Month: May 2022

The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm painting

I am in the process of creating an oil painting of The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm in Virginia. This took place during the Petersburg campaign of 1864. The artwork would be part of my series on Ohioans during the American Civil War, of which I wrote about in an earlier post.

The focus of the painting would show First Sergeant Robert Pinn of the 27th Ohio Volunteer Infantry leading his men against the enemy breastworks.  For his heroics, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, one of only four Black Americans from Ohio to do so. When I did my research for the battle, I did not know much about this action. Came to find out that out of a total of 16 Medal of Honors awarded to Black Americans during the Civil War, 14 of them were from this battle. As far as I can find out, there are no depictions of Robert Pinn’s actions during this engagement. I feel that there needs to be.

What to paint

Just like all art, the hardest thing about painting of the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm is how to illustrate the scene. The challenge is not only show Pinn leading his men, but to also show the landscape and the Confederate defenses. This presents quite a challenge. I decided that having the viewpoint of one of the Pinn’s soldier is the answer. The painting would depict Pinn turning towards the viewer as if he was urging you on to press the attack. At the same time, he is pointing towards the objective, the enemy defenses. I have included a very rough sketch of how I would pose Pinn in the painting.

More about Robert Pinn

To learn more about the life of Robert Pinn and his accomplishments during and after the war, visit the American Battlefield Trust page.  You can also hear a very interesting podcast about his life by visiting the web page African American Passages Episode 3: Robert Pinn’s Left Hand. And there is another link about Robert Pinn with video on the News 5 Cleveland site.

Ohioans in the American Civil War

I have the good fortune of having a chance to display some of my art in a local gallery early next year. I thought it might be nice to have some sort of motif to tie the pieces together. Therefore, I am concentrating on producing paintings that depict Ohioans in the American Civil War.

I have already completed one oil civil war painting with a subject that is Ohio related. Colonel Hayes at the Third Battle of Winchester depicts the future president of the United States on horseback plunging into a swamp. He did this on impulse under fire to spur his men on to show the miry creek was navigable.

So having one painting ready to go, I will need to produce a few more that embody the Ohio theme. Fortunately, Ohio was well represented during the conflict. Nearly 320,000 Union soldiers came from Ohio. The state also provided 230 regiments of infantry and cavalry, 26 light artillery batteries, 2 heavy artillery regiments, and 5 independent sharpshooter companies. So I knew I would have no shortage of material to build upon. I also looked up Ohioans who were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Civil war. 207 recipients of the award were either born are served in an Ohio regiment.

I am excited about both the show next year and about the paintings of to come. I already have visions of what I would to depict on canvas, and I can’t wait to get started. (Actually, I already have begun a painting concerning Ohioans in the American Civil War during the Battle of Franklin. But more about that later in another post.)

To read more about Ohio and its role in the American Civil War, click on the following links:
https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Category:Civil_War
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio_in_the_Civil_War
http://touringohio.com/civil-war-ohio.html