Grant and his Generals

Ulysses S Grant Takes A Meeting

"Grant and His Generals"
Painted 1865 by Ole Peter Hansen Balling
(April 13, 1823 - May 1, 1906)

This painting is a huge (10 foot tall by 16 feet wide) curving image that is mounted on a circular stairwell wall at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. (Read about the Museum on this website here)

US Grant
Ole Peter Hansen Balling Painting "Grant and his Generals"
There is a cartoon aspect to this painting because of the crowded posing and the caricatured sense of speed on horseback.
This is true of many historical paintings which are done in this mode.

Here's the list of fellow in the portrait (from the National Portrait Gallery Website):

Left to right: Thomas C. Devin (1822-1878), George A. Custer (1839-1876), Hugh J. Kilpatrick (1836-1881), William H. Emory (1811-1887), Philip H. Sheridan (1831-1888), James B. McPherson (1828-1864), George Crook (1830-1890), Wesley Merritt (1834-1910), George H. Thomas (1816-1870), Gouverneur Kemble Warren (1830-1882), George G. Meade (1815-1872), John G. Parke (1827-1900), William T. Sherman (1820-1891), John A. Logan (1826-1886), Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), Ambrose E. Burnside (1824-1881), Joseph Hooker (1814-1879), Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-1886), John A. Rawlins (1831-1869), Edward O. C. Ord (1818-1883), Francis Preston Blair (1821-1875), Alfred H. Terry (1827-1890), Henry W. Slocum (1827-1894), Jefferson C. Davis (1828-1879), Oliver O. Howard (1830-1909), John M. Schofield (1831-1906), Joseph A. Mower (1827-1870)

Balling spent five weeks with Grant and his army doing preliminary sketches of the various men for the finished canvas. The portraits of Sherman and George Thomas were done after the end of the war; the image of Custer (second from left) is said to be his only live portrait.