Transcript Technology During the United States Civil War

Technology
& Dirty Jobs
During the
United States Civil War
Photography, Reporter,
Telegraph
Understanding how cameras work
How the Basic Parts of a Camera
Function
• The Body – a light proof box that supports
the other parts.
• The film holder – keeps the film in place at
the back of the camera.
• The shutter – opens to let in light.
• The lens – gathers light and focuses it
unto the film.
Viewfinder
Parts of a camera and what they do
Shutter Release
Button – pulls two
small mirrors out of
the path of the light
entering the lens. AT
the same time it
opens the shutter ,
allowing a measured
amount of light to
strike the film.
The Photocell :
Measures the amount of
light entering the camera. It
relays the info electronically
to a system in the
viewfinder to let you know if
you need a flash.
Film Holder
Lens/Shutter
area
Large Mirror reflects light entering lens to viewfinder
Understanding Cameras
• A camera is an instrument that captures
images from life by directing reflected light
onto film.
• If too much light strikes the film, the image
will be overexposed and look washed out.
• If too little light reaches the film, the image
will be underexposed and look dark.
How’d they do that?
Fast shutter speed freezes the
action!
Slow shutter speed and panning
blurs background and keeps
subject in focus.
Leaving the shutter open for a long
time allowed this affect.
Website for the earliest camera – the Camera Obscura
http://brightbytes.com/cosite/what.html
History of Photography
http://www.azuswebworks.com/photography/history.ht
ml
•The word photography was first used in the year 1839, "the year the
invention of the photographic process was made public".
•This process used light-sensitive paper and produced a 'negative image' that
could be used to create positive prints.
•These methods required long exposure time, animate objects could not be
recorded. No one could hold still long enough! The earliest photographic
recordings were architectural and landscape scenes.
So, they’re not smiling because they had to sit
so long waiting for the processing!
Speed of film issue makes
“ghosts” appear in some photos
Taking Photographs at the Time of
Photography
the
Civil
War
History
Website
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/c
wp/civilwarphotos.html
Civil War Photographer
Mathew Brady
•
•
At the peak of his success as a portrait photographer,
Brady turned his attention to the Civil War. Planning to
document the war on a grand scale, he organized a corps
of photographers to follow the troops in the field. Friends
tried to discourage him, citing battlefield dangers and
financial risks but Brady persisted.
Mathew Brady did not actually shoot many of the Civil
War photographs attributed to him. More of a project
manager, he spent most of his time supervising his corps
of traveling photographers, preserving their negatives
and buying others from private photographers freshly
returned from the battlefield, so that his collection would
be as comprehensive as possible. When photographs
from his collection were published, whether printed by
Brady or adapted as engravings in publications, they
were credited "Photograph by Brady," although they were
actually the work of many people.
Most Famous
Photographer
of the Civil
War: Mathew
P. Brady
Spectators watching the war
• http://www.civil
war.org/hallow
ed-groundmagazine/spri
ng2011/spectator
s-witnesshistory-at.html
- A website
where this
practice was
discussed.
Another view of spectators
• In Nashville, Tennessee, a photographer set up his stereo camera
on the hill with the state capitol building on December 15, 1864.
Somewhere in the far distance, the battle of Nashville rages as
spectators gaze toward the hazy distance. The photographer made
several views of the spectators watching the battle.
• http://www.civilwarphotography.org/index.php/component/content/art
icle/65-3-d-photographs/97-the-battle-of-nashville
Brady Shocked America with
the Reality of War
• In 1862, Brady shocked America
by displaying his photographs of
battlefield corpses from Antietam,
posting a sign on the door of his
New York gallery that read, "The
Dead of Antietam." This
exhibition marked the first time
most people witnessed the
carnage of war. The New York
Times said that Brady had
brought "home to us the terrible
reality and earnestness of war."
Mathew Brady’s Life continued
• After the Civil War, Brady found
that war-weary Americans were no
longer interested in purchasing
photographs of the recent bloody
conflict. Having risked his fortune
on his Civil War enterprise, Brady
lost the gamble and fell into
bankruptcy. His negatives were
neglected until 1875, when
Congress purchased the entire
archive for $25,000. Brady's debts
swallowed the entire sum. He died
in 1896, penniless and
unappreciated. In his final years,
Brady said, "No one will ever know
what I went through to secure those
negatives. The world can never
appreciate it. It changed the whole
course of my life."
•Despite his financial failure,
Mathew Brady had a great and
lasting effect on the art of
photography. His war scenes
demonstrated that photographs
could be more than posed
portraits, and his efforts
represent the first instance of
the comprehensive photodocumentation of a war.
•
•
•
•
Civil War Photo Galleries
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html
http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/cwc/links/photo.htm
http://http://www.civilwarphotos.net/
http://www.civilwarphotography.org/index.php/exhibits/onlineexhibits
A refugee family leaving a war area
with belongings loaded on a cart
Log hut company kitchen
Antietam Bridge, Md., September
1862. Soldiers and wagons are
crossing the bridge.
Confederate prisoners captured in the
Shenandoah Valley being guarded in a
Union camp
Civil War Photo Mystery
Is this
photo
fact or
fiction?
• http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/mystery.html
Reports for Newspapers
Another rough job!
Reporters in the field
More reporters in the field
The Telegraph
Communication System
Yet another rough job!
How the telegraph works:
• How the Telegraph works website
Thomas Edison and the
Telegraph and an Interesting
Fact:
In 1862, Edison rescued a threeyear-old from a track where a
boxcar was about to roll into him.
The grateful father, J.U.
MacKenzie, taught Edison railroad
telegraphy as a reward. That
winter, he took a job as a telegraph
operator in Port Huron. In the
meantime, he continued his
scientific experiments on the side.
Between 1863 and 1867, Edison
migrated from city to city in the
United States taking available
telegraph jobs.
Telegraph battery-wagon near
Petersburg, June 1864
Facts about the Telegraph System
used during the Civil War
• In addition to the utilization of existing
commercial systems, there were built
and operated more than fifteen
thousand miles of lines for military
purposes only
• Serving under the status of
quartermaster's employees, often under
conditions of personal danger, and with
no definite official standing, the
operators of the military telegraph
service performed work of most vital
import to the army in particular and to
the country in general.
•
• Their services have never been
practically recognized by the
Government or appreciated by the
people.
More Facts about telegraph
operators
•
•
•
During the war there occurred in the
line of duty more than three
hundred casualties among the
operators -from disease, death in
battle, wounds, or capture.
Scores of these unfortunate victims
left families dependent upon charity,
as the United States neither
extended aid to their destitute
families nor admitted needy
survivors to a pensionable status.
One phase of life in the telegraphroom of the War Department was
Lincoln's daily visit thereto, and the
long hours spent by him in the
cipher-room, it is surprising that the
White House bad no telegraph
office during the war.
The Danger of being a
Telegraph Operator
•
Other than telegraphic espionage,
the most dangerous service was the
repair of lines, which often was done
under fire and more frequently in a
guerilla-infested country. Many men
were captured or shot from ambush
while thus engaged. Two of Clowry's
men in Arkansas were not only
murdered, but were frightfully
mutilated. In Tennessee, conditions
were sometimes so bad that no
lineman would venture out save under
heavy escort. Three repair men were
killed on the Fort Donelson line alone.
W. R. Plum, in his " Military
Telegraph," says that " about one in
twelve of the operators engaged in
the service were killed, wounded,
captured, or died in the service from
exposure."
Civil War Espionage
Famous Spies
• What research shows:
– Many Women Spies
• Emma Edmonds
• Belle Boyd
– Used telegraph system,
newspaper and false
reports of battalion
movements
– Slaves were used
– Men were hung, women
were let go
Creative Methods were used
Now,
it’s your turn!
Mission for Reporter/Spy Teams
• Get a digital pictures from within one of the
classrooms or activities. – Basically, if you
are brave enough, attempt to infiltrate one
of the enemy’s actvities.
• Rescue the informant and return him or
her to the IMC unharmed.
• Locate the hidden Civil War Treasure from
within the school – Scavenger Hunt.
Official Civil War Photographer
•
We are a corps of photographers under
the direction of Mr. Mathew P. Brady,
whose goal it is to document this event on
a grand scale that is effecting the lives of
the American citizens and may turn into
one of the most life changing battles ever
fought.
•
Our direct commanding oficer is Mr. B.
Iverson who will report directly to
President Abraham Lincoln or whoever is
this nation’s presiednt when this conflict
has been resolved.
•
Our work will eventually end up in the
archives of teh Library Congress in
Washington D.C. for generations in the
future to view and learn about the horrors
and harsh realities of war.
The United States Civil War
May we never forget!
United States Civil War
“May we never forget the lives lost nor the cause
for which they fought...”
Civil War Treasure
Certificate
• Please take one of
these sheets. Take it to
the IMC to collect your
prize.
• Good job on surviving
as a SPY!
You’ve located the:
Civil War
TreasureTrove
Please take one of the
sheets below. Take it to
the IMC to collect your
prize.
Good job on surviving as a
SPY!