MUGWUMP
Bronze
2005
20” x 7” x 30”

A Civil War era journalist once referred to Winslow Homer’s sketches and paintings of the campaign wagon mules as portraits of the “mugwumps of the Civil War.” The term alluded to men of that day who were independent from any particular political affiliation. The figure of this stubborn, determined “independent” standoff came to me as I explored the subject for the Vicksburg Monument. The mule teamsters were often runaway slaves allowed to remain with the Union Army as “contraband” of war. One writer referred to the 250,000 mules employed by the U.S. Military as the unsung heroes of the American Civil War.