Filling Cartridges at the United States Arsenal at Watertown, Massachusetts, from Harper’s Weekly, July 20, 1861

Winslow Homer, Filling Cartridges at the United States Arsenal at Watertown, Massachusetts, from Harper's Weekly, July 20, 1861, 1861, wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, Gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian, 1996.63.15
Copied Winslow Homer, Filling Cartridges at the United States Arsenal at Watertown, Massachusetts, from Harper's Weekly, July 20, 1861, 1861, wood engraving on paper, image: 11 x 9 1⁄4 in. (27.9 x 23.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, Gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian, 1996.63.15
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Filling Cartridges at the United States Arsenal at Watertown, Massachusetts, from Harper’s Weekly, July 20, 1861
Artist
Date
1861
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 11 x 9 1⁄4 in. (27.9 x 23.5 cm)
Credit Line
The Ray Austrian Collection, Gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian
Mediums Description
wood engraving on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • History — United States — Civil War
  • Object — weapon — gun
  • Landscape — Massachusetts — Watertown
  • Architecture Interior — military — armory
Object Number
1996.63.15
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1996.63.15

Artwork Description

Mass-production techniques pioneered at the United States' armories allowed the Union to fabricate weapons in unprecedented quantities during the Civil War. The yearly production of small arms expanded from thirty thousand at the start of the war to more than seven hundred thousand at its conclusion. It is estimated that 620,000 men died in the Civil War. Firearms cannot be awarded full credit for these casualties---disease and infection were the most efficient killers---but they were the instruments of a military machine that Americans fueled with their hatreds.

The Great American Hall of Wonders, 2011