The Source

Faces of the Civil War

By Michael K. Shaffer · Originally published May 2023 · p. 18

Private Richard T. Gilbert, 18th Georgia Infantry.

Faces of the Civil War homepage.

Faces of the Civil War The Library of Congress, working from their Liljenquist Collection of more than 3,000 portrait photographs, created the ‘Faces of the Civil War’ site: https://tinyurl.com/pt3du7dk. Once on the site, users will find ‘story maps,’ which provide, for Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, a battle map, a synopsis of the engagement, and photographs of various participants in the affair. This project draws from but a small sample of the full Liljenquist Collection. Visit https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/lilj/ to view these unique wartime photographs! Researchers will discover a more user-friendly experience if using the site on a desktop with a larger monitor than a mobile device. Scroll vertically through the site to uncover maps and images from the Battles of

Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. For example, in the Gettysburg section, see the photo of After perusing the resources available for the battles, move on to another great section of this site: ‘Mapping the Faces of War.’ Here, one can “Zoom in on the map to view locations in more detail and click the colored areas to see associated portraits. Use the arrows at the top right of the box to scroll through additional photographs of people who were present at each location.” This database contains images from over 100 battles and skirmishes. Search through these records and continued success in researching the American Civil War!

Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, author, lecturer,

CivilWarNews.com and instructor who remains a member of the Society of Civil War Historians, Historians of the Civil War Western Theater, and the Georgia Association of Historians. Readers may contact him at [email protected] or request speaking engagements at www.civilwarhistorian.net. Follow Michael on Facebook, www.facebook.com/michael.k.shaffer, and Twitter @ michaelkshaffer.

A participant in the Battle of Atlanta.