Army of othe Potomac - Sleeping on Their Arms

Army of othe Potomac - Sleeping on Their Arms, created by Winslow Homer in 1864, is a potent wood engraving documenting the grim realities faced by Union troops during the American Civil War. Serving as an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly, Homer’s assignment was to capture the immediacy of the conflict, resulting in a series of powerful journalistic prints that defined public perception of the war in the United States.

This particular work captures the exhausted infantry of the Army of the Potomac, showing them in a moment of precarious rest. The phrase "sleeping on their arms" denotes soldiers sleeping fully clothed with their weapons beside or beneath them, instantly ready to spring into action. Homer masterfully uses the demanding medium of wood engraving to depict the dense layering of uniforms, equipment, and the cluttered ground, enhancing the sense of constant vigilance and physical toll exacted by continuous campaigning.

The print eschews grand military narrative for a focus on the common soldier, a recurring theme in Homer's wartime output. He renders the weariness and physical exhaustion of the men with profound empathy, establishing a psychological realism that would become the hallmark of his later career. As a piece of vital cultural documentation from the 1860s, this print demonstrates the critical role that illustrative media played in disseminating news and shaping collective memory. This work is housed in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, preserving a key example of historical American prints from the war era.