St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-06-08
FAMOUS ARTIST.
A Talk with Theodore Davis, thu
War Correspondents.

4 Talk with Theodore Davis, the
War Correspondence.
Theo. r. Davis, the well known artist and
war correspondent of Harpers Weekly,
will be in Minneapolis the latter part of
this week. Few names, beyond those of
leading generals, became more familiar to
the people of the North, during the civil
war, than that of the boyish looking artist
who was in the fury of so many fierce
battles and who seemed to bear charmed
life. His sketches furnished graphic de-
scriptionS of great conflicts of the war and
his pen added to them in thrilling accuracy.
In later years, Mr.. Davis won reputa-
ton for his share of the great labor in
producing the three historical panorama
paintings, Gettysburg, Mission Ridge and
Atlanta. and his visit to this city will be in
connection with setting up the last named
picture. A GLOBE reporter met him at
Milwaukee on Sunday and at the mention
of Atlanta the face of the veteran flushed
with interest and enthusiasm. He is a re-
markably young looking man, but his health
was more or less broken by the toll and eX-
posture of the war, and though he retains
the vivacty and ardor of youth, his strength
is not in proportion. He rolled cigaret
and hurriedly lighted it to answer question
touching the siege OF Atlanta.
Its great thing-a magnificent thing"
he said eXcitedly, land knew it would be.
The detail is better than the others and the
fight was one of the most brilliant of the
war. There is so much life and action in
it, as we portray it, and it sends thelblood
tingling through my veins to look at it and
recall the scenes. Do you know, the fight
was so stubborn and hotly contested that
the lines jumped ditch seven times, adj
vancing and retreating. De Grasses bat
terry was lost. won, lost and finally retaken.
1t was surrendered after the ramparts were
deserted and the Johnnies right upon us
and then only after Frank De Grasse fired
two guns and he and 1 escaped in the
smoke. The ground was so fiercely con-
tested that in the official reports, on both
sides, three sets of men claim to have Oc-
cupied certain position at the same time.
| got the location of a regiment of our men
and the location of regiment OF JOhnnleS
from their respective commanders and they
were exactly in the same position. This
was the fight of all fights to portray on can
vass and | knew it from the beginning"
The battle of Atlanta, as repro
duced on the canvass, shows the
entire field at certain instant
OF Time, WIN the spectator viewing IL from
the center, on point on the Augusta rail-
road track. The key to the position was
the brick house of August Hurt. at which a
rampant had been thrown up, when the
celebrated De Grasse battery, of four brass
twenty FOUNDERS was at work. The bat
terry had been captured and after De
Grasse, with streaming eyes, had begged
Gen. Logan to retake it, the latter had
ordered charge all along the line. The
scene shows the charge. The Fifteenth,
Sixteenth and Seventeenth army corps were
in the line, from right to left, and the cen
ter foreground is with the colors of the
corps. 1t is vivid and realistic to high de-
gree, and gives more perfect conception
of the horrors of war than probably any
painting heretofore produced.