Picture Archive: American Soldiers, 1860s to 1940s

Civil War camp, Washington, D.C., 1862

Photograph from the Library of Congress

This photo of a soldier's entourage was taken at the camp of the 31st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which at the time was likely located at Fort Slocum near Washington, D.C. "It was not uncommon for women to be in Civil War camps as cooks, laundresses, and in other support roles," said Wayne Motts of the National Civil War Museum.

The children playing on the right suggest another possible relationship of the woman to the soldier: that of wife. "In some cases the families of married soldiers tried to stay close to their loved one," Motts added.

Published May 26, 2013

World War I, Great Lakes training station, 1917

Photograph by Mayhart Studio

This photo of bluejackets, or Navy recruits, at Illinois's Great Lakes training station was printed in the March 1918 issue of National Geographic. It appeared in an article titled "The Health and Morale of America's Citizen Army" by former Commander-in-Chief William Howard Taft. In total, 10,000 bluejackets formed the flag, covering a span of seven acres; it took 65 men to shape the topmost star alone.

Heavily used for recruits during World War I, the Great Lakes training station had its heyday during World War II. One million recruits passed through it—a third of all Navy recruits who served in that war.

Published May 26, 2013

World War I, Washington, D.C., 1917

Photograph from the American Red Cross

"Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt collecting mail from soldiers waiting in the railroad yards, in Washington, D.C.," read the notes on the back of this 1917 photo.

"Mrs. Vanderbilt is in the uniform of a Red Cross refreshment unit, one of the most active chapters of the District of Columbia. Behind her is another member of the unit ready with coffee for the soldiers."

Published May 26, 2013

World War II, Alsace, France, 1940s

Photograph by Ollie Atkins

"Wounded fighting men are cared for immediately even before electric lights can be set up," read the notes on the back of this photo of a Seventh Army soldier in Alsace, France.

"Here by candle light Army Nurse Lt. Evelyn Marquardt, Bloomer, Wisc., administers a unit of whole blood gathered at American Red Cross donor centers in the United States and flown by the Army Air Transport Command across the Atlantic and to this front line hospital for just this emergency."

Published May 26, 2013

World War II, Washington, D.C., 1940s

Photograph by U.S Coast Guard

"It was worth it, Abe," read the notes on the back of this U.S. Coast Guard photo from the 1940s, "so that ... 'freedom ... shall not perish from the earth ...' A fighting Coast Guardsman, who gave his right arm in battle pays Memorial Day tribute at the Lincoln shrine in Washington, D.C. He is Coast Guardsman Thomas Sortino of Chicago, who participated in the North African invasion."

Published May 26, 2013

World War I, New York Harbor, 1919

Photograph by Paul Thompson

During World War I, the U.S.S. Connecticut plied the Chesapeake River to train midshipmen and gun crews for merchant ships. At the close of the war she served transport duty—as here, leaving New York Harbor in 1919—making four voyages to ferry troops from France.

The Connecticut was part of a massive movement of men—heading both to and from the front—from New York City, the main point of embarkation. During the Second World War two decades later, 63 million tons of supplies and 3.3 million men shipped out from New York Harbor, according to the New York Historical Society Museum and Library. At the peak of the port's war activity, a ship left every 15 minutes.

Published May 26, 2013

World War II, Marshall Islands, 1944

Photograph by the U.S Navy

"Crewmen of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier banish post-battle nervous strain by taking a swim in the warm waters of a lagoon in the Marshalls only a few days after laying siege to and conquering Roi Island in the Kwajalein atoll," read the notes of this official U.S. Navy photo, bought by National Geographic in 1946.

Thirty-five thousand troops had been sent to Roi Island and its neighbor Namur Island—part of the Marshall Island chain in the Pacific theater—for an assault on January 31, 1944. The islands, part of a former base for Japanese operations, were won in a day. Only 400 American troops were lost.

Published May 26, 2013

World War II, Germany, 1940s

Photograph by the Red Cross

"American Red Cross Clubmobile girls on duty with forward troops here have a little jive session 'front line' style," read the notes on this American Red Cross photo, a gift to National Geographic in 1945. "Alice Felty, Faith, South Dakota, is dancing with armed and steel helmeted Pfc. Sam D. T. Coats, Raleigh, N.C. The victrola is blasting away atop a brace of gasoline cans."

Clubmobiles visited camps and airfields across the Allied front. Each one held three female volunteers, a built-in doughnut maker, 50-cup coffee urns, paperback books, and the latest records.

Published May 26, 2013

World War II, Gilbert Islands, 1940s

Photograph by W. Robert Moore

Members of the Seventh Air Force adjust battle gear on the Rose's Beau in the Gilbert Islands.

The campaign in the Gilbert Islands—a series of 16 coral islands and atolls in the South Pacific—was part of the same siege series as the nearby Marshall Islands, which included an American force of 35,000 troops. It also included 6,000 vehicles, among them fighting planes like Rose's Beau. The Japanese had occupied the Gilbert Islands three days after Pearl Harbor. American troops went in on November 20, 1943. By the 23rd, they had overtaken the island chain.

Painting familiar or fierce images on a war plane's nose was popular in both world wars, and on both the Allied and Axis sides. The sketches of torpedoes lined up near the cockpit window represent bombs dropped on enemy targets.

Published May 26, 2013

World War I, New York Harbor, circa 1919

Photograph by Paul Thompson

It wasn't just human civilians that were pressed into service. The Mauretania—sister ship of the ill-fated ocean liner Lusitania—was the fastest luxury ship on the ocean, making a crossing speed record in 1909 that stood for 20 years.

In 1915, the Mauretania was designated to carry British troops to Gallipoli. It became a hospital ship later that year, carried Canadian troops after that, and then, in 1917, ferried American troops after the United States entered the war. She is said to have dodged U-boats due to her speed and the skill of her crew.

Here, according to the photo's notes, the Mauretania returns to New York Harbor with her decks full of the first soldiers back from Europe.

Published May 26, 2013

See More Photos from Our Archives

Photography by George Woodruff

Published May 26, 2013