Painting of Mountain

A Portland, OR man inherited a watercolor he believes was painted by a soldier in Rock Island, Illinois during the Civil War.

The artist is John F. Gisch. Along the bottom of the painting we read “Battle of Lookout Mountain, ” and “Rock Island Prison, ILL.”

Bill says the painting has been passed down in his family from generation to generation. He wants to know more about the artist, John Gisch, and about the painting itself.

History Detectives learns more about the crucial battle over a strategic vantage point, Lookout Mountain and visits the Rock Island Arsenal Museum to find out more about the lives of soldiers imprisoned there.

On November 24th, 1863 at least 13, 000 Confederate and Union soldiers battled at Lookout Mountain in Tennessee for the besieged city of Chattanooga, and the Tennessee River, gateway to the South. View Civil War-era photographs of this Battle of Lookout Mountain.

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