Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War



Armstrong, Jennifer. Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War. 2005. 147pp. Lexile 1200.

Mathew Brady, a successful photographer known for his photographs of Lincoln, documented the Civil War in a way no previous war had been recorded.  Armstrong's narrative gives an overview of the war in vivid terms, with an emphasis on the photographs, how they were taken, and their effect. She incorporates dozens of photographs from his studio as she describes how Brady sent his photographers out to record battles.  Brady's exhibit of “The Dead of Antietam” in New York City in 1862 gave the public their first photographic view of the dead and wounded, a shock to those who attended. The New York Times described it as bringing “home to us the terrible reality” of the war.  Armstrong makes a case for the idea that Brady’s images caused a major shift in attitudes towards the war.  Notes, bibliography, index.

Reading Std #8: Delineate and evaluate argument and specific claims in a text, assessing reasoning & evidence.  Have students evaluate Armstrong’s assertion that the photographs changed attitudes towards the war.  Students could compare this book and its photographs with books about wars that preceded photography such as Jim Murphy’s A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy, which is illustrated with etchings and other similar artwork.

Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West


Schlissel, Lillian. Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West. 1995. 80pp. Lexile 1090.

After the Civil War, many blacks moved West, hoping for a better life.  This beautifully designed book introduces a range of individuals and groups that pursued this often dangerous goal.  Among them is Jim Beckwourth, a mountain man famous for his trapping and prowess as a guide.  Black cowboys Nat Love and Bill Pickett each have a short chapter as does “Stagecoach Mary” Fields, a women who became a stagecoach driver at age fifty.  Less showy but also important were the black homesteaders and business people who formed communities in the West. Black-and-white photographs make the past more immediate in this attractive book about a lesser-known aspect of the West.

Fiction Tie-in:  In Black Storm Comin' by Diane Lee Wilson, a fine adventure story set just before the Civil War, a biracial adolescent boy whose white father has run off must take care of his ailing mother and his younger siblings on a wagon train heading West.  Colton's mother, who is black, urges her son to ride ahead to Sacramento to deliver freedom papers to her enslaved sister in there.  How does he hope to get to California?  By becoming a rider for the Pony Express.   A terrific story with plenty of action alongside serious issues.

The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War

Murphy, Jim. The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War. 1990. Lexile 1060.
 

At the start of the Civil War, both armies had rules against younger teens enlisting; the Union age limit was eighteen. But in an era before ID cards, many boys in their early and mid teens either looked old enough or talked their way in.  This chronological account of such young enlistees, with many quotes from diaries and letters home, tells a lot about life for any soldier during the war. It opens with enlistment, training--such as it was--and the scramble to get uniforms.  It goes through their shocking first encounters with battle and violent death, and their struggles to get enough food and shelter. One chapter focuses on drummers, a role for the youngest soldiers. The narrative wraps up with the horrible illnesses and injuries young soldiers experienced, the brutality of prisoner-of-war camps, and finally the return home for those who survived. The young soldiers' own voices give a great feeling of immediacy as do the black-and-white photographs.  Bibliography and index.

Web Tie-in:  While Murphy includes a handful of photographic portraits of young soldiers, most of the photos are group shots or landscapes. To see more photos of young soldiers, consult the Library of Congress's remarkable collection, Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs at  http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/lilj/project.  Searching by the word "young" brings results that include teenage soldiers.