Nathaniel Currier
The Brilliant Charge of Capt. May

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • The Brilliant Charge of Capt. May
Date1846
PlaceNew York, United States
MediumHand-colored lithograph on wove paper
DimensionsImage: 8 3/8 × 12 1/2 in. (21.3 × 31.8 cm)
Sheet: 10 × 14 in. (25.4 × 35.6 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.265
Not on view

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Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The battle of Resaca de la Palma took place near present-day Brownsville, Texas, just days after the battle of Palo Alto at the beginning of the Mexican-American War.  In the battle, Captain Charles May gained fame for leading a charge of United States dragoons against Mexican artillery. 

Lithographer Nathaniel Currier learned the printing trade as an apprentice at the Boston firm of William and John Pendleton, the first successful lithography firm in the United States.  Currier moved to New York with John Pendleton in the early 1830s, and soon established his own firm there.  Currier found success producing images of current events and making them available quickly and inexpensively.  James Merritt Ives joined the firm in 1852 and became a partner in 1857.


Provenance[Florence Peto, Tenafly, New Jersey]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1954; given to MFAH, 1969.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed: THE BRILLIANT CHARGE OF CAPT. MAY / AT THE BATTLE OF RESACA DE LA PALMA (PALM RAVINE) 9TH OF MAY 1846.--- IN WHICH GALLANT EXPLOIT HE CAPTURED THE WHOLE OF THE ENEMY'S CANNON AND TOOK GENL. LA VEGA PRISONER OF WAR [Gale 1984, no. 0772]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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