What do photographers, soldiers, and doctors have in common?
The 19th century witnessed major advancements, like the invention of photography.
It also saw major conflict, including the most violent one ever seen in the United States: the Civil War. Check out a photograph of Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield, above.
Because photography was such a new and cumbersome process at the time, most Civil War images were made before battle or during its bloody aftermath.
Images circulated by Alexander Gardner, Mathew Brady, and the photographers they employed brought the reality and brutality of war to the American public.
Other photographers, like William H. Bell, became famous for documenting wartime diseases and combat injuries in images like the two above.
He photographed the wounded before and after they received medical treatment. In the images above, Private Columbus G. Rush poses with and without his fancy new prosthetics. Medical developments like this helped veterans return to daily life even as the country’s emotional wounds lingered.
The backs of these photos often included handwritten or typed notes with more information about the injury and medical intervention. Check Getty’s online collection to see them for yourself.
Although they can be hard to look at, these images paved the way for major advances in surgery and medicine that we use today.