But I have an ancestor who was a photographer and artist during the Civil War. He was from New York so on the North side I presume although he was not in the military.

I think he worked for various publications but there may have been one or two more so than others. I'd have to try and do some research about that.

The way I understand it, photography was in it's early days. The method of taking a photograph took several minutes. So it was used for still life photos where everyone posed and stood still for however long it took.

Photography didn't work for battle and action photographs because they didn't stay still. In that case sketches were done of the battle and then later fleshed out I suppose and sent in to the magazines and newspapers for publication. I don't really know anything about this but I think this is more or less how it worked.

I have artwork that was passed down and I inherited that this ancestor did of battle scenes. I don't know much about this either but he was apparently a good artist. Googling shows that he was a well known Civil War artist.

I am thinking that the reason I don't think I have any photographs taken by him of the Civil War may be due to various factors. Maybe the process did not allow him to keep any photos. Maybe the photos did not survive the ages. I just don't know and I'm not sure I don't have any photos but I don't remember seeing any among the artwork I have that he did.

I haven't seen the movie. Maybe it will be informative along these lines?