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DocsTeachThe online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives National Archives Foundation National Archives

The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady

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The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady

About this Activity

  • Created by:National Archives Education Team
  • Historical Era:Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
  • Thinking Skill:Historical Analysis & Interpretation
  • Bloom's Taxonomy:Analyzing
  • Grade Level:Middle School
Start Activity
Please use a tablet or desktop computer to use this activity.
Students will analyze a series of photographs taken by renowned photographer Mathew Brady to reflect on the lives of soldiers during the Civil War. The holdings of the National Archives include over 6,000 photographs taken by Brady and his associates during the Civil War era.

This activity was adapted from an article formerly published on www.archives.gov/education by Douglas Perry, a teacher at Gig Harbor High School in Gig Harbor, WA.
https://docsteach.org/activities/student/the-civil-war-as-photographed-by-mathew-brady

Suggested Teaching Instructions

This activity can be used during a unit on the Civil War. For grades grades 6-12. Approximate time needed is 90 minutes.

To begin, ask students to quickly scan through all of the photographs in the activity before choosing 3–4 for deeper analysis. For the photographs that students choose to analyze, tell them to:

  • Study the photo for 2 minutes.
  • Create a chart listing the people, objects, and actions in the photo.
  • Answer: What can you infer from the photo?
  • Answer: What questions does this photo raise in your mind?

After analyzing 3-4 photographs individually, place students in small groups to compare and contrast their findings. Once they are familiar with the photographs of the group, ask them to compile a list of adjectives that they think describe the life of a soldier during the Civil War.

After students discuss these adjectives in small group, bring the class back together and discuss their findings; post them for the whole class to see. For specific adjectives, prompt students to explain their choices with specific evidence from the photographs.

After listing these adjectives, lead a discussion around the following issues:

  • What motivated these men to put up with such difficult circumstances?
  • If there had been television or the internet, would the Civil War have lasted as long as it did?
  • How did soldiers cope with the death of their friends and fellow soldiers?

Extension Activity: Direct students to the Series of Mathew Brady photographs in the National Archives online catalog to find other photographs that additional aspects of war life for Union and Confederate soldiers. Students can browse or search within the series for specific terms to find photographs. Ask them to print out these photos and add them to a classroom gallery.

Documents in this activity

  • Aquia Creek and Fredericksburg Railroad, construction corps at work, VA
  • Battery in action at Fredericksburg, VA
  • Camp of the 44th N.Y. Inf. near Alexandria, VA
  • Camp scene. Showing winter huts and corduroy roads
  • Colors of 23rd Infantry, N.Y
  • Company of Infantry on parade. Part of 6th Maine Infantry after battle of Fredericksburg. At time of the charge across stone wall at foot of Marye Heights Gen. Hooker in command of Federals, Gen. Fitz
  • Confederate dead behind stone wall. The 6th. Maine Inf. penetrated the Confederate lines at this point. Fredericksburg, VA
  • Confederate prisoners waiting for transportation, Belle Plain, VA
  • Pontoon Across Rappahannock River
  • Union breastworks. Interior view of breastworks on Little Round Top, Gettysburg.
  • View in Wilderness, VA
  • Virginia, Fredericksburg, Battery D, Second United States Artillery.
  • Virginia, Fredericksburg, Pontoon Bridge across the Rappahannock river.
  • Wilderness, near Chancellorsville, VA
  • Wounded soldiers in hospital
  • Wounded soldiers under trees, Marye's Heights, Fredericksburg. After the battle of Spotsylvania, 1864.

CC0
To the extent possible under law, National Archives Education Team has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to "The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady".

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