Soldiers as artists

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
Some Civil War soldiers kept diary or a journal and some recorded the Civil War in art. I thought we might look at how the average Civil War soldier saw the War through their art works.

I will start with Private Alfred Bellard and his Personal Recollections of the Way By a Private Soldier of Company G, 5th Regt, N.J. Volunteers. Here is Private Bellard's view of a Berdan's sharpshooter.

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This one done by a Confederate soldier
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This was by John Jacob Omenhausser who served in the 46th Virginia Infantry and was later taken prisoner in June 1864 and sent to Point Lookout.

His many watercolor paintings and letters from his time in the field and in prison have been published in I Am Busy Drawing Pictures: The Civil War Art & Letters of Private John Jacob Omenhausser, CSA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0942370651/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Some of his artwork can also be viewed here: https://digital.lib.umd.edu/image?pid=umd:50498


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This is outstanding! Yes, I believe these could thus far be considered folk art. The watercolor of soldiers in camp is definitely a folk art sort of image. It is probably my favorite so far, but how can one really pick favorites from choices that are this much fun? They are all great finds. Yes, please keep them coming.
 
I will also comment specifically about Private Bellard's art. Although he is not as skilled as a professional, he might have had some training or at the very least he has a remarkable eye. He has introduced perspective in his images, as well as rounded forms defined by light and shadow--chiaroscuro. These are steps toward realism. Contrast them with the flat, but still wonderful image of the soldiers in camp. In that image, the log and the pot handle are the only forms shown in perspective and there is no roundness derived from shading. Even so, the artist gives us a slightly aerial look into the tops of the round pots. These are all really excellent!
 
This was by John Jacob Omenhausser who served in the 46th Virginia Infantry and was later taken prisoner in June 1864 and sent to Point Lookout.

His many watercolor paintings and letters from his time in the field and in prison have been published in I Am Busy Drawing Pictures: The Civil War Art & Letters of Private John Jacob Omenhausser, CSA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0942370651/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Some of his artwork can also be viewed here: https://digital.lib.umd.edu/image?pid=umd:50498


?format=2500w.jpg

John Jacob Omenhausser did a a fair number of images which show the same men in the same uniforms. I believe may provide some insight into the dress of POWs and confederate soldiers in his unit. Although possible considered fold art his works almost fall into the category of opinion cartoons. Regardless of how you view his work his images are wonderful.
 
The importance of these type of first hand drawings for later historians is that they show real dispositions of troops in the field.
 
Are these types of images done by soldiers of any real historical value?

Yes! Definitely.
My favorite and the best example of how these drawings can provide historical info is the drawings made by at soldier at Lookout Mountain and he later made a drawing of Rock Island Prison.
His sketch of Confederate position at Battle of Lookout Mtn was researched on one of the episodes of "History Detectives". They identified the artist was not at that battle but drew it for a fellow prisoner later at Rock Island. The artist used a drawing from Harpers Weekly as his source for his drawing.
His sketch of the camp was interesting as it included many figures and some activities they we involved in.
I will try to post them if I can find them.
 
Again sort of an editorial comment. This one by Private Alfred Bellard. Here he says something about the feeling of defeat at First Bull Run. Or were the 5th N.J. volunteers in uniforms this ragged? An on line search will come up with some images by Private Alfred Bellard that are a bit graphic of injured men and thus not fit for a family friendly forum.

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John Jacob Omenhausser did a a fair number of images which show the same men in the same uniforms. I believe may provide some insight into the dress of POWs and confederate soldiers in his unit. Although possible considered fold art his works almost fall into the category of opinion cartoons. Regardless of how you view his work his images are wonderful.
Yes, Omenhausser's artwork give some good insight into camp life, uniforms, dialog. In his Point Lookout paintings he depicts a lot of prisoners wearing the imported blue-gray kersey/cadet gray cloth that was prevalent later in the war. The dialog's also pretty entertaining to read.

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