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The Galena History Museum houses a huge
9’ x 12’ oil painting by Thomas Nast that hangs in the Civil
War Exhibit room. It
depicts the surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant at
the end of the Civil War in 1865. One of only a handful of historical paintings depicting the
surrender, “Peace in Union” has appeared in thousands of
public school history books since its completion in 1895.
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| "Peace in
Union" by Thomas Nast |
Part of its popular appeal rests with
Thomas Nast. As the
nation’s premier political cartoonist of the 19th
century, Nast was
noted for taking on the likes of New York City’s Boss Tweed
and other patrons of political corruption.
It was Nast, in the pages of Harper’s Weekly,
who first originated the Republican party’s elephant and the
Democrat’s donkey.
But Nast’s most popular images were of
Santa Claus. It was
he who first created the caricature that we know and accept as
Santa today. So
popular did his image become that at his death in 1902 he was
hailed as “Santa Claus’ father.”
The painting, “Peace in Union”, came
about because of a chance meeting between Nast and Herman
Kohlsaat in London in 1894.
Kohlsaat spent his childhood years in Galena when Grant
was rising to fame. As
a teenager he moved to Chicago and ultimately amassed a fortune
in the catering, wholesale baking and budget lunchroom business.
Kohlsaat then turned his attention to the
newspaper business and quickly rose to the top in Chicago’s
publishing world. All
the while he wished to give something back to his boyhood
hometown and to his hero, U.S. Grant.
In 1891 he began by commissioning an impressive bronze
statue of Grant to be placed in a prominent location in Galena.
Finding a suitable site for the monument led to the
creation of Grant Park.
The chance meeting with Nast in London
three years later led to a $10,000 offer for a portrait of Grant
and Lee at Appomattox Court House. Nast eagerly agreed and began the work at once at his home in
New Jersey. The
final touches were applied in Chicago on April 9, 1895, the 30th
anniversary of the surrender scene.
The painting was hauled to Galena on a
special train and presented to the citizens of Galena with a
special unveiling at Turner Hall. It was then moved to the Galena Public Library, located
on the second floor of the downtown Post Office.
Here it remained until 1938 with the opening of the newly
formed Galena Historical Society.
Moving the huge painting proved a problem,
however. It had to
be physically carried up the hillside behind the museum.
The frame was partially removed and the top of the canvas
rolled down slightly…just enough to make it fit through a
large window.
Today the famous painting quietly reposes
on the south wall of the museum’s Civil War room.
Many come to the museum simply to see the painting.
It’s a fitting symbol of the individuals and events
that shaped not only Galena, but the nation.
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