Working for the Topographical Branch of the Department of Engineers of the Army during the Civil War, George Barnard accompanied General William Tecumseh Sherman during his campaign through the Confederate States. Barnard photographed infrastructure, landscape, and scenes with soldiers, along with the devastation wrought by Sherman’s scorched earth approach—such as the burned-out church in this picture. Generally taken after the violence and action of battle has subsided, Barnard’s pictures often have a quiet, reflective quality. In 1866, following the war, Barnard collected and published the photographs from this body of work as Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign.