March 28, 1863 | Photograph
1863 | Photograph
Dawes fought in the Battle of Shiloh, then protected the railroads in Tennessee with the 53rd Ohio. He was promoted to major of the regiment on January 26, 1863.
1863 | Photograph
Blockade runners became increasingly sophisticated, taking advantage of the latest technological innovations to achieve maximum speed. For Confederates, the blockade--combined with shortsighted Confederate policies of self-reliance--slowed time and cut off communication with the world of nations, damaging Confederate transatlantic ties and claims of modern progress.
3, 1862 | Photograph
Similar in composition to the December 13, 1862 Harper's Weekly image, in this picture the close proximity of armies to one another is evident.
1862 | Photograph
Federal Encampment on the Pamunkey River, Va., May 1862. Union soldiers came into the South by steamer and train in the first year of the war. They closely observed the landscape, assessing and comparing it to their northern communities.
1862 | Photograph
Numerous railroad hubs in the Confederacy became sites of repeated fighting, both large- and small-scale. Here, the ruins were the work of the Confederate Army as it abandoned its forward position in northern Virginia to protect Richmond.
1862 | Photograph
African American laborers, free and contraband, worked for the Union Army to build and repair rail lines across the South. Note the bent and broken rails scattered in the background, signs of earlier destruction.
1862 | Photograph
From the beginning of the Civil War, African Americans worked on the railroads, transferring their labor to the Union cause.
1862 | Photograph
Harper's Ferry, an important railroad terminus at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, changed hands eight times during the Civil War. In this photograph, the landscape and the significance of the river valleys are particularly obvious.
1862 | Photograph
1862 | Photograph
McClellan used the Richmond & York River Railroad to position his massive Army of the Potomac just a few miles from Richmond.
1862 | Photograph
In the Peninsular Campaign, Federal forces encountered thousands former slaves who sought freedom and work in the Union army camps. Even if slaves fled slavery, their status was unclear in the first year of the war. In July 1862 Congress declared such refugees from slavery ?forever and henceforth free.?
5, 1861 | Photograph
1861 | Photograph
Construction corps at work on the Aquia Creek and Fredericksburg Railroad.
1861 | Photograph
A trestle railroad bridge built by the United States Military Railroad Construction Corps.
1861 | Photograph
1861 | Photograph
A Matthew Brady image of the roundhouse at Alexandria, Virginia during the Civil War.
1861 | Photograph
1861 | Photograph
1861 | Photograph
A Matthew Brady image of the slave pen of Price, Birch & Co., Alexandria, Virginia.