Occupation of Alexandria, from "Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)"
Artist
Kara Walker
(b. 1969)
Date2005
MediumOffset lithography and silkscreen on Somerset Textured paper
DimensionsSheet Dimension: 39 × 53 in. (99.1 × 134.6 cm)
Frame Dimension: 41 × 55 × 1 3/4 in. (104.1 × 139.7 × 4.4 cm)
Frame Dimension: 41 × 55 × 1 3/4 in. (104.1 × 139.7 × 4.4 cm)
ClassificationsLithograph
Credit LineStephen B. Lawrence and Bette Batchelor Memorial Acquisition Funds
Terms
Object number2019.4.2
DescriptionFrom "Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)"; AP 3/10 (edition of 35 + 10 AP)This Harper’s illustration of the Occupation of Alexandria depicts the triumphant entry of the Union army into Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1863. While Union troops succeeded in seizing cotton and other goods in the ensuing months, the engagement—known as the Red River Campaign—was fraught with hardship and frustration. Upon the Union army’s retreat from the city in May of 1864, a mutinous band of soldiers set fire to city as they departed. Kara Walker’s addition of two figures in the lower right corner of the scene suggests the horror of Alexandria’s burning. As one soldier recounted: “About daylight this morning cries of fire and the ringing of the alarm bells were heard on every side. I think a hundred fires must have been started at one time… All we could do was help the people get over the levee, the only place where the heat did not reach and where there was nothing to burn... the sights and sounds were harrowing. Thousands of people, mostly women, children and old men, were wringing their hands as they stood by the little piles of what was left of all their worldly possessions.”
On View
Not on viewCollections
