Sheridan's Ride

William Sartain|Bradley & Company|Major General Philip Henry Sheridan|Christian Schussele|R. H. Curran

1868 · Etching and engraving · Drawings and Prints

After training in Paris, Schussele moved to New York and specialized in portraits and history subjects. Based on one of his paintings, this engraving celebrates the heroism of Philip H. Sheridan, a thirty-three-year-old Union general tasked, in the summer and fall of 1864, with pushing Confederate forces commanded by General Jubal Early back down the Shenandoah Valley and away from Washington D.C. By October 19, the opposing armies were camped near Cedar Creek, Virginia, when Sheridan, separated from his men by a dozen miles, heard artillery fire at dawn and surmised a surprise attack. After making an aggressive cross-country ride, the general rallied his retreating men and turned rout into victory. A Harper's Weekly report on November 4 inspired a poem by Thomas Buchanan Read that became an instant sensation, and turned Sheridan and his horse Rienzi into Union heroes. Schussele's image of the general rousing his dispirited troops echoes the elevated tone of the poem.

Artist

William Sartain|Bradley & Company|Major General Philip Henry Sheridan|Christian Schussele|R. H. Curran

Date

1868

Medium

Etching and engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1947