Camp sentry, Rappahannock Station, Va.
1864
Edwin Forbes captured the weary vigilance of the Civil War in this 1864 depiction of a Union sentry standing guard at Rappahannock Station, Virginia. Dressed in a heavy blue overcoat and leaning casually on his rifle, the soldier gazes off into the distance with a stoic expression against a moody, overcast sky. Forbes traveled with the Army of the Potomac as an artist-correspondent, famous for bringing the gritty, unglamorous reality of camp life to Northern readers through his realistic illustrations. This piece strips away the chaos of battle, focusing instead on the quiet, lonely duty of the common soldier waiting in the damp cold.
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