Faces of the Civil War

Archival images and biographical sketches of Union soldiers tell the stories of their lives during and after the Civil War. Before leaving to fight in the Civil War, many Union and Confederate soldiers posed for a  carte de visite , or visiting card, to give to their families, friends, or sweethearts. Invented in 1854 by a French photographer, the  carte de visite  was a small photographic print roughly the size of a modern trading card. The format arrived in America on the eve of