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Gilbert Gaul's painting
of
Battery H at Cold Harbor
The original painting is currently in the collection of the Oregon-Jerusalem Township
Historical Society in Lucas County, Ohio, and had suffered much damage Originally commissioned as a memorial
portrait of the battery members in 1893, Gilbert Gaul's painting was first unveiled in March 1894 at Memorial Hall
in Toledo, Ohio by then Governor William McKinley. Soon after, McKinley was elected the 25th President of the United States.
The painting is being restored to once again appear similar
to this copy scanned from a book published in the late 1890s.
This print was framed with a nameplate attached by
"I've Been Framed", Oregon, OH. Trustee Edward Slack donated this canvas print to THM along
with a standard print donated to the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library Department of Local History &
Genealogy.
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Organized as early as 1860, under
the Ohio Militia laws, under Colonel James Bar- nett, the 1st Ohio
Light Artillery, Hunting- ton Batteries were ready for service when war began. Consisting of 12
batteries and after serving 3 months in West Virginia, they were mustered for 3 years September 3, 1861. Each Battery
has a separate history, having served almost independently on different fields. Batteries H and L fought all through
the sanguinary battles of the Army of the Potomac, and Batteries I and K fought both east and west, having been transferred
with Hooker's Corps to the west in 1863. This Regiment of Light Artillery has inscribed upon its banners nearly all of
the great battles of the war, and part of it embraced a period of service of over 5 years. Battery H volunteers included
men from Toledo, Lucas County; Monroe & Washington Counties.
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William Gilbert Gaul (1855-1919) is best known for his depictions of military topics, particularly scenes of
the Civil War. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, he entered the National Academy of Design in New York City at age seventeen
and emerged as one of the era's leading illustrators. Gaul moved to Tennessee and established a studio on property he
inherited near Fall Creek Falls in Van Buren County.
Gaul published illustrations in Harper's and Century Magazine.
His Civil War paintings of both Union and Confederate soldiers portray a variety of experiences from fierce battles to quiet
moments in camp. Works such as Holding the Line at all Hazards and Charging the Battery captured the war's severity and
brought him awards from the American Art Association and the 1889 Paris Exposition.
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The height of his career came in 1893, when
he received numerous awards at the World's Exposition in Chicago. Gaul also produced several landscape paintings including
Rafting on the Cumberland River (Tennessee State Museum).
Gaul's popularity eventually began to wane, and by
1904 he had accepted a teaching position at Cumberland Female College in McMinnville. He soon opened a studio in Nashville
and published the first in what was to be a series of paintings titled With the Confederate Colors in 1907. The project, however,
met with little success, and subsequent paintings were canceled. Gaul then left Tennessee and eventually returned to his native
New Jersey, where he produced paintings of World War I before his death.
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