Officers, 71st Regiment, New York Infantry

Standing either with thumbs tucked into belts, arms folded across chests, or a hand shoved in the chest of a coat, these Union officers posed for Mathew Brady's camera in the Washington Navy Yard. Across the image's foreground, shadows from a cast-iron fence create a fanciful pattern. President Lincoln had called these volunteers from the New York Infantry into service in June 1861. At the time, many people thought that the conflict between North and South would soon be over, but in fact the Civil War had barely begun and would last until the middle of 1865.