Acclaimed historian Shelby Foote insisted that any true understanding of American history, and thus of America, must be rooted in an understanding of the Civil War.

For Foote and scores of history buffs, often it was the power of pictures that helped trigger their curiosity. Soldiers marching up against a shower of shot and shell, seeing men mowed down by the dozens. After staring at those Civil War pictures for hours, the historians had to uncover the stories behind them.

Newell Conyers Wyeth certainly played a significant role in their fascination. Owner of a constant and grand imagination, Wyeth poured it into a flood of dynamic pictures of the Civil War....