Civil War Art-- Part 9: Frank Vizetelly

In relation to the North, the Confederacy had no illustrated newspapers, other than Frank Leslie's and Harper's which made it across lines. However, the London Illustrated News sent noted British war artist Frank Vizetelly, fresh from covering fighting in Italy, to North America.

He first covered the war from the North's perspective until he saw the debacle at the First Battle of Bull Run. His unfavorable drawings and description of the rout got him banned from Union lines.

He now determined to cover the war from the Southern viewpoint. With the help of Confederate sympathizers and a freed slave, he crossed the Potomac River below the capital and joined the southern army along the Rapidan River.

He took up the cause of the South. The South now had their own special artist.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Art-- Part 8: Censoring

As mentioned in the previous post where an Arthur Lumley illustration of Union troops pillaging at the Battle of Freedricksburg, both Harper and Leslie did their part to shape public opinion, sometimes censoring images they considered to be too negative or graphic.

For instance, Harper editors made Alfred Waud's drawing of a leg amputation at an Antietam field hospital to look less gory.

Another Waud sketch of exhausted horses dragging artillery carts were given lifted heads and kicking up clods of mud.

Even so, the general public was becoming aware of the horrors of war as the war progressed as a result of the illustrations.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Art-- Part 7: Did Union Troops Actually Pillage?

At the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, Arthur Lumley, an Irishman working for the New York Illustrated News sketched Union troops pillaging the town.

He was incensed by the scene and wrote on the back of the drawing: "Friday Night in Fredericksburg. This night the city was in the wildest confusion sacked by the Union troops= houses burned down furniture scattered in the streets= men pillaging in all directions= a fit scene for the French revolution and a disgrace to the Union Army."

The journal never printed this image.

Wonder Why.  --Old Secesh

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

Civil War Battlefield Art-- Part 2: Hardships Abound

Famed illustrator Alfred Waud wrote in 1862: "No amout of money can pay a man for going through what we have had to suffer lately."

English-born Waud and Theodore Davis were the only two specials to remain on the job throughout the entire war. Davis later recalled what it took to do the job: "Total disregard for personal safety and comfort; an owl-like propensity to sit up all night and a hawky style of vigilence during the day; capacity for going without food; willingness to ride any number of miles horseback for just one sketch which might have to be finished by night by no better light than that of a fire."

--Old Secesh

Civil War Battlefield Art-- Part 1

From the May 2012 National Georgraphic Magazine by Harry Katz.

Photography during the Civil War by such as Matthew Brady and Timothy O'Sullivan was way too slow to record movement in any other way than a blur. Nor, did they have an easy time maneuvering their bulky equipment over rough terrain. They had more success recording after action scenes.

To give readers an idea of battlefield action, newspapers sent amateur and professional illustrators out to the battles and these "special artists" or "specials" became America's first pictorial war correspondents.

And, it was a rough, even deadly experience. One special, James R. O'Neill, was killed by Quantrill's Raiders. Two others, C.E.F. Hillen and Theordore Davis were wounded.

Frank Vizetelly was nearly killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virgina, on December 1862, when "a South Carolinian had a portion of his head carried away, within four yards of myself, by a shell."

More to Come. --Old Secesh