Alexander Gardner ( photographer ) Alexander Gardner ( October 17 , 1821 – December 10 , 1882 ) was a Scottish photographer who emigrated to the United States in 1856 , where he began to work full - time in that profession . He is best known for his photographs of the American Civil War , U . S . President Abraham Lincoln , and the execution of the conspirators to Lincoln ' s assassination . Early life . Gardner was born in Paisley , Renfrewshire , on 17 October 1821 . He became an apprentice jeweller at the age of fourteen , lasting seven years . Gardner had a Church of Scotland upbringing and was influenced by the work of Robert Owen , Welsh socialist and father of the cooperative movement . By adulthood he desired to create a cooperative in the United States that would incorporate socialist values . In 1850 , Gardner and others purchased land near Monona , Iowa , for this purpose , but Gardner never lived there , choosing to return to Scotland to raise more money . He stayed there until 1856 , becoming owner and editor of the " Glasgow Sentinel " in 1851 . Visiting The Great Exhibition in 1851 in Hyde Park , London , he saw the photography of American Mathew Brady , and thus began his interest in the subject . Gardner and his family immigrated to the United States in 1856 . Finding that many friends and family members at the cooperative he had helped to form were dead or dying of tuberculosis , he stayed in New York . He initiated contact with Brady and came to work for him that year , continuing until 1862 . At first , Gardner specialized in making large photographic prints , called Imperial photographs , but as Brady ’ s eyesight began to fail , Gardner took on increasing responsibilities . In 1858 , Brady put him in charge of the Brady ' s Washington , D . C . gallery . Career . Civil War Photography . Abraham Lincoln became the American President in the November 1860 election and along with his election came the threat of war . Gardner , being in Washington , was well - positioned for these events , and his popularity rose as a portrait photographer , capturing the visages of soldiers leaving for war . Brady had the idea to photograph the Civil War . Gardner ' s relationship with Allan Pinkerton ( who was head of an intelligence operation that would become the Secret Service ) was the key to communicating Brady ' s ideas to Lincoln . Pinkerton recommended Gardner for the position of chief photographer under the jurisdiction of the U . S . Topographical Engineers . Following that short appointment , Gardner became a staff photographer under General George B . McClellan , commander of the Army of the Potomac . At this point , Gardner ' s management of Brady ' s gallery ended . The honorary rank of captain was bestowed upon Gardner , and he photographed the Battle of Antietam in September 1862 , developing photos in his travelling darkroom . Gardner has often had his work misattributed to Brady , and despite his considerable output , historians have tended to give Gardner less than full recognition for his documentation of the Civil War . Lincoln dismissed McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac in November 1862 , and Gardner ’ s role as chief army photographer diminished . About this time , Gardner ended his working relationship with Brady , probably in part because of Brady ' s practice of attributing his employees ' work as " Photographed by Brady " . That winter , Gardner followed General Ambrose Burnside , photographing the Battle of Fredericksburg . Next , he followed General Joseph Hooker . In May 1863 , Gardner and his brother James opened their own studio in Washington , D . C , hiring many of Brady ' s former staff . Gardner photographed the Battle of Gettysburg ( July 1863 ) and the Siege of Petersburg ( June 1864 – April 1865 ) during this time . In 1866 , Gardner published a two - volume work , " Gardner ' s Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War " . Each volume contained 50 hand - mounted original prints . The book did not sell well . Not all photographs were Gardner ' s ; he credited the negative producer and the positive print printer . As the employer , Gardner owned the work produced , as with any modern - day studio . The sketchbook contained work by Timothy H . O ' Sullivan , James F . Gibson , John Reekie , William Pywell , James Gardner ( his brother ) , John Wood , George N . Barnard , David Knox and David Woodbury , among others . Among his photographs of Abraham Lincoln were some considered to be the last to be taken of the President , four days before his assassination , although later this claim was found to be incorrect , while the pictures were actually taken in February 1865 , the last one being on the 5th of February . Gardner would photograph Lincoln on a total of seven occasions while Lincoln was alive . He also documented Lincoln ' s funeral , and photographed the conspirators involved ( with John Wilkes Booth ) in Lincoln ' s assassination . Gardner was the only photographer allowed at their execution by hanging , photographs of which would later be translated into woodcut s for publication in " Harper ' s Weekly " . Post - War . After the war , Gardner was commissioned to photograph Native American s who came to Washington to discuss treaties ; and he surveyed the proposed route of the Kansas Pacific railroad to the Pacific Ocean . Many of his photos were stereoscopic . After 1871 , Gardner gave up photography and helped to found an insurance company . Gardner stayed in Washington until his death . When asked about his work , he said , " It is designed to speak for itself . As mementos of the fearful struggle through which the country has just passed , it is confidently hoped that it will possess an enduring interest . " He became sick in the winter of 1882 and died shortly afterward on December 10 , 1882 , at his home in Washington , D . C . He was survived by his wife and two children . He was buried in local Glenwood Cemetery . In 1893 , photographer J . Watson Porter , who had worked for Gardner years before , tracked down hundreds of glass negatives made by Gardner , that had been left in an old house in Washington where Gardner had lived . The result was a story in the " Washington Post " and renewed interest in Gardner ' s photographs . Controversy . A century later , photographic analysis suggested that Gardner had manipulated the setting of at least one of his Civil War photos by moving a soldier ' s corpse and weapon into more dramatic positions . In 1961 , Frederic Ray of the " Civil War Times " magazine compared several of Gardner ' s Gettysburg photos showing " two " dead Confederate snipers and realized that the same body has been photographed in two separate locations . One of his most famous images , " Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter " , has been argued to be a fabrication . This argument , first put forth by William Frassanito in 1975 , goes this way : Gardner and his assistants Timothy O ' Sullivan and James Gibson had dragged the sniper ' s body 40 yards into the more photogenic surroundings of the Devil ' s Den to create a better composition . Though Ray ' s analysis was that the same body was used in two photographs , Frassanito expanded on this analysis in his 1975 book " Gettysburg : A Journey in Time " , and acknowledged that the manipulation of photographic settings in the early years of photography was not frowned upon . In 1998 artist James C . Groves produced another analysis which has brought the debate of the " Case of the Moved Body " full circle . Mr . Groves ' analysis of the photographic evidence contained in the two photographs and another stereo image contradicts Frassanito ' s analysis .