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Tag Archives: Harper’s Weekly
Alfred Waud’s Sketchy Spotsylvania (part one)
(part one in a series) In my capacity as historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge on the Spotsylvania Court House battlefield, I recently did some work to pin down the approximate location where IX Corps division commander Brig. Gen. Thomas Greely Stevenson … Continue reading
Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Newspapers, Primary Sources
Tagged Advance on Spotsylvania, Alexander Webb, alfred waud, Battle of Todd's Tavern, Bloody Angle, Brown House, Fredericksburg Road, Harper's Weekly, Library of Congress, Mule Shoe Salient, Ny River, Spotsylvania, Todd's Tavern, Upton's Assault, Waud's-Sketchy-Spotsy
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Untangling the Marmillions, Part 1
On January 30, 1864, Harper’s Weekly published a set of accounts from formerly enslaved blacks from New Orleans. Emancipated by Benjamin Butler during the Federal occupation of the town, these individuals came forward to give their testimonies to the atrocities … Continue reading
Santa’s November Dress-Rehearsal for Christmas
While you might be familiar with the famous image of Santa Claus on the cover of the January 3, 1863, issue of Harper’s Weekly, you might not be familiar with the image of Santa that appears inside that same issue. … Continue reading
Cartooning Contraband: Humor in Harper’s Weekly
ECW welcomes back guest author Cameron Sauers No major battle had yet occurred in May of 1861, but a major military decision had already altered the course of war. Union General Benjamin Butler had decided the fate of three slaves … Continue reading
Posted in Newspapers, Slavery
Tagged Benjamin Butler, cartoons, contraband, Fortress Monroe, Fugitive Slave Act, Harper's Weekly, John McLenan, minstrels
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Santa For the Yankees, Too
Santa, as we know him, is a creation of artist Thomas Nast who created the bearded old elf for the 1862-63 Christmas edition of Harper’s Weekly. In his famous drawing, he showed Union soldiers opening their Christmas boxes from home. One soldier … Continue reading
“Christmas Eve”
As I was working on my annual Christmas in the Civil War talk, I came upon a letter from Colonel Phillipe Regis Denis de Keredern de Trobriand. In it, de Trobriand asks his wife if she has seen an engraving … Continue reading
“An Especial Prize to the Boys:” Union Soldiers and the Illustrated News (Part 2)
This is the second of two posts regarding the relationship between Union soldiers and the emerging illustrated press during the Civil War. Part 1 may be found here. Soldiers were evidently grateful to receive the illustrated weeklies. Albert O. Marshall of the … Continue reading
Posted in Armies, Civilian, Common Soldier, Emerging Civil War, Material Culture, Newspapers, Politics
Tagged Army of the Potomac, Civil War Women, Daily Papers, edwin forbes, Engraving, Frank Leslie's Illustrated, Harper's Weekly, Hospitals, Illinois, Illustrated News, Illustrations, Lithographs, New York Herald, New York Illustrated News, Newspapers, Pennsylvania, Propaganda, Regimental Newspapers, South Carolina, Spotsylvania, Thomas Nast, Weekly Papers
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“An Especial Prize to the Boys:” Union Soldiers and the Illustrated News (Part 1)
This is the first of two posts regarding the relationship between Union soldiers and the emerging illustrated press during the Civil War. The Union soldier of the Civil War had an insatiable hunger for newspapers. Joseph C. G. Kennedy, head of … Continue reading
Posted in Armies, Battles, Civil War Events, Civilian, Common Soldier, Emerging Civil War, Material Culture, Newspapers, Politics
Tagged Army of the Potomac, Daily Papers, edwin forbes, Engraving, Frank Leslie's Illustrated, Harper's Weekly, Illustrated News, Illustrations, Indiana, Lithographs, New York Herald, New York Illustrated News, Newspapers, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Philadelphia Enquirer, South Carolina, Thomas Nast, U.S. Census, Weekly Papers
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A Sketch of Stevenson Ridge, 1864
A couple weeks ago, as I was looking at Harper’s Weekly’s coverage of the Overland Campaign, I came across a fun unexpected surprise: a wartime illustration from Spotsylvania that shows Stevenson Ridge. The image, sketched by Alfred Waud, is labeled … Continue reading
Thomas Nast from the North Anna River: “On to Richmond”
One of my favorite images of the Civil War comes from the June 18, 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly. The image, by Thomas Nast, is titled “The Campaign in Virginia—“On to Richmond!” and it accompanied the paper’s coverage of the … Continue reading
