[caption id="attachment_2911" align="alignleft" width="300"]<a href="http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ShowFullRecord?%24searchId=3&amp;%24showFullDescriptionTabs.selectedPaneId=&amp;%24digiDetailPageModel.currentPage=0&amp;%24resultsPartitionPageModel.targetModel=true&amp;%24resultsSummaryPageModel.pageSize=10&amp;%24partitionIndex=0&amp;%24digiSummaryPageModel.targetModel=true&amp;%24submitId=1&amp;%24resultsDetailPageModel.search=true&amp;%24digiDetailPageModel.resultPageModel=true&amp;%24resultsDetailPageModel.currentPage=0&amp;%24showArchivalDescriptionsTabs.selectedPaneId=&amp;%24resultsDetailPageModel.pageSize=1&amp;%24resultsSummaryPageModel.targetModel=true&amp;%24sort=RELEVANCE_ASC&amp;%24resultsPartitionPageModel.search=true&amp;%24highlight=false"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2911" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Photograph-of-President-Abraham-Lincoln-and-His-Generals-After-Antietam-300x247.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="247" /></a> This copy, from The National Archives includes Brady's handwritten notes recording the names of those in the photograph.[/caption]

Historically, leaders have used painted portraits of themselves to emphasize their authority over their people.  In them, they surround themselves with emblems of their power.  For example, Hyacinthe Rigaud placed props around Louis XIV that personified his position as the absolute monarch of France; a column signifying fortitude, the fleur-de-lis (the traditional symbol of the French Monarchy) and scepters indicating his position as "the hand of justice" (Fiero).  Over one hundred years later, a new technology emerged that would eventually replace the painted portrait in this role.  “Brady used the documentary medium of photography to portray a stable, purposeful, patriotic republic during the decades when the national identity was fragmenting” (Panzer, Foley and et. al).  The "Photograph of President Abraham Lincoln and His Generals After Antietam" should be preserved because it was the first time in history that a photograph shaped public opinion about a sitting head of state.

<!--more-->Abraham Lincoln became President of the United States in 1861. A mere six weeks later, the Civil War officially began when Confederate soldiers fired upon the Union garrison located in Fort Sumter. Early in the war, President Lincoln deferred to his general’s experience and advice because he was inexperienced in matters of war and he knew it. He was a quick learner though, and by September 1862, he was urging General McClellan to be more aggressive toward the Confederacy. On September 17, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac River, intending to advance toward Washington DC (McPherson).

Union troops engaged General Lee’s army at Antietam and turned the Confederates back to Virginia. It was a bloody battle with over 23,000 casualties. Technically the Union won, but General McClellan failed to pursue the retreating army and instead remained at Antietam. A disappointed Lincoln visited Antietam to confer with McClellan. Mathew Brady took the “Photograph of President Abraham Lincoln and His Generals After Antietam” to commemorate the meeting.

The first permanent photographic image was produced in 1826 by Nicéphore Niépce, but the process was long and tedious; the subject had to be still for up to several minutes which limited its usefulness. In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer invented the “wet plate negative” which created a more stable negative than paper and also required a considerably shorter exposure time; from minutes down to seconds and it was easy to produce several prints from one negative.

The wet collodion photographic process, as the wet plate negative was commonly known, revolutionized photography. Even though the equipment was expensive, bulky and the glass negatives were delicate and cracked easily either destroying the picture completely or creating a flawed image, the relative simplicity and reliable process made photography more popular and set the standard until about 1880 as the technology continued to evolve (“J. Paul Getty Museum”).

Since the rapid technological developments in photography were coming to fruition when the Civil War began, it was only logical for photographers to venture out of their studios and into the battlefield. “Accounts and images of the Crimean War and the American Civil War in the 1850's and 60's reached a large public within months or weeks or sometimes even within days of battle. In the 1870's, a writer remarked: "No record of previous wars can surpass those of the years between 1861 and ’71” (Goldberg).

“Physically [Lincoln] was a cartoonist’s dream; critics might have called him a living caricature” and political cartoonists exploited that image as much as possible. Photographers did nothing to counter this image and actually backed up the unflattering caricatures (Thompson). On February 27, 1860, Mathew Brady took a photograph that “transformed a country lawyer into a national icon” (Holzer). Brady decided to emphasize, rather than hide Lincoln’s height. He adjusted Lincoln’s clothes; opening his coat to make him look broader and pulling up his collar to, as Lincoln observed, “shorten my neck.” Brady chose background props so that “Lincoln would be surrounded by symbols of learning and public service. Abraham Lincoln later said that the Cooper Union Portrait made him “into a man of human aspect and dignified bearing” which ultimately made him president. As a result, Mathew Brady became Lincoln’s favorite photographer.

Brady built on that success after the Battle at Antietam. Even though the Cooper Union Portrait dispelled many misconceptions about Lincoln’s failings, “Northern civilians had for three long years been inundated with popular prints - pictures made to be displayed in family homes - that suggested in the strongest graphic terms that Abraham Lincoln was in fact the quintessential civilian” not someone capable of leading a country during a war” (Holzer and Hubbard 51).

“[In] a society anxious about its very survival, portraits of statesmen and generals provided reassuring testimony of steadfast character; Lincoln used photography to assert his leadership over a fractious polity” (Goodyear). Lincoln was shrewdly aware of that fact and capitalized on photography as a medium. In spite of his untimely death in 1865, Lincoln was the most photographed man in the Nineteenth Century.

Just as the “Cooper Union Portrait” changed the public’s perception of Lincoln as unelectable because of his “hideous” looks, the carefully composed “Photograph of President Abraham Lincoln and His Generals After Antietam” reassured and began to cultivate his image as Commander-in-Chief. In the photo, Lincoln stands facing his generals. His height, enhanced by his iconic top hat, shows him towering over his generals which emphasized his position as the head of state and served as “a reminder of the dominance of civilian authority” (Holzer and Hubbard 51).

By composing the photograph in this manner, Brady also focused attention on “Lincoln’s presence among his troops... [which comforted] during the darker days of the Union war effort - not only to the troops he visited, but to those on the home front who saw the pictorial reports” (Holzer and Hubbard 50). In stark contrast to the propagandic and encouraging purpose of the “Photograph of President Abraham Lincoln and His Generals After Antietam”, Brady’s assistants were assiduously documenting the macabre carnage of the battlefield. Photos of skulls, rotting corpses and mass graves fascinated the public and they flocked to Brady’s New York gallery to see them. The images shocked the public out of their complacency by bringing “home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of the war” (“New York Times”).

The aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, a battle that cost over 50,000 men their lives, was immortalized by two of Brady’s assistants in “A Harvest of Death”. Timothy O’Sullivan and Alexander Gardner arrived a day or so after the battle to photograph the grisly scene. While O’Sullivan was credited with the photo, it was Gardner who published it in his “Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War” in 1865. Gardner named the photo and part of his caption reads, “Such a picture conveys a useful moral: It shows the blank horror and reality of war, in opposition to its pageantry. Here are the dreadful details! Let them aid in preventing such another calamity falling upon the nation” ("Civil War in Art: Teaching &amp; Learning Through Chicago Collections”).

[caption id="attachment_2914" align="alignleft" width="294"]<a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/A-Harvest-of-Death.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-2914" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/A-Harvest-of-Death.jpg" alt="" width="294" height="240" /></a> A Harvest of Death[/caption]

Gardner believed that photographs would serve as a true and accurate witness in history and “be accepted by posterity with an undoubting faith” (Goldberg A.2). The caption for “A Harvest of Death” was full of poetic imagery, lamenting the terrific loss of life and a “deliberate and unflinching” look at the cost of war.

In spite of his belief that photography was a medium of truth, Gardner was not immune to propagandizing. For example, the bodies in “A Harvest of War” were likely Union soldiers, but he memorialized them as a part of the defeated army; presumably to spare the northern audiences from the stark reality that most of the dead were left exposed to the elements (“American Memory from the Library of Congress”).

In the mid twentieth century, scholars began to seriously pay attention to the fact that Brady did not take most of the photographs attributed to him. “Brady was put off by corpses. The stunning images of the Antietam dead, lying in ditches where they fell are the work (published under Brady’s name) of his brilliant assistants Alexander Gardner and Timothy O’Sullivan... [Brady] preferred to visit the battlefield after the corpses had been cleared” (Benfey). All of his assistants’ photos were stamped with “Photo by Brady” (LaGesse).

In fact, that practice has contributed to confusion as to who took what picture and when. There are some historians who believe there is a chance that Brady never took any of the photographs traditionally attributed to him. Most scholars believe that Brady is the man who captured the image, “President Abraham Lincoln and His Generals at Antietam,” yet The Smithsonian Institute erroneously attributes the photograph to Alexander Gardner. (“Smithsonian Institution, Civil War@Smithsonian Collections”)

I recognize the universal presence of propaganda ~ all those commercials we are surrounded by is a form of propaganda, after all. We are surrounded by images telling us how we should look, what our houses should have in them (think Ikea) what we should eat and more. Most people will tell a story about themselves that casts them in the most positive light possible; it’s typical human behavior. Studying this photograph uncomfortably drove home how easily our perceptions can be swayed by what is put in front of us.

In addition to being an historical record, this work was designed to influence public opinion. Since I believe it is a good thing that the Union won the war, I am tempted to gloss over that fact, but it is something that I need remain aware of. Promoting one’s views is not a bad thing though, so I am forced to consider when advocacy goes too far and becomes harmful.

Technological developments in photography changed the way the world looked. In this case, it brought war into the day to day lives of those who were normally sheltered from that type of savagery. “The continuing search for the facts of human history is the basic responsibility of every true scholar, every teacher, and every image-maker as well. The attention currently focused on the visual record of the Civil War should stimulate thinking about how the image of our own times will be projected to people living 100 years hence” (Wagner).

This image should be preserved because it can serve two important purposes for future generations. The first is simple; it is a social document providing a visual record of an important meeting during the American Civil War; a conflict that bears witness to the unfortunate fact that human beings are sometimes barbaric creatures who fight wars rather than find peaceful solutions to problems (Fiero). Second, it is a cautionary tale; be aware of propaganda, but also recognize its inevitable presence. By maintaining a conscious respect for the dangers posed by propaganda, they will be able to guard against its potential for abuse.
<p style="text-align: center">Image Sources</p>
"Photograph of President Abraham Lincoln and His Generals After Antietam"  The National Archives only allows links to the main page.  - http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/ - Search for ARC Identifier 527118

"A Harvest of Death" - http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=64592
<p style="text-align: center"> Works Cited</p>
"Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan at Antietam." The Smithsonian Institution, Civil War@Smithsonian Collections. National Portrait Gallery. Web. 4 Nov 2012.

A web page that shows an image of “President Abraham Lincoln and His Generals After Antietam” that incorrectly titles it, “Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan at Antietam” and also credits Alexander Gardner as the photographer.  This is an example of the confusion surrounding Brady, O'Sullivan and Gardner's work.

Benfey, Christopher. "Theater of War: The real story behind Mathew Brady’s Civil War photographs." Slate. 30 1997: n. p. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.

An online review of a museum exhibit titled, “Mathew Brady’s Portraits: Images as History, Photography as Art.” It discussed how many of the images attributed to Brady were not actually taken by him. Many of them, especially the gruesome ones, were taken by his assistants. He was able to take credit for them because the assistants worked for him.

"BRADY'S PHOTOGRAPHS: Pictures of the Dead at Antietam." New York Times 20 Oct 1862, n. pag. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.

A review written in 1862 about Brady’s exhibit in his New York gallery. It talked about how interested in the photographs people were and reports that “crowds of people are constantly going up the stairs”. Even as the author accurately describes the gruesomeness of the photos, he also waxes poetic about the “poetry in the scene that no green holds or smiling landscapes can posses. Here lie men who have not hesitated to seal and lamp their convictions with their blood".

Goldberg, Vicki. "PHOTOGRAPHY VIEW; A Deliberate, Unflinching Witness to History." New York Times 16 Aug 1992, A.2. Web. 4 Nov. 2012.

This article compared the difficulties photographers faced at various points in history, from the Civil War to the present.

Goldberg, Vicki. "PHOTOGRAPHY VIEW; Setting the Standards For War Pictures:." New York Times 05 Jun 1994, n. pag. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.

This article reviews a museum exhibit entitled "REPORTING the War: The Journalistic Coverage of World War II" at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. Although the exhibit was about a war almost a hundred years after the Civil War, it still had some useful background information about the history of war photography.

Goodyear, Frank H. "Photography and War." The Atlantic Feb. 2012. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.

A brief article introducing a series of writings from “The Atlantic” and photographs from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.

Holzer, Harold. “That Attractive Rainbow: The Image of Abraham Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief” Lincoln and His Contemporaries. Ed. Charles Hubbard. Macon: Mercer University Press, 1999. 39-67. Google Books. Web 3 November, 2012.

This is an essay in an anthology that discussed how the Brady’s photographs changed Lincoln’s public image from weak and ineffective into a capable leader.

Holzer, Harold. "THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT MADE LINCOLN PRESIDENT. (Cover Story)." Civil War Times 45.9 (2006): 24-33. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.

This article recounts the first time Lincoln and Brady met on the day Brady took the “Cooper Union Portrait”. It detailed the staging of the photo and how Brady groomed Lincoln, by brushing his hair and adjusting his collar to “shorten his neck”.

McPherson, James M. "Commander In Chief." Smithsonian 39.10 (2009): 38. Middle Search Plus. Web. 4 Nov. 2012.

An article providing a brief history of President Lincoln’s progression from a leader uneducated in military strategy to one who shaped the strategy of the war.

O’Connor, Edward. “History of Photography”. Online Museum Educators. Web. 3 Nov, 2012.

A website for students that concentrated on teaching motion photography to high school students, but also had some background on the history of photography.

Panzer, M. and Foley, Jeana and et al. Mathew Brady and the Image of History. Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Portrait Gallery, 1997. Print.

This is the catalog for an exhibit of Brady’s photography at the National Portrait Gallery and discussed some of the technical aspects of his work and his motivations.

"Photography: The Wet Collodion Process." The J. Paul Getty Museum. n.p.. Web. 3 Nov 2012.

This page contains a six minute video that explains and demonstrates the wet collodion process; from the educational portion of the web site for The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA.

"The Case of Confused Identity." American Memory from the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress. Web. 2 Nov 2012.

Text for Plate 36 also known as “A Harvest of Death” from Alexander Gardner’s “Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War”.

Wagner, Robert W. "Media: The Image of the Civil War.” Audio Visual Communication Review. 9.1 (1961): 56-59. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.

A journal article that discussed how the modern views of war have changed over time starting with the photographic record of Brady and his assistants. It explains one of the ways photography changed the view of war - the fact that the images were not only of leaders and statesmen, but also of the uncelebrated fighters who fought in that conflict.
<p style="text-align: center">Further Reading</p>
 <a title="&quot;All the Ladies Like Whiskers&quot;" href="http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/12/all-ladies-like-whiskers.htm" target="_blank">“All the ladies like whiskers”</a> shows a copy of the letter written by 11 year old Grace Bedell advising the presidential candidate, Abraham Lincoln, to grow a beard.  I always thought this story was a myth, but it turns out to be true.