National Portrait Gallery
8th and G Streets, NW
Washington, DC
Large-format reproductions of original photographs, prints, drawings, and maps document how the Civil War affected patterns of life in the District of Columbia, especially the area around the Patent Office Building, which is now home to the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum. Included are images of forts and hospitals; the Navy Yard and the Sixth Street Wharf; and landmarks such as the Capitol, White House, Ford’s Theatre, and the Old Capitol Prison, as well as images of notable Washington personalities—statesmen, spies, soldiers and nurses—who gave the city a sense of national purpose, glamour, and intrigue during four years of war.