Collection: Civil War

On April 12, 1861, the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, beginning the American Civil War, a conflagration which raged for almost exactly four years before, on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The Civil War, as much as the American Revolution, was a defining event in American history, and this conflict has always figured large in the awareness of the American public. More than 150 years after the end of the war, there remains avid interest in the conflict.  

The Civil War took place at a time when two significant historical trends combined to make the relevance of prints particularly important. First was the development, in the nineteenth century, of a growing percentage of the American population which both was literate and had an interest in and the wealth to afford books, magazines, newspapers, and prints for the home. The other trend was the development of printmaking processes that allowed for the relatively inexpensive production of large numbers of printed pictures and maps.

We believe the study of contemporary printed images of the Civil War is crucial to gain insight into that traumatic event in our nation's history. Not only do these pictures show us today what those people, places and events looked like (although not by any means always accurately), but it is only through an awareness of these prints that we can gain any true understanding as to how Americans of the time saw the war.

118 Items
  • Kurz & Allison “Battle of Stone River. Near Murfreesborough, Tenn”
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  • Kurz & Allison “Battle of the Wilderness”
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  • Thulstrup, Thure de “Battle of Spotsylvania and the Bloody Angle”
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  • Thulstrup, Thure de "Battle of Kenesaw Mountain." [Proof]
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  • Thulstrup, Thure de "Sheridan’s Final Charge at Winchester" [Proof]
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  • Klapp, Al[ban] Jer[emiah] “The Andersonville Stockade”
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  • Thulstrup, Thure de "Sheridan’s Final Charge at Winchester"
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  • Thulstrup, Thure de “Siege of Vicksburg”
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  • Schussele, Christian “How We Won The Battle"
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  • Volck, Adalbert J. "Confederate War Etchings"
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  • Homer, Winslow “The War for the Union, 1862—A Cavalry Charge”
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  • Brady, Mathew “The Seceding Alabama Delegation in Congress"
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  • Forbes, Edwin Plate 6. “Newspapers for the Army.” From "Life Studies of the Great Army"
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  • Forbes, Edwin Plate 11. “The Newspaper Correspondent. News of the Battle.” From "Life Studies of the Great Army"
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  • Firth Pond & Co. “Parade March of the 22d Regt. N.Y.S.M. Union-Greys. Composed & Respectfully inscribed to the Officers & Members of the 22d Regt. by F.B. Helmsmüller”
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  • Bachman, John "Bird’s Eye View of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia.” From a series titled “Panorama of the Seat of War”
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  • Homer, Winslow “The Great Meeting in Union Square, New York, to Support the Government, April 20, 1861”
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  • Homer, Winslow “The War-Making Havelocks for the Volunteers”
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  • Homer, Winslow “Crew of the United States Steam-Sloop 'Colorado,' Shipped at Boston, June 1861”
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  • Homer, Winslow “Filling Cartridges at the United States Arsenal, at Watertown, Massachusetts”
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  • Homer, Winslow “A Night Reconnaissance on the Potomac”
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  • Homer, Winslow “Rebels Outside their Works at Yorktown Reconnoitring with Dark Lanterns”
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  • Homer, Winslow “The Union Cavalry and Artillery Starting in Pursuit of the Rebels up the Yorktown Turnpike”
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  • Homer, Winslow “Charge of the First Massachusetts Regiment on a Rebel Rifle Pit near Yorktown”
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