Civil War Battlefield Art-- Part 3: From Battlefield to Newspaper

"Special artists had to work fast, identifying a war scene's focal point, blocking out the composition in minutes and fleshing it out later at camp."

They took great pride in their making their renderings as accurate as possible. They would then dispatch their sketches by horse courier, train, or ship to the publisher's office, where a home artist copied the image onto blocks of wood. Engravers then carved different sections of the drawing, the more experienced working on detailed figures and complex compositions while apprentices took on the simpler background tasks.

Once the engraving was completed, it was electrotyped-- copied onto metal plates in preparation for printing.

Usually it took three weeks to get from the special artist to print, but major battles might get rushed into print within a matter of days.

--Old Secesh