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Currier & Ives Genl. Shields at the battle of Winchester, Va. 1862

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02881.34 Author/Creator: Currier & Ives Place Written: New York, New York Type: Print Date: 1862 Pagination: 1 lithograph : col. ; 30.6 x 40.6 cm. Order a Copy

Hand colored print published by Currier & Ives at 152 Nassau Street, New York. Caption under title says: "The Battle was commenced on the afternoon of March 22nd at which time Genl. Shields while in the act of leading forward his men, was struck by the fragment of a Shell, which broke his arm above the elbow, and so far disabled him, that the next day he was obliged to give his orders for the battle while extended on his couch. His brave followers fought with such desperate valor, that they forced back the Rebel Army under Jackson, and drove them in flight from the field." Depicts General James Shields in the center of the picture atop his horse, which is on its hind legs, after a cannon ball exploded nearby. The explosion wounded Sheilds. He is in the act of urging his soldiers forward. The bodies of two dead soldiers are strewn in the foreground. Print is mounted.

After skirmishing with Major General Nathaniel P. Banks’s retreating army at Middletown and Newtown on May 24, Major General Stonewall Jackson’s division continued north on the Valley Pike toward Winchester. There, Banks was attempting to reorganize his army to defend the town. General Richard Ewell’s division converged on Winchester from the southeast using the Front Royal Pike. On May 25, Ewell attacked Camp Hill, while the Louisiana Brigade of Jackson’s division outflanked and overran the Union position on Bowers Hill. Panic spread through the Federal ranks, and many fled through Winchester. Banks’s army was soundly defeated and withdrew north across the Potomac River. This was a decisive battle in Jackson’s Valley Campaign.

Currier & Ives, fl. 1857-1907
Shields, James, 1806-1879

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