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Gettysburg

by The Library of Congress

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought on July 1-3, 1863, at a small town in Pennsylvania. With an estimated 50,000 Confederate and Union casualties, the battle was a major turning point in the American Civil War.

Artists, photographers, and printmakers all documented the battle, using their unique talents to help people then and now understand the fierce conflict. Looking at all three types of visual documentation together raises appreciation for how images tell a story.

This set of pictures selected for the Flickr Commons presents:
•The vivid immediacy of drawings by Alfred R. Waud, the newspaper artist who was on the scene for the whole battle.
•A sense of realism added by photographers Alexander Gardner, Timothy O’Sullivan, and the Tyson Brothers, even though they arrived after the battle ended.
•The symbolic roles played by the iconic photographs of a dead sharpshooter and the commemorative prints.

Photography of the battle site has remained popular for 150 years. News photographers covered the 50th anniversary reunion where veterans from both sides camped at Gettysburg in 1913. Contemporary photographer Carol M. Highsmith has captured many famous vistas.

We’d love to see your own photos to pair with the historical views!

Explore More:

•Look at hundreds of pictures related to the Battle of Gettysburg in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog.

•Study the ground-breaking photo history book Gettysburg: A Journey in Time, by William A. Frassanito (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975).

•Read about the newspaper artists in Civil War Sketchbook: Drawings from the Battlefront, by Harry Katz (NY: W.W. Norton, 2012) and The Image of War: The Pictorial Reporting of the American Civil War, by W. Fletcher Thompson, Jr. (NY: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959).

•Visit the Civil War in America, a Library of Congress exhibition.

•Enjoy The Library of Congress Illustrated Timeline of the Civil War by Margaret E. Wagner (NY: Little Brown, 2011).

16 photos · 10.6K views
The Battle of Gettysburg, a major turning point in the American Civil War, was fought July 1-3, 1863. Artists, photographers, and printmakers all documented the event, using their unique talents to help people then and now understand the conflict (LOC)
During the battle, special artists sketched action scenes for publication in illustrated newspapers that reached a wide audience. Alfred Waud, shown here, was one of the best and drew the next two pictures while working for "Harper's Weekly" (LOC)
On the first day, Alfred Waud showed how Union General John F. Reynolds was killed. "Mounted upon a superb black horse, with his head thrown back he was everywhere upon the field, seeing all things and giving commands in person" (LOC)
On the second day of battle, news artist Alfred Waud portrayed a major Confederate attack by the Louisiana Tigers at Cemetery Hill (LOC)
A photograph shows the area of the Confederate assault on Cemetery Hill not long after the Union battery repulsed the fierce attack by the Louisiana Tigers (LOC)
The barn at Trostle's farm still stands where a Union battery held its ground at a great cost to men and horses. Photographer Timothy O’Sullivan emphasized the dead artillery horses when he reached this site on July 6th (LOC)
"A Sharpshooter's Last Sleep." Compare the two photos of a Confederate killed at Gettysburg. Why might the photographer Alexander Gardner and his team move the body? (LOC)
“Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter” has become an iconic representation of war. Both photos of the sharpshooter appear in "Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War" (1866), but under different titles (LOC)
A modern view from Little Round Top gives a sense of the area near Devil's Den, where photographers Alexander Gardner and Timothy O’Sullivan found the sharpshooter's body (LOC)
On the third day of fighting, the tide turned in the Union favor when Pickett's Charge failed. The Confederate infantry assault is shown here in a print published in 1896, based on a large cyclorama painting made by Paul Philippoteaux in 1883 (LOC)
After the battle ended, 20,000 wounded soldiers were cared for in a tent hospital at Camp Letterman. The Tyson Brothers photographed this hospital in August 1863 (LOC)
Three "Johnnie Reb" Prisoners. Photographed by Mathew Brady's team on Seminary Ridge in mid-July, 1863, after the Battle of Gettysburg (LOC)
Union veterans and supporters at the 50th Reunion of the battle, held in Gettysburg in 1913. The National Photo Company news service posed a striking Grand Army of the Republic group from Indiana (LOC)
Confederate veterans at the 50th Reunion of the battle, held in Gettysburg in 1913. The National Photo Company news service posed a group from North Carolina with their Tar Heel banner (LOC)
Gen. Sickles & Mrs. Wilmerding [at the 50th reunion for the Battle of Gettysburg] (LOC)
As shown in this image by Carol M. Highsmith, the battle site and memorials at the Gettysburg National Military Park offer many vistas worth photographing (LOC)