A cavalry horse
1863
Edwin Forbes sketched this weary-looking cavalry horse right in the thick of the American Civil War, dating the piece October 6, 1863, in Culpepper, Virginia. Unlike the heroic, muscular stallions found in grand history paintings, this horse appears tired and lean, capturing the gritty, unglamorous reality of animals serving in the Army of the Potomac. Forbes was a special artist for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, meaning he lived and traveled with the troops to document the war directly from life, making his sketches incredibly valuable historical records of the conflict's everyday struggles.
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