Description
Union scouts in the foreground observe Confederate troops crossing the Potomac River into Maryland in September 1862, a strategic deployment by Confederate general Robert E. Lee that culminated in the Battle of Antietam. This pencil, Chinese white, and ink drawing was made by Alfred R. Waud, a field artist for Harpers Weekly. An engraved version of this scene was published in the September 27, 1862, edition of the magazine; some changes were made in the finished engraving, however—among other things, the crossing was shown taking place in the daytime, not at night by moonlight.
