Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac – Drawn by Mr. Thomas Nast (from "Harper's Weekly")
Thomas Nast American, born Germany
Publisher Harper's Weekly American
Not on view
In the fall of 1863, the Army of the Potomac gathered outside Washington and prepared to move south. This image, designed by Nast and published in Harper’s Weekly in mid-October, was intended to hearten Northern readers. A vast military array lines up to march past General George Meade and other Union commanders on a plain near the Potomac River. The accompanying text notes, "It is seldom that the artist…succeeds in conveying to the spectator the idea of immense numbers of men…Mr. Nast has…shown us the whole corps d’armee in active evolution. A nobler sight it is seldom possible to witness." With a victory at Gettysburg behind them, the Union was ready to engage General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. It would be another year and a half before the conflict ended.
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