25 Powerful Photos Of Civil War Veterans That Bring History To Life

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1 of 26African-American Civil War veterans wearing Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) caps and uniforms marching in a procession in New York. May 30, 1912.Bain News Service/Library of Congress 2 of 26Two members of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of veterans of the Civil War. Southern Pacific station, Southern California. 1926.Dick Whittington Studio/Corbis via Getty Images 3 of 26Civil War musicians in a Memorial Day parade in Los Angeles. 1915.California Historical Society/Wikimedia Commons 4 of 26Civil War veteran reunion at Lee Square in Pensacola, Florida. 1890.State Library and Archives of Florida/Wikimedia Commons 5 of 26Civil War veterans attend the funeral of General Horace C. Porter. 1921.Hulton-Deutsch/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images 6 of 26Civil War veterans at Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Tomb during memorial services. Date unspecified.William Hoff/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images 7 of 26Civil War veterans on Main St., Ortonville, Minnesota. July 4, 1880.CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images 8 of 26Elderly Civil War veterans playing cards together. Date and location unspecified.Bettmann/Getty Images 9 of 26United Confederate Veterans reunion in Marianna, Florida. September 1927.State Library and Archives of Florida 10 of 26George Washington Custis Lee, son of Robert E. Lee, on horseback with staff reviewing Confederate Reunion Parade in Richmond, Virginia, in front of a monument to Jefferson Davis. June 3, 1907.Edyth Carter Beveridge/Wikimedia Commons 11 of 26Confederate veterans reunited for group portrait in Crawfordville, Florida. 1904.State Library and Archives of Florida/Wikimedia Commons 12 of 26Confederate veterans at the Gamble Plantation in Ellenton, Florida. 1920.State Library and Archives of Florida/Getty Images 13 of 26Group portrait of the 114th Regimental reunion in Norwich, NY, including an African-American veteran holding the American flag. May 30, 1897.Library of Congress 14 of 2647th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Civil War Volunteers at the Center Square Monument in Allentown. 1925.Lehigh County Historical Society/Wikimedia Commons 15 of 26Three Civil War veterans wearing forage caps. Date and location unspecified.Archive Photos/Getty Images 16 of 26Two then-prominent Civil War veterans visit Presidnet Hoover: Samuel R. Van Zandt (L), a former Governor of Minnesota and past Commander of the G.A.R., and James E. Jewel, then-present Commander of the organization. January 1931.Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress 17 of 26A large group of Union veterans of the Civil War, including William Tecumseh Sherman, posed front row, center. 1884.Library of Congress 18 of 26Civil War veterans in parade. Location unspecified. Circa late 1890s or early 1900s.Mark Jay Goebel/Getty Images 19 of 26Reunion parade of Civil War veterans in Jacksonville, Florida. 1914.State Library & Archives of Florida/Wikimedia Commons 20 of 26Confederate veterans in uniform leaving the Confederate Veteran Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. 1914.Library of Congress 21 of 26Union veterans march with furled Civil War battle flags in Washington, D.C. 1915.Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress 22 of 26Confederate veterans pose on a former battlefield in Harrisburg, Mississippi, where General Nathan Bedford Forrest began his charge during the Battle of Harrisburg, also known as the Battle of Tupelo. 1921.Mississippi Department of Archives and History 23 of 26Two veterans seated on steps and shaking hands during a Gettysburg celebration. 1913.American Press Association/Library of Congress 24 of 26Union Army Veterans William H. Young, 95, and Col. John T. Ryan, 90, working as White House doorkeepers. Both told the photographer they vividly recall Generals Grant, Sherman, and Early. May 28, 1937.Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress 25 of 26The London branch of the US Civil War Veterans parade through the city on America Day. April 1917.Topical Press Agency/Getty Images 26 of 26Like this gallery?Share it:

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“Those Long Ago Battle Hymns”: Civil War Veterans In Photographs View Gallery

In August 2017, the debate over whether or not Confederate monuments should still stand on American soil landed Civil War-era figures and debates on the front pages (and homepages) of newspapers across the globe. With Civil War history often relegated in the popular imagination to the offerings of textbooks, Ken Burns documentaries, Mathew Brady daguerreotypes, and these controversial statues, it’s easy to forget about the ailing and aging veterans in the decades after the war. How were they treated? What brought them together?

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1 of 26African-American Civil War veterans wearing Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) caps and uniforms marching in a procession in New York. May 30, 1912.Bain News Service/Library of Congress

2 of 26Two members of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of veterans of the Civil War. Southern Pacific station, Southern California. 1926.Dick Whittington Studio/Corbis via Getty Images

3 of 26Civil War musicians in a Memorial Day parade in Los Angeles. 1915.California Historical Society/Wikimedia Commons

4 of 26Civil War veteran reunion at Lee Square in Pensacola, Florida. 1890.State Library and Archives of Florida/Wikimedia Commons

5 of 26Civil War veterans attend the funeral of General Horace C. Porter. 1921.Hulton-Deutsch/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images

6 of 26Civil War veterans at Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Tomb during memorial services. Date unspecified.William Hoff/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

7 of 26Civil War veterans on Main St., Ortonville, Minnesota. July 4, 1880.CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

8 of 26Elderly Civil War veterans playing cards together. Date and location unspecified.Bettmann/Getty Images

9 of 26United Confederate Veterans reunion in Marianna, Florida. September 1927.State Library and Archives of Florida

10 of 26George Washington Custis Lee, son of Robert E. Lee, on horseback with staff reviewing Confederate Reunion Parade in Richmond, Virginia, in front of a monument to Jefferson Davis. June 3, 1907.Edyth Carter Beveridge/Wikimedia Commons

11 of 26Confederate veterans reunited for group portrait in Crawfordville, Florida. 1904.State Library and Archives of Florida/Wikimedia Commons

12 of 26Confederate veterans at the Gamble Plantation in Ellenton, Florida. 1920.State Library and Archives of Florida/Getty Images

13 of 26Group portrait of the 114th Regimental reunion in Norwich, NY, including an African-American veteran holding the American flag. May 30, 1897.Library of Congress

14 of 2647th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Civil War Volunteers at the Center Square Monument in Allentown. 1925.Lehigh County Historical Society/Wikimedia Commons

15 of 26Three Civil War veterans wearing forage caps. Date and location unspecified.Archive Photos/Getty Images

16 of 26Two then-prominent Civil War veterans visit Presidnet Hoover: Samuel R. Van Zandt (L), a former Governor of Minnesota and past Commander of the G.A.R., and James E. Jewel, then-present Commander of the organization. January 1931.Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress

17 of 26A large group of Union veterans of the Civil War, including William Tecumseh Sherman, posed front row, center. 1884.Library of Congress

18 of 26Civil War veterans in parade. Location unspecified. Circa late 1890s or early 1900s.Mark Jay Goebel/Getty Images

19 of 26Reunion parade of Civil War veterans in Jacksonville, Florida. 1914.State Library & Archives of Florida/Wikimedia Commons

20 of 26Confederate veterans in uniform leaving the Confederate Veteran Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. 1914.Library of Congress

21 of 26Union veterans march with furled Civil War battle flags in Washington, D.C. 1915.Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress

22 of 26Confederate veterans pose on a former battlefield in Harrisburg, Mississippi, where General Nathan Bedford Forrest began his charge during the Battle of Harrisburg, also known as the Battle of Tupelo. 1921.Mississippi Department of Archives and History

23 of 26Two veterans seated on steps and shaking hands during a Gettysburg celebration. 1913.American Press Association/Library of Congress

24 of 26Union Army Veterans William H. Young, 95, and Col. John T. Ryan, 90, working as White House doorkeepers. Both told the photographer they vividly recall Generals Grant, Sherman, and Early. May 28, 1937.Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress

25 of 26The London branch of the US Civil War Veterans parade through the city on America Day. April 1917.Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

26 of 26Like this gallery?Share it:

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“Those Long Ago Battle Hymns”: Civil War Veterans In Photographs View Gallery

“Those Long Ago Battle Hymns”: Civil War Veterans In Photographs

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With a battle of this scope, it’s unwise to generalize about the mental and moral makeup of its participants. But historians offer us a glimpse at how a small cross-section of these veterans lived. At the end of the 19th century, for example, many Civil War veterans felt like their service offered them special political insight:

There were also tensions, naturally, between Union and Confederate veterans: “Union veterans tended to grant themselves greater moral authority than their former enemies, something that Confederates were not willing to concede.”

In the new century, one group of 100 or so Union veterans somehow found each other across the pond. On September 20, 1910, John Davis, head of the London Branch of Civil War Veterans, kept minutes of a group meeting describing the purpose of their gathering:

In 1913, upon the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, 54,000 Union and Confederate veterans gathered; 25 years later, 2,000 were still alive to show up for the battle’s next big milestone in 1938. Between Appomattox and the early days of World War II, Civil War veterans struggled to adjust to civilian life, battled suicidal thoughts – more commonly in the South than in the North – and fought against an American public reportedly “ambivalent” about their pensions.

The gallery above is just a small sample of photographs documenting how Union and Confederate veterans gathered in the decades following the Civil War, both separately and together, to remember the deadliest conflict yet on U.S. soil.

Next, check out these haunting Civil War photos from when the battle was still raging. Then, explore these photos of Civil War child soldiers forced to fight in the conflict and read up on the war’s partisan fighters.