Photography was just coming into vogue [1] during the Civil War era and was particularly useful for recording history - but sculpture still reigned.
See the collection of nationally significant images at http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/ [2] The above relief sculpture by great local artist and architect Levi Scofield in Cleveland [3] at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument - rivals the dramatic work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens - the Shaw Memorial in Boston. [4]
Scofield created four large reliefs for the Soldiers and Sailors Monument - a panel featuring the women who served as nurses during the war (including Clara Barton who later founded the American Red Cross) [5] is fittingly the first panel:
Links:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathew_Brady
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20090625090047/http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Scofield
[4] http://www.nps.gov/boaf/historyculture/shaw.htm
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Barton