This photo was taken in April 1865 by John Reekie. It shows African-Americans gathering the bones of dead soldiers at Cold Harbor. These soldiers look like they’ve been dead for some time.

Many of the towns where battles were fought during the Civil War sustained major damage. This is a photo by Andrew J. Russel and it depicts soldiers surveying what was left of one section of Richmond, Virginia.

Much of the Civil War was fought behind fortifications made by the soldiers themselves. This photo shows a group of Confederate soldiers waiting behind their fortifications for whatever the Union soldiers might throw their way.

When you’re fighting in what would later be known as America’s bloodiest war, you probably spent some time considering your spiritual beliefs. These soldiers are shown attending a religious service before going into battle.

Here’s a photo by Mathew Brady that shows an infantry regiment lined up and ready to fight. Many of the battles involved marching into gunfire in these regimental formations. This fighting strategy subsequently led to hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Not all of the Civil War fighting took place on land. Here is a shot of some soldiers on a U.S. Naval warship positioning a canon to use in battle.

Here is a photo by Andrew J. Russel taken in the spring of 1863. It shows a large group of Union soldiers in Fredericksburg, Virginia sitting on the banks of the Rappahannock River waiting for whatever would come next.

This photo was taken circa 1862 and shows a Battery near Yorktown. These giant mortars, each of them weighing 20,000 pounds, are ready to go. I wouldn’t want to run into these guys.

This photo by Alexander Gardner was taken in September 1862. It shows dead Confederate soldiers left near a fence at Hagerstown Turnpike after the Battle of Antietam.

James F. Gibson shows us a group of wounded soldiers waiting to be tended to after battle. The picture was taken in June of 1862 at Savage Station, Virginia. It looks like they could use a few more doctors and nurses on the scene.

The Battle of Gettysburg may be the most famous battle of the entire Civil War. This photo by Timothy H. O’Sullivan shows the aftermath of this famous battle. Dead soldiers litter the field.

Here we see another shot from the Battle of Antietam in 1862. The ditch, called “Bloody Lane,” is filled with dead Confederate soldiers while Union soldiers from the 130th Pennsylvania look on. They lived to fight another day.

This photo depicts a Confederate soldier manning a canon. It was taken at Gloucester Point, Virginia during a lull in the fighting. I’m sure the soldiers were happy about the downtime.

This photo, taken by William Morris Smith in 1865, shows Union soldiers set up to defend Fort Stevens in Washington DC. Notice the heavy artillery on each side of the shot.

Here’s a shot of the Siege of Yorktown. You can see Confederate soldiers scattered around the area ready for battle. Check out the cannon at the top of the hill.

Abraham Lincoln himself made an appearance at the Battle of Antietam. This photo was taken on October 3, 1862, and shows the President meeting with General George B. McClellan in the general’s tent to discuss the battle.

David Knox’s photograph of this giant mortar was taken in October 1864. The mortar was positioned in Petersburg, Virginia and these soldiers were ready for whoever came at them.

This shot by George Bernard shows a soldier standing guard on a hill in front of a churchhouse. This photo was taken in March 1862 between the two battles at Bull Run.

Here’s a shot of a group of soldiers at Fort Stevens just north of Washington DC. It was taken in 1864, about a year before the war finally ended on April 9, 1865.

George N. Barnard snapped this shot of Confederate soldiers and their fortifications somewhere near Atlanta, Georgia, in 1864. Those canons look big and ready to be fired. I wouldn’t want to storm this heavily fortified location.