Back to Work

This post title would seem to imply that I haven't been working, which certainly isn't the case! What I'm really getting at is that recently I've been posting previously completed works that relate to 1861, as 2011 is the 150th anniversary for that year. Now I think it's time to get back to my original primary intention for this blog: posting newly-completed works and work-in-progress.

In keeping with my Civil War 150 Project, and to have an image to submit to an upcoming exhibition at the Clara Barton National Historic Site entitled "The Art of Clara Burton", I completed the above image in colored pencil on Canson Mi Teintes paper (color: Sand), Study of Clara Barton. I'm still learning about Ms. Barton and I'm sure will do more works that feature her in the years to come, since she played such an enormous role in the Civil War. This piece was an effort to study her facial features and see what I might learn from them by working closely with two of her Civil War era portrait photographs. Ms. Barton's first involvement with Civil War nursing was the result of her witnessing the wounded and dying soldiers brought back to Washington (where she worked at the Patent Office) after the First Battle of Manassas, something which would have been occurring approximately 150 years ago.

The Aftermath of Battle: "Collateral Damage"

This piece serves as homage to Judith Carter Henry, the first civilian killed in the Civil War.

The Notions of Safety and Security

The Final Chapter in the Life of Judith Carter Henry

In the summer of 1861, Judith Carter Henry was an 84-year-old widow, living on a small farm just south and east of the intersection of the Warrenton Turnpike and Manassas-Sudley Road near Manassas, Virginia; Spring Hill, the farm was called.  She had lived there for 35 years and, in fact, was born less than a mile away.  For most of those years she had lived a quiet farm life, marking the changing seasons with the cycle of planting and harvesting, and raising four children, watching them grow to adulthood.

But in July of 1861, things took a dramatic and unfortunate turn for the elderly widow.  Union and Confederate troops had gradually begun moving into the region, and Judith’s daughter Ellen, who lived with her mother, became gravely concerned.  In May her brother Hugh, living in Alexandria, VA, had written a letter emphasizing his belief that their mother’s “entire helplessness” should keep her safe from harm from the invading armies.  But Ellen, and another brother, John, who lived nearby, feared the worst. They determined to try to move their dear mother to safety.  Despite evidence that the fighting was edging ever closer, Judith, who was frail and bedridden at that point in her life, did not want to leave the familiar and comforting surroundings of her home.  She protested as, on the morning of July 21, they attempted to carry her from the house on a mattress, and the group made it only as far as the spring house: not only was Judith begging to be taken back, but Ellen and John also realized that the troops were too close and the situation was too dangerous to permit their plan to work.  So they returned to the house, and Judith was carried to her bed. They could only hope that Hugh’s earlier assurance of her safety would prove true.

As morning turned to afternoon, Union artillery moved their guns onto the Henry House property, not far from the house. They soon discovered they were being fired at by Confederate sharpshooters, who were either hidden inside the house, or just outside of it and using it for cover.  Since nearly all of the other residents of the immediate area had long since fled to safety, Captain James B. Ricketts had no idea there were civilians still inside.  His immediate goal was to put an end to the firing of the Confederate sharpshooters, and he shelled the house.  One of the shells burst in Judith’s bedroom, and she died of her wounds soon after.

A woman that history has recorded only as “Florence”, attended the memorial service for Judith Henry held on the grounds of the farm, two days after the battle. In a letter to her sister, she gave this account:

        The papers will have told you before this reaches you that old Mrs. Henry was killed during the
         battle…I do not think I ever felt more deeply than when I stood among the wreck and ruin of her
         home and saw the poor mangled body of the old lady placed in the coffin and borne to her last
         resting-place by stranger hands…Around the Henry garden, where a fence had stood on Sunday
         morning, was a hedge of althea, the only things that had escaped destruction.  They were loaded
         with crimson and white blossoms, and you cannot imagine how strangely they looked in their
         purity and beauty amidst that scene of desolation and death.  I stopped to gather a few of these
         “roses of Sharon” to place on the coffin…

In 1870, a new house was built to replace the one in which Judith’s life ended.  A photograph, taken in 1896, features a very elderly Hugh Henry seated on a chair on the porch of this house, the same house that stands on the battlefield today.  In the picture, just to the right side of the porch, can be seen a vigorous Rose of Sharon, quite possibly one of the very ones that were such a part of Judith’s happier times at Spring Hill.

150 Years Ago Today, July 17, 1861, Part 2: Union Troops on the March to Bull Run Creek in Virginia

Road to Bull Run

Calm Before the Storm

As the war began to unfold in the summer of 1861, the vast majority of Union soldiers were volunteers who had received very little military training, unused to the discipline of military life. The 25-mile march from Washington, D.C. to Manassas Junction, Virginia was hot and boring and subject to many halts, due to the difficulty of mobilizing such large numbers of men. On these occasions, the soldiers found other ways to entertain themselves:

“July 17, 1861. On the way (from Annandale to Fairfax Court House, Virginia) we found an old railroad embankment, and I never saw blackberries more plenty. We stopped and ate what we wanted. . .July 21. Almost nine o’clock in the forenoon we reached Sudley church. . .We now took a side road that skirted a piece of woods and marched for some distance, the men amusing themselves with laughter and jokes, with occasional stops for berries. . .” -- Private Elisha Hunt Rhodes, Company D, Second Rhode Island Volunteers

“They stopped every moment to pick blackberries or get water, they would not keep in the ranks, order as much as you pleased. . .” -- Union General Irvin McDowell

“. . .for all my personal efforts I could not prevent the men from straggling for water, blackberries, or anything on the way they fancied.” -- Union Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman

If you would like to see more of my Civil War-themed work, or are interested in ordering prints, please visit my website at http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com or email me at CivilWarFineArt@yahoo.com. 



150 Years Ago Today, July 17, 1861, Part I: Confederates at Blackburn's Ford, Viriginia

 

Road to Manassas

Hopes Burn Bright

Prior to the first major battle of the Civil War – first Manassas, as it was later known to Confederates, or First Bull Run, as it was would be called by Federals – recruits of both sides were quite naïve about the realities of war. Nearly everyone believed that this would be a war of short duration, that a single battle would resolve the matter, and that what few deaths might result would be quick and glorious. For many young men who had never been away from their farms or home towns, the war was viewed as a “grand adventure” which they would enjoy describing to their grandchildren years into the future. An atmosphere of youthful enthusiasm, bravado, and high spirits pervaded the camps.

This image is inspired by an account taken from the memoirs of Alexander Hunter, who when only a teenager enlisted with the 17th Virginia Infantry. It features members of the regiment (Hunter is at the far left) around a campfire at Blackburn’s Ford on the night of July 17, 1861. The next morning would find these troops involved in a skirmish with Federals that would become a prelude to the First Battle of Manassas.

Hunter recounts some of the early notions of his fellow compatriots: “Imaginative battles were rather of the ‘Iliad’ order – a few rounds, then a rush of cold steel and all was over. It was agreed that Company A should go into action with each man carrying a revolver in his belt and a bowie-knife in his bootleg; it would look decidedly war-like and unique. . . .There was one little fellow, a private named Hunter, who grew meditative as the discussions waxed more thrilling. . .This bowie-knife business might be a very good thing, he thought, for immense fellows. . .but for a sixteen-year-old soldier of ninety-seven pounds fighting weight, it might not prove so very amusing after all.”

If you would like to see more of my Civil War-themed work, or are interested in ordering prints, please visit my website at http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com or email me at CivilWarFineArt@yahoo.com. 



150 Years Ago Today: July 14, 1861

Waiting for War

“My Dear Sarah…”

Waiting for War depicts the importance placed on writing and receiving letters, in the lives of all soldiers, in an age before telephones, pagers and email; a time when letters were about the only means of communicating with loved ones far away.  Letters were looked upon as treasures, and families saved them for years afterwards.  Letter-writing was a serious, almost sacred activity to those involved in it.  And when one of the writers was a soldier preparing for battle, the letter took on additional meaning, since there was a real possibility it could be his last.

A letter written by Major Sullivan Ballou of the 2^nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry serves as the inspiration for this image.  While at Camp Clark, near Washington, D.C. on July 14, 1861 – one week prior to the first Battle of Manassas – Major Ballou wrote a very moving letter home to his wife, describing his feelings about fighting for his country as well as the depth of his love for her.  The intense internal conflict he experienced over his divided loyalties to country and family are vividly described in this, his last letter, which was never mailed but found amongst his belongings upon his death in battle a week later.

To read the text of Major Ballou's letter, please visit:

http://www.civilwarfineart.com/BeyondBattlefield/ballouletter.htm

To see more of my Civil War-themed work, or to inquire about purchasing originals or prints, please visit my website at www.CivilWarFineArt.com, or email me at CivilWarFineArt@yahoo.com.

150 Years Ago this Month: American Families Prepare for War, Part 3

This is another piece in my Beyond the Battlefield series aimed at showing how war impacted all portions of society, regardless of age or sex:

No Idle Hands

"There is Much for Us to Do, and We Must Do It!"

The statement above, made by Judith McGuire, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia (and a refugee for much of the war), illustrates the "commitment to their cause" demonstrated by women in both North and South as war became a reality. Almost as quickly as American men began enlisting in the war effort, American women began doing all they could to support them.

From the very beginning, it was obvious that many things would be needed by the soldiers which the women they left at home could supply: underclothing, shirts, pants, blankets, etc. Women of the era were trained from a young age to knit, crochet and sew a wide variety of items, so it was only natural that in such a time they would gather together to produce them in great quantity.  Lucy Wood of Charlottesville, Virginia spoke volumes in a letter to her fiancee when she wrote, “Our needles are now our weapons. . .”  In numerous diary accounts of the early war effort, however, it becomes obvious that the non-stop needlework was prompted by more than just a desire to provide for loved ones; activity was a constructive way of dealing with anxiety. Virginian Sara Pryor said it well: “To be idle in war is torture.”



150 Years Ago this Month: American Families Prepare for War, Part 2

The men who determined to volunteer were faced with a painful moment of separation -- saying goodbye to family left behind. Often we see images created from the point of view of adults, but because of my firm conviction that war and the upheaval brought on by it affects all members of a society, I wanted to create some images that told the story from the point of view of the children. A Promise to Return is the first of those images.

This has been one of the most popular pieces in my Beyond the Battlefield series, and I suspect that is because it conveys a timeless scenario: with our current military involvements we have watched this scene played out countless times in the media and within our own communities and families, as have Americans of many other generations. The clothing changes but the emotional impact does not.

To view my entire body of Civil War artwork, I invite you to visit http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com.

150 Years Ago this Month: American Families Prepare for War, Part 1

When I made the decision to pursue the genre of Civil War art, I felt I needed a direction -- something that would tie my individual images together in a cohesive fashion. What made the most sense to me was to work through the various events and scenarios of the war in a chronological fashion, and the colored pencil drawing above, Conflict of Interest, thus became the first piece in the series.

When it became obvious that war was becoming a reality for 1860's Americans and volunteers would be needed in large numbers, couriers were sometimes sent out to those who lived on farms outside of towns to deliver the news and encourage enlistment. My research indicates that many American men at that time were actually relieved to see this day come; war had been threatened for so long that there was an almost "let's get this over with" mentality. But as a wife and a mother, my perspective is different; I was imagining a young mother with small children at home, interrupted from a quiet tea with her husband, anxious of how this turn of events would affect all of their lives in the days to come.

To view my entire body of Civil War artwork, I invite you to visit my website at http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com.

One-Day, Painting/Drawing Give-Away for History Meets the Arts

This past Saturday I had my gallery -- Civil War Fine Art in Gettysburg, PA -- open from 10 until 8, and invited gallery visitors to watch and ask questions as I developed a small (6" x 9") watercolor and colored pencil painting on PastelMat, as well as enter their names in a drawing to win this composition at the end of the day. At 7 pm, I drew the name of a couple from Harrisburg, and will be shipping the finished, matted piece to them today.

The image is of the Stone House, a prominent landmark on the Manassas National Battlefield in Virginia. As part of my Civil War 150 Project, I decided that each year I do this One-Day painting/drawing event, I'll feature a landmark from a major battle of that anniversary year. Since 2011 is the 150th anniversary for the year 1861, and since the First Battle of Manassas (or Bull Run) was a significant event in that year, I chose this site to depict for this event. For reference for this piece, I used a black-and-white 1861 photograph of the house and edited out several of the people, as well as added in the color using modern photographs for reference. I hope the couple who recieves this painting will be pleased!

April 1861: War Hits Home

Sometimes written histories can lead us into considering war only in the abstract. But the Civil War, like all wars, was experienced deeply by the individuals of the era. This is the first of several posts of my artwork, meant to illustrate examples of the personal realities of the War.

In April of 1861, as President Lincoln put out his call for 75,000 volunteers after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, James P. Mills, the oldest son of Galen and Elizabeth Mills of Ripley Township in Huron County, Ohio, was a student at Baldwin University (now Baldwin-Wallace College) in Berea. Though nearing the completion of his education, Mills was thoroughly convinced that the proper place for him at this time was in the service of his country. Unlike many other Northern recruits, however, who insisted that theirs was simply a fight to save the union, Mills’ own stated cause was the elimination of “accursed slavery”, and his fervor was fed by his environment, as he writes in his letter to his siblings that “the faculty are for war to a man”.


While this Ohio college student in his early twenties pens a letter brimming with idealism, a letter written at the same time by his mother to her other children bears a slightly different attitude. She is in Berea at the time the call for volunteers is made, and witnesses all of the pageantry and patriotic zeal: rallies to recruit volunteers held every evening, a procession of citizens through the town accompanied by martial music and the firing of cannon, speeches by faculty and students in favor of taking up arms, and a campus flag-raising by her own son and another soon-to-be soldier. She understands the needs of the country, and her convictions tell her that she must not stand in the way of her son doing what he feels is his duty, but her heart is overwhelmed by the sentiments of a mother fearful of losing her child. In fact, on James’ own letter, she has included a sentence hastily scrawled in the margin: “kep [sic] this letter safe it may be the last from J.”

To see this and other colored pencil images in my series, Beyond the Battlefield, please visit http://www.civilwarfineart.com/. Or better yet, stop in to my gallery, Civil War Fine Art, 333 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA, this summer and especially during History Meets the Arts (June 16 - 19), a part of the Gettysburg Festival, June 10 - 19!

150th Anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War

One hundred and fifty years ago this spring, our country was in a period of tremendous turmoil. In December of the previous year, South Carolina had seceded from the Union, prompting the headline seen in my colored pencil painting at the top, The Union is Dissolved! Other states would follow their lead in the coming months, and by mid-summer, eleven states had joined the Confederacy, demonstrated by the flag depicted in the painting. Preparations for war were begun in earnest, and the Confederate volunteer depicted is wearing a uniform typical of some of the early regiments that were formed in the South. In response to the attack on Fort Sumter, where an unusual version of the American flag as portrayed in my second painting, To Arms! had come under severe fire and was taken down by the Confederate victors, President Abraham Lincoln issued an immediate call for 75,000 troops from those states loyal to the Union, to put down the rebellion. The Union states were quick to respond and in fact offered many more volunteers than Lincoln had requested.

The two paintings were created to be companions to each other but reveal an important difference between the two armies: while the Confederacy had every bit as much passion for its cause as the Union, it lacked the numbers of available troops, a factor which would become critical as the War progressed. These two large paintings are prominently displayed in the entrance hallway to my gallery, Civil War Fine Art, located at 333 Baltimore Street in Gettysburg, PA, and will greet visitors during the History Meets the Arts event this June 16 - 18.

To see more of my Civil War-related colored pencil paintings, please visit my website at http://www.civilwarfineart.com/.

150th Anniversary of the Confederate Attack on Fort Sumter

Today -- or tonight, really -- marks the anniversary of the fateful day when Major Robert Anderson decided against evacuating from Fort Sumter, off the coast of Charleston, SC, as demanded by the newly-formed Confederate government, and the Confederates retaliated by shelling the fort at around 4:30 am on April 12, 1861. 

Mary Chesnut, seen in my painting above entitled Mary Chesnut: Witness to War, was the wife of former senator James Chesnut, who had recently resigned from his position as U.S. senator to join the Confederacy. Her husband was one of the men who had taken a rowboat out to the doomed fort in hopes of negotiating a settlement with Major Anderson. She realized that the nation was embarking on an odyssey that would figure significantly in history, and determined to keep a diary of events as they transpired throughout the war. Though thoroughly Southern, Mrs. Chesnut is often characterized as having managed to keep a relatively unbiased accounting of all that occurred during that war. The quote seen below her image, "Woe to those who began this war, if they were not in bitter earnest," comes from a diary post much later in the war when the civilian population had grown disillusioned and weary of the conflict.

To  read more about this particular painting, or to see more of the works I have produced for my personal Civil War 150 project, and the Women of Distinction series, please visit my website at http://www.civilwarfineart.com/.

2011 is the 150th Anniversary of the first year of the Civil War, 1861

As noted on the sidebar, this June I will be participating in History Meets the Arts, a part of The Gettysburg Festival. (For a full understanding of what this fabulous ten-day Festival has to offer, please read the sidebar and follow the link provided.) At my gallery, Civil War Fine Art, located at 333 Baltimore St. in Gettysburg, I will be featuring my Civil War 150 Project (full details also in sidebar). This year I will be showcasing more than twenty works which focus on the years leading up to, and including, the first year of the war, 1861.

For today's post I have included my painting of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. When Abraham Lincoln met her during the war, legend has it that he greeted her with, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war." While that may be an exaggeration, there's no doubt that Ms. Stowe's publication of this novel in 1852 brought attention to the horrors of slavery in a more personal way than political speeches and newspapers could ever hope to accomplish, helping to galvanize the abolitionist cause, and thereby playing a significant role in shaping the attitudes that led to the war.

Step 15, Sarah Emma Edmonds, II: Transformation/Liberation

Coming down the home stretch with this, now -- I'd like to be finished by Saturday so that I can have my photographer shoot it over the weekend, for entry into a couple of juried exhibitions. It's really gotten to be exciting to work on now, since the remaining areas have little to do with reality, and a lot to do with emotion, spontaneity and expression.