Alexander Gardner photographed some of the first battle images the world had ever seen. He photographed Civil War soldiers fresh-faced and ready to serve, and later, as they lay dead in fields. In 1867, Gardner came to Kansas. He had become the official photographer of the Union Pacific Railroad and was documenting the building of the railroad in Kansas as well as American Indians living in the area. His series of Kansas pictures, "Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division," features more than 150 photographs that have become part of the archives of the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka.