The battle-weary soldiers who fought on both sides in the American Civil War have been painstakingly brought back to life in 21st century color. These stunning photographs offer a glimpse into the everyday lives of men who fought in the bloody conflict between 1861 and 1865, either for the survival of the Union or a strike out into independence for the Confederates.

Some 150 years since Abraham Lincoln outlawed slavery in the US, graphic artist Frédéric Duriez has injected color to historic shots from that era. They depict notable figures like George Armstrong Custer, a fearless leader who was promoted to General at the tender age of 24.
Civil war broke out in 1861 when the South had seceded from the United States over slavery and its expansion into the western territories. War erupted when the Union soldiers at Fort Sumter in South Carolina were attacked by the Confederate Army on April 12, 1861.

The Northern states, led by President Lincoln were known as the Union, while the Southern states, the Confederates of America, marched behind Jefferson Davis.

General Aldred Torbert and his staff during the American Civil War on the vine-covered veranda of a Virginia mansion occupied as their headquarters.

 

Surgeons of the 4th Division of the 9th Corps are pictured in Petersburg, Virginia in 1864.

 

A group of officers relax away from the battlefront at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac Date circa 1863.

 

Major General George Armstrong Custer (1839 –1876) was a US Army officer and cavalry commander in the Civil War and the American-Indian Wars.

 

Brig. Gen. Joseph R. Anderson, of the Confederates (1813–1892) was a civil engineer and industrialist.

 

A very stern-faced Lieutenant Colonel A.B. Elder of the 10th New York Infantry.

 

This portrait shows a General posing sternly against a sombre grey backdrop.

 

George Edward Pickett (1825 -1875) was a career United States Army officer who became a major general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War.

 

An unidentified African American woman is pictured in 1861 in this stunning framed photograph.

 

An unidentified soldier in first lieutenant’s uniform, red sash, leather gauntlets, and spurs with cavalry sword circa 1861.

 

A confederate sergeant in uniform and Company B hat with sabre – sometime between 1861 and 1865.

(Images © Frédéric Duriez/Exclusivepix Media, via Daily Mail Online)