Browse the images by subject and dig deeper into the rich archive of photographs taken during the Civil War.

By the end of the Civil War, the age of the bayonet had ended. All of America's productive capacity and technical ingenuity focused on developing more effective armaments - the most important single innovation being the Minié bullet which could kill at half a mile and was accurate at 250 yards. Yorktown, Va. Confederate fortifications, with large gun Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, the Peninsular Campaign, May-August 1862. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862 June. REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-0453 Petersburg, Va. Row of stacked Federal rifles; houses beyond Photograph of the main eastern theater of war, the siege of Petersburg,June 1864-April 1865. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1865 April 3. REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-3229 James River, Va. Confederate gun emplacement above Dutch Gap Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, the Army of the James, June 1864-April 1865. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-0050 Unknown location. 6-pdr. field gun, model 1841 Photographs of artillery, place and date unknown. CREATED/PUBLISHED: Between 1860 and 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-2731 Unknown location. Confederate brass mountain howitzers Photographs of artillery, place and date unknown. CREATED/PUBLISHED: Between 1860 and 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-3154 Yorktown, Va. Confederate fortifications reinforced with bales of cotton Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, the Peninsular Campaign, May-August 1862. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862 June. REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-2369 Yorktown, Va. Confederate sandbag fortifications Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, the Peninsular Campaign, May-August 1862. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862 June. REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-0451 Petersburg, Va. Sections of chevaux-de-frise before Confederate main works Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, the siege of Petersburg, June 1864-April 1865. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-3206 Unknown location. Modified 12-pdr. breech-loading Whitworth gun Photographs of artillery, place and date unknown. CREATED/PUBLISHED: Between 1860 and 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-3278 Petersburg, Va. Confederate fortifications with chevaux-de-frise beyond Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, the siege of Petersburg, June 1864-April 1865. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-3302 Atlanta, Ga. Confederate palisades and chevaux-de-frise near Potter house Photograph of the War in the West. These photographs are of Sherman in Atlanta, September-November, 1864. After three and a half months of incessant maneuvering and much hard fighting, Sherman forced Hood to abandon the munitions center of the Confederacy. Sherman remained there, resting his war-worn men and accumulating supplies, for nearly two and a half months. During the occupation, George N. Barnard, official photographer of the Chief Engineer's Office, made the best documentary record of the war in the West; but much of what he photographed was destroyed in the fire that spread from the military facilities blown up at Sherman's departure on November 15. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1864 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-3643 Alexandria, Va. Battery Rodgers at Hunting Creek and the Potomac; 8-in. Parrott gun in foreground; a Rodman gun beyond Photograph of Washington, 1862-1865, view of the defenses of Washington. CREATED/PUBLISHED: Between 1860 and 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-1132 Richmond, Va. Captured siege guns at Rocketts; different view Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, fallen Richmond, April-June 1865. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1865. REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-3282 Fort Monroe, Va. The "Lincoln Gun," a 15-inch Rodman Columbiad Photograph of the Federal Navy, and seaborne expeditions against the Atlantic Coast of the Confederacy -- specifically of Fort Monroe, Va. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1864 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-7419 Richmond, Va. Piles of solid shot, canister, etc., in the Arsenal grounds; Richmond & Petersburg Railroad bridge at right Photograph of the main eastern theater of war, fallen Richmond, April-June 1865. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-3276 Charleston, S.C. Interior of Fort Sumter with gabions; another view Photograph of the Federal Navy, and seaborne expeditions against the Atlantic Coast of the Confederacy, specifically of Charleston, S.C., 1863-1865. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1865 April. REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-3061 Soldiers with cannon on small railroad car CREATED/PUBLISHED: between 1861 and 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-102115 The gun "Jeff Davis," identified as a Rodman smooth bore gun in Port Royal, South Carolina CREATED/PUBLISHED: photographed 1861 and printed later REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-111976 Copyright 2002 WETA. All rights reserved.