The Rock on the Green, by William Sidney Mount (1807–1868)
To Use This Document
With Your Students
Date
1865
Description
Large rock in field at center; house at center right background; small girl at lower right; boy or man on top of the rock holding an American flag. In William Sidney Mount’s diary, he recorded completing this painting in March of 1865; the following entries all focused on news of the Civil War coming to an end: “[April] The War cloud is passing away. … April 3rd, ’65 Richmond ours. Glorious news. … April 9th—surrender of Lee and his whole army to Grant. Great rejoicings.” Although a conservative Democrat adhering to his party’s criticisms of Lincoln and the abolitionist movement, Mount was nonetheless in support of the Union during the war. This painting of two local children at Patriot’s Rock, a locally beloved monument from the Revolutionary War Battle of Setauket, shows a boy on the peak of the rock raising the American flag in victory, while a girl on the ground below waves a white handkerchief in surrender. The artist’s patriotism and hope for a Northern victory is on full display, just days ahead of his wish coming to fruition.
Type
Image
Region
Long Island
Era
Civil War and Reconstruction
Topic
Civil War, Community, Environment
Repository
Identifier
1977.022.0558
Rights
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