The Army of the Potomac - A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty

The Army of the Potomac - A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty
The Army of the Potomac - A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty

The Army of the Potomac - A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty

Date1862
Original created by (American painter and illustrator, 1836–1910)
Illustration CitationHarper's Weekly (November 15, 1862)
MediumWood engraving
Dimensionscomposition: 15 1/2 × 10 3/4 in. (39.4 × 27.3 cm)
sheet: 16 × 11 5/16 in. (40.6 × 28.7 cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, 2006
Object number2006-78
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPRINT
Label TextIn October of 1861, Harper's Weekly sent Winslow Homer to the Civil War front as an artist-correspondent. In 1862, he traveled to the Virginia battlefront with the Army of the Potomac for two months. Several of his illustrations from this period include picket duty, that is, the defence by sentinels stationed ahead of the encampment from surprise attack. This image is based on Homer's first oil painting (which was not yet finished at the time of the Harper's publication) and depicts a solitary Union soldier, using new rifle technology to remain unseen by the enemy. The precipitous angle and the finely balanced pose of the sniper emphasize his dangerous assignment.

Homer himself was appalled by modern warfare, saying later about snipers: "I looked though one of their rifles once...The...impression struck me as being as near murder as anything I could think of in connection with the army and I always had a horror of that branch of the service."
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