'Shiloh Spring' illustration

Dated ca. April 1862, this lithograph titled "Shiloh Spring" shows the 31st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment around the time of the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee. Soldiers on horseback can be seen against a backdrop of cut trees on a hillside. A soldier appears to fill his canteen at a spring near the center of the image. Mathews (1831-1874) was born in Bristol, England, but moved with his family to settle in Rochester, Ohio, when he was two years old. He was working as a schoolteacher in Alabama when the Civil War broke out, and returned north to enlist in the 1st Ohio Artillery in August 1861. He later joined the 31st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and fought in battles including Corinth, Stone River, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. During his three-year enlistment he drew numerous sketches of scenes he witnessed, which were made into lithographs and sold, including publication in Harper's Weekly. He moved west following the war and continued his work as an artist, until his sudden death at the age of 43. He is buried on his ranch near Longmount, Colorado