Stiles/Akin
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2016
- Location
- Atlanta, Georgia
This is a sketch made by a young Robert E. Lee while on his way to serve in the Mexican American War in the 1840s.
WOW! I never knew about the art training! That makes so much sense!That's quite impressive.
Professional officers received some training in art, because in those days before easy photography, they were expected to be able accurately to reproduce illustrations and diagrams of terrain, fortifications, and the like as part of their routine service. The expectations of Lee, as a military engineer, would have been higher still. Some officers (e.g., Henry Walke of the U.S. Navy) became very accomplished artists in their own right.
I have read that one of Lee's strengths was his great ability to see "over the hill," i.e., to get a picture in his own mind of the surrounding terrain and its military application. It's a great skill to have in a military officer.
This drawing by Edward Everett is from the same period.
View attachment 201798
I am new to this site and need some guiding. I have a drawing that I obtained over 40 years ago in Chadds Ford,Pa. The letter states the following:This is a sketch made by a young Robert E. Lee while on his way to serve in the Mexican American War in the 1840s.
View attachment 201791
WOW! I never knew about the art training! That makes so much sense!
I always was fascinated by the West Point curriculum at this time. Even for those who, unlike Lee, didn't do well in their studies, it was an impressively wide range of subjects they were expected to learn, ranging from hard math and science for engineering to sketching to foreign languages, as well as various classes on military tactics.That's quite impressive.
Professional officers received some training in art, because in those days before easy photography, they were expected to be able accurately to reproduce illustrations and diagrams of terrain, fortifications, and the like as part of their routine service. The expectations of Lee, as a military engineer, would have been higher still. Some officers (e.g., Henry Walke of the U.S. Navy) became very accomplished artists in their own right.
I have read that one of Lee's strengths was his great ability to see "over the hill," i.e., to get a picture in his own mind of the surrounding terrain and its military application. It's a great skill to have in a military officer.
This drawing by Edward Everett is from the same period.
View attachment 201798
I why Lee did not do well in his studies?Thanks so much to all of you who posted examples of his art! Not sure I've ever seen any of his work before.
I always was fascinated by the West Point curriculum at this time. Even for those who, unlike Lee, didn't do well in their studies, it was an impressively wide range of subjects they were expected to learn, ranging from hard math and science for engineering to sketching to foreign languages, as well as various classes on military tactics.
Quite the opposite: Lee did very well in his studies. He graduated second in his class.I why Lee did not do well in his studies?
Robert E. Lee, Douglas S. Freeman, Vol. I, p. 81Lee's consistent good conduct and soldierly bearing now found their reward in these entries on the roll of general merit:
Mathematics (maximum 300) -- 286
French (maximum 100) -- 98½
Natural Philosophy (maximum 300) -- 295
Drawing (maximum 100) -- 97
Engineering (maximum 300) -- 292
Chemistry and Mineralogy (maximum 100) -- 99
Geography, Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy (maximum 200) -- 199
Tactics (maximum 200) -- 200
Artillery (maximum 100) -- 100
Conduct (maximum 300) -- 300
General Merit (maximum 2000) -- 1966½89
These credits put him at the head of the class in artillery and tactics and gave him equal place in conduct with Barnes, Burbank, Harford,Kennedy, and Mason, who had received no demerits during the whole of their four years at the academy.90 In final class standing Mason was No. 1; Lee was No. 2; Harford, Joseph A. Smith, and James Barnes followed in order.91 Lee finished his fourth year, as he had all the others, with a place on the list of "distinguished cadets."92
Sorry if my original post was unclear. I was posting in a hurry and on the sly.I why Lee did not do well in his studies?
Some of the combos are so odd!Interesting that Geography has been thrown in there with Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy
Can't really see the connection ...
I definitely haven't, but have seen the work of Ulysses S. Grant. Until Andy post his explanation above, I had always wondered why 'art' was even a subject, but now it all makes sense.Thanks so much to all of you who posted examples of his art! Not sure I've ever seen any of his work before.
All I can think is what a great loss he must have been to the Union side when he tendered his resignation.makes the accomplishments of those who were at the top of the class (like Lee) even more impressive.
One was "Natural and Experimental Philosophy" which sounds like a philosophy class, but the textbooks are for stuff like mechanics, optics, acoustics, and even astronomy!
p. 56-59Military instruction was limited in Robert's first year to what a private soldier would have received at an active army post under a good company-officer. Drill, however, ate up the little time that French and mathematics left.
p. 63Lee and his class plunged into more advanced mathematics — calculus, analytical and descriptive geometry and difficult conic sections, with instruction chiefly by Professor Davies. A course in perspective, shades and shadows was included with the mathematics.10 French was continued, with Gil Blas the text, followed late in the session by Voltaire's Histoire de Charles XII, as suited for the education of a soldier.11 The one added academic study was free-hand drawing of the human figure.
p. 68-69he entered on scientific studies that were entirely new to him. Mathematics was dropped. Drawing was continued and was given a higher credit. It called for two hours' work each week-day afternoon and included landscape and topography. Chemistry and "natural philosophy" — physics in modern academic terminology — became his major studies for the year.40
The course in "natural philosophy," had a valuation of 300 on the merit roll, three times as much as the year's work in chemistry. Taught only to men of the second class, it covered the elements of mechanics, experimental physics, light, heat, magnetism, electricity, and astronomy.41
[...]
In military study, Lee's class passed that year through the school of the battalion, learned the duties of sergeants, and was drilled in the exercise and manoeuvres of artillery pieces.
p. 75was crowded all the technical military training, together with a second course in chemistry and a hurried, superficial survey of geography, history, ethics, and moral philosophy.
p. 63was under the tutelage of Thomas Gimbrede, an amiable Frenchman, a good miniaturist, and a competent engraver, who was not altogether without the blessed quality of humor. It was Mr. Gimbrede's custom to give each class of beginners an introductory lecture, in the course of which he endeavored to prove to unbelieving third-classmen that every one could learn to draw. His proof was: "There are only two lines in drawing, the straight line and the curve line. Every one can draw a straight line and every one can draw a curve line — therefore, every one can draw."12
It always cracks me up that James McNeill Whistler was an otherwise terrible student at West Point but always aced the art classes.Until Andy post his explanation above, I had always wondered why 'art' was even a subject, but now it all makes sense.
I can't remember what year they added them, but they seem to always be in the back when they finally showed up! Definitely some interesting reading!
Thanks for the link to the book lists btw!