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 features four scenes from soldiers' lives. Clockwise from the top left are: A Watched Pot Never Boils showing an African American boy lying on his stomach on the ground with an overturned coffee pot beside him; A Hasty Supper shows four soldiers seated on the ground around a campfire with one of them holding a long stick at the end of which is something he is roasting over the fire; Played Out shows two foot-sore and exhausted soldiers asleep at the foot of a tree while the rear of their detachment is seen disappearing up the road; and Drummer Boys shows three drummer boys in conversation while halted on the road. The artist's signature is etched into the lower right corner of the image. This is Plate 29 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