Sanford Robinson Gifford made this painting. He began in 1863 and finished in 1864. Gifford began work in the camp depicted in this painting; it is unknown where he finished. The artwork currently resides in a private collection. The illustration contains the Appalachian Mountains in the background and fields, green trees, and hills surrounding a camp. In the camp, soldiers are in gray uniforms, but the color does not symbolize the Confederate army, but a measure the Union soldiers took to avoid confrontation. One American flag is visible hanging off a tent, this flag shows the painting is of the Union army. African Americans in shabbier clothes perform labor. The black people in this camp show that though slavery was illegal and blacks did enlist in the Union army, they still performed labor for Northerners. Hay scattered on the ground of the encampment and a barn on the left side of the image show the army is in farmland (African Americans in the Civil War; After the Storm; Sanford Robinson Gifford Biography; The Camp of the Seventh …show more content…
Gifford severed as part of the National Guard and was not required to serve in the army full time, only for summers where he was a corporal in the Seventh Regiment. So, he went home and painted between summers. The Union army did use blacks for labor even if they were not slaves as they were still considered inferior. The Seventh Regiment is wearing gray in this painting because they did so when they camped in Frederick, despite not being part of the Confederate army. Gifford’s painting, The Camp of the Seventh Regiment near Frederick, Maryland is important to art history because it gives a first-hand account of life in the army during the Civil War, and depicts an area of life not usually seen in Civil War art (African Americans In The Civil War; After the Storm; Sanford Robinson Gifford Biography; The Civil