Genl. Montcalm reviewing his troops. Military.

Landscape painting

Marine

Civil War Drawings Collection. Sherman's March to the Sea, 10 December 1864. Following his successful campaign to capture Atlanta, Sherman plan to execute a 'scorched earth' march to Savannah on the coast was approved by Grant. Sherman moved out with 62,000 men on November 15, 1864. Advancing against light resistance, his men marched in two main columns and destroyed everything of possible military value in their path. When they reached Savannah on December 10, Sherman encountered 10,000 men defending the city. Breaking into the Confederate defenses three days later, Sherman drove Hardee's command north on December 20. After he took the city, Sherman telegraphed President Abraham Lincoln with the message: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."

Civil War Drawings Collection. The Battle of Cedar Creek, 19 October 1864. Confederate General Early had withdrawn southwest into the higher elevations of the Shenandoah Valley under pressure from Sheridan and his Army of the Shenandoah. They were encamped at Cedar Creek. Sheridan believed that Early could not muster attacks after more than a month of battling. However, after an intense skirmish between the armies and rumors of a Confederate buildup, Sheridan brought all of his forces back to the camps along Cedar Creek. Early deployed his men in three columns in a night march, lit only by the moon. Just before sunrise, operating under a cover of dense fog, they struck. The surprise was complete, and the first Union corps under Maj. Gen. Crook fought momentarily, then broke, follow by Emory's corps. Wright's division, last in the line, fought a strong defensive battle, withdrawing slowly under heavy pressure. Early did not keep up his pressure, however, as he was pleased with his victory, including the capture of over a thousand prisoners and eighteen guns. He mistakenly assumed that Wright would retreat from the battlefield. Early's failure to pursue them is considered his fatal mistake in the battle. Sheridan was away at Winchester, Virginia, at the time the battle started. He reached the battlefield about 10:30 a.m. and began to rally his men. Fortunately for Sheridan, Early's men were too occupied to take notice; they fell out of their ranks to pillage the Union camps. At 3 p.m. Early resumed his offensive with a minor attack that might have succeeded earlier, but was easily repulsed. At 4 p.m., Emory's corps counterattacked. Early's three divisions were stretched out on a line about three mileslong, with the flanks unprotected. Emory was reinforced by Brig. Gen. Custer's cavalry division. Other cavalry units destroyed a bridge in the Confederate rear, cutting off their escape route. The Union took hundreds of prisoners, 43 guns (18 of which were their own guns from the morning), and supplies that the Confederacy could not replace.

Civil War Drawings Collection. Siege of Vicksburg. After scouring the surrounding country in search of the enemy, the Second Wisconsin left Canton, Mississippi and on the morning of the 17 July 1863, reported to Gen. Sherman at Jackson. In late August they were ordered to Redbone Church, twelve miles from Vicksburg. Five members of the Second were killed at Redbone Church. The regiment remained at Redbone Church during the winter of 1863-1864, under the command of Major Eastman.

Civil War Drawings Collection. This scene occured during the re-occupation of Baton Rouge, 13-19 December 1862, and was published as "Banks's Expedition- Executive Officer Parker, of the United States gunboat Essex, hoisting the national standard on the state capitol, Baton Rouge, La., on its occupation by the Federal forces commanded by General Grover, December 17th, 1863." Frank Leslie, Famous Leaders and Battle Scenes of the Civil War (New York: Mrs. Frank Leslie, 1896) 476. Rear Admiral Farragut advised Secretary of the Navy Welles that he had recommended "the occupation of Baton Rouge" to General Banks on his arrival. "He . . . ordered his transports to proceed directly to that city." Commander James Alden in Richmond with 2 gunboats covered the landing. "Baton Rouge is only 12-15 miles from Port Hudson. I am ready to attack the latter place and support General Banks the moment he desires to move against it."

Civil War Drawings Collection. The Siege of Yorktown, Virginia, 5 April- 4 May 1862. In his initial assault on Yorktown, McClellan overestimated the Confederate's strength and the siege lasted throughout April. During that time, the Confederates were assured that McClellan was the primary threat to Richmond. On April 16, Union forces probed a weakness in the Confederate line at Lee's Mill Dam No. 1, resulting in about 309 casualties. Failure to exploit the initial success of this attack delayed McClellan for 2 additional weeks. On May 3, during the night, the Confederate army slipped away toward Williamsburg. Around midnight, the Confederate heavy guns had ceased their diverting fire, were spiked and left behind by the retreating army. On May 4, at dawn, the Union army discovered Yorktown abandoned. The Confederates were seeking more favorable circumstances in which to confront the Federals. The Federals surged forward in pursuit, and the Siege of Yorktown ended. The Confederate withdrawal was well planned and executed. A mile east of Williamsburg, they had built another fortified line. Johnston elected to delay the Union pursuit here. During the afternoon, the Battle of Williamsburg began, lasting into the next day. On May 6, Johnston resumed his march towards Richmond. By delaying the Union army for almost a month, the Confederates had obtained valuable time to assemble and organize the forces that eventually beat McClellan back from Richmond and thwarted the Union's Peninsula Campaign.

Civil War Drawings Collection. David Hunter Strother was born in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). He studied drawing under Pietro Aneora in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and became a student of Samuel F. B. Morse in New York. In 1852 he published the first of a series of papers in Harper's Monthly, under the pen name "Porte Crayon". Strother was also an artist for The Crayon, and a frequent contributor to Harper's. His early work was landscapes mostly of Virginia and the South. Prior to the Civil War, he made illustrations for The Blackwater Chronicle (1853) and Virginia Illustrated (1857). During the Civil War, Strother was commissioned by the U.S. Army and assigned as a topographer due to his detailed knowledge of the Shenandoah Valley. During this time, he recorded his experiences in the war, which he would later publish in Harper's as "Personal Recollections of the War." Strother was promoted colonel of the 3rd West Virginia Cavalry and involved in 30 battles, though never wounded, and was appointed a brevet brigadier general in 1865.

Civil War Drawings Collection.