title: I Am Busy Drawing Pictures: The Civil War Art & Letters of Private John Jacob Omenhausser, Csa
author: Ross M. Kimmel
description: This wonderfully illustrated book provides rare insight into life in a Civil War prisoner-of-war camp. A treat for both Civil War and folk art fans, "I Am Busy Drawing Pictures: The Civil War Art & Letters of Private John Jacob Omenhausser, CSA" features high-quality images and fascinating descriptive text by two prominent Civil War historians. The American Civil War was one of the first major wars to be extensively documented through photography, bringing that conflict an unprecedented immediacy and reality to the public. In addition, many soldiers journal and letters survived and have been published and written about. Another medium for documenting the experiences of Civil War soldiers is through their paintings and drawings, of which many fewer survive. One of the most prolific of these folk artists was John Jacob Omenhausser whose work presents in detail the period of his captivity in the Union armys prisoner-of-war camp at Point Lookout in St. Marys County, Maryland. John Jacob Omenhausser was born and reared in Baltimore and his surviving work includes scenes from his teenage years there, pre-captivity scenes from the Confederate Army, and his time in Point Lookout as a prisoner-of-war. Many of these last images relate to daily life in prison, especially cooking and eating, and the most striking feature of much of his work is its sardonic humor. Historians Ross M. Kimmel and Michael P. Musick have carefully researched Omenhaussers life and career in the CSA and combined this research with Omenhaussers drawings to produce a unique documentation of prisoner-of-war life at a Union army camp.
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  "HE COMMANDED HIS GENERALS TO DRAW UP THE TROOPS."
  
  
  
  
  
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  GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
  
  
  INTO SEVERAL REMOTE REG