Timothy H. O'Sullivan

While a lieutenant for the Union Army during the American Civil War, Timothy H. O’Sullivan documented the war’s devastation through photography. Forty-four of his photographs, mostly portraying the dead bodies and devastated lands just after battle, were published in the first collection of Civil War photographs. After the war, O’Sullivan became a pioneer in geophotography and was appointed the official photographer of the United States’ Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel. He photographed pre-industrialized nature, prehistoric ruins, and Native Americans in the American South West. Despite his prolific career, there is little known about O’Sullivan’s personal life.