The American Civil War is often remembered through grim battle scenes and solemn portraits, but there’s another side to the story. Hidden among the archives are photos that show what everyday moments looked like. Here are 30 rare Civil War pictures that’ll give you a different view.
Lone Grave
Sharpsburg, MD. 1862.
Mortar battery No. 4.
Yorktown, Virginia. 1862.
The crew on monitor USS Saugus.
James River, Virginia, 1863.
The Beginning
On April 12, 1861, the Confederacy launched an attack on a Union-held South Carolina fort, officially starting the Civil War.
A Horseman Riding Near A Pontoon Bridge
Maryland, 1861.
A 15-inch Rodman Smoothbore Gun
Alexandria.
This Union soldier opted not to pose with his weapons.
Undated.
A Union soldier showing a bugle to Civil War nurse Eleanor C. Ransom.
Tennessee.
Company D, 1st Rhode Island Infantry
1961.
General Ambrose Burnside
Petersburg, Virginia.
Sailors relaxing on the Deck of the Gunboat Hunchback.
Undated.
An artillery crew posing beside their gun.
Washington, D.C., 1860s.
Tents and staff of the general hospital
City Point, Virginia, in October 1864.
View of a ‘hot’ shot furnace inside the Confederate Army’s Fort Moultrie.
South Carolina, 1860s.
Members of 8th Pennsylvania Infantry.
Philadelphia.
Soldiers of the 4th Michigan Infantry
June 20, 1861.
The 6th Maine Infantry
Portland, Maine.
Field Band of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry
Undated.
Sergeant Hallerman
Undated.
Two Union Soldiers in heavy coats chatting outside the log hut.
Virginia Peninsula, 1863.
Sergeant F. Sturgis
Undated.
Transport Steamer ‘Bridgeport’
Tennessee River.
The paddle steamer Wenonah at a wharf.
Pamunkey River, Virginia, 1860s.
Crew of the Mendota assembles on Deck.
Undated.
Tad Lincoln
1865.
View of a Confederate caisson
Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1863.
Edward Paul Doherty
1865.
A Civil War veteran riding in a cart pulled by two dogs
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Two Soldier-Friends
Camp Lincoln in Richmond.
Union officers’ servants by James Gibson
May 1862
