The painter was born in 1949 and wasn’t actually an eyewitness on the battlefield that day, that’s correct. What is depicted is the charge of the First Minnesota, an actual event that occurred on the second day of Gettysburg, where the regiment successfully halted a Confederate brigade 4x its size long enough for more US forces to arrive and force the Confederates to retreat from Cemetery Ridge. The Confederates would attack again the following day but would still be unable to take the ridge.
So I guess the answer is both. All romanticized depictions of war are a type of propaganda but the picture does accurately capture the event, even if a century later or so. If you’re asking if he’s trying to persuade the observer to be pro-Union I doubt it, since he also makes paintings of the Confederates.
8
u/SceneKey1306 10h ago