Great Sumter Meeting in Union Square, New York, April 11, 1863

Regarded as one of the great American Realists of the nineteenth century, Winslow Homer is known primarily for his large body of works in oil and watercolor. However, he also had an early career as a freelance illustrator, making drawings for wood engravings that were reproduced in mass-circulation periodicals such as Harper's Weekly. In 1998, the Brooklyn Museum received a generous gift of more than 250 wood-engraved illustrations by Homer from Harvey Isbitts.

Here, Homer illustrates a mass meeting that was held in New York on the second anniversary of the attack on Fort Sumter, which began the Civil War, "to reaffirm the determination of loyal men everywhere to prosecute the war until the rebellion is extinguished." This type of a “pep rally” was especially needed because the war was far more devastating and drawn out than the Union forces had originally envisioned and young men were paying huge sums of money to buy exemptions from conscription.