Works of Art

During the time he was travelling to the West as an artist-correspondent for Harper’s, Remington’s work was noticed by Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles, a capable and very ambitious U.S. Army commander. Miles frequently opened doors for Remington to be an “official artist” on numerous occasions, allowing him easy access to the officers and troops in the field. In return, Remington supported General Miles’ efforts to be noticed in the press and praised for his exploits, whether deserved or not. The culmination of this was the publication in 1896 of the Personal Recollections and Observations of General Nelson A. Miles, a weighty self-serving tome that was designed to help propel Miles to the presidency of the United States. The volume featured a great many illustrations by Remington, including full-page black and white reproductions taken from paintings. Fourteen of these illustrations were printed in rotogravure for a portfolio issued by the book’s publisher, the Werner Company, in 1898.

Remington’s illustration shows a particularly dramatic event from the Red River campaign on the Texas plains in the summer of 1874. “The sharp engagement and the long and rapid pursuit during the intolerable heat of sun and earth, and the absence of water, caused intense suffering among men and beasts,” Miles wrote. “On reaching the bed of the Red River, which at that point was almost half a mile wide, there was found only a small pool of gypsum and alkali, the stagnant water being rendered utterly unfit for drinking. During the chase the men tried every means of finding water, but without avail, and suffered so greatly that some of them resorted to the extreme of opening the veins of their arms and moistening their parched and swollen lips with their own blood.”