Visions

Broken Officer

by Jack D. Warren, Jr. | Oct 20, 2023 | Visions

The Revolutionary War was fought decades before photography changed the way people far from the battlefields imagined the experience of war. Americans of the revolutionary generation relied on artists for images of battle, often engraved on copper or wood, printed, and sold for modest prices for display in homes or taverns or other public places. The first published depiction of a major Revolutionary War battle was a modest print titled A Correct View of The Late Battle at Charlestown June 17th. 1775. It was engraved by Robert Aitken, a...

Above: The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, John Trumbull, ca. 1786-1831, Yale University Art Gallery

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