Reveille by Henry Bacon

[Rob Weaver]

Sometimes you see new things in a painting you've known all your life:
This painting, by Henry Bacon, shows Co D 13th Mass Infantry, lining up for roll call. http://13thmass.org/1862/williamsport62.html I've always liked how the soldiers are shown in various levels of alertness, from the "Don't talk to me before my morning coffee" guy still wrapped in his blanket, to the guy in the rear with all his gear either going on or coming off duty. The soldier kneeling on his coat so his pantleg doesn't get soaked. The soldiers on the left lighting a smoke inside a hat to shield the match from the wind. Then I noticed: 3 of the men, including the one lighting up, are smoking cigarettes! The detail is just too good for this to be accidental. The painting is circa 1865, and painted by a former member of the company. This is a great snapshot of a Federal company, memorialized by one of it's former members.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

This has been discussed previously I believe on the AC Forum but also in person amongst pards, and the detail in the painting is difficult to be certain, but I speculate that they are smoking cheroots or other small cigars, which was a much more common practice. I often cringe when people use paintings to guide an impression, but Bacon, like Winslow Homer and a few other contemporaries, can be taken seriously. Their mind wasn't glossed over from 20 years of life after the war to romanticize the details. They were still fresh.

[mmescher]

Maybe part of the image got cut off but I couldn't see what looked like anyone smoking cigarettes or the soldier sheltering a match with his hat. There was one individual who looks like he is holding a pipe.

[Rob Weaver]

The pair lighting are on the left of the painting. There's another soldier behind them, and one on the right. I suspect you're right that you're looking at a cropped version. (I included the link just for electronic reference.) The full painting can be seen in the Time/Life "On to Richmond," which is where I was looking at it while writing. Paintings and artwork are touchy things: by their nature, they're already secondary sources. But they can show us things that a camera was not technologically in place to show yet, and also convey some of the attitude and mood of the times. I've always had a fondness for the sketches of Edwin Forbes, too. Even as a kid I thought he captured the "feel" of his subject.

[RJSamp]

Has anyone discussed why the drummer boy is either a) not formed up with the regiment's field music's to play reveille.....or b) playing? and c) why is he not ON the line, to the right of the company. If he has already formed up and played Reveille with the Field Music's, and is now back on company street.....why are the men not formed IN line and having the Sergeant calling roll? And again why is he in front of the company......or is this AFTER Reveille and after Roll Call?

Sound's like a LOT of artistic license going on.....

Bueller?

[Pvt Schnapps]

Or maybe the painting shows the interval between musician's call and reveille, or maybe these boys were treated like the gentlemen volunteers they were, rather than regular army mudsills According to the description elsewhere on the web site Rob gave [http://13thmass.org/1861/organization.html] some of these Boston bluebloods paid $12.50 each for the *priviledge of enlisting in this unit. That's not small change.
It also tells us that cigarettes are by no means out of the question. Like New Orleans' Washington Artillery, this is the kind of unit -- big city, boys of means -- where you could expect it, even this early in the war.

[RJSamp]

Or maybe the painting shows the interval between musician's call and reveille

Then he'd be walking over to the field music's and the men wouldn't be On Line.....Reveille is 9.5 minutes long......sounds like a great time to SLEEP, not stand out in the cold. Is that an officer with his back to us taking roll? Lends credence to the gentlemen volunteer observation as opposed to the stand in line at attention roll call by the regs.....

[Ala-Sippi Rifle]

I hope this link I found works for the full image-

http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V1/p293.jpg

You can't zoom in on any detail but it does show pretty much the full painting.

[Rob Weaver]

I think that is an officer at the left of the painting. You can make out his scabbard by the hem of his overcoat. I wouldn't rule out artist's license in the positioning of the characters. I don't think they placed the same priority on literal accuaracy as we do. On the other hand, the people themselves were still alive, and could comment if things were too incorrect. Could it be that (gasp) regualtions were honored in the breach rather than the observance? (The drummer is also carrying a non-regulation drum, rendered in excruciating detail, to include the snares on the bottom head.)