AV 117 Alfred E. Mathews Lithograph Collection

              AV 117
Alfred E. Mathews Lithograph Collection
Page 1
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Manuscripts/ Audiovisual Collections
AV 117
Alfred E. Mathews Lithograph Collection
1862- 1863
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number:
AV 117
Title:
Alfred E. Mathews Lithograph Collection
Creator:
Ohio Historical Society
Dates:
1862- 1863
Media:
Lithographic prints
Quantity:
61 prints
Location:
Ohio Historical Center
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COLLECTION
Alfred E. Mathews was born in Bristol, England on June 24, 1831. His family came to the United States when he was two and settled in Rochester, Ohio. For a time he worked as a typesetter for the Ohio Democrat, a newspaper in New Philadelphia, Ohio owned by his brother Charles. When the Civil War broke out, Mathews was teaching school in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. He quit and quickly headed north.
In August 1861 Mathews enlisted in Captain Cotter's battery of the 1st Ohio Artillery. Later he joined the 31st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. With the 31st O. V. I. he fought in battles at Corinth, Mississippi; Stone River ( Murfreesboro), Tennessee; Lookout Mountain, Tennessee and Missionary Ridge, Tennessee. During his three years in the army he used his artistic ability to make topographic maps and drawings. He also drew sketches that were made into lithographs and sold. Harper's Weekly magazine published two of his lithographs on the " War in Kentucky." General Ulysses S. Grant saw and admired Mathews’ work. After mustering out of the 31st O. V. I., he prepared an exhibition of panoramic scenes of Vicksburg, Stone River, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Sherman's March to the Sea. It is unknown how extensively the panoramas were exhibited, but they were seen in several Ohio cities, including Steubenville, in late 1864 and 1865.
Mathews moved to Nebraska in the summer of 1865 and went on to Denver, Colorado in the fall. He created lithographs of mining scenes around Denver and began work on a book of 36