Colonel William A. Phillips

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The Photographic History of the Civil War is a 10-volume compilation of war photography of the American Civil War of 1861–1865. Published in 1911 for the semi-centennial of the beginning of the war, a hard copy weighs 42 lb (19 kg) but the work is in the public domain and has been digitized for use online. The lead editor was Francis Trevelyan Miller, who "conducted a nationwide hunt for old photos."[1] The work is considered a "landmark"[2] and "the bible of Civil War photography."[3] It remains a crucial reference resource for historians and is considered a classic work in the field.[1] A 1963 bibliography called it "the great photographic source work for the war...The text has many errors, but the photographs are superb."[4]

An 1988 bibliography retold a bit of the history of the compilation:[3]

Edited by one of the time's leading historians, Francis T. Miller, it first appeared as a series of paperback, magazine-like booklets. A ten-volume, blue-backed set of the complete series appeared in 1911, on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the war. Perhaps the most interesting chapter is the very first one in the first volume, "Photographing the Civil War," by Henry Wysham Lanier, which both describes period efforts to photograph the war and shows pictures of photographers in the field. Many of the images in this book were obtained from veterans who were able to provide first-hand captions.

By the early 1950s it was "long out of print" but the "desideratum" of avid Civil War collectors and historians; reprinting was considered but it was determined that it would be an "economic impossibility."[5] There was a five-volume reprint published in 1957 with an introduction by Henry Steele Commager.[4]

Volume titles:

  1. The Opening Battles.
  2. Two Years of Grim War.
  3. The Decisive Battles.
  4. The Cavalry.
  5. Forts and Artillery.
  6. The Navies.
  7. Prisons and Hospitals.
  8. Soldier Life and Secret Service.
  9. Poetry and Eloquence.
  10. Armies and Leaders.

A significant later effort to collect photos of the American Civil War was the National Historical Society's The Image of War, 1861–1865 in six volumes.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Boney, F. N. (1982). "Review of The Image of War: 1861–1865. Volume I: Shadows of the Storm". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 90 (4): 513–514. ISSN 0042-6636. JSTOR 4248601.
  2. ^ Holcomb, David B. (2022). "The rise and fall of Union spy chief: SCOUNDREL Lafayette Curry Baker". Military Images. 40 (3 (221)): 59–68. ISSN 1040-4961. JSTOR 27141364.
  3. ^ a b Katcber, Philip (1988). "History, Photography & the Civil War: A critical bibliography". Military Images. 10 (1): 25–27. ISSN 1040-4961. JSTOR 44032074.
  4. ^ a b Newman, Ralph G.; Long, E. B. (1963). "A Basic Civil War Library". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 56 (2): 391–411. ISSN 0019-2287. JSTOR 40190648.
  5. ^ Harwell, Richard Barksdale (1953). "Review of Divided We Fought: A Pictorial History of the War, 1861–1865". The Journal of Southern History. 19 (2): 239–240. doi:10.2307/2955027. ISSN 0022-4642. JSTOR 2955027.

External links


source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Photographic_History_of_The_Civil_War_in_Ten_Volumes