Why are the most common depictions of the Spanish American War illustrations when the American Civil War was well documented with photographs 30+ years earlier?

by Standardalpaca1

When I think Civil War, my mind immediately jumps to Matthew Brady, but when I look at pictures of the SAW I see illustrations/paintings by the likes of Remington and Christy. Was photography in 1898 so cumbersome that drawing a battle was a viable alternative to taking a photograph? A google search for Civil War Pictures will yield all photos, but one for the Spanish American War yields a majority of illustrations. What gives?

Georgy_K_Zhukov

This only speaks to half your question, but I think this older answer of mine might be of interest. To summarize the most salient point there is that the photographs you know best aren't battle photos, but often taken days after the battle was over, and by photographers in American cities close enough to travel to the scene of the battle when they heard it had happened.