Halt of a Wagon Train (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. VIII) 1864

Winslow Homer made this wood engraving, “Halt of a Wagon Train,” for *Harper’s Weekly* during the summer of 1864, amidst the American Civil War. At first glance, it seems Homer delivers a straightforward illustration of westward expansion. Yet, looking closer, the print presents a staged scene. There is a striking absence of women and families, who would have been part of the journey westward. Instead, the men are presented as types – the cook, the resting traveler, and the guard. This isn't a spontaneous moment, but an arrangement, possibly mirroring Homer’s war reportage in its careful depiction. It speaks to the romanticism and the reality of the era. In the context of the Civil War, expansion was as much about claiming territory as it was about national identity. The “wagon train” becomes a visual metaphor for the idea of manifest destiny, masking the complex and violent history of westward expansion.