Incidents of the War: A Sharpshooter's Last Sleep
Medium
Photography-Photoprint
Classification
Photography-Photoprint
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Julia D. Strong Endowment
Accession Number
2007.4.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
Alexander Gardner's *Incidents of the War A Sharpshooter's Sleep* (1863) captures a moment from the American Civil War, the stark realities of battlefield death. As part of Gardner's groundbreaking series documenting the conflict, this full-length photograph depicts a Confederate sharpshooter in his final repose, likely near Devil's Den during the Battle of Gettysburg. Gardner, a pioneering Scottish-born photographer who worked with Mathew Brady, brought the war's human cost into sharp focus for Northern audiences, far from the front lines. The medium of photoprint was revolutionary in 1863, ...
About the Artist
Alexander Gardner
Alexander Gardner was born on 17 October 1821 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, and came of age in a culture shaped by radical social thought. Influenced by the cooperative ideals of Robert Owen, Gardner initially apprenticed as a jeweler and harbored dreams of founding a utopian community in America. His encounter with photography changed the course of his life. After seeing Mathew Brady's cele...