Faces of the Civil War

Faces of the Civil War Navies is a notable addition to anyone's Civil War library – whether they are interested in the War's naval history or social aspects. Coddington does a worthy job providing scholarly biographies that are both interesting to read and informative. The scholarly nature of this work can be appreciated through the thoroughly cited entries, and extensive bibliography. In the end Faces of the Civil War Navies does accomplish Coddington's goal of adding the human story of the war at sea.

Ronald S. Coddington has scored a masterpiece again. As a follow-up to his much applauded Faces of the Civil War featuring Union soldiers and sailors, he has authored a sequel. This time Confederates are center sage as they proudly pose for the all-important cartes de visite that are as treasured today by collectors and buffs as by their home folks and comrades of long ago. Complementing these are biographical profiles that inform but do not overwhelm, reminding us that each haunting face is a real person who lived, served and died many years ago.

Ron Coddington has produced a fine new volume that will take its place beside William A. Albaugh’s Confederate Faces and several other Confederate photographic histories. Coddington’s Faces of the Confederacy: An Album of Southern Soldiers and Their Stories continues the tradition of publishing Confederate soldier portraits, and further restricts the collection to carte de visite format. That, however, is where the similarity with earlier books ends. Instead of the standard fare of somewhat small photographs and brief captions, he provides us with full page or nearly full page pictures, as sharp as modern digital technology can make them, and has thoroughly researched and presented the story of each individual pictured. In that way, he has widened our understanding of these men far beyond the normal presentation. Just as important, for the most part, these are not familiar photographs or well known faces. Instead, they comprise a broad band of individuals about whom little has been published before. Many served in the western theater, though there is certainly good representation from Lee’s army. While some of the photographs are from well known collections such as that of the Museum of the Confederacy, far more are from private collectors who have dedicated their lives to finding and saving these rare treasures. I was particularly delighted to see some of Bill Turner’s treasures in this book, as well as those of David Wynn Vaughan. In the world of Civil War photography, it is rare to find something that is truly new, but this book fits that bill.