The Faces of Gettysburg: Photographs from the Gettysburg National Military Park Library

200 b/w photos 200 photos, 8 x 10 most previously unpublished Includes each soldiers rank, unit, and battlefield experience This remarkable volume presents photos donated to the Gettysburg National Military Park Library by descendants of soldiers who fought in the battle. In the 1850s a new process of developing photographs using tin plates, or tintypes, replaced the more expensive glass plate process, making paper prints affordable. When the Civil War broke out, thousands of soldiers, dressed in their new uniforms, posed for photographers to leave a record for families who knew they might not return. Entire families sat for photographers to create a visual record with a beloved father, son, brother, or husband. Soldiers, in turn, carried copies of these photos off to war. The photograph thus became the cultural artifact that bound thousands of war-torn families together. Included here are precious pieces of the past rarely seen outside the families of the men who fought and died at Gettysburg. Each photo in this book includes a caption summarizing the soldiers background, regiment, and role in the Civil Wars most famous battle.