NARRATIVE: Billy Yank & Johnny Reb, I can hardly say one without the other. The North & South, the Blue & Gray, the Union & Confederate...words forever entwined. “Billy Yank & Johnny Reb” are the names I gave these pieces, but they were actual names each opposing force called the other. Confederate soldiers often referred to their combatants as “Billy Yank” and, in kind, the Northern soldiers referred to their foes as “Johnny Reb.” I felt that entitling each piece with the moniker they gave the other would not only reflect the intimacy of battle experienced, but intone the brother-against-brother aspect of the American Civil War.
While sculpting these two soldiers, I wanted to make them real. As I put on each piece of clay, I wanted to be close to them. I felt to make them alive, so I gave them identities of actual men who fought and died in this conflict. I hold Billy Yank in my heart as Corporal Samuel Pangburn from Lake County, Indiana. He fought with Indiana’s 20th Regiment, Company B. He was captured at Spotsylvania on July 22, 1861, and died of gangrene in the Confederate prisoner of war camp Andersonsville on November 6, 1864. I honored this soldier by placing some of his personal information on his haversack.
Johnny Reb represents First Sergeant James C. Hill, who mustered in New Orleans as a private on May 16, 1861. He fought with the Texas First Infantry, Company A, appointed First Sergeant on May 16, 1862, and was killed at the battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam) on September 17, 1862. I honored this soldier by placing some of his information carved into his wooden canteen.
As a note, the North and South often had different names for the same battles. Union forces frequently named battles for bodies of water or other prominent natural features on or near a battlefield. Confederates most often named battles referring to the nearest town or artificial landmark.
While creating this piece, I wanted to give James C. Hill a unique rifle. Searching online, I found images of one that served my purposes and began sculpting the soldier holding that rifle. Several drafts into the piece, I referred to the rifle from my online research and, on closer inspection, I noticed carving on the butt of the rifle. It read, “Antietam Sept. 17th 1862 ~ A relict of rebeldom ~ Secured by Lieut BC Wilson 107th Reg NY.” When I connected that I’d chosen to hold in my heart James C. Hill, who died on the same day in the same battle and that this rifle was taken as a war trophy by a Union soldier, I went into a silent reverie. I felt I’d been led by a Divine hand to put them together.
There is an interesting word used to describe war, often termed a ’conflict.’ How appropriate, since that is how those who fought, led, watched, or were involved in any way most likely felt about the war–conflicted. As I ponder the reality of war, I am left questioning everything I know about the worth of a life, God, morals, mankind, nationalities, right and wrong, and the prices paid for anything.
I’ve often pondered why, as a child, youth, and throughout adulthood, I’ve been drawn to be a student of war, in particular, the American Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War. Whether it be in film, books, intimate first-hand accounts, articles or personal stories (my grandmother’s brother, Stanley Ray Fuller of Strawberry Arizona, served as a medic on Iwo Jima), I marvel at the never-ending chaos, the randomness of death, the seeming luck of staying alive, the miracles, kindnesses and utter futility, trying to make any sense of it all.
This is a brand new piece created specifically to debut at this show.
