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.