Description

This copper etching was done from Forbes' original sketches done on the Civil War battlefields as the special artist for "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" from 1862-1864. This etching depicts a scene in winter camp. Two soldiers are sitting in front of their quarters which are built with logs plastered with clay and covered with canvas. The soldier sitting on the old drum is playing an old tune on an improvised fiddle made from a cigar box while the younger soldier sits leaning against the mud chimney. A ploughshare tops the mud chimney to keep the smoke from blowing into the tent. The artist's signature is etched into the lower left corner of the image. This is Plate 24 of 40 in the Life Studies of the Great Army by Edwin Forbes, copyrighted by him in 1876, and published for subscribers by Henry J. Johnson, New York. Part of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum