Rare Civil War Portraits On Exhibit at Library of Congress

Unidentified young soldier in Confederate shell jacket, Hardee hat with Mounted Rifles insignia and plume with canteen and cup.

They fought in some of the bloodiest battles in American history, and yet in their photographs soldiers of the Civil War appear as calm and collected as can be. Commemorating the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of the American Civil War this week, the Library of Congress has debuted a massive series of photographs and portraits of Civil War soldiers in an exhibit dubbed “The Last Full Measure.”

Donated by Tom Liljenquist in 2010, the collection features nearly 700 ambrotype and tintype photographs of both Union and Confederate soldiers during the war. The images show young men wearing their best uniforms, with show hats and sabers, or looking serious as the American Flag billows behind them. Some of the rarer images show sailors and African-American soldiers, or soldiers posing with their families.

One of the amazing things about these photographs is what they reveal about these soldiers’ characters — the striking combination of manners and propriety inherent in photography’s early days, with the brutality and emotion and carnage of the war. Most of them unidentified, these soldiers managed to sit still and stoic for a bizarre new art form while their country tears itself apart right outside.

And yet because photography was so new, these people were not held back by the conventions of posing for pictures. They had no idea how to do it. So there’s a candor and sense of honesty in these images not seen in today’s portraits.

To see more of these amazing vintage photographs, check out the Library of Congress website. Or catch “The Last Full Measure:” Civil War Photographs from the Liljenquist Family Collection as it runs at The Library of Congress from April 12, 2011 – August 13, 2011.

All photos courtesy of the Liljenquist Family Collection/Library of Congress.

Two unidentified soldiers in Union uniforms holding cigars in each others’ mouths.

Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters.

Five soldiers, four unidentified, in Union uniforms of the 6th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia outfitted with Enfield muskets in front of encampment.

Unidentified girl in mourning dress holding framed photograph of her father as a cavalryman with sword and Hardee hat.

Unidentified soldier in Union officer’s uniform at Point Lookout, Tennessee, sitting with cavalry saber in hand and slouch hat resting beside him on a rock.