Battle of Bethesda Church

Union troops assembled behind a fence fire upon Confederate soldiers during the battle of Bethesda Church, near Mechanicsville. On-the-scene artist, Edwin Forbes, described the action at the bottom of the drawing: "The rebs charged from the woods, across the open, they could not advance beyond the fence. Their loss was very heavy." Forbes worked as a sketch artist during the war for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.