Gettysburg

Gettysburg

Richard J. LeFevre (1931 - 2000)

1992

watercolor and mixed media on paper

Along with the fall of Vicksburg on July 4, the Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1-3, 1863, was the turning point for the Union in the American Civil War. I designed this piece as a triptych to be framed as three separate paintings displayed together side by side. This famous engagement, that led to 46,000 and 51,000 casualties between the two armies, started accidentally when one division from Confederate Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's Third Corps headed for the little town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, looking for shoes they heard could be found there. Union Brig. Gen. John Buford’s cavalry met Hill’s division as it moved toward Gettysburg. On the left in this painting is Union General George Gordon Meade, who replaced General Hooker as the Commander of the Army of the Potomac. General Meade was often referred to as that “goggle-eyed bullfrog.” The general on the right is Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The center illustration is from the vantage point behind the center of the Union lines on the third day of the battle as Confederate Maj. Gen. George Edward Pickett lined up his division for the now famous and doomed “Pickett’s Charge” across a mile-wide open pasture. Commander of the Union Second Corps Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock (shown as the smaller man in the General Meade frame) was the general at the center of the line on the third day who faced Pickett's charge and repulsed it. Below General Hancock is a picture of Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the hero of the Battle for Little Round Top during the second day of the battle. The two generals shown next to General Lee are Maj. Gen. James Longstreet (above), and one of his division commanders, the general known for his last charge, George Pickett. Also included in this painting is General Lee’s old beloved warhorse, Traveller, who he could always depend on.

Bequest of the Artist