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

Only twenty-two years old at the time of the war, the art of photography had not yet learned how to capture motion. For that reason, there are no photos of actual battles. Only photographs of the aftermath - mainly of the dead and the destroyed battlefields -- remain. Union soldiers in trenches before Petersburg CREATED/PUBLISHED: Photographed in Dec. 1864, printed later REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZC6-48 Antietam, Md. Battlefield on the day of the battle Photograph from the main eastern theater of the war, Battle of Antietam, September-October 1862. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862 September 17 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-0671 Gettysburg, Pa. The center of the Federal position viewed from Little Round Top Photograph from the main eastern theater of the war, Gettysburg, June-July, 1863. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1863 July REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-2384 Bull Run, Va. View of the battlefield Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, First Bull Run, July 1861. REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-1046 Dead Confederate soldier, in trenches of Fort Mahone in front of Petersburg, Va., April 3, 1965 CREATED/PUBLISHED: Photographed in 1865, printed later REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZC4-1822 Nashville, Tenn. Federal outer line Photograph of the War in the West. These photographs are of Hood before Nashville. Continuing his policy of the offensive at any cost, Gen. John B. Hood brought his reduced army before the defenses of Nashville, where it was overthrown by Gen. George H. Thomas on December 15-16, in the most complete victory of the war. If the date borne on this photograph is correct, it was taken in the course of the battle. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1864 December 16 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-2639 Cold Harbor, Va. African Americans collecting bones of soldiers killed in the battle Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, Grant's Wilderness Campaign, May-June 1864. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1865 April REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-7926 Berlin (now Brunswick), Md. Pontoon bridge and ruins of the stone bridge Photograph from the main eastern theater of the war, Battle of Antietam, September-October 1862. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862 October REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-7437 Petersburg, Va. View of Fort Sedgwick Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, the siege of Petersburg,June 1864-April 1865. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-3210 Federal dead on the field of battle of first day, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania CREATED/PUBLISHED: Photographed 1863, printed later REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZC4-1827 Gettysburg, Pa. Dead soldiers in the wheatfield near the Emmittsburg road; another view Photograph from the main eastern theater of the war, Gettysburg, June-July, 1863. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1863 July REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-0256 Big Black River, Miss. Battlefield of May 17, 1863 Photograph of the War in the West. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1864 February REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-1056 Antietam, Md. Antietam Bridge on the Sharpsburg-Boonsboro Turnpike Photograph from the main eastern theater of the war, Battle of Antietam, September-October 1862. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862 September REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-7214 Cedar Mountain, Va. Union graves on the battlefield Photograph from the main eastern theater of the war, Bull Run, 2nd Battle of, Va., 1862, July-August 1862. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862 August REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-0511 Gettysburg, Pa. View of Little Round Top Photograph from the main eastern theater of the war, Gettysburg, June-July, 1863. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1863 July REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-7318 Bull Run, Va. View of Bull Run Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, First Bull Run, July 1861. CREATED/PUBLISHED: Between 1860 and 1865 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-B8171-1111 Copyright 2002 WETA. All rights reserved.