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"My Friend, The Enemy"

We talked the matter over and could have settled the war in thirty minutes had it been left to us." So said a Southern solider after he and a Northern counterpart sat on a log between the lines and enjoyed an unauthorized but friendly chat. As Americans, Johnny Reb and Billy Yank had far more in common than typical combatants. That familiarity was frequently revealed in friendly contact between the lines.

"Are You Hurt, Sir?"

It appeared to be the victory the South was so desperately seeking. General Robert E. Lee and his triumphant Army of Northern Virginia had slipped away from their lines at Fredericksburg, Virginia and had skillfully made a forced march through the Shenandoah Valley, across the Potomac River and into Pennsylvania.

Teddy's Fourth of July

Americans called him “Teddy” or “T.R.,” and even in his day he seemed larger than life. He was an author, a cowboy, a politician, a historian, a war hero – and the 26th President of the United States. Determined, exuberant, strong-willed and patriotic, Theodore Roosevelt was like no other American president.

The Glorious Fourth. Masterpiece Collection

One of the greatest military victories in the history of the Western Hemisphere took place with the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, one day after the conclusion of the Battle of Gettysburg. Over 30,000 troops surrendered, along with more than 60,000 guns and almost 200 cannons.

This website only offers Artist’s Proofs for sale. If you wish to purchase the regular signed and numbered print, contact an authorized dealer.

Lion of the Valley

Major General Thomas J. Jackson established his headquarters in Winchester, Virginia in November of 1861. His actions at the battle of First Manassas had earned him the nickname Stonewall Jackson, and in the spring of 1862, he would unleash his remarkable Valley Campaign. It would be an extraordinary display of hard marching, hard fighting and brilliant maneuvering - and it would make Stonewall Jackson the lion of the Valley.

Giclée Release to Commemorate the 200th Birthday
Of Abraham Lincoln in 2009

The Gettysburg Address

When Lincoln was invited to make his speech, Americans were still trying to recover from the shock of 51,000 casualties incurred at the battle of Gettysburg a few months earlier. A battlefield cemetery for the Northern dead was being dedicated, and organizers wanted a prominent keynote speaker. Rather than choosing the President for the keynote address, they selected Edward Everett, who was a famous orator of the day. The President was apparently asked to speak as a last minute courtesy. He chose to accept the invitation anyway because he felt the need to make a public statement on the meaning of the war.

He was interrupted by applause only twice, but his audience knew when he finished that they had witnessed an epic event.

Merry Christmas General Lee

It was a passing moment of cheer amid the harsh realities of war.

On Christmas day of 1862, General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, attended a holiday dinner hosted by his valued "right arm" - General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Lee and some of his officers were invited by Jackson for a Christmas meal at an outbuilding at Moss Neck, where Jackson had established winter headquarters near Fredericksburg, Virginia. .

Human Decency During War

Nov. 8, 2008
By Michael Aubrecht. The Free Lance-Star.

Perhaps the most adverse consequence of any civil war is the division of a population that was once united. Citizens who are born and bred under the same flag, who share the same history and worship the same god, find themselves unable to resolve a political dispute. Debate turns to argument, and the two sides end up destroying each other in the name of their causes. This tragedy of "brother versus brother" was repeatedly played out on battlefields all across America from 1861 to 1865.

Yet when we examine the conflict today, we tend to focus completely on the differences between the Union and Confederate soldiers instead of their commonalities. It's far too easy for us to forget that they were all once part of the same sovereign nation.

Kunstler Unveils New Masterpiece

July 4, 2008
by David J. Criblez, Oyster Bay Guardian

Artist Mort Kunstler of Cove Neck is world-renowned for his Civil War paintings; however, his latest creation brings his historical focus closer to home. Labeled "Teddy's Fourth of July," the painting depicts President Theodore Roosevelt being driven in a car in the heart of Oyster Bay hamlet, on South Street at the intersection between East Main Street and Audrey Avenue, as the local residents cheer and wave on Independence Day. "I think it's one of the best paintings I've ever done. I'm so proud of it," said Kunstler. "It was very exciting for me to paint. I can't wait for everyone to see it."

Mort Künstler Painting Depicts TR in Oyster Bay

BY BILL BLEYER
bill.bleyer@newsday.com

June 29, 2008

Over a five-decade career, artist Mort Kuenstler has created more than 3,000 images and become the nation's best-selling painter of Civil War scenes. But none of the Cove Neck resident's works depicted a Long Island event.

The result is a new work by Künstler, "Teddy's Fourth of July," a scene of Oyster Bay's most famous resident, Theodore Roosevelt, downtown on the holiday in the early 20th century.

The painting, completed in time for this fall's 150th anniversary of the 26th president's birth, will be copied to make prints to be sold for $200 in September to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Oyster Bay-East Norwich and eventually the Theodore Roosevelt Association's effort to build a TR museum in the hamlet.

Mort Künstler's Gift to Walter Reed Honors Troops

December 4, 2007
Newsday.com

Mort Künstler of Cove Neck, considered by many to be the top historical artist in the country, is something of a soft touch for noncommercial organizations trying to raise money.

After 9/11, he donated prints of an American flag painting to the Red Cross and raised $250,000. And for more than a decade, he has allowed the Timber Ridge School for troubled boys in Virginia to use his images on Christmas ornaments, bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So when the wife of an injured soldier asked Künstler several months ago if he could help decorate the dreary, blank halls of a newly refurbished building at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., used by convalescing troops, the artist responded in characteristic fashion.

Mort Künstler Unveils Local Print

November 3, 2007
by Michael Aubrecht, The Free Lance-Star: TOWN & COUNTY Feature

On Christmas Day 1862, two of the most celebrated names of the Confederacy came together to celebrate the birth of their Savior in the midst of the Civil War. It was on this most sacred of holidays that Maj. Gen. Robert E. Lee, the supreme commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, accepted an invitation to dine with his subordinate Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson at his winter headquarters on the grounds of Moss Neck Plantation near New Post in Caroline County.

Popular Civil War artist no stranger to Fredericksburg

June 2, 2007 12:35 am
By MICHAEL AUBRECHT

"WHAT A REMARKABLE people they were--the generation of Americans that faced the Civil War."

This quote comes from "An American Palette--The Paintings of Mort Künstler" and was offered by the artist himself when asked to comment on one of his paintings that depicted Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson holding a sunrise service.

"Remarkable" is certainly a fitting adjective to describe the courage, strength and conviction of America during the Civil War. It is also a fitting term to describe the 75-year-old painter himself.

Groups to re-create Stonewall Jackson's funeral procession

Darrell Laurant
Lynchburg News & Advance
May 9, 2007

Even though their association was sad and short, the packet boat Marshall and Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson have been forever linked in Southern history.

It was the Marshall that carried Jackson’s body on the last leg of its journey from Chancellorsville, where he had been accidentally but fatally wounded by his own troops, to his waiting burial plot in Lexington.

The sendoff accorded Jackson was befitting his status as a military star, a tactician second only to Gen. Robert E. Lee on the Confederate side. After his funeral was held in Richmond, the casket was transported to Lynchburg by train, then via the James River & Kanawha Canal to his final resting place in Lexington.

Historic moment depicted in Kunstler work

By Darrell Laurant
Lynchburg News & Advance
May 6, 2007

Mort Kunstler calls his latest painting, set in Lynchburg, “one of the best I’ve ever done.”

Which is saying something, because the New York-based artist is regarded as one of the premier painters of history in the world - especially when it comes to the Civil War, his specialty for the past few decades.

“Mort Kunstler is the foremost Civil War artist of our time, if not of all time,” says Virginia Tech professor James I. Robertson Jr., author of a Stonewall Jackson biography and generally regarded one of America’s Civil War gurus.

Künstler unveils ‘Tender is the Heart’

Painting first of A.P. Hill
By Allison Brophy Champion

As it appear in the Culpeper-Star Exponent
Thursday, April 26, 2007

Confederate General Robert E. Lee nervously cradles Lucy Lee Hill in artist Mort Künstler’s brand new painting Tender is the Heart, as Lee is shown looking down at the infant’s face while holding on tight.

Over his shoulder, General A.P. Hill of Culpeper looks unconcerned, a proud father though unaware of his impending death at Petersburg the next year.

Beside Hill stands his young wife, Dolly, a new mother, a blue-eyed beauty looking smashing in purple. Friends and family surround the Hills at this special time, Lucy’s baptism, and it is a rare, peaceful moment amid war.

All illustrations by Mort Künstler. Text by Dee Brown, Henry Steele Commager, Rod Gragg, Mort Künstler, James McPherson, and James I. Robertson, Jr. - Copyright © 2001. All Rights Reserved. No part of the contents of this web site may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means without written consent of the artist.

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