This final volume of Mort Künstler's Civil War paintings covers the almost two-year period from the last shots fired at Gettysburg to the conclusion of the war and the beginning of national restoration. This time was punctuated with costly clashes at various crossroads in Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee. While the outcome of the war seemed inevitable, final victory proved to be as elusive as it had been since the first shots of the war. Events from the summer of 1863 to the spring of 1864—Ulysses S. Grant's victory at Vicksburg, the aftermath of Gettysburg, the Confederate raid into Indiana and Ogio, the Confederate attack at Chicakmunga and the siege of Chattanooga, and Grant's appearance in Washington as general in chief—are portrayed by Künstler's The Glorious Fourth, Veterans of Gettysburg, Morgan's Ohio Raid, Eye of the Storm, and White House Gala. The artist's brush shows a countryside in flames after the battle of the Wilderness, with Grant's line advancing toward Petersburg, where Lee's army is trapped, and William T. Sherman leaving Atlanta to march almost unopposed across Georgia toward Savannah in No Turning Back, The Bloody Angle, and "War Is Hell!" The ruination of the Confederate Army of Tennessee at Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville in late 1864; the capture of Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina, in January 1865; and the surrender at Appomattox Court House are portrayed in Confederate Crossing, Bringing Cleburne In, The Gunner and the Colonel, "We Still Love You, General Lee," and Salute of Honor. In assessing this volume of paintings, Professor James I. Robertson comments, "No artist is more aware of the Civil War's human emotions than Mort Künstler.... [He] has that rare talent of not only capturing on canvas a moment in time; he has an enviable ability to bring a scene alive and give it feeling. years of effort and dedication have made the name Mort Künstler the hallmark of Civil War art."
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