Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War

Alexander Gardner was the Mathew Brady of the South, and it might be more fair to Gardner's amazing technical skill and his historian's eye to say instead that Mathew Brady was 'the Alexander Gardner of the North'. Gardner was every bit as fine a photographer as Brady, and managed to take magnificent photographs under adverse field conditions, and operating under wartime Blockade shortages of crucial chemicals and supplies, that Brady never had to contend with in the comfortable, well-supplied North.Gardner was based in Richmond for much of the War. Like Brady he operated a retail portrait Studio when the War broke out, but unlike Brady he risked his life and spent an enormous amount of time and resources following the Confederate Army in the first photographic 'field wagon', in the process taking what appear to be the first actual "live combat" photos of Civil War battles in progress, actually happening in front of his camera.This makes Gardner a uniquely important photographer, both in America and worldwide. No photographer before him had ever accompanied an active Army in the field during actual fighting, with all the personal dangers and risks that involved. And at a time when all the equipment--camera, lenses, glass plates, chemical solutions-- were rare, expensive, difficult to acquire and almost unimaginably fragile and easily broken, jolting along in a horse-drawn wagon over cross-country trails, wading across creeks and through an America transformed into a rural war zone.Unlike Brady, who waited to inspect ( or despatched his apprentices to) the battlefields only after the fighting was safely over and days after the events, and was content to drag the days-old corpses of his countrymen about and re-position their bodies as decorative props into more photogenic arrangements and compositions, Gardner was actually there, along with the Confederate Army on the march.That makes Gardner indesdcribably unique, and his photographs all the more remarkable-- so many of which, unlike the popular and prosperous Mr. Brady's, were soon destroyed and lost to history.Confederate Richmond fell to the U.S. Army in 1865, and that historic city's civilian commercial and residential areas were indiscriminately burned to the ground by the same triumphantly occupying Union Army that had burned all the other conquered Southern cities to the ground.In that chaos of destruction, many of Gardner's existing photographs were apparently destroyed, along with his Studio and workshop.Tragically, countless more photographs that survived the flames were gradually destroyed or lost during the long dismal decade of poverty and starvation that the victorious Union called 'Reconstruction'.An impoverished Gardner, displaced amidst the impoverished former capital of a starving and penniless South, was in no position to store or safeguard his remaining treasure trove of fragile glass plates.Ironically, prosperous Northern museums (including the Smithsonian Institute) as well as wealthy Northern photographers (and collectors) were well aware of Gardner's reputation, and had to be aware that he was penniless and starving (as were most Southerners), and of the historic value of his huge (and endangered) collection of unique wartime images.And yet, not a single Museum, not a single wealthy collector, not Matthew Brady nor any of his rival photographers and exhibitors, no one ever lifted a finger to save these images or acquire any of them, even though Gardner could have had no choice but to sell them for whatever pittance might have been offered.There's some indication he tried to donate his images to the U.S. National Archives, and then to the Library of Congress, and was ignored and rejected by both those institutions.In a post-war North, despite the nation's new fascination with photography, there was apparently no interest in the wartime photographs of a conquered 'Rebel traitor'.There is the heartbreaking story of Gardner's irreplaceable wartime plates being gradually sold off for pennies, by the box load, as 'scrap glass'.Some were melted down. Others were, unbelievably, sold as glass panes for a commercial greenhouse -- with workers being paid to soak and scrape the photo images off the plates so the glass would admit more light.A Richmond writer remarked that as late as the 1890s, if the light was just right, you could still clearly make out the ghostly traces of the original images, of Generals and Regiments and family portraits, all fading gradually away in the Richmond sun.Until this remarkable and groundbreaking book first appeared, Gardner was largely forgotten, and even many early-photography buffs barely knew his name. Gardner's images in this book, and the extraordinarily difficult (and often dangerous) circumstances under which these images were captured for immortality, are incredible.And equally incredible is the ingenuity and resourcefulness required of Gardner to find the means to physically transport, keep safe and finally chemically develop his glass plates in a Confederacy where all supplies, especially an obscure and exotic luxury like photographic chemicals and imported camera parts, quickly became completely unavailable due to the Union blockade.A phenomenal story, and an extraordinarily resourceful and daring photographer/journalist/historian, forced to see much of his artistry and life's work was destroyed before his eyes, but whose reputation today deserves to be rediscovered and appreciated at last.This is a fascinating book for Civil War enthusiasts, photographers and historians alike. To see these images for the first time is like time travel, as the 1860s come alive again on the page. Gardner had a keen eye, and the shots he captured sometimes seem literally impossible to have captured with the equipment (and the wartime shortages) of the time. Yet, here they are.And this is only a small surviving percentage of Gardner's original work. When you close the last page, you may find yourself wondering at all the lost photographs that were destroyed-- gone forever now, unless some long forgotten attic, or trunk, or basement box in some small town museum yields some unexpected windfall of long lost Gardner images. I'm a romantic, but I like to think anything is possible.A great book, and the perfect gift. I'd give this 10 Stars if I could. I've given it as a gift many times over the years.Thanks for reading my review, and thank you, Alexander Gardner-- Pioneer photographer, groundbreaking photo-journalist, witness to history.

This is a great step in the past. It gives a no holds bar picture of what it was like.

I was skeptical when I ordered this book, given its extremely modest price. But it more than met my expectations. The collection of Civil War era photographs is spellbinding. Gardner and his associates captured a wide variety of scenes from 1862 onward to 1865 in an assortment of sites, almost all in the Eastern Theater. Anyone familiar with the Civil War will recognize some of these iconic photographs, but I hadn't seen many of them before. The text accompanying each photo adds context to it, often in a touching, almost poetic fashion. This is truly a book that is hard to put down, and would be an ideal gift for anyone with an interest in Civil War history. Highly recommended!

Although this book was unsuccessful when originally published it should now be appreciated and read for what it is: a valuable photographic record with captions which, taken together, are a narrow picture of Civil War reality. If you want to "see" scenes from the aftermath of the Civil War, you need to read and look through this book.

Alexander Gardner and Matthew Brady are the two photographer icons from the American Civil War. Until photos from the Battle of Antietam were placed in galleries in New York City causing draft rioting there, the public (civilians) in both the North and South did not have a concrete understanding of the brutality of a conflict that would eventually kill upwards of 650,000 citizens; almost 2% of the American population. This is a coffee table book and photos can be scanned for use in classrooms. These photos are extremely relevant to the telling of that terrible war, and are the 19th century equivalent to the LIFE magazine photos of WW II, Korea, and Vietnam conflicts.

This book for my husband for Father's Day. Absolutely love the Civil War and he really enjoyed this book. Has a bunch of interesting information in there and some very intriguing pictures that we've never seen before. And my husband has a major history buff and he's never seen most of those pictures I really recommend this book if anybody is a history buff or specifically just loves the Civil War.

This book was a gift to a teenager who loves civil war history. He was very pleased with the book and is reading it cover to cover. I bought it to accompany the big Shelby book that I bought also. Very pleased with this purchase.

Got it for my bf as one of his Christmas gifts and it's actually a pretty big book! We leave it in the bathroom for leisurely reading & even our Marine friend enjoyed reading it in there 😂 Def a great random buy full of pictures and great info!

Author/ Photographer of this book, Alexander Gardner was one of the foremost photographers of the American Civil War and was second only to Matthew Brady who was his one-time 'boss' and full-time employer. Brady has certainly produced some extremely interesting and fine works of this period from American history but for me THIS particular effort was seriously lacking in actual scenes from the Battlefields. Instead there are numerous photos of homes used by certain troop commanders or army leaders, photos of battlefields without sign of ANY soldiers, photos of mortars and many, many of bridges, permanent and makeshift crossing various points of various rivers. There most definitely ARE better tomes out there!

Sent from the states. Came in no time at all. Photographic illustrations are good and have kept well when you see the quality of the paper it's printed on (feels and looks like early rough mill or re-cycled paper). Have seen a few of the photos before but overall good collection and the narratives that support the pictures are very informative. If you have interest in the industrialisation of warfare or just the America civil war then start with this as a useful graphic reference.

Have always had an interest in US Civil War photos since seeing the Ken Burns documentary. Always thought it was Brady who took them but now realise it was Gardner. The photos are in the order they were originally published but have a short commentary on the opposite page. An extremely interesting historical record of a violent era of US history.

Not sure why this collection of photos isn't better known, but it is quite extraordinary. Possibly the first time the reality of war was shown - just the photos of the dead on the battlefield. Maybe a good way to illustrate why some of us are not keen to settle arguments with guns.

Intersting book for those like me students of the period.