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Abbott Fuller Graves
Colonel Bates Leads the 30th Colored Infantry at the Battle of the Crater
Circa 1903

Name: Colonel Bates Leads the 30th Colored Infantry at the Battle of the Crater
Brand: Abbott Fuller Graves
Price: 21000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Colonel Bates Leads the 30th Colored Infantry at the Battle of the Crater Watercolor on Paper Circa 1903 15 ½ x 21 ½ Inches 25 ½ x 33 ½ Inches Framed LR: Graves This rare portrait of African American troops serving in battle during the Civil War depicts the 30th United States Colored Infantry at the Battle of the Crater, at Petersburg, Virginia. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863. The Battle of the Crater, July 30th, 1864, was part of the Siege of Petersburg, fought between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade (under the direct supervision of the general-in-chief, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant). At the top of the painting, Colonel Delevan Bates raises his saber to lead the charge of the 30th United States Colored Infantry. Bates was promoted to this command just prior to this battle, having served with distinction in the 121st New York Infantry at the Battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Though the Battle of the Crater would eventually be won by the Confederacy, it was here that Bates and 23 other troops would be award the United States highest award for bravery during combat, the Medal of Honor. After weeks of preparation, on July 30, Union forces exploded a mine in Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's IX Corps sector, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses of Petersburg, Virginia. From this propitious beginning, everything deteriorated rapidly for the Union attackers. Unit after unit charged into and around the crater, where soldiers milled in confusion. Grant considered the assault "the saddest affair I have witnessed in this war." The Confederates quickly recovered and launched several counterattacks led by Brig. Gen. William Mahone. The breach was sealed off, and Union forces were repulsed with severe casualties. Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero's division of black soldiers were badly mauled. This may have been Grant's best chance to end the Siege of Petersburg. Instead, the soldiers settled in for another eight months of trench warfare. Burnside was relieved of command for the last time for his role in the debacle, and he was never again returned to command. Bates was seriously wounded in the battle but survived the war, mustering out honorably in December 1865. He eventually moved back to New York, married and had a family, and was a merchant and shopkeeper. A full account of the battle and a full page illustration of this painting was published in the book, "Deeds of Valor" in 1903. Though the work is signed, we consider it an attribution to Abbott Fuller Graves, as it is unclear if the work was done by him or another artist of the same surname. However, another battle scene illustration by Abbott Fuller Graves has come up in the past, which appears to be done by the same hand. Sight Size: 15 ½ x 21 ½ Inches Signed LR: Graves Illustrated: Deeds of Valor, The Perrien-Keydel Company, 1903, Vol. 1, page 391.

Creator:

Abbott Fuller Graves (1859-1936, American)

Creation Year:

Circa 1903

Dimensions:

Height: 15.5 in (39.37 cm)Width: 21.5 in (54.61 cm)

Medium:

Paper,Watercolor

Movement & Style:

American Realist

Period:

1900-1909

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Costa Mesa, CA

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU2139212467532

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Abbott Fuller Graves

Abbott Fuller Graves was an American painter and illustrator who specialized in decorative open air garden paintings and floral still lifes. His use of thick brushstrokes, bright colors, and natural light shows the influence of European impressionism. Graves was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, on April 15, 1859, the son of James Griswold Graves and Eliza Nicholls (Fuller). Hoping to become an architect, Graves attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but did not graduate. Graves went to Paris and Italy in 1884 to refine his skills as a flower painter. In Europe, he roomed with Edmund C. Tarbell. After returning to Boston in 1885, Graves became a teacher at the Cowles Art School, where his friend Childe Hassam was also on the faculty. The two painters undoubtedly influenced one another. In 1887, Graves returned to Paris to study figure painting at the Academie Julien. Graves returned to Boston in 1891, and lived in the coastal town of Kennebunkport, Maine, where he taught painting classes in oil and watercolor. He continued to visit there in later years, painting genre scenes featuring farmers, fishermen, firemen and old sea captains of Kennebunkport. Many of his portrayals of small-town life were reproduced on calendars and postcards. After 1891, the majority of Graves's works depict gardens and floral landscapes, some including female figures. Some portray exotic gardens of Spain and South America. In 1891, he opened his own art school in Boston. The school later moved to Kennebunk, Maine. From 1902 to 1905, Graves was employed as a commercial illustrator for magazines and studied at the Académie Vitti in Paris. After 1922, Graves spent his winters in New York City, where he belonged to such organizations as the National Academy of Design, the National Arts Club, the Salmagundi Club and Allied Artists of America. Examples of Graves’s work can be found in public and private collections across the country, including the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, the Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, New York; the Brick Store Museum, Kennebunk, Maine; Ball State University Museum of Art, Muncie, Indiana; the Hermitage Foundation Museum, Norfolk, Virginia; and the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey.