Alexander Gardner, 17 Oct 1821 - 10 Dec 1882 Search this
Sitter:
Wesley Merritt, 16 Jun 1834 - 3 Dec 1910 Search this
Philip Henry Sheridan, 6 Mar 1831 - 5 Aug 1888 Search this
George Crook, 8 Sep 1828 - 21 Mar 1890 Search this
James William Forsyth, 08 Aug 1834 - 24 Oct 1906 Search this
George Armstrong Custer, 5 Dec 1839 - 25 Jun 1876 Search this
Medium:
Albumen silver print
Dimensions:
Image/Sheet: 45.8 × 40.9 cm (18 1/16 × 16 1/8")
Mount: 56 × 45.8 cm (22 1/16 × 18 1/16")
Mat: 71.1 × 55.9 cm (28 × 22")
Type:
Photograph
Date:
c. 1865
Exhibition Label:
Another in Alexander Gardner’s valedictory series of the major Union commanders in each theater of the war, this photograph groups four of the figures from the 1864 campaign in the Shenandoah Valley under the command of Philip Sheridan (1831–1888). Sheridan is standing to the left; at the table are cavalry officer Wesley Merritt (1834–1910); George Crook (1828–1890), who had an independent force in western Virginia before joining Sheridan’s army; Sheridan’s chief of staff, James W. Forsyth (1835–1906); and perhaps America’s most famous cavalryman, George A. Custer (1839–1876).
This photograph brings together the men who would be major figures in the settlement of the Great Plains and the Indian Wars—none more emblematic than Custer. As such, it provides the bridge between the first half of Gardner’s career during the Civil War and the images of western land and people on which he focused during the rest of his photographic career. One war had ended; another was beginning.