One of the most powerful and enduring images of the American Civil War, Timothy H. O'Sullivan's photograph “Union Soldiers Dead on the Field of Gettysburg” documents the harrowing aftermath of one of the war’s bloodiest battles. Captured on July 4, 1863, just a day after the final engagements at Gettysburg, the image presents a haunting landscape strewn with the lifeless bodies of Union soldiers, left unburied on the battlefield.

The view, taken near the extreme left of the Union lines, is part of the famed “War for the Union” photographic history series published in 1865. A caption below notes that the image is believed to be the only known photograph of that particular section of the battlefield with the dead still in place. Although the original negative had reportedly undergone chemical changes by the time of publication, the stark realism and brutal clarity of the scene convey the horror of war in a manner words could never achieve.

Housed in a period inlaid patriotic frame with hand-painted and stenciled floral and shield motifs, the mounted albumen photograph is surrounded by a lithographed border with publication details and descriptive text. The print stands as both a historic document and a searing visual testament to the cost of the war, as well as a milestone in early photojournalism.