Attack on Fort Constitution, October 7, 1777
Johann Martin Will
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The offensive shown here records an attack by British General Henry Clinton on American fortifications along the Hudson River. Aiming to protect the British hold on New York City, the British overran Fort Montgomery on October 4, then Fort Constitution near West Point. Since British armies were simultaneously engaged around Saratoga to the north, and attempting to suppress American actions further south, Clinton soon had to abandon the two forts to reinforce Pennsylvania campaigns. Published in Augsburg by Johann Martin Will, this print belongs to a group that describe General John Burgoyne's Hudson River campaign and General William Howe's Philadelphia campaign, both of which took place in the Fall of 1777. Since many German soldiers fought for the British, there would have been much interest in Europe to learn details of the war. A set at the Library of Congress is titled "Zehn Karten und Ansichten den Schlachtfelden des amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskreiges in den Staaten Pennsylvanien und New York" (Ten maps and views of battlefields in the American Revolutionary War in the states of Pennsylvania and New York). While the prints likely relied on written accounts sent back to Germany they cannot be considered accurate visual records. The Museum also has a view of "The Battle of Saratoga" (33.104.2421).
Drawings and Prints
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.