September, 2025
PHILIP DUER’S BATTLE OF NASHVILLE PAINTINGS RECOGNIZED AS ACCURATE AND ‘EVOCATIVE’ VISUALIZATION OF BATTLEFIELD LOCATIONS AND ACTION
No actual photos and very few creative images of any kind exist to define for us the appearance of the Nashville Battlefield or the action that took place on it.
Though two highly-recognized Civil War photographers (click HERE for details of their work in Nashville) were present in Nashville at the time of the Battle of Nashville, neither of them – nor anyone else – photographed the areas of battlefield combat either during or after the action. Moreover, in the years following the Battle, very few significant artists created art depicting action during the battle. The most famous example was the large oil painting by Howard Pyle portraying the charge by Minnesota troops up the northwest slope of Shy’s Hill. (For more about the Pyle painting, click HERE for articles on the Shy’s Hill page).
It is no surprise, then, that when author Sean Michael Chick needed illustrations of the battlefield for his book about the Battle of Nashville entitled They Came Only To Die (pub. 2023), he found what he needed in the artwork of Nashville amateur artist Philip Duer. In addition to serving as a former president of the Trust and long-time board member, Duer is also a serious student of the Battle of Nashville and the battlefield environment. As a lawyer (retired) and Vietnam veteran (his combat awards include the Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge), he has written extensively for this website and worked closely with the Nashville Civil War Round Table.
Fortunately, over the years, Duer has translated his detailed knowledge of the Battle, its participants, and its terrain, into illustrations which help us visualize events in the field on Dec. 15-16, 1864. Author Chick used four of them for his book, and later wrote about his use of the works in an article in December, 2024, for the website “Emerging Civil War” entitled, “Philip William Duer’s Paintings of the Battle of Nashville.”
In the article, Chick gives a frank assessment of Duer’s artwork, explaining the multiple reasons the pieces were important for his book which was published as one of the “Emerging Civil War Series.” He pointed out that, though the work did not match the quality of professional artists, it was nevertheless “evocative” and was noteworthy for its “attention to detail, particularly geographic detail, not seen in many.” He noted, for example, that Duer’s portrayal of the uniforms and atmosphere of Redoubt No. 1 was “spot on,” and praised the portrayal of freezing weather conditions in his drawing of Ft. Negley. He added that Duer’s battlefield art reminded him of “the art of early America” which reflected the artist’s “love for the subject.”
Chick’s use of Duer’s work, and his explanation in the follow-up article, confirm the significant dearth of visual aids to imagine the places, men, action, and terrain of the Battle of Nashville, and the need for accomplished artists to explore this important campaign. The four paintings used by Chick are re-posted here, though some are used in other areas of this website, in order to again showcase the importance of these renderings which help fill the void.