Manassas 2

Manassas 2

Richard J. LeFevre (1931 - 2000)

1994

watercolor and mixed media on papepr

After the battles for Richmond, General George B. McClellan retreated with his Army of the Potomac from the Virginia Peninsula heading north, and General Robert E. Lee decided to engage him. On August 28, 29, and 30, the two armies fought at the Battle of Second Manassas, near Washington, D.C., where just over a year before Confederate and Union forces fought the Battle of Bull Run or First Manassas. Shown in the central portion of the painting is Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson mounted on his horse, Sorrel, looking over the plain as the 6th Wisconsin regiment called the Iron Brigade arrived on the scene. Shown at the extreme right is Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter who led the attack against Jackson’s Army of Northern Virginia on the second day of the battle. General Porter was later court-martialed for insubordination, a charge that he denied and fought for over twenty-five years before clearing his name. Shown in his center is Maj. Gen. John Pope. When I painted this piece, I smeared a little red paint across his face, because that is what I think of General Pope. To the left is shown Maj. Gen. James Longstreet who, on the second day of Porter’s charge, arrived on his flank, and the battle ended as a great Southern victory.

Bequest of the Artist