Private Robert Knox Sneden- Civil War Artist

Many of the color maps in my posts were drawn by Robert Knox Sneden. Sneden was born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia in Canada, and moved to New York City at age 18 in 1850. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted in the 40th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the Army of the Potomac. Because of his skills as an artist and mapmaker, he began preparing maps and sketches for Union General Samuel P. Heintzelman. He began initially as a draughtsman on map work, and later, as a topographical engineer. He participated in the battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Savages Station, Glendale and Second Bull Run.

Subsequently, he was assigned to the defenses of Washington, D.C. Soon other commanders vied for his services. In October 1863, after six months of trying, General David B. Birney had Sneden transferred to his division near Brandy Station where he participated in the Battle of Kelly’s Ford.
He was assigned to the staff of general William French during the Battle of Mine Run. On November 27, 1863, he was captured by Confederate rangers under John S. Mosby and was a prisoner of war for 13 months. This is interpreted in the Civil War Trails marker below.

In November 1863, he was held in Pemberton Prison in Richmond where he developed typhoid fever. On February 22, 1864 he was shipped to Andersonville. He sketched scenes of prison life in Savannah and Millen, GA (Camp Lawton), as well as Charleston and Florence, SC. He was finally exchanged in Charleston on December 11, 1864.

After the war he returned to Brooklyn to find that he had been declared dead or missing. He turned a number of his war sketches into watercolors, leaving a legacy of close to 1000 watercolors, drawings, sketches, maps, and diagrams. He also wrote a 5,000-page diary/memoir. Several dozen of his sketches were published in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War in the 1800s, but most of his work remained unknown. He died in 1918 in the New York State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ home in Bath, NY. He is buried in the National Cemetery there, section J, row 11, grave 4.

In 1994, an art dealer approached the Virginia Historical Society about four scrapbooks of Sneden’s Civil War watercolor maps that were found in a bank vault in the First National Bank in Litchfield, CT. In addition to the scrapbooks the society also purchased his diary/memoir.

In the fall of 2000, Sneden was rediscovered by the general public and Civil War enthusiasts after about 300 pieces of his artwork were revealed in the Eye of the Storm exhibition at the Virginia Museum of History and subsequent book, which became a bestseller. It was the largest collection of Civil War soldier art ever produced.

Exhibits regarding Sneden at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture located at 428 North Arthur Ashe Boulevard are shown below.