During the 1840s , Bowser painted banners for a diverse range of clients , including the Know Nothing Party , and received a commission to paint the portrait of prominent abolitionist and real estate developer Jacob C. White . Active in that decade 's efforts to repeal the clause in Pennsylvania 's Constitution which prohibited blacks from voting , Bowser and his family also became so involved with the abolition movement that their home became a stop on the Underground Railroad . In 1858 , politics and advocacy merged with art when Bower painted the portrait of abolitionist John Brown while Brown was visiting the Bowser home . During this same period , Bowser also completed work on his painting , '' The Firebell in the Night '' . In addition , he was also active , during this phase of his life , with the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows . As Grand Master of the Order in Philadelphia , he delivered the keynote address at the Annual Moveable Committee of the G.U.O. of O.F. in Toronto , Canada on October 17 , 1859 as its members celebrated the organization 's thirteenth anniversary . According to news reports , he was " listened to throughout with much attention , and was frequently rapturously applauded " as he " defined in eloquent terms the nature of the work of Odd Fellows — especially that great and leading principle , Charity , " and " remarked upon the practical good effected by Odd Fellowship , in alleviating distress and bestowing many of the comforts of life upon the aged and infirm of the Order , as well as conferring benefactions upon the widow and orphan . " Bowser 's work on the first banner was paid for through a commission awarded by the Contraband Relief Association ( CRA ) , an organization headed by Elizabeth Keckley , the formerly enslaved woman who became Mary Todd Lincoln 's dressmaker . It was then presented by the CRA to the leaders of 1st United States Colored Infantry . With respect to the other Bowser-designed battle flags , historians at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission note that : " The 127th and 3rd regiments marched carrying banners reading ' We will prove ourselves men ' and ' Rather Die Freemen , Than Live To Be Slaves . ' Beneath these , black soldiers protect white women representing Columbia , the symbol of the republic . The 45th 's banner , proclaiming ' One Cause , One Country , ' shows a black soldier proudly holding an American flag in front of a bust of George Washington as black troops fight in the background . The 24th 's banner shows a black soldier ascending a hill , his arms outstretched in prayer , beneath the words ' Let Soldiers in War , Be Citizens in Peace . ' " For the 22nd USCT banner , Bowser depicted a black soldier pointing " a bayonet at the chest of a Confederate who has allowed his flag to fall and who is tossing aside his sword , " beneath the words , " Sic semper tyrannis " ( " thus always to tyrants " ) , a phrase which would come to have an entirely different meaning two years later when shouted by John Wilkes Booth after his assassination of Lincoln at Ford 's Theater
his assassination of Lincoln at Ford 's Theater
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
David Bustill Bowser