“Surrender of a Confederate Soldier” by Julian Scott

“Surrender of a Confederate Soldier” by Julian Scott depicts a wounded soldier of the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War, waving a flag of surrender.

The soldier is accompanied by a black man, presumed to be the soldier’s slave, and a woman holding an infant assumed to be his wife and child.

The painting does not glorify war, and instead, it shows the suffering and human sacrifice associated with war.

Painted in the Union States of the North, this painting is part of a genre of images that depicted the emotional trauma of the South’s defeat.

The South was uncertain about its future and nervousness about the path to reconciliation between the North and South.

Julian Scott

Julian A. Scott (1846 – 1901), was born in Vermont and served as a Union Army drummer during the American Civil War, where he received America’s highest military decoration the Medal of Honor. He was also an American painter and Civil War artist.

When the war was over, he traveled to Paris and Stuttgart to continue his education. 

Returning to the United States, Scott traveled west as part of a census party, painting Native Americans in New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma. 

Surrender of a Confederate Soldier

• Title:                 Surrender of a Confederate Soldier
• Artist:               Julian Scott
• Year:                 1873
• Medium:          Oil on canvas
• Dimensions     19.5 × 15.5 in (49.5 × 39.4 cm)
• Museum:          Smithsonian American Art Museum

Julian Scott

• Artist:                 Julian A. Scott
• Born:                  1846 – Johnson, Vermont
• Died:                  1901 (aged 55) – Plainfield, New Jersey
  Nationality:        American
• Notable works:
  • Surrender of a Confederate Soldier
  • A Break: Playing Cards

The Civil War and American Art

Virtual Tour of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

• “Skating in Central Park” by Agnes Tait
• “Buffalo Hunt on the Southwestern Prairies” by John Mix Stanley
• “Surrender of a Confederate Soldier” by Julian Scott
• “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way” by Emanuel Leutze
• “The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane” by John Quidor

The South’s surrender at Appomattox?

A Tour of the Museums in Washington, D.C.

• National Gallery of Art
• National Museum of American History
• National Air and Space Museum
• National Museum of African American History and Culture
• National Museum of Natural History
• National Portrait Gallery
• Smithsonian American Art Museum
• The Phillips Collection
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
• International Spy Museum

Why the Confederacy Lost

~~~

“We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. In times of tragedy, of war, of necessity, people do amazing things. The human capacity for survival and renewal is awesome.”
– Isabel Allende

~~~

---

Photo Credit: 1) Julian Scott [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons