Army of the Potomac—Sleeping on Their Arms

Army of the Potomac—Sleeping on Their Arms is a powerful wood engraving created by Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910) and published in the influential periodical Harper's Weekly in 1864. This print captures a poignant moment during the height of the American Civil War, focusing not on battle action but on the quiet exhaustion of the Union soldiers. The wood engraving medium, utilized extensively for mass distribution in the United States during this era, allowed Homer's firsthand observations of the Army of the Potomac to reach a wide public audience.

Homer, working as an artist-correspondent for the magazine, specialized in scenes of everyday camp life and the intimate, human element of conflict. In this composition, the soldiers rest in a state of suspended readiness, reflecting the constant tension endured by those on the front lines. The title itself suggests the precarious nature of their sleep; they are "sleeping on their arms," prepared to awaken and fight immediately. This sober approach to depicting warfare, focusing on psychological rather than spectacular events, separates Homer’s work from many contemporaneous, romanticized battle scenes. As a key example of mid-19th-century American printmaking, this work is held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. High-resolution prints of this historical image are often made available through public domain initiatives, ensuring continued access to this crucial documentation of American history.