American as (apple) pie. Winslow Homer's depiction of a hungry Union soldier is acquired by SoCal museum, which will show it off Sunday in revamped galleries

Winslow Homer's 1863 painting "The Sutler's Tent" debuts Sunday (Courtesy The Huntington)

A Civil War camp scene painted by Winslow Homer – who captured war’s fury at the front and documented soldiers’ lives behind the lines – will debut Sunday as part of the relaunch of an American art gallery at a Southern California museum.

Homer (below) was in his mid-20s when he became an artist-reporter for Harper’s Weekly, embedding with the Union army in Virginia. While most of his work about the conflict was illustrations, he did produce several paintings, including “The Sutler’s Tent,” which was acquired by The Huntington.

The San Marino, Calif., institution recently announced the acquisition of the work, which was purchased for an undisclosed amount from a New York-based gallery. The Ahmanson Foundation funded the acquisition in honor of the 250^th anniversary of the founding of the United States, officials said.

The 1863 painting, only 16-1/4 inches by 12 inches, shows two Yankee cavalry troopers near a tent, one munching on what appears to be a slice of pie (another theory has it as bread and cheese).

The blog Los Angeles County Museum on Fire points out the celebrated artist first depicted the subject in an 1862 sketch, which shows more than a half dozen members of the 3^rd Pennsylvania Cavalry standing near a tent. One of them is sitting on a rail, enjoying a snack.

The drawing was modified for publication in Harper’s Weekly and entitled "Thanksgiving in Camp."

“Harper's Weekly reproduced Homer's war art as wood engravings. ‘The Sutler's Tent’ is related to a Thanksgiving-themed illustration that ran in November 1862,” according to William Poundstone’s blog. “That means the engraving came before the painting, dated 1863. The horizontal-format print shows many more figures than the painting and clearly shows the tent. … Homer evidently felt the tight cropping of the painting made a stronger composition.”

Homer's 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry (National Gallery of Art) and Harper's Weekly version (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Homer honed his craft during the Civil War. A 2015 article in Yale News describes how the self-taught artist had to work quickly and be an astute observer. The young man grew a beard like many soldiers and also wore worn and dirty clothing.

“Homer, like other war correspondents, considered what he did to be a public service and felt as though he endured some of the same kind of experiences as soldiers did,” Keely Orgeman, a curator with the Yale University Art Gallery, told the publication. “When Homer was stationed in Yorktown on the front, he was unable to eat for three days, along with all of the soldiers. According to his mother, he was completely changed by that experience.”

Homer’s other well-known Civil War works include “Prisoners from the Front,” “Home, Sweet Home” and “A Sharp Shooter on Picket Duty.”

Homer's "Prisoners from the Front" is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and displayed in New York.

The purchase of “The Sutler’s Tent” was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Annabel Adams, vice president of communications and marketing for The Huntington, told the Picket the reasoning for acquiring the museum’s first Homer painting was “especially important as we set to launch a reinstallation of American art galleries on December 7 as part of our ‘This Land Is’ initiative.”

The multiyear effort includes the reinstallation of seven galleries in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art.” One reopened in September; six will debut Sunday.

As Poundstone reported, “The Sutler’s Tent” will be the centerpiece of a room about the Civil War and Reconstruction. On display will be a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation from The Huntington’s Library and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s scultpure "Why Born Enslaved!," The Huntington said in a news release.

Adams said the institution’s Civil War holdings are renowned. Among them:

-- Papers relating to President Abraham Lincoln’s bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon;

-- Ciphered communications between Abraham Lincoln and army commanders;

-- Lincoln memorabilia and manuscript collector Judd Stewart;

-- Scrapbooks made by war correspondent and illustrator James E. Taylor (left, courtesy The Huntington);

-- Alfred R. Waud’s 1863 drawing of Rebel prisoners at Brandy Station.

Christina Nielson, the Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Museum at The Huntington, said “Sutler’s Tent” expands the dialogue between the art and library collections.

“As we look toward the 250th anniversary of the United States, the painting invites reflection on a pivotal chapter in our nation’s history -- one that continues to shape the American experience,” she said in the news release.

The Huntington also features botanical gardens and a research center.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park expands by 21 acres with the help of the Trust for Public Land and the National Park Foundation

Kennesaw and Little Kennesaw mountain rise behind the 21 acres (TPL)

A 21.4-acre tract on which Union troops advanced upon Little Kennesaw Mountain has been added to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, a victory amid the continued threat of residential development, the Trust for Public Land says.

The national nonprofit recently announced it had closed on the property that belonged to the Hensley family of Marietta, Ga., which previously sold 34 acres to the National Park Service in 2008.

George Dusenbury, Georgia director for the TPL, said the NPS paid the fair market value of $2.58 million using funds from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The parcel is north of Burnt Hickory Road.

“TPL worked in partnership with NPS to complete the necessary property due diligence and secure the federal funding needed for the acquisition,” he told the Picket.

The property is largely meadow with some woods. A stream that flows through the property was dammed in the 1950s to form a small pond; it will remain as a fire suppression resource. The property is surrounded on three sides by land already owned by the NPS.

The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain occurred on June, 27, 1864.

Union troops that moved through the parcel were part of the extreme left of Logan’s XV Corps, said Ray Hamel, park ranger and chief of interpretation at Kennesaw Mountain. Troops serving under brigadier generals Harrow, Williams and Fuller and the 64^th Illinois skirmish line were among those present. (See Logan's, Harrow's and others' names at left, map courtesy American Battlefield Trust)

“Troops here did not take part in the assault on Pigeon Hill,” said Hamel. “Confederate defenses were east of the property. Nearest was a skirmish line of the 9^th Texas."

The TPL said “The newly acquired property, now under National Park Service ownership, safeguards not only the rural, open character of the area but also any Civil War-related archaeological resources that may lie beneath its surface."

The park said the acquisition "furthers the preservation of historically significant sections of the original battlefield from modern development."

The Picket reached out to the Hensley family for comment but has not yet received answers to questions about the transaction.

The National Park Foundation provided funding to assist with associated costs, such as the demolition of an old barn, said Dusenbury.

The park -- the most-heavily visited national battlefield in the country -- recently commemorated the 161^st anniversary of the Atlanta Campaign battle in Cobb County.

Click to enlarge to see details of newly acquired tract in orange; park boundaries in green (TPL)

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, told the Picket, “We appreciate landowners who are committed to preservation and will wait on the slow federal government process for acquiring additional land for the National Park Service.”

The TPL said is goal is to help create a cohesive park that “supports public exploration and learning.”

“This acquisition isn’t just about adding acreage -- it’s about preventing the fragmentation of this irreplaceable landscape and keeping it from being lost to suburban development,” Dusenbury said in the announcement.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield spans 2,923 acres, including three battlefield areas and 11 miles of preserved Civil War earthworks.

The TPL said its land additions to the park include:

Early 2000s: Approximately 50 acres to expand park access and continuity.

2008: Acquisition of 34 acres from the Hensley family, featuring forests, fields and a lake.

2013: Addition of the 42-acre Hays farm, home to Nodine’s Hill, with remnant Union entrenchments, rifle pits and cannon placements.

Another view of the 21 acres recently added to the NPS park (TPL)

Sam Hensley, a former Georgia legislator, once owned the land involved in both family transactions. The property includes trenches built by Federal Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces in June 1864.

“Our parents never let us forget that we stand on hallowed ground. They always told us that it was never going to be developed and that we would never see rooftops on this property,” said Sam Hensley Jr. during a ceremony in 2008 concerning the 34 acres. (Sam's brother Shuler is a notable Tony Award-winning actor and singer.)

“That became a very difficult thing to accomplish over the years. There was not a week that went by that my father did not have an unsolicited call from a developer or somebody that wanted to build a subdivision out here.”