Explore the Background of this artwork.
By the late 1850s, Johnson had earned a reputation as a rising American artist, particularly with respect to genre paintings.  Notably, Johnson was one of only a handful of American artists creating works depicting the lives of African Americans, having earned considerable attention with his 1859 exhibition of Negro Life at the South.During the American Civil War, Johnson attached himself to the Union Army and, over the course of the war, would produce numerous paintings and sketches of the people and events he witnessed. In the months prior to the Second Battle of Bull Run Johnson was with the Army of the Potomac outside of Manassas, Virginia. Early in the morning on March 2, 1862, Johnson claimed to have seen a family of African Americans fleeing towards the Union Army lines in the hopes of acquiring contraband status.
Union Army Negro Life at the South Manassas, Virginia genre paintings American Civil War Army of the Potomac Second Battle of Bull Run contraband