Mathew Brady and Photography in the Civil War
Photography was a new part of life during the Civil War; it was still in the process of being developed when Mathew Brady, a distinguished photographer, was working. He used different ideas and items to make his job easier, from traveling darkrooms to hiring assistants. He was hungry for money, and got it by photographing famous people. Once the war started he realized that by photographing war, he wouldn't become rich, but he would make others rich with knowledge of the war through pictures. Brady created the idea that photography was an important part of war. He then devoted a large portion of his life to document the terrors of war in his photography, and he was a success. He was the first to make people realize the truth of war and how devastating it was. He brought the war to them. Over two thousand years ago, Aristotle first experimented with what we now call photography. He found that an object's silhouette could be shown by placing it in front of a light that is shining through a small hole. Then, in the 1500's in Italy, a man built the camera obscura, a very simple camera. With just an eyepiece and lens, it relied on a group of mirrors to create an image inside a box. Finally the camera as we know it today b
Little is known about Mathew Brady's younger years. There is also an insufficient amount known about his personal life. It is known that he married Julia Handy. The date and year is unknown, but it was in the 1840's or 1850's. It was in his business life that he became well-known. In addition to the English, he photographed renowned Americans. In March of 1864, Ulysses Grant allowed Brady to photograph him. When he came to be photographed, an assistant fell through a skylight right over the general, and he was showered with glass. It was extremely important that no one found out because the public would think it was an attempt to murder Grant. Clay, who didn't want to have his picture taken, also didn't like photography. Eventually several senators talked him into it. Calhoun was also photographed by Brady. He remembered that Calhoun had eyes that almost hypnotized him. Brady believed that he could get rich by photographing well-known and famous people. He began a quest to find the stars of the world, who were also sought out by the people. If the people adored the stars, they would buy pictures and come to his gallery for photographs. In 1851 he began this quest. Brady went to England to find famous English people to photograph. It was moderately unsuccessful; however, Louis Daguerre, the man he yearned to photograph, died before he reached England. Daguerre had created daguerreotypes. Carte des visites were very popular during the Civil War. According to Mr. Lincoln's Camera Man: Mathew B. Brady, the carte des visites are "a type of small photograph slightly larger than an ordinary visiting card" (Roy, 77). They were all the rage; almost every soldier that could afford it had one made. Many rushed to get their picture taken in their uniform to send to their families. Companies even made special albums to keep them in. Brady wasn't at Antietam. The main photographers for Brady were Alexander Gardner and James Gibson. They took almost one hundred pictures of retreating troops, dead, and other scenes. One famous picture was called "View of the Battle-field of Antietam on day of battle, Sept. 17, 1862". It was on a hill where you could see the battle. All pictures taken there were published under Brady's name. That upset the photographers, and may have resulted in the withdrawal of Gardner from the studio. These photographs, and others, were published in two books by Brady. They were Brady's Photographic Views of the War and Incidents of the War. One of the humorous parts of Brady's career included Barnum & Bailey's cofounder, P.T. Barnum. During the war, P.T. Barnum hosted a wedding of two midgets. Thousands of people came to watch; General Tom Thumb was marrying Lavinia Warren. Brady was the photographer. The photos that he took were made into small prints and thousands were sold. Also, Brady really wanted to photograph Daniel Webster, but a good time couldn't be found to actually take the picture. A friend of Brady's promised to alert him when Webster was on the way. All worked out, and Brady got his picture. Despite all his career hardships, Brady had an influential part in the Civil War. He intentionally set out to record the war through photography. As part of his "job" he "photographed scenes in camps, and military activity around the city" (Roy, 88). His first picture was at Long Bridge, at the first Battle of Bull Run. After the first few shoots, he decided to hire photographers to do much of the work for him, since actually going to battles and preparing the plates were very ex
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2404
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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