Background
Timothy H. O'Sullivan was born in 1840 in Ireland. He came to New York City two years later with his parents or his parents traveled to New York before he was born. There is no way of finding out which of the two stories is true.
Timothy H. O'Sullivan was born in 1840 in Ireland. He came to New York City two years later with his parents or his parents traveled to New York before he was born. There is no way of finding out which of the two stories is true.
Timothy H. O'Sullivan learned photography while working at Mathew Brady's New York and Washington, D.C., galleries.
When the Civil War began in early 1861, Timothy H. O'Sullivan has commissioned a first lieutenant in the Union Army. There is no record of him fighting.
Timothy H. O'Sullivan was a civilian photographer attached to the Topographical Engineers. His job was to copy maps and plans, but he also took photographs on his own time. Although he later listed himself as a first lieutenant, the rank was likely honorary. From November 1861 through April 1862, he followed Union forces to Fort Walker, Fort Beauregard, Beaufort, Hilton Head, and Fort Pulaski.
After being honorably discharged, he rejoined Brady's team. In July 1862, Timothy H. O'Sullivan followed Maj. Gen. John Pope's Northern Virginia Campaign. In July 1863, he created his most famous photograph, "The Harvest of Death," depicting dead soldiers from the Battle of Gettysburg. Timothy H. O'Sullivan took many other photographs documenting the battle, including "Dead Confederate sharpshooter at foot of Little Round Top", "Field where General Reynolds fell", "View in wheatfield opposite our extreme left", "Confederate dead gathered for burial at the southwestern edge of the Rose woods", "Bodies of Federal soldiers near the McPherson woods", "Slaughter pen", and others.
From 1867 to 1869, Timothy H. O'Sullivan was the official photographer on the United States Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel under Clarence King. The expedition began at Virginia City, Nevada, where he photographed the mines and worked eastward. In so doing, he became one of the pioneers in the field of geophotography.
In 1870 Timothy H. O'Sullivan joined a survey team in Panama to survey for a canal across the isthmus. From 1871 to 1874 he returned to the southwestern United States to join Lt. George M. Wheeler in his survey west of the 100th meridian. His job was to photograph the West to attract settlers. O'Sullivan's pictures were among the first to record the prehistoric ruins, Navajo weavers, and pueblo villages of the Southwest. He faced starvation on the Colorado River when some of the expedition's boats capsized; few of the 300 negatives he took survived the trip back East.
Timothy H. O'Sullivan spent the last years of his short life in Washington, D.C., as an official photographer for the U.S. Geological Survey and the Treasury Department.When the Civil War began in early 1861, Timothy H. O'Sullivan has commissioned a first lieutenant in the Union Army. There is no record of him fighting.
Timothy H. O'Sullivan was a civilian photographer attached to the Topographical Engineers. His job was to copy maps and plans, but he also took photographs on his own time. Although he later listed himself as a first lieutenant, the rank was likely honorary. From November 1861 through April 1862, he followed Union forces to Fort Walker, Fort Beauregard, Beaufort, Hilton Head, and Fort Pulaski.
After being honorably discharged, he rejoined Brady's team. In July 1862, Timothy H. O'Sullivan followed Maj. Gen. John Pope's Northern Virginia Campaign. In July 1863, he created his most famous photograph, "The Harvest of Death," depicting dead soldiers from the Battle of Gettysburg. Timothy H. O'Sullivan took many other photographs documenting the battle, including "Dead Confederate sharpshooter at foot of Little Round Top", "Field where General Reynolds fell", "View in wheatfield opposite our extreme left", "Confederate dead gathered for burial at the southwestern edge of the Rose woods", "Bodies of Federal soldiers near the McPherson woods", "Slaughter pen", and others.
From 1867 to 1869, Timothy H. O'Sullivan was the official photographer on the United States Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel under Clarence King. The expedition began at Virginia City, Nevada, where he photographed the mines and worked eastward. In so doing, he became one of the pioneers in the field of geophotography.
In 1870 Timothy H. O'Sullivan joined a survey team in Panama to survey for a canal across the isthmus. From 1871 to 1874 he returned to the southwestern United States to join Lt. George M. Wheeler in his survey west of the 100th meridian. His job was to photograph the West to attract settlers. O'Sullivan's pictures were among the first to record the prehistoric ruins, Navajo weavers, and pueblo villages of the Southwest. He faced starvation on the Colorado River when some of the expedition's boats capsized; few of the 300 negatives he took survived the trip back East.
Timothy H. O'Sullivan spent the last years of his short life in Washington, D.C., as an official photographer for the U.S. Geological Survey and the Treasury Department.
The Harvest of Death
("The Harvest of Death": Union dead on the battlefield at ...)
1863Elk Mountain (Maryland) signal tower
1862John Burns, veteran of the War of 1812, and a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg
1863Admiral David Dixon Porter on the Deck of His Flagship the "Malver" After the Victory at Ft. Fisher.
Rock carved by drifting sand below Fortification Rock in Arizona
1871White House Ruins, Canyon de Chelly National Monument
1873Inscription Rock, El Morro National Monument
1873