A. INVESTIGATION PLANThis investigation explores to what extent did the realism presented by photography impact public opinion of the Civil War? The Civil War was the pioneering war in terms of the active use of photography as a means of recording. The investigation focuses on the role of photography in capturing war at face value. Photos of major battles and scenes that exposed citizens to the reality of war will be analyzed, as well as how their opinions changed because of it. The motivations behind taking the photos will be explored, such as propaganda, as well as reactions to them. Research into the events photographed, their intentions and those who requested them will be carried out, also evaluating their effect on the public, determining success.B. SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE Battlefield photography was not developed for the sole purpose of recording events as a newspaper or painting would. Battlefield photography brought the public intense images straight from the field, bringing the horrors of war to families so far removed from their husbands and sons (Niiler). The photographic institution presented the reality of war to the public in a way that newspapers were incapable of doing (Harvey 73). Photography existed before the war, but commercialization was a new concept hungry for a new conflict (Niiler). At the start of the Civil War, these photographers took photos of life in the camps, both in the field and afterward (Harvey 73). A few great photographers made the war a reality. One of them was Mathew Brady, who first exposed the fallen soldiers to the public (Harvey 76). Oliver Holmes commented on a selection of war photos, stating: "...all the emotions aroused by the actual sight of the stained and sordid people...in the middle of a sheet of paper... ...quoted by Brady , Mathew B. and Barry Pritzer. Matthew Brady. New York: Crescent, 1992. Print. Gardner, Alexander. Bloody Lane, Dead Confederates, Antietam. 1862. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Harvey, Eleanor Jones. The Civil War and American Art. Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum in association with Yale UP, 2012. Print. Horan, James David. Mathew Brady: historian with a camera. New York: Bonanza, A Division of the Crown, 1955. Print. Meredith, Roy. Mathew B. Brady, Mr. Lincoln's cameraman. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1946. Print. Niiler, Eric. “How Civil War Photography Changed Warfare.” Msnbc.com. Discovery Channel, April 11, 2011. Web. March 31, 2014. Sontag, Susan. On photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1977. Print.Sweet, Timothy. Traces of war: poetry, photography and the crisis of the Union. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1990. Print.