Campaign Sketches: Foraging 1863

Winslow Homer created this print, entitled *Campaign Sketches: Foraging,* during the American Civil War. We see two Union soldiers struggling to lead a cow, presumably taken from a local farm. Homer, embedded with the Union Army as an artist-correspondent, made a name for himself translating scenes of war into popular imagery. While he is known for depicting the heroism of battle, this work tells a different story. The term "foraging" takes on a new meaning when understood as an act of desperation amidst conflict. We see the moral complexities faced by soldiers, caught between duty and the realities of war, and the impact on the civilian population. Consider the emotional weight of this scene: the struggle to control the animal, the backdrop of a war-torn landscape, and the implied plight of the farmers whose livelihoods are being disrupted. Homer here captures the raw, human dimensions of a conflict that tore the nation apart.