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Martial Law.
George Caleb Bingham self-published this engraving of his famous and controversial painting "Martial Law" (also known as "Order No. 11"), which dramatizes the United States Army's draconian enforcement of martial law upon a village of alleged Confederate sympathizers in his home state of Missouri during the Civil War. Bingham's stated purpose in making the painting and distributing the print several years after the war ended, was to vilify the reputation of U.S. Brigadier Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr., the author of United States General Order No. 11.
When enacted on Aug. 25, 1863, Order 11 forced the eviction of almost all residents from the farms and villages of three-and-one-half counties along the Missouri-Kansas border (cities in the area were generally excepted), Union retaliation for a few of those citizens having provided a safe base of operations for the Confederate guerrilla William Charles Quantrell's raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
The engraving shows Gen. Ewing, intentionally painted as a stereotypical glowering villain, drawing a pistol on a terrified family, as his troops, with his ally, Radical Republican anti-slaver Kansas Senator Jim Lane and his mercenary Redlegs, burn out and loot a Missouri village, forcing its citizens to flee. Bingham subtitled the print: "The Desolation of the Border Counties of Missouri." Bingham's Martial Law was one of the most publicized war and political pictures of its day, calling down furore and denouncement from the Northern pulpits for being far too sympathetic to the legacy of the Confederacy. Bingham denied this charge, explaining that his painting and engraving were meant to keep alive popular indignation toward the arbitrary abuse of military power by evil men such as Ewing.
By the beginning of the Civil War, Bingham (1811-79) enjoyed a national reputation for his genre pictures of small town and river life (Jolly Flatboatmen in Port, Raftsmen Playing Cards), and for his politically themed paintings (Stump Orator, Country Politician, County Election, etc.). He was himself a politician. Twice before the war, he ran for the Missouri State House, winning a seat in 1848. He served as wartime Missouri State Treasurer, 1862-65, and became the Missouri Adjutant General in 1875. He had always been a strong Union supporter, serving, in spite of very bad health, a short hitch in the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. But he protested Order 11, personally and as a Missouri government official, to Gen. Ewing's superior officer, Gen. John Schofield, arguing that the order was unconstitutional and that marital law would turn Missouri citizens sympathetic to the Union against it, and encourage Kansans to pillage properties the evicted citizens were forced to vacate. "This is, of course, exactly what happened. Avenging Kansans so thoroughly destroyed the farms and homesteads of the affected counties that for many generations thereafter the region was know simply as 'The Burnt District'" - Ayres. When told that Order No. 11 would stand, Bingham warned Schofield, '"If God spares my life, with pen and pencil, I will make this order infamous in history." For several years Bingham denounced Gen. Ewing in print and in speeches, and, circa 1869-70, he painted two versions of Martial Law (both paintings are extant, one hanging at the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the other at the Missouri Historical Society, Columbia), and in 1872 published the engraving in a small edition that he autographed. Bingham certainly did succeed in blackening Ewing and his order for the historical record, but, during his lifetime, Ewing suffered not at all for his Missouri action. And it was little publicized, or cared about, by few others than Bingham, that Order 11 was a hypocritical act by Ewing, for in his personal life Ewing was a virulent racist, opposed to Negro units in the U.S. Army, and he became the enemy of Jim Lane over the slavery argument. Following the publication of the Martial Law engraving, Ewing served two terms as an Ohio congressman, declined the national offices of Attorney General and Secretary of War in the Andrew Johnson administration, and earned a sumptuous living as a politically connected New York City and Washington, D.C. attorney, specializing in real estate, railroads, and patents.
Rare. We locate two institutional copies: Library of Congress and Missouri Historical Society.
Mezzotint, printed in colours and finished by hand, engraved by John Sartain (1808-1897).
When enacted on Aug. 25, 1863, Order 11 forced the eviction of almost all residents from the farms and villages of three-and-one-half counties along the Missouri-Kansas border (cities in the area were generally excepted), Union retaliation for a few of those citizens having provided a safe base of operations for the Confederate guerrilla William Charles Quantrell's raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
The engraving shows Gen. Ewing, intentionally painted as a stereotypical glowering villain, drawing a pistol on a terrified family, as his troops, with his ally, Radical Republican anti-slaver Kansas Senator Jim Lane and his mercenary Redlegs, burn out and loot a Missouri village, forcing its citizens to flee. Bingham subtitled the print: "The Desolation of the Border Counties of Missouri." Bingham's Martial Law was one of the most publicized war and political pictures of its day, calling down furore and denouncement from the Northern pulpits for being far too sympathetic to the legacy of the Confederacy. Bingham denied this charge, explaining that his painting and engraving were meant to keep alive popular indignation toward the arbitrary abuse of military power by evil men such as Ewing.
By the beginning of the Civil War, Bingham (1811-79) enjoyed a national reputation for his genre pictures of small town and river life (Jolly Flatboatmen in Port, Raftsmen Playing Cards), and for his politically themed paintings (Stump Orator, Country Politician, County Election, etc.). He was himself a politician. Twice before the war, he ran for the Missouri State House, winning a seat in 1848. He served as wartime Missouri State Treasurer, 1862-65, and became the Missouri Adjutant General in 1875. He had always been a strong Union supporter, serving, in spite of very bad health, a short hitch in the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. But he protested Order 11, personally and as a Missouri government official, to Gen. Ewing's superior officer, Gen. John Schofield, arguing that the order was unconstitutional and that marital law would turn Missouri citizens sympathetic to the Union against it, and encourage Kansans to pillage properties the evicted citizens were forced to vacate. "This is, of course, exactly what happened. Avenging Kansans so thoroughly destroyed the farms and homesteads of the affected counties that for many generations thereafter the region was know simply as 'The Burnt District'" - Ayres. When told that Order No. 11 would stand, Bingham warned Schofield, '"If God spares my life, with pen and pencil, I will make this order infamous in history." For several years Bingham denounced Gen. Ewing in print and in speeches, and, circa 1869-70, he painted two versions of Martial Law (both paintings are extant, one hanging at the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the other at the Missouri Historical Society, Columbia), and in 1872 published the engraving in a small edition that he autographed. Bingham certainly did succeed in blackening Ewing and his order for the historical record, but, during his lifetime, Ewing suffered not at all for his Missouri action. And it was little publicized, or cared about, by few others than Bingham, that Order 11 was a hypocritical act by Ewing, for in his personal life Ewing was a virulent racist, opposed to Negro units in the U.S. Army, and he became the enemy of Jim Lane over the slavery argument. Following the publication of the Martial Law engraving, Ewing served two terms as an Ohio congressman, declined the national offices of Attorney General and Secretary of War in the Andrew Johnson administration, and earned a sumptuous living as a politically connected New York City and Washington, D.C. attorney, specializing in real estate, railroads, and patents.
Rare. We locate two institutional copies: Library of Congress and Missouri Historical Society.
Mezzotint, printed in colours and finished by hand, engraved by John Sartain (1808-1897).
$10,720.54
Martial Law.—
$10,720.54
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George Caleb Bingham self-published this engraving of his famous and controversial painting "Martial Law" (also known as "Order No. 11"), which dramatizes the United States Army's draconian enforcement of martial law upon a village of alleged Confederate sympathizers in his home state of Missouri during the Civil War. Bingham's stated purpose in making the painting and distributing the print several years after the war ended, was to vilify the reputation of U.S. Brigadier Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr., the author of United States General Order No. 11.
When enacted on Aug. 25, 1863, Order 11 forced the eviction of almost all residents from the farms and villages of three-and-one-half counties along the Missouri-Kansas border (cities in the area were generally excepted), Union retaliation for a few of those citizens having provided a safe base of operations for the Confederate guerrilla William Charles Quantrell's raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
The engraving shows Gen. Ewing, intentionally painted as a stereotypical glowering villain, drawing a pistol on a terrified family, as his troops, with his ally, Radical Republican anti-slaver Kansas Senator Jim Lane and his mercenary Redlegs, burn out and loot a Missouri village, forcing its citizens to flee. Bingham subtitled the print: "The Desolation of the Border Counties of Missouri." Bingham's Martial Law was one of the most publicized war and political pictures of its day, calling down furore and denouncement from the Northern pulpits for being far too sympathetic to the legacy of the Confederacy. Bingham denied this charge, explaining that his painting and engraving were meant to keep alive popular indignation toward the arbitrary abuse of military power by evil men such as Ewing.
By the beginning of the Civil War, Bingham (1811-79) enjoyed a national reputation for his genre pictures of small town and river life (Jolly Flatboatmen in Port, Raftsmen Playing Cards), and for his politically themed paintings (Stump Orator, Country Politician, County Election, etc.). He was himself a politician. Twice before the war, he ran for the Missouri State House, winning a seat in 1848. He served as wartime Missouri State Treasurer, 1862-65, and became the Missouri Adjutant General in 1875. He had always been a strong Union supporter, serving, in spite of very bad health, a short hitch in the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. But he protested Order 11, personally and as a Missouri government official, to Gen. Ewing's superior officer, Gen. John Schofield, arguing that the order was unconstitutional and that marital law would turn Missouri citizens sympathetic to the Union against it, and encourage Kansans to pillage properties the evicted citizens were forced to vacate. "This is, of course, exactly what happened. Avenging Kansans so thoroughly destroyed the farms and homesteads of the affected counties that for many generations thereafter the region was know simply as 'The Burnt District'" - Ayres. When told that Order No. 11 would stand, Bingham warned Schofield, '"If God spares my life, with pen and pencil, I will make this order infamous in history." For several years Bingham denounced Gen. Ewing in print and in speeches, and, circa 1869-70, he painted two versions of Martial Law (both paintings are extant, one hanging at the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the other at the Missouri Historical Society, Columbia), and in 1872 published the engraving in a small edition that he autographed. Bingham certainly did succeed in blackening Ewing and his order for the historical record, but, during his lifetime, Ewing suffered not at all for his Missouri action. And it was little publicized, or cared about, by few others than Bingham, that Order 11 was a hypocritical act by Ewing, for in his personal life Ewing was a virulent racist, opposed to Negro units in the U.S. Army, and he became the enemy of Jim Lane over the slavery argument. Following the publication of the Martial Law engraving, Ewing served two terms as an Ohio congressman, declined the national offices of Attorney General and Secretary of War in the Andrew Johnson administration, and earned a sumptuous living as a politically connected New York City and Washington, D.C. attorney, specializing in real estate, railroads, and patents.
Rare. We locate two institutional copies: Library of Congress and Missouri Historical Society.
Mezzotint, printed in colours and finished by hand, engraved by John Sartain (1808-1897).
When enacted on Aug. 25, 1863, Order 11 forced the eviction of almost all residents from the farms and villages of three-and-one-half counties along the Missouri-Kansas border (cities in the area were generally excepted), Union retaliation for a few of those citizens having provided a safe base of operations for the Confederate guerrilla William Charles Quantrell's raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
The engraving shows Gen. Ewing, intentionally painted as a stereotypical glowering villain, drawing a pistol on a terrified family, as his troops, with his ally, Radical Republican anti-slaver Kansas Senator Jim Lane and his mercenary Redlegs, burn out and loot a Missouri village, forcing its citizens to flee. Bingham subtitled the print: "The Desolation of the Border Counties of Missouri." Bingham's Martial Law was one of the most publicized war and political pictures of its day, calling down furore and denouncement from the Northern pulpits for being far too sympathetic to the legacy of the Confederacy. Bingham denied this charge, explaining that his painting and engraving were meant to keep alive popular indignation toward the arbitrary abuse of military power by evil men such as Ewing.
By the beginning of the Civil War, Bingham (1811-79) enjoyed a national reputation for his genre pictures of small town and river life (Jolly Flatboatmen in Port, Raftsmen Playing Cards), and for his politically themed paintings (Stump Orator, Country Politician, County Election, etc.). He was himself a politician. Twice before the war, he ran for the Missouri State House, winning a seat in 1848. He served as wartime Missouri State Treasurer, 1862-65, and became the Missouri Adjutant General in 1875. He had always been a strong Union supporter, serving, in spite of very bad health, a short hitch in the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. But he protested Order 11, personally and as a Missouri government official, to Gen. Ewing's superior officer, Gen. John Schofield, arguing that the order was unconstitutional and that marital law would turn Missouri citizens sympathetic to the Union against it, and encourage Kansans to pillage properties the evicted citizens were forced to vacate. "This is, of course, exactly what happened. Avenging Kansans so thoroughly destroyed the farms and homesteads of the affected counties that for many generations thereafter the region was know simply as 'The Burnt District'" - Ayres. When told that Order No. 11 would stand, Bingham warned Schofield, '"If God spares my life, with pen and pencil, I will make this order infamous in history." For several years Bingham denounced Gen. Ewing in print and in speeches, and, circa 1869-70, he painted two versions of Martial Law (both paintings are extant, one hanging at the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the other at the Missouri Historical Society, Columbia), and in 1872 published the engraving in a small edition that he autographed. Bingham certainly did succeed in blackening Ewing and his order for the historical record, but, during his lifetime, Ewing suffered not at all for his Missouri action. And it was little publicized, or cared about, by few others than Bingham, that Order 11 was a hypocritical act by Ewing, for in his personal life Ewing was a virulent racist, opposed to Negro units in the U.S. Army, and he became the enemy of Jim Lane over the slavery argument. Following the publication of the Martial Law engraving, Ewing served two terms as an Ohio congressman, declined the national offices of Attorney General and Secretary of War in the Andrew Johnson administration, and earned a sumptuous living as a politically connected New York City and Washington, D.C. attorney, specializing in real estate, railroads, and patents.
Rare. We locate two institutional copies: Library of Congress and Missouri Historical Society.
Mezzotint, printed in colours and finished by hand, engraved by John Sartain (1808-1897).
