"Broken Hearts can not be photographed" (But the battle dead could)

[Olham]

Among the many Civil War Dead videos, I found this one quite informative - and striking.

These must have been the first photographs from battlefields, which could be watched

by those who had yet never seen a battle, other than in glorifying war paintings.

 

The naked truth must have struck the people.

 

[Hauksbee]

The naked truth must have struck the people.

It certainly did. Prior to the American Civil war, a unit suffering 5%-10% casualties was considered to have undergone a bloodbath. During the Civil War 30%-50% was considered normal and people were fascinated by photos of the battlefield. Photographers, (Brady foremost among them) grew rich fulfilling the public's demand. Then the war ended and the demand collapsed. Thousands and thousands of glass plate negatives suddenly had no market.and were sold off as scrap...for the glass value alone. The people who bought the glass were mostly building greenhouses and the images were scraped off and discarded. An enormous piece of the historical record was lost.

Edited June 16, 2016 by Hauksbee

[Olham]

The people who bought the glass were mostly building greenhouses and the images were scraped off and discarded.

An enormous piece of the historical record was lost.

 

Unbelieveable!

Damn, humans never fail to irritate me - sometimes I think I must be an alien from outer space.