Sketch by Joseph Becker, published in the American Magazine, vol. 37 (1894): 749.
Joseph Becker (1841-1910), Special Artist for Leslie's Illustrated at Petersburg
Born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in 1841, by age eighteen Joseph Becker had found work as a "printer's devil" for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper in New York City. Although he lacked academic training, Becker learned from other artists on the staff and displayed a talent for sketching from life. When Lee's army invaded Pennsylvania In 1863, Leslie dispatched Becker to the Army of the Potomac with instructions to draw what he saw and send drawings back to the newspaper. Becker's first sketches from the front following the battle of Gettysburg were fairly rudimentary, but he gained in skill and confidence during the 1864 Overland Campaign. His sketches from Petersburg were highly accomplished. Nearly 90 of his drawings of battle scenes and everyday soldier life, many unattributed, were published in newspaper during the war. http://idesweb.bc.edu/becker/artists/josephbecker
After the war, Becker managed the art department at Leslie's for twenty-five years. He died in 1910 and is buried in Brooklyn. His collection of original wartime drawings, including his work and that of many other artists, formed the basis for the Becker Collection of 650 Civil War drawings held at Boston College. Most of these drawings are not available for download, but please visit the Boston College site.
http://idesweb.bc.edu/becker/about
After the war, Becker managed the art department at Leslie's for twenty-five years. He died in 1910 and is buried in Brooklyn. His collection of original wartime drawings, including his work and that of many other artists, formed the basis for the Becker Collection of 650 Civil War drawings held at Boston College. Most of these drawings are not available for download, but please visit the Boston College site.
http://idesweb.bc.edu/becker/about
"Sketches near the Weldon Railroad // A Fatigue or working party belonging to the 5th Corps on their way to the works in Front Aug 30th // [Signed] Joseph Becker // Pine woods." The Becker Collection (Becker) CW-JB-VA-8/30/64. Privates shouldered tools; noncoms evidently retained their rifle-muskets.
Becker Collection. "Something to Coax the Appetite: Exhuming the Bodies of Union Soldier (Siege of Petersburg), " drawing by Joseph Becker.
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When the drawing to the left was published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on January 21, 1865, it had a much less flippant heading. It also was attributed to a different artist-J. E. Taylor-whose work we have not noted in the Petersburg vicinity as of yet. The work was probably Becker's.
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Becker Collection. "Burying the Dead (Siege of Petersburg)," drawing by Joseph Becker.
