- George Stannard
- • True Blake Walter
- • James Hope
- • Robert Coffey
- • William Scott
- • Stephen Brown
- • Dennis Duhigg
James Hope was an artist. Born in Scotland, he came to America via Canada
as a young man. When war broke out he was living in Castleton, where he
was known for his portrait and landscape paintings.
Commissioned a captain of Company
K of Vermont’s 2nd Regiment, Hope fought
at Bull Run in July 1861. But a little over a year later he was too sick to fight
with his comrades at Antietam and could only observe the bloody scene. He resigned
due to illness in December 1862 just after the first Battle of Fredericksburg.
Hope recorded his experiences in sketches and in later years recreated the scenes
of war in large oil paintings. In this painting he shows the camp of the Vermont
Brigade, of which the 2nd Regiment was a part, just after the first Battle of
Fredericksburg. The painting is so detailed that the names on the grave markers
are readable.
Hope also did paintings of Bull Run and Antietam as well as other military scenes. He sold many of these works to former army friends. Hope returned to Vermont and continued his military and landscape painting. Eventually he moved to Woodstock, New York, where he had a studio and art gallery.
Copyright 2006, Vermont Historical
Society. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of photographs
or text without written permission is prohibited.
