Theodore Russel Davis (1840–1894) was a 19th-century American artist, who made numerous eye-witness drawings of significant military and political events during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and its aftermath.

Early years

As a child, Theodore R. Davis was taken to Washington, D.C. where he graduated from Rittenhouse Academy. At age fifteen, he moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. In New York City he studied

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

art with Henry Walker Herrick (1824–1906) and received informal training from James Walker (1819–1889), who acquired prominence as a military painter after the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

.Davis, Theodore (artist). In Holsinger, M. Paul
''War and American Popular Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia.''
Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1999.

War

After the beginning of the

, Davis was hired by

Harpers Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...

in 1861 as a special artist to sketch the war events. Before the actual fighting erupted, he managed to visit the ''South'' pretending working for ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

,'' with

William Howard Russell Sir William Howard Russell, (28 March 182011 February 1907) was an Irish reporter with ''The Times'', and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents. He spent 22 months covering the Crimean War, including the Sieg ...

, a British correspondent, and made sketches of life in Charleston, Savannah, Montgomery, Pensacola, and New Orleans. Throughout the war, he traveled extensively the eastern and western theaters documenting the

Battle of Port Royal The Battle of Port Royal was one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War, in which a United States Navy fleet and United States Army expeditionary force captured Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, between Savannah, Geor ...

, the fight between the ''Monitor'' and the ''Merrimac,'' the

Siege of Corinth The siege of Corinth (also known as the first Battle of Corinth) was an American Civil War engagement lasting from April 29 to May 30, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. A collection of Union forces under the overall command of Major General Henry ...

and the

Siege of Vicksburg The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Missis ...

, among others. He was with the Union forces during the battles of

Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union ...

and

Chickamauga Chickamauga may refer to: Entertainment * "Chickamauga", an 1889 short story by American author Ambrose Bierce * "Chickamauga", a 1937 short story by Thomas Wolfe * "Chickamauga", a song by Uncle Tupelo from their 1993 album ''Anodyne (album), Ano ...

and took part in

Sherman's March to the Sea Sherman's March to the Sea (also known as the Savannah campaign or simply Sherman's March) was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 until December 21, 1864, by William Tecumseh Sherman, major ...

.Theodore Russel Davis, an essay by Estill Curtis Pennington. In Kelly, James C
South on Paper: Line, Color, and Light.''
Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2000. His first war illustration was published in ''Harper's Weekly'' in May 1861; altogether he submitted 252 drawings. Some of these drawings include the

Battle of Champion Hill The Battle of Champion Hill of May 16, 1863, was the pivotal battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Union Army commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee pursued the retreating Confe ...

, and the most significant sketch of General

Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia seceded ...

and General

William T. Sherman William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

meeting at the Bennett Farm near Durham Station to discuss the

surrender Surrender may refer to: * Surrender (law), the early relinquishment of a tenancy * Surrender (military), the relinquishment of territory, combatants, facilities, or armaments to another power Film and television * ''Surrender'' (1927 film), an ...

terms of the remaining

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

armies in the Southeast. During the war, Theodore Davis was injured several times, and once a bullet ripped his sketchbook out of his hands. He wrote in ''How A Battle Is Sketched'', Gen.

John A. Logan John Alexander Logan (February 9, 1826 – December 26, 1886) was an American soldier and politician. He served in the Mexican–American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a stat ...

said, "Unquestionably Mr. Davis saw more of the war than any other single person."

Post-war

After the Civil War, Theodore Davis spent a short time illustrating

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

activities in the ''South'' and traveled with Generals

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

, and

Winfield Scott Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service ...

during their campaigns against the Indians in the West. When the

Atlanta Cyclorama The Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum was a American Civil War, Civil War museum located in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Its most noted attraction was the Atlanta Cyclorama, a cylindrical panoramic painting of the Battle of Atlanta ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia was being painted, Davis was asked for ideas stemming from his travels with Sherman's army; he was added to the painting. He worked with panoramic painters such as Friedrich Wilhelm Heine and August Lohr on larger projects. Davis was chosen to create china dinnerware for

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

Lucy Hayes, wife of president

Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor ...

. Davis suggested using American flora and fauna and produced 130 designs of animals, plants, and scenic views. At the time the cost for the order came out to $3,150. A guest named Clover Adams, a Washington, D.C. socialite, famously observed that when she dined at the White House, she could hardly eat her soup peacefully from a Davis-designed plate as she had to watch a coyote leaping from behind the tree.White House China Service
/ref> Theodore R. Davis death resulted from

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied b ...

; he died at

Asbury Park, New Jersey Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188

, aged fifty-four.

Selection of wood engravings from ''Harper's Weekly''

Image:Vicksburg Blockade Rams - Civil War 1863 - Switzerland and USS Lancaster in the rear.jpg, USS ''Lancaster'' follows her sister ship ''Switzerland'' past the Vicksburg batteries, 25 March 1863 Image:Attack on the Enemy's Centre, Near Marietta, Georgia.jpg, '' Attack on the Enemy's Centre, Near Marietta, Georgia'', 1864 Image:Charge of Weaver's Brigade Across the Salkehatchie.jpg, '' Charge of Weaver's Brigade Across the Salkehatchie'', 1865 Image:Battle of Champion Hill.png, Davis' drawing of the

. Image:Battle of Milliken's Bend.jpg, Battle of Milliken's Bend Image:Andrew Johnson impeachment trial.jpg, '' Andrew Johnson's Impeachment Trial in the Senate'', 1868

China design

File:Hayes presidential china dinner plate 1877.jpg, Dinner plate designed for Lucy Hayes File:Seafood Salad Plate, illustrated by Theodore Davis, Haviland & Co., United States, 1880, porcelain - Portland Museum of Art - Portland, Maine - DSC04220.jpg, Seafood salad plate

References

External links

Biography of Theodore Russel Davis
''Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, Wisconsin''
White House China Service

Fascinating First Ladies' & Fascinating Facts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Theodore R 1840 births 1894 deaths American artists Harper's Weekly artists