days' battles. One of these views

gives a glimpse of the field hospital at Savage Station during the

battle. The wounded were brought in by the hundreds and laid on the

ground and the surgeons may be seen leaning over them. During the

Peninsula Campaign in 1862, the army balloon was a valuable aid in the

signal service. This view shows Professor T. S. C. Lowe in his balloon

watching the battle of Fair Oaks. He can easily discern the movements of

the enemy's troops and give warning to the generals. The balloon rises

to the desired elevation and is anchored to a tree.

[Illustration: ARTILLERY IN LINE AT FAIR OAKS IN 1862]

[Illustration: BATTERY OF HOWITZERS IN BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS]

[Illustration: WATCHING BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS FROM BALLOON]

[Illustration: THE WOUNDED AT SAVAGE STATION AFTER THE BATTLE]

DESPERATE battles day and night crimsoned the fields in the siege about

Richmond. McClellan called for reinforcements to force his way into the

city, but they failed to arrive. So dismayed was he that he sent this

warning to Stanton at Washington: "If I save this army now, I tell you

plainly that I owe no thanks to you, or any other person in Washington."

This photograph shows the Grapevine Bridge on the Chickahominy over

which McClellan passed his army. This bridge was built by the 15th New

York Engineer Corps. All the supplies that could be taken in the wagon

trains were hurried over Grapevine Bridge and the remainder were burned

or abandoned. Hundreds of artillery charges were opened. Powder was

scattered over the pile and barrels of oil poured on. At Savage Station

a railroad train loaded with ammunition was set on fire, then sent, with

the locomotive throttle wide open, to plunge from the broken tracks into

the river, each car exploding as it reached the surface of the stream.

Grapevine Bridge was destroyed and Jackson held away from the Battle of

Gaines' Mill, which undoubtedly saved the Army of the Potomac from

capture. Through Mechanicville, Gaines' Mill, Savage Station, Peach

Orchard, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill the Union soldiers fought

their way from the twenty-sixth of June to the first of July, finally

escaping to Harrison's Landing on the James River after a loss of 15,249

men. The Confederates had beaten them back from Richmond at a cost of

17,583 men. McClellan set up his base of operations at Harrison's

Landing and remained a menace to Richmond.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT GRAPEVINE BRIDGE OVER THE

CHICKAHOMINY]

BRILLIANT strokes came like flashes of lightning. With McClellan still

setting his heart on taking Richmond, "Stonewall" Jackson was making

threatening moves towards Washington. Demonstrations were begun to plant

fear in the Government and cause sufficient alarm to order the

withdrawal of McClellan to the defense of Washington. This daring ruse

was successful inasmuch as it completely upset the plans to take

Richmond, and the seat of battle was almost instantly transferred to the

North. There was no denying it; Washington stood in abject fear of the

brilliant Jackson. His presence in the vicinity of the National Capital

caused much uneasiness. The stand against him came at Cedar Mountain,

known from its hard fight as Slaughter Mountain, on the ninth of August,

1862. At a cost of about 1,400 men, the Union army frustrated Jackson

and depleted his forces to the extent of 1,307. Brady's cameras were

with the army at Cedar Mountain. The first photograph was taken just as

one of the batteries was fording a tributary of the Rappahannock.

Another picture was taken of the Union camp on the battlefield. The

Confederate general, Charles S. Winder, was struck by a shell while

leading his division on the field. He was taken to the house shown in

one of these photographs where he died. The marks of the shells can

easily be seen in the roof. It was about this time, at Harrison's

Landing, that Brady met the famous Irish Brigade which was then fighting

in the defense of Washington, under Brigadier-General Thomas Francis

Meagher, who had taken prominent part in a recent rebellion in Ireland.

A group of officers of the sturdy Irish Brigade sat before one of

Brady's cameras. The charges of this brigade are among the most daring

in warfare.

[Illustration: OFFICERS OF IRISH BRIGADE AT HARRISON'S LANDING IN 1862]

[Illustration: HOUSE AT CEDAR MOUNTAIN WHERE GENERAL WINDER DIED]

[Illustration: CAMP AND BATTLEFIELD ON CEDAR MOUNTAIN IN 1862]

[Illustration: BATTERY FORDING STREAM NEAR CEDAR MOUNTAIN IN 1862]

ONE hundred and sixty thousand men fought in the Union lines in the

Peninsula campaign. When Lincoln reviewed the army at Harrison's

Landing, in 1862, he saw only eighty-six thousand men. The remainder had

been removed by casualties on the field or disease. Fifty thousand had

fallen victims to fever or malaria. The president and his cabinet were

dissatisfied with the conditions and General Henry Wager Halleck, who

had been showing much ability in the West, was summoned to Washington

and appointed commander-in-chief. McClellan was practically deposed from

the Potomac. The Army of Virginia, under command of General John Pope,

was instructed to cover Washington and guard the Shenandoah entrance to

Maryland. In taking command of this division, Pope said to his men: "I

have come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs of

our enemies." The Confederates were mapping routes on a large scale.

Bragg was to advance on Louisville and Cincinnati; Lee was to invade

Maryland and march upon Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. The

capture of these three cities was to assure the Independence of the

Confederacy. Lee had 150,000 men and two-thirds of them were to be taken

on this invasion. This is the scheme that was being worked out when the

two armies met on the thirtieth day of August at Manassas. The

Confederate troops poured onto the Federal lines and forced them back

beyond Bull Run until the darkness of the night stopped the pursuit.

Bridges were burned and railroads destroyed by the Union Army as they

withdrew toward Washington, making brave stands to hold back the enemy,

only to be driven back to the banks of the Potomac with 7,800 missing

and dead, while the Confederate lines had 3,700 vacancies.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BEHIND CONFEDERATE FORTIFICATIONS AT

MANASSAS IN 1862]

[Illustration: GENERAL IRVIN MCDOWELL AND OFFICERS IN 1862]

[Illustration: RUINED BRIDGE AT MANASSAS]

CONSTERNATION was caused in Washington by the terrible slaughter at

Manassas, on the thirtieth of August, in 1862. The Federal Army was

driven from the Virginia valley. The mighty Confederate generals Lee,

Jackson, and Longstreet, renewed their hopes of entering the National

Capital and pushing into Pennsylvania and Maryland, and as one

enthusiastic Southerner exclaimed: "The Confederate flag will yet wave

over Faneuil Hall in Boston." It was but thirteen months since the Union

Army met a fearful defeat along this same stream of Bull Run. After a

three weeks' campaign, the Federals, under Major-General John Pope, were

forced to retire and hastened to the defense of Washington which they

believed to be in instant danger of attack. It was in a volley of heavy

fire that General Phil Kearney fell dead from his saddle. Kearney and

Lee had been personal friends before the war and Lee sent the body of

his old friend back to the Union headquarters under a flag of truce.

During this campaign, Brady secured an excellent photograph of

Major-General Irvin McDowell and staff, who had been in the first battle

of Bull Run and now commanded the Third Army Corps. He also made the

acquaintance of General Robert E. Lee, who had assumed command of the

Confederate Army in Virginia in the second battle, two months before.

Standing at Lee's right is Major-General G. W. C. Lee and on his left

Colonel Walter Taylor of the Confederates.

[Illustration: GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE AT MANASSAS]

TIRED and hungry, the Federal soldiers were driven from the Virginia

Valley. The cutting off of supplies had placed them in a precarious

condition. There was nothing left for them to do but retreat to the

nearest provisions. Even the 4,000 horses in the cavalry were so broken

down and footsore that not more than 500 of them were fit for riding.

The only considerable depot of supplies was at Manassas Junction and it

had fallen into the hands of the Confederates. A strong body of cavalry

under "Jeb" Stuart, with 500 infantry, had raided it during the night

three days before the battle. These stores were destroyed by the

Confederates as a safer way to force back the Federals by starvation.

While they brought little succor to the rank and file of the Confederate

army they left the Union soldiers without food. One of Brady's cameras

reached Manassas Junction shortly after the destruction and this is the

negative that was taken. The railroad train is wrecked, the engine is

derailed, and the cars have been looted. 50,000 pounds of bacon, 1,000

barrels of corned beef, 2,000 barrels of salt pork, 2,000 barrels of

flour, two train loads with stores and clothing, large quantities of

forage, 42 wagons and ambulances, 200 tents, 300 prisoners, 200 negroes,

eight pieces of artillery with their horses and equipments, and 175

horses other than those belonging to the artillery fell into the

possession of the enemy. Immense quantities of quartermasters' and

commissaries' stores were burned. Only rations enough for a single day

were saved by the captors. The conflict was too hot and the action too

swift to allow carrying them along on the movement into the North. With

these provisions gone the Union army was in dire want.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT RUINS OF MANASSAS JUNCTION, VIRGINIA,

IN 1862]

THE pursuit by the Confederates toward the very gates of Washington,

after the route of the Union army along Bull Run, was stopped only by

the thoughtfulness of the retreating Federals in destroying their

bridges. Lee, in his report after the battle, says: "After a fierce

combat, which raged until after nine o'clock, Pope's Union Army was

completely defeated and driven beyond Bull Run. The darkness of the

night, his destruction of the Stone Bridge after crossing, and the

uncertainty of the fords, stopped the pursuit." This photograph is an

actual verification of the truth of Lee's excuse. Brady arrived on the

following day and this picture shows the ruins as he found them. It

would have been foolhardy for an army in the blackness of night to have

attempted to tramp through wreckage, the extent of which they knew

nothing, and water the depth of which was questionable. Bull Run was a

treacherous stream with its rocks and holes. Moreover, the Confederate

soldiers, after the fearful struggle through which they had passed, were

not in a condition to travel through the night in drenched and

mud-soaked clothing. The Union forces at the fierce battle of Manassas

were: Army of Virginia, under Pope--1st Corps under Major-General Franz

Sigel; Third Corps under Major-General Irvin McDowell; Second Corps

under Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks; Army of the Potomac--Third Corps

under Major-General S. P. Heintzelman; Fifth Corps under Major-General

Fitz John Porter; Ninth Corps under Major-General Jesse L. Reno.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT RUINS OF STONE BRIDGE OVER BULL RUN

IN 1862]

[Illustration: THE DEAD ALONG HAGERSTOWN ROAD AFTER BATTLE OF ANTIETAM]

[Illustration: SIGNAL CORPS WATCHING BATTLE FROM HILLSIDE AT ANTIETAM]

THRILLED with the victory at Manassas, the second Bull Run, the leader

of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, ordered an immediate movement to

the North with all the chances of glorious triumph in his favor. It was

conceded even by the military tacticians of the Government that Lee

could march to Washington with probabilities of entrance. He was aware

that a direct attack was feasible, but he desired to cross the Potomac

into Maryland and enter the National Capital from the north, thus giving

him a free route to the great municipalities of the North. It is

probable that he even had visions of the capture of New York. While

developing this military stratagem he met the Federals in the open at

Antietam. It was the seventeenth of September in 1862. General McClellan

was in command and Lee's fondest dreams were blasted. The men of both

armies fought as they never fought before. Brady's cameras were soon on

the scene and secured many negatives of this bloody day. The one above

reveals the west side of Hagerstown Road after the battle. The bodies of

the dead are strewn thickly beside the fence, just as they fell. The

guns succeeded in getting an excellent range of this road, and

slaughtered the enemy like sheep. This view of some of the men just as

they fell, is only a glimpse of many groups of dead in that terrible

combat. Brady "caught" the Independent Pennsylvania Battery E, well

known as Knapp's Battery, shortly after the battle.

[Illustration: ARTILLERY AFTER THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM]

THIS is believed to be the first photograph ever taken of armies in

battle on the Western Continent. The historic negative was taken from

the hill overlooking the battle of Antietam. It shows the artillery in

terrific conflict and the fire belching from the cannon's mouth. The

clouds of smoke rising from the valley tell the fearful story of that

seventeenth day of September, in 1862, when 25,899 Confederates were

killed, wounded and captured at the cost of 12,469 Union men. On the

left of the lines stand the reserve artillery waiting for the call to

action. One can almost hear the voice of "Little Mac" urging his men on

to victory. The defeat at Manassas, and the destruction of Pope's

trains, with the hot haste in which the troops had passed through

Washington, gave no time for the issuance of shoes, socks or other

necessaries. The men who had tramped through the Chickahominy swamps and

down the Virginia Valley were ragged and bleeding, but when the order

rose above the tumult: "Give ground to the right," a mighty cheer swept

along the lines as a cavalry of horsemen galloped madly to the front,

for the men in the ranks knew that McClellan was coming. There was not a

man at Antietam who did not know that it was a last desperate chance to

thwart the great Lee from marching on to Washington, and possibly

Baltimore and Philadelphia. The people in the North eagerly awaited the

news. The National Capital was almost in a state of panic. It was the

hardest fought and bloodiest single day's battle of the war and more men

were killed than in any single day's fight during the conflict.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN DURING THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM IN 1862]

[Illustration: SCOUTS AND GUIDES WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC]

[Illustration: GENERAL JOSEPH HOOKER AND HIS FAVORITE HORSE AT ANTIETAM]

[Illustration: PICKETS IN THE LEAD OF THE ARMY IN 1862]

THE scouts and guides of the Civil War saved the armies from many

defeats by their shrewdness and bravery. Upon them rested the great

responsibility of leading the soldiers through the unknown country to

advantageous and safe positions. During the Peninsula campaign in 1862 a

group of these men sat before one of Brady's cameras. A photograph was

also secured at a reserve picket station near the Potomac. The advance

picket was a short distance ahead and upon the approach of the enemy

began firing, and gradually fell back on these reserves, who keep up a

continuous fire as they retire slowly, fighting as they go, giving time

for the army to form into line for battle. About this same time an

excellent picture was secured of "Fighting Joe" Hooker standing beside

his horse. Hooker was seriously wounded at Antietam and borne from the

field. Still another photograph shown here is the "Sunken Road" or

"Bloody Lane" at Antietam, in which the Confederate dead lay three deep

for a distance of half a mile. This ditch was used by the Confederates

as a rifle pit. A Union battery succeeded in getting an excellent range

of the road and this view, taken the day after the battle, shows the

dead just as they fell. It is a scene of slaughter that few men have

ever seen and its horrors are here preserved in detail by the camera.

[Illustration: DEAD IN SUNKEN ROAD AFTER BATTLE OF ANTIETAM]

STONEWALL JACKSON, in speaking of the battle of Antietam, said: "The

carnage on both sides was terrific. The hottest fight seemed to center

about Dunker Church, where there were no less than four charges and

counter-charges. Each army had taken and retaken the ground until it was

literally carpeted with dead and dying men." The Confederates posted a

battery of light artillery outside of the little building used for

religious services by the sect known as the Dunkers. This photograph

shows where one gun of the battery stood. The dead artillerymen and

horses, and the shell-holes through the little church, prove how

terrible a fire was rained onto this spot by the Union batteries.

Another view on this page shows the dead collected for burial after the

battle of Antietam. The wounded were taken from the battlefield to an

improvised hospital which consisted of canvas stretched over stakes

driven into the ground. A view is here given of one of these hospitals

in which wounded Confederate prisoners are being relieved of their

suffering. One of the most interesting of these photographs is Burnside

Bridge. With fixed bayonets the Union soldiers started on their mission

of death, rushing over the slope leading to the bridge, and engaging in

fierce combat with the enemy. The fire that swept it was more than they

could stand and they were obliged to retire. Two heavy guns were placed

in position and aimed upon the Confederates. In a maddening charge, the

bayonets again flashed in the light and the Union soldiers swept

everything before them, planting the Stars and Stripes on the opposite

bank. Five hundred of their men lay dead behind them. By this time

Burnside had crossed the stream and after a quick encounter the battle

was ended with both armies severely punished and neither inclined to

resume the fight.

[Illustration: BURNSIDE BRIDGE AT ANTIETAM IN 1862]

[Illustration: THE DEAD COLLECTED FOR BURIAL AFTER BATTLE OF ANTIETAM]

[Illustration: FIELD HOSPITAL AT ANTIETAM BATTLEFIELD IN 1862]

[Illustration: DEAD ARTILLERYMEN AT DUNKER'S CHURCH, ANTIETAM]

THE last echo of the guns of Antietam had hardly died away when the

great Lincoln and the cautious McClellan stood literally at swords'

points at the very instant when the Confederacy was repulsed and

weakened. Lincoln was positive that this was the opportune moment to

take the offensive and drive the Confederates into the South. McClellan

insisted that his soldiers were suffering; that they needed shoes and

supplies; that the cavalry horses were fatigued. He felt that the

Government had been saved by his men and that the administration should

now provide them with proper clothing and food before they plunged again

into the wilderness. President Lincoln hurried to the battlefield of

Antietam on the first of October, in 1862, to learn the real condition.

While the president and "Little Mac" were seated in General McClellan's

tent about noon on the third of October, with maps and plans on the

table before them, discussing the situation, Lincoln submitted to having

this photograph taken. The silk hat of the president lies on the table

over which is thrown an American flag. It is a remarkable likeness of

the great American and the negative is treasured as one of the most

valuable contributions to our National records. In speaking of this

visit, McClellan said: "We spent some time on the battlefield and

conversed fully on the state of affairs. He told me that he was entirely

satisfied with me and with all that I had done; that he would stand by

me. He parted from me with the utmost cordiality. We never met again on

this earth." On the following morning Lincoln returned to Washington.

Two days later McClellan received an order from Washington to

immediately move onto the enemy and engage them in battle. The breach

between the two men was now irreparable. McClellan believed that it was

the influence of Stanton whom he had accused of working deliberately

against him. It was nineteen days before he began the movement and on

the fifth of November, Lincoln issued this order: "By direction of the

president it is ordered that Major-General McClellan be relieved from

the command of the Army of the Potomac, and that Major-General Burnside

take command of that army."

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN WHILE LINCOLN WAS CONFERRING WITH

McCLELLAN ON BATTLEFIELD OF ANTIETAM]

WHEN Lincoln visited the battlefield of Antietam, he was accompanied by

Allan Pinkerton, chief of the Secret Service, known under the alias of

Major Allen. On the morning of the third of October, 1862, when he was

leaving McClellan's tent to look over the army in camp, he again stood

before one of the war cameras and this rare photograph is the witness.

Comparatively few of this generation have any clear idea of how the real

Lincoln looked as he passed through the heart-rending ordeal from 1861

to 1865. This photograph shows him in his characteristic attitude. At

his right stands Pinkerton, one of the shrewdest detectives that the

world has produced. The officer in uniform is Major John A. McClernand,

who was appointed to command the Army of the West and fought at Fort

Donelson, Shiloh and Vicksburg, but who was in the East at this time.

From Lincoln's visit resulted McClellan's deposal. Never before or since

has such a scene been witnessed in any army as the one when McClellan

took leave of his officers and soldiers. Seated on a magnificent steed,

at the head of his brilliant staff, he rode down the lines, lifting his

cap as the regimental colors fell into salute. Whole regiments dropped

their muskets to cheer their hero. The tears came to McClellan's eyes

and the vast army shook with emotion. As he was boarding the train

troops fired a salute. Impassioned soldiers wildly insisted that he

should not leave them, and uttered bitter imprecations against those who

had deprived them of their beloved commander. It was a moment of fearful

excitement. A word, or a look of encouragement, would have been the

signal for a revolt, the consequences of which no man can measure.

McClellan stepped to the platform of the car. He spoke slowly but

appealingly: "Stand by General Burnside as you have stood by me, and all

will be well!" A calm fell over the soldiers and they bade farewell to

their idolized commander. McClellan, upon reaching Washington, remained

less than an hour and proceeded at once to Trenton. From that time he

never again saw Lincoln, or Stanton, or Halleck.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN WHILE LINCOLN WAS PASSING THROUGH CAMP

AT ANTIETAM IN 1862]

A FEW days after Burnside replaced McClellan in command of the Army of

the Potomac, this photograph was taken while he was with his staff at

Warrenton, Virginia, in the middle of November, in 1862. Burnside is

here seen in the midst of his officers, with one hand characteristically

tucked into his coat and the other holding a written military order.

Burnside was a graduate of West Point and when twenty-four years old

helped to take the Capital in the Mexican War. He had also been an

Indian fighter and during those days made a journey of over a thousand

miles across the plains in seventeen days, accompanied by only three

men, to carry dispatches to President Filmore. At twenty-nine years of

age he resigned from the United States Army and invented the Burnside

rifle. He was one of McClellan's intimate friends, and while a civilian

he was engaged with him on the Illinois Central Railroad. Burnside was

in New York when the Civil War broke out and hurried to the front in

command of the First Rhode Island Volunteers. He fought at the first

battle of Bull Run and commanded an expedition that stormed the North

Carolina coast. He was in the famous Battle of Roanoke Island and

Newbern and as a reward for these successes he was given the rank of

major-general. He later fought the Battle of Camden, attacked and

reduced Fort Macon, and during the Peninsula Campaign fought at the

Battle of South Mountain and Antietam. When Lincoln first offered

Burnside the command held by McClellan it is said that he refused it

three times. Not until he knew that his friend must go did he concede to

the wishes of the president. When Burnside took command of the Union

forces he was but thirty-nine years old, but an experienced warrior.

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN WHILE MAJOR-GENERAL AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE

WAS ENCAMPED WITH HIS STAFF IN 1862]

[Illustration: GENERAL EDWIN V. SUMNER AND STAFF IN PENINSULA CAMPAIGN

IN 1862]