Military Images

Military Images Our mission: To showcase, interpret and preserve historic military images of U.S. soldiers and sailors. More information at militaryimagesmagazine.com.
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Military Images is the only magazine in America solely dedicated to showcasing, interpreting and preserving portrait photos of Civil War soldiers and sailors. Our focus is photography, personal accounts and material culture of this period in American history. Established in 1979, MI is published quarterly in print and online.

06/01/2026

LIFE ON THE CIVIL WAR RESEARCH TRAIL.—
Anecdotes of Lincoln by a Political Insider

I’m always on the lookout for obscure references to the character and habits of momentous figures who shaped and influenced the political, military, an cultural forces of the Civil War period. I found a number of such references in a book by John W. Forney, a political insider with allegiances to Democrats and Republicans at different times during his career.

"Life on the Civil War Research Trail" is hosted by Ronald S. Coddington, Editor and Publisher of Military Images magazine. Learn more about our mission to showcase, interpret and preserve Civil War portrait photography at militaryimagesmagazine.com and shopmilitaryimages.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by ELMIRA: The Civil War prison camp in photographs. 1864 - 1865, by Rick Leisenring Jr. Pick up a copy at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/elmira-richard-leisenring-jr/1148838677

Images: Encyclopedia Virginia, Tom Glass Collection, Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Portrait Gallery

The author recorded this video in Streamyard and added images and other elements in Canva.

05/29/2026

LIFE ON THE CIVIL WAR RESEARCH TRAIL.—
A Sultana Survivor Remembers the Disaster

On April 26, 1865, on a wharf at Helena, Ark., photographer Thomas W. Bankes captured the steamboat Sultana packed with about 2,130 souls—almost 2,000 of them Union ex-prisoners-of-war. Soon, about 1,200 of them would be dead. One of the survivors, Corp. Erastus Winters of the 50th Ohio Infantry, tells the story.

"Life on the Civil War Research Trail" is hosted by Ronald S. Coddington, Editor and Publisher of Military Images magazine. Learn more about our mission to showcase, interpret and preserve Civil War portrait photography at militaryimagesmagazine.com and shopmilitaryimages.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by Military Antique Collector Magazine, featuring the world's most beautiful and unusual military collectibles. Subscribe at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/military-antique-collector

Images: Kevin Canberg Collection, Library of Congress, Internet Archive, Wikipedia.

The author recorded this video in Streamyard and added images and other elements in Canva.

YOUR EVENING IMAGE FIX.—Instead of the usual neck or shoulder sling, this musician supports his drum with a leather loop...
05/28/2026

YOUR EVENING IMAGE FIX.—
Instead of the usual neck or shoulder sling, this musician supports his drum with a leather loop and hook attached to his waist belt with militia buckle. Other less common details include gauntlets, single button cuff trim and light-colored tighteners, which are triangular shaped and uniformly positioned along the base of the drum.

Quarter-plate tintype by an unidentified photographer. Buck Zaidel Collection.

MORE DRUMMERS: https://www.militaryimagesmagazine-digital.com/2021/04/09/tracking-booth-spring-2021/

05/28/2026

LIFE ON THE CIVIL WAR RESEARCH TRAIL.—
The Other Gettysburg Address (The One That Is Not Quoted)

President Abraham Lincoln's 272-word address at Gettysburg stands as a literary masterpiece, completely overshadowing the more than 13,000-word address delivered by renowned orator Edward Everett. Thought rarely quoted, it is a meritorious work. Here's the story.

"Life on the Civil War Research Trail" is hosted by Ronald S. Coddington, Editor and Publisher of Military Images magazine. Learn more about our mission to showcase, interpret and preserve Civil War portrait photography at militaryimagesmagazine.com and shopmilitaryimages.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by the Union Drummer Boy, offering a diverse selection of authentic Civil War artifacts and relics at uniondb.com

Images: Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Archaeological Museum of Athens

This video was recorded in Streamyard and produced in Canva.

YOUR EVENING IMAGE FIX.—Two regulation drums, one plain and another stenciled with a patriotic Union motif, are shoulder...
05/27/2026

YOUR EVENING IMAGE FIX.—
Two regulation drums, one plain and another stenciled with a patriotic Union motif, are shouldered by a clean-shaven youth and a bearded man. The boy wears a 4-button sack coat with an external pocket and a slouch hat and the man a short jacket and a Pattern 1858 cap. Note the neck slings—the one carried by the older man is standard and the boy’s is non-regulation.

Quarter-plate tintype by an unidentified photographer. Brian Boeve Collection.

MORE DRUMMERS: https://www.militaryimagesmagazine-digital.com/2021/04/09/tracking-booth-spring-2021/

05/27/2026

LIFE ON THE CIVIL WAR RESEARCH TRAIL.—
Meade at Gettysburg: "I Have Lived as Much In This Time as In the Last Thirty Years"

Following Gettysburg, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade’s caution reflected his newness to command and his belief that Robert E. Lee’s battered but dangerous army could still inflict serious harm. Meade’s own words after the battle reveal the personal weight behind decisions later criticized in Washington.

"Life on the Civil War Research Trail" is hosted by Ronald S. Coddington, Editor and Publisher of Military Images magazine. Learn more about our mission to showcase, interpret and preserve Civil War portrait photography at militaryimagesmagazine.com and shopmilitaryimages.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by the Union Drummer Boy, offering a diverse selection of authentic Civil War artifacts and relics at uniondb.com

Images: Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, Find a Grave, Wikipedia

The author recorded this video in Streamyard and added images and other elements in Canva.

YOUR EVENING IMAGE FIX.—A member of New York City’s Knickerbocker elite, Philip Mesier Lydig graduated from Columbia Law...
05/27/2026

YOUR EVENING IMAGE FIX.—
A member of New York City’s Knickerbocker elite, Philip Mesier Lydig graduated from Columbia Law School in 1861. According to a family genealogist, “the Civil War changed the tenor of his life.” In 1862, he entered the army as a captain and aide-de-camp, serving for much of the rest of the war on the staff of Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, and briefly to Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside. Lydig participated in numerous operations, including Burnside’s North Carolina Campaign, the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg, the Siege of Vicksburg, and the Overland Campaign. He ended his service as a major. Lydig served on the 1863 court martial of Clement L. Vallandigham in 1863, which found the anti-war Democratic Congressman guilty of publicly expressing “sympathy for those in arms against the Government of the United States, and declaring disloyal sentiments and opinions, with the object and purpose of weakening the power of the Government in its efforts to suppress an unlawful rebellion.” Lydig barely survived the war, dying in 1868 at about age 31.

Carte de visite by Mathew B. Brady of New York City and Washington, D.C. Marty Schoenfeld Collection.

05/26/2026

LIFE ON THE CIVIL WAR RESEARCH TRAIL.—
The Lieutenant Who Called for Total War—In 1863

William Tecumseh Sherman is credited by historians as pioneering total war. Almost two years before Sherman’s March through Georgia, the idea of taking off the kid gloves and fighting a hard war was expressed in no uncertain terms by Union 2nd Lt. James E. McBeth.

"Life on the Civil War Research Trail" is hosted by Ronald S. Coddington, Editor and Publisher of Military Images magazine. Learn more about our mission to showcase, interpret and preserve Civil War portrait photography at militaryimagesmagazine.com and shopmilitaryimages.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by Yankee Rebel Antiques, offering original Civil War and 19th century artifacts and memorabilia. Visit yankeerebelantiques.com for more.

Images: Ronald S. Coddington Collection, Library of Congress

The author recorded this video in Streamyard and added images and other elements in Canva.

YOUR EVENING IMAGE FIX.—A member of the 9th New York Infantry, familiarly known as Hawkins’ Zouaves after its colonel, R...
05/25/2026

YOUR EVENING IMAGE FIX.—
A member of the 9th New York Infantry, familiarly known as Hawkins’ Zouaves after its colonel, Rush C. Hawkins, posed for this portrait in a New York City photo gallery. A period ink inscription on the back of the mount identified him only as Johnson. A total of nine men with this surname served in the regiment.

Carte de visite by E. Balch of New York City. Marty Schoenfeld Collection.

SEE MORE IMAGES: https://www.militaryimagesmagazine-digital.com/2021/11/11/zouaves-a-naval-officer-a-confederate-and-an-elite-knickerbocker/

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