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 four scenes that a Union soldier might experience when not in battle. Clockwise from the top left are: "Gone Off with the Yankees" shows an abandoned log cabin home assumed to have been that of an African American; "A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey" features a cow kicking her heels at a soldier who had been trying to milk her in the background while in the foreground a soldier is holding a behive with bees buzzing around him; "An Old Campaigner" features an African American cook standing next to the mess mule; and "A Scouting Party" shows a small group of soldiers on horseback about to cross a small bridge over a creek. The artist's signature is etched into the lower left side of the image just above the border. This is Plate 32 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