Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Battery B, Petersburg, Virginia 1864

Timothy O’Sullivan made this albumen print, “Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Battery B, Petersburg, Virginia” during the American Civil War. Photography in this era was far from instant; it was a chemical process. Wet collodion, spread on glass plates, had to be exposed and developed on the spot. The resulting images, like this one, required immense labor, not only from O’Sullivan, but the soldiers as well, who waited patiently to be captured on film. Think about the weight and texture of the camera equipment, the tent, the chemicals, all of which had to be transported to battlefields. O’Sullivan’s composition emphasizes the physicality of war: the earth dug out for defense, the heavy artillery, and, most importantly, the sheer number of men involved. The resulting print, itself a product of chemical and physical processes, allows us to reflect on the immense material effort involved in the war, a process often overlooked in favor of grand narratives. O'Sullivan's photograph challenges the divide between art and documentation, reminding us of photography's powerful role in shaping our understanding of history.