Alexander Gardner (photographer)
A Civil War photographer whose haunting images defined the grim reality of battle and captured a nation's most pivotal figures.
1821–1882 (age 61)·Scottish-American photographer·Birthday: October 17
Biography
Alexander Gardner's photographs at Antietam were the first to depict American war dead on the battlefield, shocking the public. The Scottish immigrant worked under Mathew Brady before breaking away to run his own studio. He became President Lincoln's preferred photographer, creating intimate portraits. After the war, his camera documented the conspirators in Lincoln's assassination and their public execution. Gardner moved photography from staged portraiture into documentary truth, creating a visual archive that changed how history was witnessed.
#1 When Alexander Was Born
The biggest hits of 1821
Alexander's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1821Born
1826Started school
1834Became a teenager
1837Could drive
1839Could vote
1842Turned 21
1851Turned 30
1861Turned 40
President: Abraham Lincoln
1871Turned 50
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1881Turned 60
President: Chester A. Arthur
1882Died at 61
First electrical power plant opens in New York
President: Chester A. Arthur
Key Achievements
- Produced the first photographic record of American battlefield casualties following the Battle of Antietam in 1862.
- Served as the official photographer for the Union Army's Engineer Corps during the latter part of the Civil War.
- Created a famous series of portraits of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, including the last known photograph taken of him.
- Documented the execution by hanging of the Lincoln assassination conspirators in July 1865.
- Published the seminal two-volume photographic history 'Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War' in 1866.
Did You Know?
He initially worked as a jeweler and newspaper editor in Scotland before emigrating to the United States.
The famous 'Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter' photograph at Gettysburg is now believed by many historians to have been staged by Gardner or his team.
After the war, he made a series of remarkable photographs of Native American delegations and the expanding American West.
He was a skilled promoter; his break with Mathew Brady was partly over credit for photographs, leading Gardner to aggressively copyright his own work.
“The camera is the eye of history.”
