Dick the cook: a sketch in time

New York newspaper artist Edwin Forbes sketched this picture of “Dick, the cook” near Culpeper Court House - today’s town of Culpeper - in September 1863.

It was one month before the Union Army, numbering more than 100,000, settled around the town of Culpeper at the height of the American Civil War.

Forbes started his career as an illustrator in 1861 for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. He was sent to cover the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, according to the Becker Collection on-line.

Forbes followed Union troops from the Shenandoah Valley to the battles at Manassas in 1862 and the siege of Petersburg in 1864.

Forbes apparently spent some time in Culpeper as well and is said to have made quick sketches on the battlefield before refining them later.—by Allison Brophy Champion