One of the unsung tragedies coming out of the Civil War is that of Matthew Brady. I love looking at his Civil War photos. His images are indelibly inscribed in American memory. He spent over a hundred thousand of his own money on photographing the War and eventually went bankrupt. He died in the charity ward of a New York hospital. What he did for all of us goes without saying. I keep one of his books on my shelf and pull it out several times each year. He managed to photograph almost twenty U.S. presidents.
