A Bit of War History: The Veteran  1866

This work, painted at the close of the Civil War, forms a narrative triptych (84.12a, b, c) of African American military service. In "The Contraband" (84.12a)—a term that referred to enslaved people who fled to Union lines at the beginning of the conflict—the self-emancipated man appears in a U.S. Army Provost Marshall General office, eager to enlist. The Recruit (84.12...