What a cool and clear picture this is. The man who is sitting in the middle is Matthew Harrison Brady. He is considered to be the inventor of photojournalism and the main reason why we have such a broad collection of Civil War photographs today. Brady wanted people to be able to experience warfare like they never had before. To do this, he put up roughly $100,000 of his money to finance said project.
Little did he know that he would live to regret making that decision. While the war was going on people were very intrigued and wanted to see his work. Following the war, people were incredibly devastated and didn’t want to see all that had happened. He ended up selling his work to Congress for a small fraction of the price. Mr. Brady died in 1895 up to his eyeballs in debt.
So Close, Yet Still Far
Former United States Senator Jefferson Davis was elected as the president when the Confederacy formed their government. In addition, they chose Richmond as their capital. As we all know, Virginia is the neighbor of Maryland, where the US capital, Washington DC, is located, which are only roughly 100 miles apart from one another. If this army looks bored to you, it’s because they most certainly are.
There were two attempts to take Richmond at the beginning of the war, but they were unsuccessful. At this point, they just watched their neighbors to the south until they were weak and tired enough to invade. It took a total of three years for the Union to make its way into the South. It’s apparent that these soldiers didn’t have much to do until then.
The President Was Under Fire
Abraham Lincoln is known for being one of, if not the tallest president there ever was. To make himself look even taller, he wore a top hat. However, the smaller you are, the more advantage you have if you’re in the Civil War. Being very tall almost cost Abraham his life in 1864.
The story goes on to Lincoln visiting the soldier lines in the midst of a Union army attack on Fort Stevens. There was Confederate rifle fire coming in extremely close. Colonel Oliver Wendell Holmes yelled at Lincoln, telling him to lower his head and get down. Had Lincoln not listened, there is a good possibility that he would have died that day.
The Ironclads Changed Naval Warfare History
Pictured below are the crew members of the USS Monitor. It arrived on the Civil War battlefield just in the nick of time to save the Union. The Confederacy had just commissioned the CSS Virginia, formerly named the Merrimack when the two met in the Chesapeake Bay on March 9, 1862. The Monitor was much different than anything anyone had seen before. So much so that it required 40 new patents. It rose 18 inches above the waterline.
What you see pictured behind the men is a gun turret that houses two 11-inch guns. The introduction of armored ships would change the game when it came to naval warfare. Between the Monitor and the Merrimack, the fight ended in a draw as both of the ships were made so well.
The Merrimack Sunk
When the Civil War first began, the CSS Virginia was the USS Merrimack, which happened to be a jewel in the United States Navy. The Union would have loved to have that ship, but it happened to be in the Norfolk Naval Yard, which was at the war’s outset. Therefore, it fell right into the hands of the Confederates. The Union sailors would ultimately end up sinking the ship while in the harbor.
However, after a short couple of weeks, the Confederacy hired a group of men to salvage and rebuild the ship. Norfolk was a port that was very important to the Confederacy. With that being said, the Union Navy had quite an advantage, imposing a blockade, which was a huge disadvantage to the Confederates at sea throughout the entire war.