Civil War Photography in the 1800s
How photographing a deadly war led to advancements in medicine
Successful Intermediate Excision of the Head and Three Inches of the Shaft of Right Humerus for Gunshot Fracture, 1864, Possibly William H. Bell. Albumen silver print, 8 9/16 × 7 1/8 in. Getty Museum, 84.XO.1365.8
Editor’s Note
Although this article is educational, its images might be intense for some.
Body Content
What do photographers, soldiers, and doctors have in common?
More than you think!
Self-portrait preparing a Collodion plate, 1856–1859, Capt. Horatio Ross. Albumen silver print, 7 7/8 × 6 3/8 in. Getty Museum 84.XP.673.1
The 19th century witnessed major advancements, like the invention of photography.
President Lincoln, United States Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, near Antietam, October 4, 1862, Alexander Gardner. Albumen silver print, 8 5/8 × 7 3/4 in. Getty Museum, 84.XM.482.1
It also saw major conflict, including the most violent one ever seen in the United States: the Civil War. Check out a photograph of Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield, above.
Group of Union Officers, 1861, Alexander Gardner. Albumen silver print, 10 3/16 × 14 9/16 in., 84.XP.477.102
Because photography was such a new and cumbersome process at the time, most Civil War images were made before battle or during its bloody aftermath.
A Burial Party, Cold Harbor, April 1865, John Reekie, Alexander Gardner. Albumen silver print, 6 13/16 × 8 3/4 in. Getty Museum, 84.XO.944.2.2.44
Images circulated by Alexander Gardner, Mathew Brady, and the photographers they employed brought the reality and brutality of war to the American public.
S.R. Willis, gunshot wound left side, 1865, Attributed to William H. Bell. Albumen silver print. Getty Museum, 84.XD.1157.56
Successful Intermediate Excision of the Head and Three Inches of the Shaft of Right Humerus for Gunshot Fracture, 1864, Possibly William H. Bell. Albumen silver print, 8 9/16 × 7 1/8 in. Getty Museum, 84.XO.1365.8
Other photographers, like William H. Bell, became famous for documenting wartime diseases and combat injuries in images like the two above.
Amputation of Both Thighs for Gunshot Injury, 1865, Possibly William H. Bell. Albumen silver print, 7 1/2 × 6 in., Getty Museum, 84.XO.1365.18
Amputation of Both Thighs for Gunshot Injury, 1865, Possibly William H. Bell. Albumen silver print, 7 1/2 × 6 in. Getty Museum, 84.XO.1365.19
He photographed the wounded before and after they received medical treatment. In the images above, Private Columbus G. Rush poses with and without his fancy new prosthetics. Medical developments like this helped veterans return to daily life even as the country’s emotional wounds lingered.
No. 3. Case of John Frederick U.S.N. with Compensatory Apparatus By E.D. Hudson, M.D., about 1864, Attributed to William H. Bell. Albumen silver print, 3 5/8 × 2 1/8 in. Getty Museum, 84.XD.1157.74
The backs of these photos often included handwritten or typed notes with more information about the injury and medical intervention. Check Getty’s online collection to see them for yourself.
Although they can be hard to look at, these images paved the way for major advances in surgery and medicine that we use today.
