June 2026 Header Image: Gaines’ Mill

This month’s header image is a section of Robert Knox Sneden’s map of the action during the Battle of Gaines’ Mill in June 1862. Sneden was a solider, landscape artist, and map maker for the Union Army, as well as a prisoner of war at Andersonville Prison. His paintings and descriptions of army life in his memoirs have enriched historians’ understanding of the Civil War since they were re-discovered in 1994. Check out this article from Doug Crenshaw to learn more about Sneden and the significance of his work.

The map is part of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture‘s collection of Robert Knox Sneden’s scrapbook inventory, and the museum also has other works of art and his memoirs.