A fine large mezzotint engraving by John Sartain after a painting by George Caleb Bingham begun in November 1865 in Independence, Missouri and completed December 1868. When Bingham first painted ‘Martial Law’ it caused a political stir. It was politically charged coming as it did on the back of the recent Civil War and was highly publicised. Shortly after he published this excellent mezzotint produced by Sartain. The original painting now hangs at the State Historical Society of Missouri.

Trouble had been brewing along the border between Kansas and Missouri since before the outbreak of the Civil War. There had been deep resentment on both sides of the border following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Numerous raids by bands of men such as the ‘Red-Legs’ and ‘Jayhawkers’ led by James Lane and Col. Charles R. Jennison plundered, burned border towns and murdered citizens. The Civil War just escalated the violence. The Martial Law, also known as General Order no. 11, became law 25 August 1863 and was ordered by Brigadier General Thomas Ewing and enforced the eviction of virtually all the people from a large area of the border of Kansas with Missouri. Specifically this was in retaliation for providing a safe haven to the Confederate William Charles Quantrell who had carried out a raid on Lawrence, Kansas, eight days earlier in which he captured the town, burned 185 buildings and killed about 150 people. Bingham lived in Independence, Missouri, and objected strongly to the order despite having strong Union sympathies. He appealed to Ewing’s superior officer General John M. Schofield to have it rescinded to no avail. Bingham is reported to have said “If God spares my life, with pen and pencil I will make this order infamous in history”. The picture was the result.

General Ewing is depicted with Kansas Senator Jim Lane along with the troops burning a Missouri village forcing the residents to leave. What happened next was exactly as Bingham had feared, Union sympathisers in Missouri turned away, and many Kansas citizens went on the rampage. Ayres ‘Picturing History. American paintings 1770-1930’, New York, 1992, p. 123; Bloch, E. Maurice ‘The Paintings of George Caleb Bingham A Catalogue Raisonne’ P12 p. 223; Exhibition Catalogue ‘A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760-1910’ pp. 260-1.