Filling Cartridges at the United States Arsenal, at Watertown, Massachusetts (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. 5, no. 238, cover)

This comes from a group of wood engravings that Homer designed for "Harper's Weekly" early in his career. His biographer William Howe Downes noted that "the portentious year 1861 marks a decisive turning point...now twenty-five years of age, for several years [Homer] had been able to support himself by his black and white work and was ready to take advantage of the momentous historic events which followed fast upon the inauguration of President Lincoln in March 1861." Working for Harper's, the artist traveled to Washington DC and the front, also finding subjects in his native Massachusetts. Here men and women are shown preparing munitions. Related text on p. 450 describes this as: "a picture of the operation of Filling Cartridges at the United States Arsenal at Watertown, Massachusetts. At this establishment some 300 operatives are kept constantly at work making war material. The powder (of which the best is used, a large quantity of which came back from the Mexican war being thrown aside for fear it may not be good) is inserted in the cartridge by men, as shown in the lower picture. The bullet is inserted by girls, as shown in the picture above. At least seventy girls and women are kept constantly employed at Watertown in this avocation. The amount of cartridges turned out daily at this factory alone is enormous; and it is evident that, in the course of a few weeks, there will be no lack of this material of war, at all events."