General. Robert E. Lee
date: label: Date made
content: 1867
name: label: depicted
content: Lee, Robert E.
label: copyright holder
content: Kelly, Thomas
label: printer
content: Spohni, G.
label: lithographic artist
content: Hohenstein, Anton
notes: label: Description
content: At the outbreak of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee had famously rejected the command of the Federal forces recruited to defend D.C. He instead opted for the rank of general in the Confederate Army, claiming that he could never fight against his fellow Virginians. After graduating second in his class from West Point in 1829, Lee served in the United States Army for 32 years. He saw action during the Mexican-American War and later returned to West Point to serve as its superintendent. There he emphasized equestrian instruction, training future cavalry generals, including Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and Union General Philip Sheridan. On October 17, 1859, U.S. Marines commanded by Lee – then a colonel – confronted John Brown at Harper’s Ferry, killing many of his raider and arresting the radical abolitionist.
label: Description
content: Although he lost his first engagement during the Civil War, Lee eventually proved his worth by repulsing George McClellan’s campaign towards Richmond during the Seven Days Battle. He then launched two failed invasions of the North, which were defeated at Antietam in 1862 and Gettysburg in 1863. In 1864, the new general-in-chief of the Union Armies, Ulysses S. Grant, ultimately gained the upper hand over the Confederacy after a brutal war of attrition. Surrounded by Grant’s armies, Lee finally surrendered his battered Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
label: Description
content: After the war, Lee was transformed into a legend. He became the personification of the Lost Cause, an interpretation of the war in which Confederate soldiers were remembered as heroic figures, fighting to preserve their way of life, eventually overpower by superior Northern resources and manpower. The myth of the Lost Cause remained popular throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, obscuring the actual history of the Civil War and the roles of slavery and race in the South. As the legend of Lee grew, so did the desire for printed portraits of the man. Printing had suffered during the war, and most of the post-war Lee prints were produced in the North, for both Northern and Southern audiences. In this 1867 lithograph from Philadelphia, the general poses in his military uniform, juxtaposed with the portrait’s lavishly-decorated civilian setting. He stands in front of a marble column, his left hand holding his sword and his right resting on a large map. The work bears a striking resemblance to several earlier paintings and sculptures of George Washington. Lee’s pose and the setting of the print hearken back to the earlier “Grand Manner” style of American portraiture, meant to further express the dignified status of the sitter. A facsimile of Lee’s signature has been included in the lower margin of the print.
label: Description
content: This lithograph was delineated by Anton Hohenstein, who was born in Bavaria in 1824. He immigrated to Philadelphia in 1850 and changed his name to Anthony Hochstein sometime during the 1860s. It was printed by George Spohny, a French-born lithographer, who worked under other Philadelphia printers, including Joseph Hoover and Jacob Haehnlen, and became known for his lithographs of historical events. This print was published by Thomas Kelly, a successful Irish-born lithographer who had learned the craft in Philadelphia from his father. He moved to New York, where he established a print and frame dealership and continued to publish picturesque scenes of American life. He is possibly the same Thomas Kelly who printed Catholic Bibles and prayer-books in New York, winning an award for these at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: Subject
content: Civil War
label: Subject
content: Furnishings
label: Subject
content: Communication, letter writing
label: Subject
content: Chronology: 1860-1869
label: Subject
content: Uniforms, Military
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: American Civil War Prints
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Peters, Harry T.. America on Stone
label: Related Publication
content: Southern Cultures
label: Related Publication
content: Holtzer, Harold and Gabor S. Boritt. The Confederate Image: Prints of the Lost Cause
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.3118
label: catalog number
content: 60.3118
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 24 1/4 in x 18 5/8 in; 61.595 cm x 47.3075 cm