Haunting Civil War portraits

last updated 8 January 2015

Two minutes. That's all the time it took for President Abraham Lincoln to deliver his 271-word Gettysburg Address, a speech as famous for its quiet eloquence as its groundbreaking brevity.

But to whom did he speak? Above all, Lincoln was addressing the soldiers on both sides of this terrible war. Men, old and young, listened to the president outline what — and for whom — they were fighting. It was a solemn address for a solemn time.

Below, is a selection of soldier and family portraits, still in their ornate, keepsake frames. For many of the men, these tiny, palm-sized ambrotypes might have been their first and last representation. The set-ups were meant to capture what the men held dear as they went off to battle — whether a lock of a loved-ones hair or a photo of the comrades by their side.

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(All images courtesy of the Library of Congress via Flickr)

Lauren Hansen produces The Weekâ€™s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.