Saved for the Future: In October 2016, Ransom’s sketchbook was given to UCLA’s Library Special Collections, which conserved the fragile volume, removing tape and properly mending torn pages. Next to a short autobiography, Ransom’s opening artwork depicts Vandalia, Ill., townsfolk cheering as the new soldiers of the 11th Illinois head off to Springfield on April 26, 1861, to muster into the Union Army. ((All Images: UCLA Library Special Collections))
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A Union veteran completed a remarkable sketchbook of his war service
Frederick E. Ransom came from a distinguished military family. His father, Truman, served as the head of Vermont’s Norwich University, a respected military academy, and died at Chapultepec leading the 9th U.S. Infantry during the Mexican War. In 1856, Frederick moved to Illinois with his older brother, Thomas, where they worked as civil engineers. When the Civil War began, Thomas raised Company E of the 11th Illinois, and Frederick enlisted in that unit. Thomas became a highly respected brigadier general in the 15th Corps, and died of disease in 1864. Another older brother, Dunbar, served as a Regular Army colonel. Frederick did not rise as high as his brothers, but he did become a lieutenant in 1863. And happily, Frederick avoided the fate of his father and Thomas and survived his wartime experience. In 1892 the aging veteran went to live at the Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Quincy. While there, he sketched and painted scenes—some grim, some glad—from the momentous years of his youth –D.B.S.
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