Mathew Brady, known as the father of photojournalism, is most well known for his photo documentation of the Civil War. His pictures had a tremendous impact on society at the time of the war, and still captivate people today. Brady and his employees photographed images of battlefields, camp life, and portraits of some of the most famous citizens of his time including. Some including Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee.
During the outbreak of the Civil War, Brady wanted to create an elaborate photo-documentation of the war. “At his own expense, he organized a group of photographers and staff to follow the troops as the first field-photographers.” He supervised the activities of the photographers, preserved plate-glass negatives, and purchased equipment from private photographers in order to make the collection as complete and elaborate as possible. Brady and his staff of photographers captured incredible images of the Civil War, including the Fist Battle of Bull Run, Antietam, and Gettysburg.
By the end of the war, Brady had gotten into serious debt from the production of the project, and was in hopes of selling his collection to the New York Historical Society but the deal fell through and never happened.. Fortunately for the American public, he sold his collection to the United States government in 1875 for $25,000, which was enough to pay off his debt. His images are still some of the most telling and most authentic forms of documentation that we have from the Civil war.
Source:
Art and War 