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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

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circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Title: Valiant men "Dat Fite Mit Siegel"

Depicts a house being plundered and burned while a woman kneels, begging Federal officers to spare her children from the flames. The officers appear haughty and indifferent to her pleas. The threat of sexual violation is implicit as an officer with a gun holds her by the laces of her corset, revealing a torn dress and her bare breast. In the upper left of the sketch one sees an older child holding a baby trying to escape out a second-floor window. An oddly dressed character to the right of the frame takes aim at the children, in a seemingly despicable act of wanton cruelty. Amidst this…

GLC00493.14

circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Title: Tracks of the armies

Depicts a Confederate soldier returning home to find his home destroyed and his wife and dog dead. All of his belongings lay scattered and ruined, while in the distance another building burns. Vultures are perched above, more symbols of death. It is significant to note that the bare breast of the dead wife is exposed in the rubble, suggesting that she may have been the victim of sexual assault as well as murder. Although Volck does not specify which army committed such atrocities against civilians in his title, it was understood by all who viewed the sketch that it was the Union army that was…

GLC00493.15

circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Title: Formation of guerrilla bands

Foreground depicts an angry figure trying to convince a farmer, who has had his homestead destroyed by Union forces, to take revenge by joining a guerrilla band in the background. The farmer sits with his wife and son among the ruins of what appears to be their house while other buildings smolder in the background. One of them could be the angry man's house. The men of the guerrilla band raise their fists in defiance and carry a banner that reads "No more surrenders." Size in extent is for the mount. The actual size of the etching is 20.2 x 26.5 cm. Title in pencil on verso.

GLC00493.16

circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Title: Jennison's Jayhawkers

Depicts a group of Union guerillas, known as Jayhawkers, attacking a Southern homestead. During the war, the Jayhawkers were the Seventh Kansas Calvary commanded by Colonel Charles R. Jennison. A man rides off with a woman on his horse amidst a scene of chaos and destruction. The Jayhawkers have attacked a homestead, shooting the men, stealing the animals, destroying the house, and burning the barn. The women trying to run away in the distance appear to be in danger of being shot, while the woman in the foreground in the clutches of the rogue on horseback looks heavenward. The bodice of her…

GLC00493.17

circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Title: Smuggling medicine into the South

Depicts a boat laden with medical supplies being unloaded quickly by a group of men, both civilian and military. A gentleman, perhaps a doctor, climbs down from his perch in a tree, presumably from whence he has been waiting for the shipment to arrive. An ardent Confederate sympathizer, Volck was active in smuggling medicines into the South across the Potomac River. Size in extent is for the mount. The actual size of the etching is 20.4 x 26.6 cm. Title in pencil on verso.

GLC00493.18

circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Title: Offering of bells to be cast into cannon

Depicts a pastor and members of his congregation presenting church bells to be used to create weapons of war. The officer who accepts the bells removes his hat in recognition of the reverence of the occasion. Enslaved people are depicted lifting bells and other materials. An enslaved man to the left of the center of the sketch, wears a long apron and has removed his hat. Among the other items that have been donated appear to be candlesticks and andirons. This is one of the few sketches to which Volck put his own initials "AJV" in the lower left corner. The intials "EBM" also appear above…

GLC00493.19

circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Title: Albert S. Johnston crossing the desert to join the Southern army

Depicts Albert Sidney Johnston in the right foreground, dressed in deerskin garb with a Native American guide and a ragtag group of men following behind. Like many other Confederate leaders, Johnston was serving in the United States army when war broke out in 1861. Johnston resigned his commission in April 1861 and hastened east from California, crossing the deserts of Arizona and Texas, to offer his services to the Confederacy. The allusion to crossing the desert may be Biblical in nature. Johnston was killed at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. Size in extent is for the mount. The actual…

GLC00493.20

circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Title: Gen'l Stuart's raid to the White House

Depicts Confederate cavalrymen under the command of General J.E.B. Stuart descending upon the Federal line only to find one Hezekiah Skinflint, a sutler who had provided provisions, in this case "ale and lager," to the soldiers. Many Southerners held stereotypes against the free-market North, and Volck buys into that by giving the sutler a name that means selfish and miserly. A bewildered Skinflint is being taken into custody at gunpoint, his supplies confiscated. The long line of covered wagons stretching into the distance suggests that many other supplies were taken in this raid of the…

GLC00493.21

circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Title: Gen'l Stuart's return from Pennsylvania

Depicts a line of cavalrymen stopping to allow their horses to rest. The officer at the left of the picture blows a bugle as his horse drinks from a stream. The other horses, some of which have their tongues sticking out, appear tired and thirsty. As the title suggests, these men are part of General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry division which made raiding stops in Pennsylvania during its second successful ride around the Army of the Potomac in October 1862. Among the items taken from Pennsylvania residents by Stuart's men were horses and, at least according to this sketch, hats: one soldier can be…

GLC00493.22

circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Title: Butler's victim of Fort St. Philip

Depicts a heavily fortified prison where reputable and well-dressed citizens of New Orleans are shown at manual labor, shackled with ball and chain. The prisoners are guarded by members of the local home guard African American Zouave unit, who point to and mock them. In the distance, General Benjamin Butler escorts two ladies, most likely Unionist locals, through the compound. Federal forces under General Benjamin Butler and Admiral David Farragut captured Fort St. Philip, New Orleans in April 1862. Size in extent is for the mount. The actual size of the etching is 20.2 x 26.7 cm. Title in…

GLC00493.23

21 August 1862