Civil War Art

Edwin Forbes’ “The Army Forge”

The beginning of the American Civil War coincided with the advent of the illustrated press, which began to see wide use in the American publishing trade at the outset of the War. The illustrated press, while still not sophisticated enough to print photographs, gave newspapers and magazines the ability to print hand-drawn illustrations alongside news stories, adding another dimension to print journalism.

Newspapers and magazines scurried to send illustrators, or “special artists” as they were known at the time, into the fray of the Civil War to capture the scenes of the war as they were happening. These illustrations gave those at home, hungry for any news of the war, an even more vivid portrait of the reality of the war. The artists who traveled into the thick of the action risked life and limb to portray scenes both of battle and camps, of common soldiers and ranking generals. Unbeknownst to publishers at the time, these “special artists” were special indeed in that the illustrations they produced are the majority of the extant art of the Civil War era.

Some of America’s most celebrated 19th Century artists worked as special artists or spent time at the front during the Civil War. While some of these artists went on to fame as portrait or landscape artists after the war, many made their name exclusively as special artists whose forte was the Civil War. Among the long list of American artists who captured the Civil War in their art were the following:

Winslow Homer, one of America’s most renowned artists, developed his skill as a portrait artist by working as a special artist for Harper’s Weekly. Homer visited the front on several occasions, and produced many sketches of wartime scenes. These scenes would continue to influence his art even after his tenure as a Civil War special artist concluded; some of Homer’s best knowing paintings depict scenes from Civil War.

Edwin Austin Forbes gained fame during the Civil War for the detailed sketches of wartime scenes he created as a special artist for Frank Leslie’s Magazine. One of few special artists who worked throughout the entirety of the war, Forbes’ artwork was held in such high regard by General Sherman that Sherman presented some of Forbes’ etchings to the U.S. Government, which still possesses them today.

Eastman Johnson’s realistic and sentimental portraits of Civil War subject matter fascinated civilians hungry for images from the front. Among his Civil War paintings completed during wartime include “The Wounded Drummer Boy,” based on an actual incident Johnson observed at Antietam, and “The Little Soldier.” However, it was Johnson’s depictions of slavery that stirred most interest, both North and South, and gained him a lasting reputation.

Hundreds of special artists and other artists contributed to the art of the Civil War during the time period. Homer, Forbes, and Johnson are only a few of the many artists whose experiences as artists during the Civil War both immortalized images of the war while also earning them an enduring place in the history of American art.