Civil War Art Essay

In Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War, the haunting image “Harvest of Death” catches one’s eye with the seemingly endless field of corpses. The jarring facial expression on the figure in the foreground draws one into the narrative of the piece. However, our initial understanding of the image’s narrative is limited to what we can see and what we know of the circumstances surrounding it. While we know it was taken during the American Civil War, by simply looking at the photograph, we cannot know who is depicted. In black and white, it is difficult to even tell what side of the conflict these fallen soldiers fought for. We can interpret the image for our own readings, but we cannot tell what the artist intended us to see or what message he wanted to impart with it. These unknowns, however, are addressed in the related text associated with the image. These short passages can tell us a great deal about the photographer’s intentions and influence the way we read the image. Through the excerpt, we not only learn the intended meaning of the photography, but we also learn about Gardner’s political intentions and the key points he wanted his viewers to note within the image. Published as a pair, Gardner used his text to contextualize his images and inform the way we perceive them. This is clearly illustrated in “A Harvest of Death” and its accompanying passage.

The Civil war was not inevitable; it was the result of extremism and failures of leadership on both sides. This war was long forthcoming; we see this conflict as a nation divided or as Lincoln put it a house divided (Doc 4). It was a conflict between pro-slavery southerners and anti-slavery northerners. Both sides felt strongly about their position, leading to neither side backing down. However, this war could have been avoided through a compromise of stronger leadership and less extremism.

Southerners attempted to restore and preserve their pride and honor by preparing grand memorials for the dead Confederate war heroes, as depicted in

Before the Civil War, the North and South's attempt to resolve matters at any time was through compromise. One significant issue that could not have a solution found over time was slavery. Northerners supported the abolition of slavery. However, the South depended on slavery. As this conflict intensified, the South figured that compromise would no longer function. The South's breaking point was Lincoln's election. The South withdrew from the Union; the Civil War had begun. The South seceded from the Union because of opposition towards slavery, the fear that abolition of slavery was a threat to their way of life, and that Lincoln would get rid of it.

Factors that were the root of the Civil War were mainly economic and political differences. These differences increased sectionalism and tension in the United States; north versus south, each having different views on slavery, economy, and political policies. The inability to settle into a fair agreement resulted in the Civil War.

In 1861, a Civil War broke out between the Union States and Confederate States of America. Many influences led to this battle, but there were 3 main disagreements that initiated the Civil War. The debate in the North and South about slavery’s cruelty and ethicality was a primary cause of the war. Another main cause was the fairness of the decision of the state’s rights and the fairness of the rights that the states had. In addition to the other 2 controversies, the allowing and wanting for states to disjoin the Union was another cause.

The years of 1861 through 1865 are known as the Civil War. This was a time of bloodshed, broken families, and a torn nation. The United States of America had become the depressing picture of a war and politically torn nation. The number question whenever we as humans arrive to a bad scenario is, “How did I end up here?”. The causes of the Civil War were all based off of two different economic and political ideas, the acts made by the government concerning the differences, and morals.

The two images depict how southern whites found various techniques to ensure that blacks could not vote (Doc C). The democrats understood that African American voters would hinder their ability to regain control of Southern politics and would side with the northern republicans, so they created literacy test to deny suffrage and disenfranchise southern blacks. In addition, a petition from Freedmen on March 25, 1871 explicates how Blacks were being mistreated by the KKK (Doc D). Indeed, Freedmen wrote this petition to Congress because it mostly consists of Republicans, and they believed that republicans would be able to create a law that protects them from the KKK’s atrocious acts. Also, a cartoon that appeared in Harper’s weekly delineates the harsh conditions endured by Blacks in the South (Doc F). The purpose of the image is to shine light upon horrendous acts of white supremacy groups such as the KKK so that these acts of violence could be acknowledged and eliminated. Clearly, reconstruction had a lot more downs than up as Southerners acted to limit Blacks’

In the 1860s there was a war between the North and South otherwise known these two groups were known as the Union and the Confederates. This war was called the civil war, reasons of its occurrence may seem simple but there was complex reasoning that led to the occurence of the civil war. These events could include slavery, economic differences, and cultural differences. Many believe that the only cause for the civil war was slavery but there was much that went into the beginning of the civil war. It started as differences between their economies which include industrialization in the North and agricultural in the South. Then these differences evolved into different opinions on culture and politics. The final tipping point into the civil war

“Where slavery is, thecan re liberty cannot be; and where liberty is, there slavery cannot” -Abraham Lincoln. The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 at the Battle of Fort Sumter. This war was also known as “The War Between the States”. It involved The Confederates (south) and The Union (north). The issue between the groups were slavery and central power.

The battle of Bull Run ended today. Northerners, like myself, know it as Bull Run but the Confederates know it as Manassas. This battle is giving me bad thoughts about the outcome of this war. This was a Southern victory and the Confederate army looks high in spirit and high in confidence, compared to the hurt, tired, and disappointed North. The great leadership of the Confederate generals won this battle. Their plans and attacks were no match for the Union ones. I hope the North can do something to rebound from this great loss, maybe there will be a second battle.

The American Civil War began in 1861 and lasted until 1865. It was fought for a number of reasons and was a battle between the Union and the Confederate armies. The Civil War was an irrepressible event that occurred due to a series of occasions that pushed the North and the South away from each other such as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the growth of the Abolitionist movement, the election of president Abraham Lincoln and The Dred Scott v. Sandford case.

The Civil War in the United States began in 1861 and ended in 1865. This war was a very huge turning point in American history. The war we’ll be talking about is the war between the north and the south.

The image we are covering is from November 26, 1859. The image appears to be a pamphlet, handed out days before the execution of John Brown, it discusses a meeting to be held featuring prominent anti-slavery speakers, and invites other “friends of Freedom” and other abolitionist thinkers to come joining them on that day. This pamphlet would come at a time of high tensions in the national argument about slavery, and the violent but purposeful acts of John Brown. This pamphlet would have been circulating in Charles Town, Virginia. This is where John Brown would be finally imprisoned and sentenced to death after his raid on Harpers Ferry. Historians regard John Browns efforts, and the raid on Harpers Ferry to have raised tensions in America. Not even a year later the South would secede from the Union, which would lead to the civil war. This pamphlet not only tells the story of John Brown, who was involved in some of the bloodiest attacks against anti-slavery forces. The man who was not only at the Pottawatomie massacre but also involved in the Border War, or as it is more commonly known Bleeding Kansas. But this pamphlet tells the tale of changing ideas in America, and the people brave enough to meet and stand up for what they believe. The story of this pamphlet and of John Brown, are a violent and bloody story of American turmoil, and the blood we are willing to shed to fix it.

The exhibit contained upwards of 20 photographs and at least 60 paintings. One of the most agreeable things about the works of art that I witnessed is that collectively, they assisted in recounting the sentiment that gripped the country during the war that threatened to sunder it. One could almost feel the initial enthusiasm as the war broke out, that was swiftly prolonged by numerous clashes over a period of years. There were works that alluded to an impending war, ones that depicted that war, and numerous ones that hinted at a hoped for ending in which the mightiness of the country would someday be restored.