Object Details
- Artist
- Thomas Buchanan Read, 12 Mar 1822 - 11 May 1872
- Sitter
- Philip Henry Sheridan, 6 Mar 1831 - 5 Aug 1888
- Exhibition Label
- Birthplace unknown
- Union Army solider Thomas Buchanan Read based this painting on his famous 1864 poem “Sheridan’s Ride.” Both poem and painting commemorate Union General Philip H. Sheridan’s legendary ride on October 19, 1864, to rally troops at the Battle of Cedar Creek in Virginia, turning defeat into a victory that helped secure President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection. This painting remained in Ulysses S. Grant’s family for many years.
- Beginning in the late 1860s, Sheridan adopted the scorched earth tactics he used against the Confederate Army for his wars against the Plains Indians. As commander of the Military Division of Missouri—one of the highest-ranking officials of the U.S. Army—he played a pivotal role implementing federal imperial ambitions. The resultant genocidal dispossession of nomadic Native American societies of the Great Plains helped define the era historians now call the “Greater Reconstruction,” which encompasses the West as well as the South.
- Lugar de nacimiento desconocido
- Thomas Buchanan Read, quien fue soldado de la Unión, basó esta pintura en su famoso poema de 1864 “La cabalgata de Sheridan”. Ambas obras conmemoran la legendaria cabalgata de Philip H. Sheridan, general de la Unión, el 19 de octubre de 1864, para organizar a sus tropas y conseguir la victoria en la Batalla de Cedar Creek, Virginia, ayudando a asegurar la reelección del presidente Abraham Lincoln. La pintura permaneció en la familia de Ulysses S. Grant por muchos años.
- Desde fines de la década de 1860, Sheridan adoptó contra los indígenas de las planicies la táctica de quemar tierras que había usado contra los confederados. Con el alto rango de comandante de la División Militar de Misuri, tuvo un papel central en la consumación de las ambiciones imperiales federales. El despojo genocida de las sociedades nómadas nativas de las Grandes Planicies fue un factor definitorio de la hoy llamada “Gran Reconstrucción”, que abarcó el oeste además del sur del país.
- Provenance
- Ulysses S. Grant III; gift to Smithsonian 1939 [to Division of History]; transferred to NPG 1968.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the National Museum of American History; gift of Ulysses S. Grant III, 1939
- 1871
- Object number
- NPG.68.51
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Stretcher: 137.2 x 98.7 x 3.8cm (54 x 38 7/8 x 1 1/2")
- Frame: 180.7 x 140.7 x 14.6cm (71 1/8 x 55 3/8 x 5 3/4")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Exhibition
- Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900
- On View
- NPG, East Gallery 120
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Weapon\Sword
- Exterior\Landscape\Battleground
- Nature & Environment\Animal\Horse
- Human Figures\Soldier
- Weapon\Cannonball
- Philip Henry Sheridan: Male
- Philip Henry Sheridan: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Colonel
- Philip Henry Sheridan: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\General
- Philip Henry Sheridan: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Captain
- Philip Henry Sheridan: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Civil War\Union Army
- Philip Henry Sheridan: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Brigadier General
- Philip Henry Sheridan: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Major General
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.68.51
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm491960323-967c-445f-b88d-ff7f57bb311c
