Art

Panorama of the Army of the Cumberland

The National Museum of American History is not an art museum. But works of art fill its collections and testify to the vital place of art in everyday American life. The ceramics collections hold hundreds of examples of American and European art glass and pottery. Fashion sketches, illustrations, and prints are part of the costume collections. Donations from ethnic and cultural communities include many homemade religious ornaments, paintings, and figures. The Harry T Peters "America on Stone" collection alone comprises some 1,700 color prints of scenes from the 1800s. The National Quilt Collection is art on fabric. And the tools of artists and artisans are part of the Museum's collections, too, in the form of printing plates, woodblock tools, photographic equipment, and potters' stamps, kilns, and wheels.

Topic: Architecture

Quails or Partridges

Colored print of two quail standing on a rock beside a tree stump. A small log house with a shed and wooden fence appears in the background.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of two quail standing on a rock beside a tree stump. A small log house with a shed and wooden fence appears in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1830
maker
Childs & Inman
artist
Doughty, Thomas
ID Number
DL.60.2697
catalog number
60.2697
accession number
228146

Country Place of Worship

Black and white print of men, children and horses outside a small wooden church in the woods. A dog and turtle are also depicted.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of men, children and horses outside a small wooden church in the woods. A dog and turtle are also depicted.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
publisher
American Sunday School Union
maker
Kollner, August
ID Number
DL.60.2986
catalog number
60.2986
accession number
228146

Washington and His Staff at Valley Forge by Veron Fletcher and Edward Moran

George Washington and five of his officers are featured in a scenic, snowy landscape.
Description
George Washington and five of his officers are featured in a scenic, snowy landscape. Valley Forge was headquarters for the Continental Army in 1777 and 1778 during the Revolutionary War, and is infamous as the place where 2,500 American soldiers died during the winter from exposure and starvation. Based on the artist Veron Fletcher’s painting, which was exhibited at the Smithsonian in February 1855, the print was drawn on stone by Edward Moran, brother of noted artist Thomas Moran. The print came with a two page key that included a biography on each of the soldiers.
Revolutionary War scenes often are used to convey patriotism. This scene highlights the heroic officers rather than depicting the gruesome hardships of war. The officers on horseback are the Marquis de Lafayette, Nathaniel Greene, Anthony Wayne, and Henry Knox. Standing in the background on the right is Col. John Brooks. It should be noted that Alexander Hamilton is not depicted. The building on the viewer's left was the headquarters which was still standing at the time the print was drawn according to the key on the original sketch. Thousands of Americans had prints of Washington in their homes prior to the Civil War. But given the size and $15.00 cost- based on the advertisement by Hensel & Urwiler of Philadelphia- this chromolithograph would have been purchased for a public building, well off school, college, library, or a business such as an eating establishment, or by a wealthy individual.
The original artist for this image was Veron Fletcher, a portrait painter, active in Philadelphia between 1848 and 1870. The lithographer, Edward Moran, was an English immigrant who came to the United States with his family in 1844. Trained by John Hamilton, he is most recognized for a set of 13 paintings which represented the history of marine life in the United States. The publisher was Herline, a company base out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lithographer/engraver Edward Herline, was born in 1825 in what is now in Bavaria, and immigrated to the United States with his brother Gustav in the 1840s. They settled in Philadelphia, and founded Herline & Company, a lithography firm. In 1857, lithographer Daniel Hensel joined the company and the name of the company changed to Herline & Hensel until 1964 when the company obtained another partner and became known as Thurston, Herline & Company.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1855
depicted
Washington, George
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier Marquis de Lafayette
Greene, Nathanael
Wayne, Anthony
original artist
Fletcher, Veron
lithographer; graphic artist
Moran, Edward
publisher
Herline and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2582
catalog number
60.2582
accession number
228146

Union Military Chart

This 1861 patriotic print produced by Magnus & Co. assisted the Northern public as it followed family and friends throughout the war.
Description
This 1861 patriotic print produced by Magnus & Co. assisted the Northern public as it followed family and friends throughout the war. It features a large 1859 map of the eastern United States, with red overprinting to designate railroad tracks, steamboat routes, and telegraph lines. Below the main map, the print also includes four smaller charts, including a military map of Maryland and Virginia, a map of the Union-occupied Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Florida, a general map of the eastern seaboard and a map of Northern military movements between New York and St. Louis. Adorning the print are illustrations of different military drills from Hardee’s Tactics, written by former West Point commandant William Hardee. Ironically, Hardee had been commissioned to write his 1855 manual of military tactics by then-Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, and would later fight for the Confederacy. Two female allegorical personifications of Liberty and Justice are included next to a view of the Capitol Building, envisioned with its dome completed.
Charles Magnus (1826-1900) was born Julian Carl Magnus in Germany and immigrated with his family to New York City sometime between 1848 and 1850. During the 1850s, he learned the printing business while working with his brother on a German language weekly newspaper, the Deutsche Schnellpost. He later began his own lithographer firm, producing city views and commercial letterhead designs. During the Civil War, he designed pro-Union envelopes and illustrated song sheets. From Washington, D.C. branch, he also produced small, hand-colored scenes of Union camps and hospitals. Soldiers purchased these picturesque scenes of camp life to send home to calm the worries of anxious family members.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1861
maker
Charles Magnus & Co.
ID Number
DL.60.3310
catalog number
60.3310

Untitled (Outdoor scene with a mill and people)

Black and white print; outdoor scene of two men, two women and a child frolicking in a clearing between a house and a mill with a water wheel. Man carries child piggyback. There is a lake and mountains in the background.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print; outdoor scene of two men, two women and a child frolicking in a clearing between a house and a mill with a water wheel. Man carries child piggyback. There is a lake and mountains in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3015
catalog number
60.3015
accession number
228146

Union Prisoners at Salisbury, N.C.

One of the earliest images of baseball is this hand colored lithograph of Union prisoners at Salisbury Confederate Prison. It is part of the Harry T. Peters “America on Stone” Lithography Collection at the National Museum of American History.
Description
One of the earliest images of baseball is this hand colored lithograph of Union prisoners at Salisbury Confederate Prison. It is part of the Harry T. Peters “America on Stone” Lithography Collection at the National Museum of American History. Though various forms of baseball were played in England and America for over a century prior to the Civil War, modern rules of the game were not developed and employed until the 1850s. The evolving Knickerbocker Code or rules had its origins in metropolitan New York in 1845. Union soldiers, more familiar with the game, introduced others, including Southerners and Westerners to baseball throughout the Civil War, resulting in thousands of soldiers learning the game. Upon returning home, the game spread to friends and neighbors and soon the sport was played in every region of the country, solidifying its title as “The National Pastime."
The baseball game pictured in this print was played at Salisbury Confederate Prison in North Carolina. Between December 9, 1861 and February 17, 1865, the prison housed 10,000-15,000 Union prisoners of war and other assorted detainees. The compound was designed to temporarily hold Union officers until they could be exchanged for Confederate troops. The facility was constructed around an empty 20 year-old brick three story cotton factory on 16 acres of land near a railroad line and the town of Salisbury. For the first couple of years of its existence, the prison had wells of sweet water, adequate medical facilities and sufficient food.
Soldiers’ diaries document the detainees’ daily routines and pastimes. Prisoners from the first half of 1862 noted that baseball games were played nearly every day, weather permitting. For the first couple of years, prisoners were also permitted to whittle, read, write letters, attend lectures, perform “theatrics,” play cards such as poker, and go fishing. Prisoners also gambled as is evidenced by the dice game underway in the lower right corner of the print. Prisoners even published their own newspaper. Some prisoners were given town visitation privileges, so it was not uncommon for POWs to trade buttons and barter small personal items for fresh fruits and vegetables.
As the war continued, conditions began to deteriorate. After the summer of 1862, prisoner exchanges ceased. Records indicate that few Union prisoners were held in the prison in 1863 and early 1864, but the facility was used for Southern political prisoners, conscientious objectors, Confederate deserters and Southern civilians that ran afoul with the authorities. As the war dragged on, food and medicine became scarce for both prisoners and guards. By mid 1864, the prison filled up with Union POWs of every rank. Later that year, the camp exceeded its capacity and become overcrowded. Living conditions deteriorated further and life in Salisbury prison became as miserable as other prison camps. The mortality rate jumped from a low 2% to devastating 28%; an estimated four to five thousand men died. Finally, on February 17, 1865, the Confederate and Union governments announced a general POW exchange and more than five thousand prisoners left Salisbury.
The baseball game pictured in the print was played during the late spring or summer of 1862, before living conditions deteriorated and when prisoners still had a good chance of leaving through a prisoner exchange. The baseball players on both teams are POWs, possibly men previously held in New Orleans and Tuscaloosa, as they were known to have played at the camp during this time. Although guards occasionally joined in the games, it is not reflected in this print. Spectators included townspeople as well as guards and one seated figure with a cigar that looks suspiciously like Grant. Two guards (center and center far left) are pictured with guns. The town is depicted in the background beyond the stockade or wooden fence. A red, white and blue flag flying overhead in the center of the print is probably a Confederate regimental flag, though it could possibly be an error on the artist’s part with a reversal in the colors of the North Carolina Confederate flag. The prison compound included small cottages, a meat packing plant for the Confederate Army, a blacksmith shop and a small hospital.
The artist of the original watercolor sketch used for the lithograph was Otto Botticher or Boetticher (1811-1886). Botticher was a Prussian immigrant and held the rank of a Union captain when he was captured on March 29, 1862 around Manassas, Virginia. Prior to the war, Botticher had been a portrait painter in New York and New Jersey. He produced several paintings and lithographic plates of military subjects with the aid of early photography using daguerreotypes and ambrotypes. His work displays precision and excellent attention to detail, indicating he likely had formal draftsmanship training. Botticher may also have attended a military school and/or been a member of the army in Prussia, according to his biographer, Seward R. Osborne. He was known as Major Otto Botticher prior to the Civil War. In July 1861, Botticher joined the 68th New York Volunteer Infantry, known as the Cameron Rifles and was given the rank of captain. After his capture, he was sent first to Libby Prison near Richmond, where he sketched “Libby Prison- Union Prisoners at Richmond, Va.,” also produced by Sarony, Major & Knapp and Goupil, Co.. When he was transferred to Salisbury Prison, he produced the watercolor that was used to create this lithograph. He was released as a result of a prisoner exchange on September 30, 1862 at Aiken's Landing, Virginia, when he was exchanged for a Confederate captain from Virginia’s 7th army. Botticher rejoined his regiment, serving as captain of Company B at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He was wounded at Gettysburg while serving with his regiment in the 11th Army Corps, and was discharged in June 1864, but achieved a brevet rank of lieutenant colonel with the New York State Volunteers in September 1865. After the war, Botticher continued as an artist, illustrator, and lithographer. He also worked as a consulate agent for the North German Union before dying in 1886.
Botticher’s watercolor sketch of the Salisbury Confederate Prison baseball game was used to create the lithographic print in 1863. The lithographic firm was Sarony, Major & Knapp of 449 Broadway, New York City. The firm was founded by Napoleon Sarony and Henry B. Major in 1846; Joseph F. Knapp joined the firm in 1857. Sarony, Major & Knapp earned a solid reputation for lithography and the company was especially known for its fine art chromolithography. Unfortunately, by the 1870s, the firm shifted focus to the more profitable area of advertising. It also expanded to become the conglomerate known as the American Lithographic Company, successfully producing calendars, advertising cards, and posters. In 1930 they were bought out by Consolidated Graphics.
This print was produced and promoted 1863 by Goupil & Co. or Gouipil & Cie, a leading international publisher, printer, and fine art dealer. The company was founded in Paris by Jean Baptiste Michel Adolphe Goupil (1806-1893) and his wife Victorine Brincard. The Goupils widely promoted art and owned exclusive galleries as well as common sales rooms in New York, Paris, London, The Hague, Brussels, Berlin, and Vienna. Through various partners they had considerable resources and were able to capitalize on the interest in the newly popular American game. This ready-made market proved lucrative as the print sold well overseas. While the print does picture a pro-Southern view of leisure in a Confederate prison camp, it was also popular in the North for the images of Union officers and of course for the depiction of a baseball game in progress.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1863
maker
Sarony, Major, & Knapp
artist
Botticher, Otto
ID Number
DL.60.3741
catalog number
60.3741

Summer

Colored print; rural scene of a farm during summer. At center two men load hay on a haywagon pulled by two oxen. A group of people nearby enjoy a picnic in the field. A body of water and hills are in the background.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print; rural scene of a farm during summer. At center two men load hay on a haywagon pulled by two oxen. A group of people nearby enjoy a picnic in the field. A body of water and hills are in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1871-1875
maker
Haskell & Allen
artist
Howe, E.R.
ID Number
DL.60.2637
catalog number
60.2637
accession number
228146

View of the House in New Utrecht L.I.

Color print of a one-story brick colonial Dutch house with casement windows, divided door and tile roof. There is a picket fence in the front and a rail fence in the back of the house.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of a one-story brick colonial Dutch house with casement windows, divided door and tile roof. There is a picket fence in the front and a rail fence in the back of the house.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1866
maker
Brown, Arthur
ID Number
DL.60.3665
catalog number
60.3665

View of Agua Fria Town

Black and white print on blue paper of a small town at the foot of hills. Men work in fields in the foreground.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print on blue paper of a small town at the foot of hills. Men work in fields in the foreground.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Quirot & Company
ID Number
DL.60.3822
catalog number
60.3822

A Startling Fact

Colored comic print; outdoor scene of man falling into creek because the tree limb from which he was fishing has broken. Man wears street clothes: striped vest, jacket and trousers. A creel is slung over his shoulder.
Description (Brief)
Colored comic print; outdoor scene of man falling into creek because the tree limb from which he was fishing has broken. Man wears street clothes: striped vest, jacket and trousers. A creel is slung over his shoulder. A high silk hat, fishing pole with fish and can of bait are falling into water. Another fisherman looks on from the background. Classical revival building also in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1859
distributors
Phelps & Watson
distributor
Whiting, George
maker
E.B. and E.C. Kellogg
ID Number
DL.60.2292
catalog number
60.2292
accession number
228146

Great Bend of Arkansaw River

Color print of an Indian camp on a river bank depicting tepees under trees. Indians are fishing, smoking a pipe and working on a hide stretched on a frame.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of an Indian camp on a river bank depicting tepees under trees. Indians are fishing, smoking a pipe and working on a hide stretched on a frame.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Vincent Brooks Day and Son
ID Number
DL.60.3520
catalog number
60.3520

The Farmer at Market

Black and white print of a man selling products from a covered wagon to a woman on a city street.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a man selling products from a covered wagon to a woman on a city street. The print was originally pasted on a sheet of manilla paper with several smaller prints cut out and pasted on the other side and is thought to have come from a child's scrapbook.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Kollner, August
ID Number
DL.60.2992
catalog number
60.2992
accession number
228146

A Home in the Country (Summer)

Colored print of a rural home in summer, with other houses and a church in the background. A group of children swing on a gate at right. A boy and girl appear below a large tree near a well at center, with the boy lifting a bucket from the well.
Description (Brief)
Colored print of a rural home in summer, with other houses and a church in the background. A group of children swing on a gate at right. A boy and girl appear below a large tree near a well at center, with the boy lifting a bucket from the well. Men, women and children stroll and/or ride along a lane at left. Two verses from "The Old Oaken Bucket" appear beneath the image.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1866
publisher
Spence, R. S.
maker
Robertson, William C.
ID Number
DL.60.2644
catalog number
60.2644
accession number
228146

Sherman at Savannah, Ga.

This print depicts General William Tecumseh Sherman at the end of his Savannah Campaign. Both Sherman Sherman and Grant believed that the Union Army would only be victorious if it could break the Confederacy both economically and psychologically.
Description
This print depicts General William Tecumseh Sherman at the end of his Savannah Campaign. Both Sherman Sherman and Grant believed that the Union Army would only be victorious if it could break the Confederacy both economically and psychologically. Sherman ordered the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of Georgia on a scorched earth campaign through Georgia during the winter of 1864, destroying Southern railroads, telegraph lines, and farms. When Sherman reached Savannah, the Confederate forces guarding it fled, and the mayor surrendered the city to the Union general on December 21, 1864. In this print, Sherman rides on his horse on the outside of the city. He is followed by his officers, many of whom are identified below the illustration. Various buildings of Savannah are visible in the background and to the right, a company of infantrymen stand at attention. At the lower right, the lithographer has included the text from a telegram from Sherman to Lincoln, asking the President to accept the city of Savannah – along with its guns, ammunition, and cotton – as a Christmas present.
A caption at the bottom of the print recognizes that the image was based on an “Original Picture by Br. Lt. Col. Otto Botticher.” Botticher was a Prussian immigrant artist who served as an officer in the Civil War. From 1853-1854 he partnered with Thomas Benecke as a portrait painter and lithographer. Prior to the Civil War, he produced several paintings and lithographic plates of military subjects with the aid of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, early forms of photography. His work displays precision and excellent attention to detail, indicating that he probably had formal draftsmanship training. He enlisted along with his sons, in New York City on July 22, 1861, the day after the First Battle of Manassas, in the 68th New York Volunteers Infantry (Cameron Rifles) and by August he was given the title of Captain. He was captured by Confederates March 29, 1862 near Manassas, Virginia and was in at least 2 prisoner of war camps – Libby Prison in Richmond and Salisbury Prison in North Carolina– before being paroled during a prisoner exchange. He participated in the battle at Chancellorsville, and was wounded at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. He chronicled his activity during the early years of the war and his time in Confederate prison camps in a series of sketches. Although Botticher’s regiment was stationed in Savannah in November of 1865, it was never there at the same time as Sherman, meaning that the artist instead relied on photographs and his imagination when designing the scene. The officers he depicted are:
Brigadier General Jordan, Brevet Colonel L.G. Estes, Major General Judson Kilpatrick, Major General Joseph A. Mower, Major General Peter J. Osterhaus, Major General Frank P. Blair, Brigadier General L.C. Easton, Major General John M. Corse, Major General W.P. Hazen, Major General John A. Logan, Brigadier General O.M. Poe, Major General H.W. Slocum, Major George Ward Nichols, Major General J.W. Geary, Major General Jeff O. Davis, Major General W.T. Sherman, Major General A.S. Williams, Major General O.O. Howard, Major General W.F. Barry, Brigadier General H.A. Barnum.
John Chester Buttre (1821-1893) designed this print after the original painting by Botticher. Buttre was an American steel-plate engraver and lithographer who was active in New York City. During the Civil War he sold several million copies of prints of President Lincoln and high-ranking generals.
The work was copyrighted in 1865 and produced by the company of Major & Knapp. Joseph Frederick Knapp joined the lithography firm of Napoleon Sarony and James Major in 1854, two former employees of Nathaniel Currier. After Sarony departed in the mid-1860s to pursue photography, the business was renamed Major & Knapp.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1865-1866
depicted
Sherman, William Tecumseh
maker
Botticher, Otto
Buttre, John Chester
Major & Knapp Engraving, Manufacturing & Lithographic Company
ID Number
DL.60.2610
catalog number
60.2610
accession number
228146

The Effects of the New Liquor Law by Kimmel and Forster

This hand-colored print depicts an exterior scene of a man and woman pushing a baby carriage down a street. The man is smoking a long Meerschaum pipe and carries a walking stick.
Description
This hand-colored print depicts an exterior scene of a man and woman pushing a baby carriage down a street. The man is smoking a long Meerschaum pipe and carries a walking stick. The baby sits on a keg of lager; the man has a keg strapped to his back, and a little boy trails behind drinking a mug of beer and carrying a small keg over his shoulder. A small dog approaches a foaming mug of beer in the street behind the boy. In the left background a group of people rally around a lager banner. In the right background a man has fallen to the ground and raises an arm to a woman passerby.
This print was produced by the lithography firm of Kimmel and Forster. Christopher Kimmel was an engraver, lithographer, and printer active in New York City from 1850-1876. He was born in Germany around 1830. Kimmel became a member of the New York engraving firm of Capewell & Kimmel from 1853 to 1860 with British born Samuel Capewell, and then partnered with Thomas Forster in 1865, forming the lithography firm of Kimmel & Forster, which was active until 1871.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1865
lithographer; publisher
Kimmel and Forster
ID Number
DL.60.2952
catalog number
60.2952
accession number
228146

The Soldier's Return

Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater w
Description
Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
This colored print is a full length portrait of a man and woman standing, outdoors, with arms about each other. A riderless horse is tied to the wrought iron fence in background. The man is dressed in a blue military uniform with gold trim and epaulets and a belt buckle marked "US." The woman is in a simple dress, wearing a portrait miniature that hangs from a chain around her neck. A portion of the house is in the background. This is a companion print to "Soldier's Adieu."
This print was produced by James S Baillie, was active in New York from 1838 to 1855. James Baillie started as a framer in 1838, and then became an artist and lithographer in 1843 or 1844. He discovered how to color lithographs while working as an independent contractor for Currier & Ives in the mid 1840’s. A prolific lithographer and colorist for Currier & Ives; his prints were extremely popular with a wide distribution. J. Baillie spent his later years concentrating on painting instead of lithography.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1847
maker
Baillie, James S.
ID Number
DL.60.2254
catalog number
60.2254
accession number
228146

Protector Engine No. 2

Color print of fire engine (Protector) on a residential street. There are four uniformed firemen on the sidewalk in the foreground and two houses in the background.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of fire engine (Protector) on a residential street. There are four uniformed firemen on the sidewalk in the foreground and two houses in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
distributor
Needham, D.
maker
Kelloggs & Comstock
ID Number
DL.60.3304
catalog number
60.3304

View of a Farm Below the Blue Ridge Mountains near Gettysburg, Pa.

Color print of a log house with a yard enclosed by split-rail fence. A woman stands by the fence while a man on horseback speaks with a man standing near a covered wagon and four horses.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of a log house with a yard enclosed by split-rail fence. A woman stands by the fence while a man on horseback speaks with a man standing near a covered wagon and four horses.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
Maker
Kodak Corp.
artist
Kollner, August
ID Number
DL.60.3653
catalog number
60.3653

The Home Preacher by Endicott and Company

This black and white print is an allegorical representation of the path to eternal damnation. It depicts a city, "The City of Corruption," surrounded by erupting volcanoes, with a fiery, roiling lake in the foreground.
Description
This black and white print is an allegorical representation of the path to eternal damnation. It depicts a city, "The City of Corruption," surrounded by erupting volcanoes, with a fiery, roiling lake in the foreground. The path of damnation is crowded with people walking toward the lake, while some are tumbling into it. A placid river, calm ocean and setting (rising?) sun are in the background, representing God's love and salvation. The image is keyed, with numbers corresponding to the text below.
This print was produced by Endicott and Company, the successor to the New York firm of Geo. & Wm. Endicott Lithographers. George (1802-1848) and William Endicott (1816-1851) were born in Canton, Massachusetts. George Endicott began working as a lithographer in New York in 1828. He partnered with Moses Swett in the company Endicott & Swett from 1830 to 1834. William Endicott joined the company in 1841. Following George Endicott's death in 1848, the firm continued operating as William Endicott & Co. Francis Endicott (born ca. 1834) worked at the company from 1852 to 1886 and George Endicott, Jr. ran the firm from 1887 to 1891.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1857
copyright holder
Fuller, George L.
maker
Endicott and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2489
catalog number
60.2489
accession number
228146

Fort Monroe, Old Point Comfort and Hygeia Hotel, Va

The first fort on Point Comfort was constructed by the settlers of Jamestown in 1609, but the fortification displayed in this 1861 print was completed in 1834 and named in honor of President James Monroe.
Description
The first fort on Point Comfort was constructed by the settlers of Jamestown in 1609, but the fortification displayed in this 1861 print was completed in 1834 and named in honor of President James Monroe. After the fall of Fort Sumter, Lincoln ordered the fort to be reinforced to prevent it from meeting a similar fate. Although located in Hampton, Virginia, Fort Monroe remained in Union hands for the entirety of the war. The strategically placed stronghold served as a base for Union attacks into Virginia and also as a refuge for runaway slaves, who were freed by the Union forces if they reached the fortress.
The Hygeia Hotel was constructed in 1822 and was visited by many famous American notables, including Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, and Edgar Allen Poe. It was demolished the year after this print was produced, in order to create more space for defenses. In the print, sailing ships and a steamboat cruise past Point Comfort, which is connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway.
The print’s creator, Edward Sachse, moved to America from Germany sometime in the 1840s. He settled in Baltimore, working under E. Weber & Co., one of the city’s most prominent lithography firms. He established E. Sachse & Co. in 1850, specializing in bird’s eye views of Baltimore and Washington D.C. His brother Theodore joined the firm in the mid-1850s and after Edward’s death in 1873, Theodore’s son Adolph headed the company, as A. Sachse & Co., from 1877 to 1887.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1861
maker
E. Sachse and Company
ID Number
DL.60.3788
catalog number
60.3788

First Blood

Black and white print; four scenes depicting Indians killing the Baker and Jones families in the town of Acton, Minnesota, August 18, 1862.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print; four scenes depicting Indians killing the Baker and Jones families in the town of Acton, Minnesota, August 18, 1862. The scenes are labeled: "No.1, The Approach.";" No.2, Cabin as now Stands.";"No.3, The Massacre.";"No.4, The Trial of Guns."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1863
maker
Charles Shober and Company
Chicago Lithographing Company
ID Number
DL.60.2562
catalog number
60.2562
accession number
228146

The Great Fire at Boston, November 9th & 10th 1872.

Color print of a large fire along the waterfront of Boston.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of a large fire along the waterfront of Boston.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
after 1872
maker
Haskell & Allen
ID Number
DL.60.3299
catalog number
60.3299

Ocean House Nantucket, Massachusetts

Black and white advertising print for a hotel (Ocean House) with a view of a three-story Federal style building above the text.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white advertising print for a hotel (Ocean House) with a view of a three-story Federal style building above the text.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1862-06-01
maker
Daniels, J.H.
ID Number
DL.60.3664
catalog number
60.3664

Harper's Ferry, Va.

Before the war, Harper’s Ferry was home to the United States Armory and Arsenal, which shipped weapons throughout the country.
Description
Before the war, Harper’s Ferry was home to the United States Armory and Arsenal, which shipped weapons throughout the country. In 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown launched his famous raid against this armory, hoping that his actions would trigger a large-scale slave insurrection. During the war, Harper’s Ferry switched hands eight times, because of its strategic location on both B&O Railroad and on the Mason-Dixon Line, which divided North and South. This undated, picturesque print presumably shows the town before its exposure to wartime violence. Smoke rising from a chimney in the town signifies that the armory workers are busy producing firearms. A train on the B&O railroad crosses a bridge over the Potomac in the lower left.
The print’s creator, Edward Sachse, moved to America from Germany sometime in the 1840s. He settled in Baltimore, working under E. Weber & Co., one of the city’s most prominent lithography firms. He established E. Sachse & Co. in 1850, specializing in bird’s eye views of Baltimore and Washington D.C. His brother Theodore joined the firm in the mid-1850s and after Edward’s death in 1873, Theodore’s son Adolph headed the company, as A. Sachse & Co., from 1877 to 1887.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
E. Sachse and Company
ID Number
DL.60.3723
catalog number
60.3723

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