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Federal (CIV)

Francis H. Schell

"Frank"

(1834 - 1909)

Home State: Pennsylvania

Command Billet: Newspaper artist

Branch of Service: Civilian

Unit: Army of the Potomac

Before Antietam

Frank Schell had been an illustrator and lithographer in Philadelphia before going to New York and signing on with Frank Leslie as a "special artist" in 1861. He was on the 1862 North Carolina Campaign earlier in 1862, then joined the Army of the Potomac before Antietam.

On the Campaign

He was on the field during combat on September 17 and sketched events there for Frank Leslie's Illustrated News.

The rest of the War

He was later at Vicksburg, on the Gulf, and on the Atlanta Campaign. He had more than 200 of his war images printed in Leslie's, and was the magazine's art director after the war. He also published drawings in Century Magazine and in the Battles & Leaders compilation.

References & notes

Basic data from a biographical sketch accompanying an online exhibit from the Becker Collection/Boston College.

More on the Web

See more about Schell's experience at Antietam in a post on behindAotW.

Birth

1834; Philadelphia, PA

Death

1909