The Union Cavalry and Artillery Starting in Pursuit of the Rebels up the Yorktown Turnpike
published May 17, 1862
Medium
Wood engraving on paper
Dimensions
Image: 23.5 × 35.2 cm (9 5/16 × 13 7/8 in.); Sheet: 28.7 × 40.7 cm (11 5/16 × 16 1/16 in.)
Classification
wood engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
158303
Art Historical Context
Step into the charged atmosphere of the American Civil with Winslow Homer's *The Union Cavalry and Artillery Starting Pursuit of the Rebels up the Yorktown Turnpike*, wood engraving published on May17, 1862. Created during the Peninsula Campaign, this print captures Union forces charging up the Yorktown Turnpike Virginia, hot on the heels of retreating Confederate "Rebels" after the Siege of Yorktown. As young artist and special correspondent for *Harper's Weekly*, Homer embedded with troops, sketching scenes that brought the war's immediacy to Northern homes through mass-printed illustrations...
About the Artist
Winslow Homer · 1836–1910
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was one of America's greatest painters and a preeminent figure in 19th-century American art. Largely self-taught, Homer began his career as a commercial illustrator and Civil War correspondent for Harper's Weekly before becoming renowned for his powerful marine subjects and landscape paintings. His mastery of both oil and watercolor, combined with his uncompromising reali...