GETTYSBURG, Pa.—From graphic images of the dead on battlefields
to portraits of troops in between skirmishes, the Civil War was
the first American military conflict captured by photographers
and the first foray into photojournalism in the United States.
No camera phones. Forget Polaroids. Photography had been around
for decades by the time of the Civil War in the 1860s, and most
towns had a photographer. But the practice itself was laborious,
at least compared to today's instant standards and the way
Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke captured images of the
re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg on its 150th
anniversary.  So in Civil War, photographers sensed opportunity,
according to John Rudy, an instructor of Civil War-era studies
at Gettysburg College.  Very rarely were scenes of war taken,
Rudy said, simply because the exposure time of three to five
seconds was too long to capture moving action.  "These men were
working for pay. They're part-artist, part-chroniclers, but also
keenly aware that