Life of the U.S in the 1860s Through Amazing Photos

America wasn’t a widely urbanized country at the time of the Civil War, but as a result of the Industrial Revolution, its cities were multiplying and expanding. In the decades after the war, technology advanced rapidly, allowing farms to be tended by fewer people and creating more factory jobs in urban areas. These factors move the nation toward becoming an urban society.

Northern society was more urbanized than the South in the mid-19th century. Some 5.5 million Northerners were city dwellers, about a quarter of the 22 million people living in the Union states. Most of the balance, about 16.5 million people, lived in towns or villages or on farms.

By contrast, only about 10 percent of the South’s population — less than a million people — lived in cities. The remaining 8 million Southerners lived in small towns and villages, and on plantations and farms. Southern cities tended to be smaller, less industrialized and less congested than urban areas in the North.

Take a look at these amazing photos from Ronald S. Coddington to see what life of the U.S looked like in the 1860s.

A photographer aims his lens at a group of ladies and gentlemen standing in front of a pavilion inside Congress Park at Saratoga Springs, New York, Friday morning, August 28, 1863

A beardless man attired in frock coat and top hat sits astride his white mare. Horse and rider pose in front of an auction house and men's store, circa 1860s

A child dressed in ruffled shirt, cape and fur hat sits on a horse in the front yard of a home adorned with four stately columns, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, circa 1860s

A clean-shaven gent sits upright upon a light four-wheeled buggy, hid hands firmly grasp the reins attached to two horses, circa 1860s

A crowd of folks gather around the Glen Mountain House in Watkins Glen, New York, circa 1860s

A day at Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis, Minnesota, circa 1860s

A few townspeople walk down slick sidewalks, while a trolley makes its way down a wet street. Signs advertising a book store and coal dealer are visible, Hartford, Connecticut, circa 1860s

A gent in civilian attire enjoys the view from the top of Umbrella Rock on Lookout Mountain at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Below him is a crude hut built of wood boards and a canvas roof, circa 1860s

A gentleman wearing a straw hat and gauntlets sits in a horse-drawn carriage parked in front of a stone building, New York City, circa 1860s

A gray-bearded man dressed in a light-colored coat and a hat drawn low on his brown sits in a horse-drawn buggy, Farmer Village, Seneca County, New York, circa 1860s

A group of men and a dog pose in front of a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania store, circa 1860s

A group of men enjoy life just a few months after the end of the war, Cincinnati, Ohio. A tax stamp on the back of the mount is marked with the date of September 3, 1865

A group of men gather around a lumber mill, Boonville, New York, circa 1860s

A group of men stand outside a wood frame building with a sign labeled "Doors Sash & Blinds", Northfield, Minnesota, circa 1860s

A mother, father and son pose along the walkway leading to the entry door of their home, circa 1860s

A photographer's traveling studio is parked outside a building complex, New Hampshire, circa 1860s

An outing along the river, East Rockford, Illinois, circa 1860s

Boys at a woodpile. A modern pencil inscription on the back of the mount “Wisconsin or Connecticut”, circa 1860s

Bradford, Vermont townscape, May 1865

Captain George Stoneman (1822-1894) sits with officers and civilians at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, 1861

Dedication of an early Civil War Monument, Hopkinton, Iowa, 1865

Dedication of the Wildey Monument, Baltimore, September 20, 1865

Destination Oatmeal, Honesdale, Pennsylvania, circa 1860s

Four ladies stand on the second floor landing of a clapboard dwelling as a young girl sits with a dog and open book, Corning, New York, circa 1860s

Grave of Mary Greenleaf Woods (died 1854), Kenyon-Rosse Chapel Cemetery, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, circa 1860s

Inscribed on the back of this portrait of a couple in a carriage pulled by two horses is “Mrs. & Mr. Hunt”, Proctorsville, Vermont, June 6, 1866

Large posters plastered along a thoroughfare in Carrollton, Ohio, tease the arrival of Stow's Great Varieties, a unique traveling show that performed in several Midwestern states in the 1860s

Party at Judges' Cave Rock, New Haven, Connecticut, 1864-66

Seven men and an intrepid dog are perched on top of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, circa 1860s

Smoke pours from a large cylindrical chimney and smaller exhaust pipe of this brick mill in Pittsfield, Illinois. Men peer out of windows on the third floor, and more busy themselves outside with wagons and a tree trunk, circa 1860s

Taking a break on Mt. Mansfield, Stowe, Vermont, circa 1860s

The building on the left includes Paper Hangings, and Stoves & Tinware. On the right is housed a Fruit & Confectionary, Cheney & Co.’s Express Office and Beard’s Saloon, Newbury, New Hampshire, May 1865

The hunting and fishing party, Champlain, New York, circa 1860s

The words “A Bowery Horse” are inscribed in period pencil on the back, Poughkeepsie, New York, circa 1860s

Townspeople gather outside Tipton's store, its windows filled with general merchandise, circa 1860s

Two young boys in wool suits and matching hats sit in a horse-drawn carriage, Farmer Village, Seneca County, New York, circa 1860s

Visiting the grandkids, New York City, circa 1860s