![]() The photographs reproduced here are modern prints made from Brady carte-de-visite negatives in the National Portrait Gallery’s Frederick Hill Meserve Collection.ĭoubtful of his fitness to lead a large army, Ambrose Burnside twice declined the command of the Army of the Potomac. As the fortunes of individual generals rose and fell, new portraits were produced and dutifully added to the albums that were a fixture in many American parlors. In addition to furnishing cartes de visite for the subject’s personal use, Brady marketed them to a public eager for pictures of the men it hoped would lead the Union to victory. Although some posed for large-format portraits, the burgeoning popularity of inexpensive, calling card-size photographs known as cartes de visite made this the format of choice for countless generals. His reputation for excellence made his galleries an obvious destination for Union officers assuming a new command or receiving a promotion. When the war began, Brady was already one of America’s foremost portrait photographers. ![]() ![]() But there was more to his efforts during the war: his New York and Washington galleries did a brisk business creating studio portraits of the ever-changing roster of Union generals. By assembling teams of photographers and securing permission for them to accompany Union forces in the field, Mathew Brady produced an extraordinary visual record of the Civil War. ![]()
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