William Brooke Thomas Trego (American, 1859-1909) - The Charge of Custer at Winchester

Signed and dated ‘W. T. TREGO/1876’ bottom right, oil on canvas
28 ¼ x 40 ¼ inches (51.4 x 102.2cm)

Provenance

Collection of John C. White. 
Collection of Adlai Ewing, New York, New York and Bloomington, Illinois, late 1880s.
Bloomington Public Library, Bloomington, Illinois, circa 1888 (by donation).
Hindman, Chicago, sale of March 30, 2023, lot 76.
Acquired directly from the above sale.
Private Collection, New York.

Exhibition

Michigan State Fair, Detroit, Michigan, August-September 1879 (per Detroit Free Press, August 23, 1879).
Angell’s Art Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, September 1879 (per Detroit Free Press, August 23, 1879).
“Custer’s Last, or The Battle of the Little Big Horn in Picturesque Perspective,” Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 1968.

Literature

Joseph P. Eckhardt, William T. Trego Catalogue Raisonné, James A. Michener Art Museum (accessed online at https://www.michenerartmuseum.org/catalogue/trego).

Lot Essay

Dubbed the “best historical painting in oil,” The Charge of Custer at Winchester, which recently reappeared on the market after having vanished for decades, was the work that sensationally launched Trego’s career at age 20. When on view at the Michigan State Fair in 1879, the painting was such a hit that the city of Detroit itself made an attempt to purchase it for permanent display in a local venue. It was ultimately John C. White, Secretary to the American Legation in Brazil, who acquired the painting for one thousand dollars several years later in 1884. 

The scene depicts the Third Battle of Winchester, otherwise known as the Battle of Opequon, which took place in the Shenandoah Valley, near Winchester, Virginia on September 19, 1864. Due to its location, the Shenandoah Valley was a region of contention during the war, and played a key role in the strategy of the Confederates. Considered the breadbasket of the South, it enjoyed continued agricultural production, thus providing a substantial amount of food to civilians and soldiers, whereas other areas lost labor to the war effort. Because of its surrounding mountain range, the Valley also offered protection as troops and supplies could be screened from the enemy, which allowed the Confederacy to threaten Washington.  

Led by Philip Henry Sheridan, the battle was an important victory for the Union against the Confederate forces, but is also remembered as one of the bloodiest events of the Civil War, with almost 10,000 casualties between the two sides. The painting depicts the moment when yellow-haired chieftain, General George Armstrong Custer, is dashing on his dark horse across the field at the head of his regiment. His saber raised in the air–a weapon many of the southerners did not have–“expresses all the fire and lofty courage and enthusiasm which characterized the man, and made him pre-eminent as a cavalry leader,” according to the Cleveland Free Press.