It was the greatest war in American history. It was waged in 10,000 places from Valverde, New Mexico, and Tullahoma, Tennessee, to St. Albans, Vermont, and Fernandina on the Florida coast. More than three million Americans fought in it and more than 600,000 men died in it. Not only the immensity of the cataclysm but the new weapons, the new standards of generalship, and the new strategies of destruction together with the birth of photography were...

In an era before photography could capture the excitement and drama of battle, illustrators known as "Special Artists"- among them such celebrated draftsmen as Winslow Homer and Thomas Nast- created some of the most important, influential and enduring images of the Civil War. Reporting to newspapers like 'Harper's Weekly' and 'Frank Leslie's Illustrated News,' the Specials were prototypes for contemporary combat photographers. They brought a visceral...