The artwork titled “The second battle of Bull Run, fought Augt. 29th 1862” is a battle painting produced by the firm Currier and Ives in 1862. This piece is associated with the Romanticism art movement and forms part of a series depicting events from the American Civil War.
The image depicts a chaotic battle scene filled with soldiers in mid-combat. The battle, emphasized by vibrant colors and detailed figures, shows Union soldiers on the left and Confederate soldiers on the right. Two flags are prominently featured in the image; a US flag is carried by Union soldiers, while Confederate soldiers bear a dark flag with a cross. Soldiers can be seen engaged in close combat in the foreground, and the background is filled with more troops and the smoke of battle. The sense of motion and intensity is captured through the dynamic poses of the soldiers and the battle’s disarray. The ground is littered with fallen soldiers and cannonballs, adding to the grim atmosphere of war. This historic print serves to document and convey the ferocity and scale of the second battle of Bull Run through the lens of romanticized battle imagery.
