The Graphic War

Vicksburg

By Salvatore Cilella · Originally published July 2022 · pp. 19–20

The Graphic War highlights prints and printmakers from the Civil War discussing their meaning and the print maker or artist’s goals. We have written about Alfred Mathews, Union soldier and artist. He enlisted as a musician in Company E of the 31st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which saw action throughout the war. The 31st was attached to Army of Ohio from November 1861 to November 1862 when it joined the Army of the Cumberland until it mustered out in July 1865. Mathews participated in practically all the unit’s actions but mustered out in September 1864, just prior to Sherman’s march to the sea. He saw action at Perryville, Stone’s River, Nashville, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and the Atlanta Campaign.1 In July 1863, while the nation became fixated on Lee’s advance toward Pennsylvania, Grant and his army were hunkered down in the siege of Vicksburg. It was the Army of theTennessee from midMay to July 4, 1863, that laid siege to the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi. This scenario presented a problem for our lithographer/artist Alfred Mathews. How and why did he get such close access to a battle that he was not engaged in, was not attached to any units that were engaged, and yet was able to capture the desolation of the siege? Not much is known of Mathews’ movements during the war as compared to his post war years documenting western towns and country. As print historians, Neely and Holzer point out, Mathews is well known to collectors of Western subjects, but “his name is not as familiar among students of the Civil War.”2 In fact, those familiar with the essential, four volume Battles

CivilWarNews.com and Leaders will not recognize Mathews’ renderings of either the Battle of Stone’s River or Vicksburg because “Century’s editors (the magazine publisher and later publisher of B&L) copied Matthew’s [sic] work, crediting the source only as ‘From a Lithograph’.”3 Century used four from Stones’ River and four from Vicksburg. The Library of Congress holds two of Mathews’ Vicksburg views. They were used to illustrate Grant’s narrative on the battle and the Vicksburg Campaign.4 According to Neely and Holzer, Mathews did not provide glimpses of daily camp life such as Edwin Forbes did, but instead offered “sweeping images of combat,” much “different from the patriotic lithographers” like Currier and Ives because “they were more accurate.”5 Both lithographs featured here bear identical title margin attributions: “The Siege of Vicksburg – Major General U.S. Grant, commanding / JG; sketched by A.E. Mathews, 31st O.V.I.; Middleton, Strobridge, & Co. Lith. Cin. O.” Mathews depicts officers in the foreground near trees and bushes observing an explosion on the upper right, possibly at Confederate Fort Hill, during a bombardment of the Union encampment and earthworks outside the city; other Confederate earthworks are sited along a ridge in the background. On the left center is “C. Battery Archer, consisting of two heavy siege guns.” The center panel identifies Company E, of the 12th Wisconsin Battery”, and on the right center “F Company, 6th Wisconsin Battery.” Major features are identified by letter with a corresponding “Description of the Position” printed across the title margin. The second print is more elaborate depicting the same bleak terrain. Major features are again identified by letter with a corresponding legend or key printed across the lower edge of the title margin. According to the description provided by the Library of Congress, the print depicts the positions of the First Brigade, Brig. Gen. M.D.

Leggett, commanding, consisting of the 20th Illinois, 31st Illinois, 45th Illinois, 124 Illinois, [and] 23rd Indiana; the Second Brigade, Col. M.F. Force, Commanding, consisting of the 20th Ohio, 68th Ohio, 78th Ohio, [and] 30th Illinois. The Third Brigade, Brig. Gen. John D. Stevenson, commanding consisting of the 8th Illinois, 17th Illinois, 7th Missouri, 32d Ohio, [and] 81st Illinois. And the Artillery, Maj. C.J. Stolbrand, Commanding. Capt. W.S. Williams’ Battery, (3d Ohio), Capt. Sparrestrom’s Bat’y, (D 1st Reg. Ill. Art.), 8th Michigan, Lieut. T.W. Lockwood, Capt. W.H. Bolton’s Bat’y (L 2d Reg. Ill. Art.), [and] Capt. Yost’s Battery, (Captured Battery).” Mathews sketched several other engagements, in which he was either engaged or conjured imagery from another artist’s work. They include but are not limited to On the March from Hamburg to camp before Corinth Strobridge; The Battle of Jackson, fought May 14, 1863, Gallant charge of the 17th Iowa, 80th Ohio, and 10th Missouri; the Female Seminary, Nashville, barracks of the 31st OV, March

The siege of Vicksburg - Major General U.S. Grant, commanding / sketched by A.E. Mathews, 31st O.V.I. ; Middleton Strobridge, & Co. Lith. Cin. O. Print shows officers in the foreground standing near trees and bushes observing an explosion on the upper right, possibly at Confederate Fort Hill, during a bombardment of the Union encampment and earthworks outside Vicksburg, Mississippi; other Confederate earthworks are sited along a ridge in the background. On the left center is “C. Battery Archer, consisting of two heavy siege guns,” at center is “E. 12th Wisconsin Battery,” and on the right center is “F. 6th Wisconsin Battery,” Major features are identified by letter with a corresponding “Description of the Position” printed across the bottom. (Library of Congress)

1862; the Battle of Stones River, (already written about); The Battle of Shiloh, the Gunboats Tyler and Lexington supporting the national troops; The Battle of Shiloh. Charge and taking of a New Orleans battery by the 14th Regt. Wisconsin Volunteers Monday. April 7, 1862. He also drew several other lesser skirmishes and battles in 1861 and 1862. Mathews created a canvas panorama of the capture of Vicksburg and the battles of Stone River, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge, which he exhibited in 1864 and 1865.6 It was out west, after the war, where Mathews built his reputation as a lithographer and artist. He eventually settled north of Boulder, Colorado, where he succumbed to appendicitis in 1874 at age 43. His artistic endeavors may not appeal to the connoisseur of fine art, but they authentically capture the bleakness of the battlefield. Additionally, the notes in the title margin provide students and historians of the war yet another source of information crucial to a better understanding of the war. 1.

Endnotes:

See Cilella, Civil War News, “The Battle of Stones River or Murfreesboro,” December 2019. Mark Neely, Harold Holzer, The

Union Image: Popular Prints of the Civil War North. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2000, pp. 70 & 72. Ibid., p. 72. Neely and Holzer misspell Mathew’s name using two “t’s.” U. S. Grant, “The Vicksburg Campaign,” Battles and Leaders, III, 493-539. Mark Neely, Harold Holzer, 77. Mathews Papers, Denver Public Library https:// archives.denverlibrary.org/ repositories/3/resources/8586.

After 43 years in the museum field, Cilella devotes his time collecting American prints and maps and writing. His last professional position was President and CEO of the Atlanta History Center. His most recent books are Upton’s Regulars: A History of the 121st New York Volunteers in the Civil War (U. Press Kansas, 2009). His twovolume Correspondence of Major General Emory Upton, (U. of Tennessee Press, 2017), received the 2017–2018 American Civil War Museum’s Founders Award for outstanding editing of primary source materials. His latest book “Till Death Do Us Part,” an edit of Upton’s letters to his wife 1868-70, was published in 2020 by the Oklahoma University Press.