Robert Knox Sneden

Robert Knox Sneden (1832–1918) was an American landscape painter and a map-maker for the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was a prolific illustrator and memoirist documenting the war and other events.

Early life Robert Knox Sneden was born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada and moved to New York City in 1851 at age 19.

In October, 1863, after the Battle of Bristoe Station, he was assigned to David B. Birney's division, participating in the Battle of Kelly's Ford.

He was assigned to the staff of general William H. French, during the abortive Battle of Mine Run.

Prisoner-of-War On November 27, 1863, Sneden was captured by Confederate rangers under John S. Mosby and became a prisoner of war for the next thirteen months. but continued making clandestine drawings. Altogether, he sketched scenes of prison life in Savannah and Millen, Georgia, and in Florence and Charleston, South Carolina. On December 11, 1864, he was exchanged at Charleston. Sneden contributed some of them to the Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, a series of articles published between 1884 and 1887 in The Century Magazine and then reissued as a four-volume set of books.

Sneden never married and devoted the rest of his life to preserving the Civil war memory. In 1918, Sneden died in New York State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home.

Recognition In 1994, an art dealer approached the Virginia Historical Society about a Civil War archive that had languished in a Connecticut bank vault. Documentary-style images created by Sneden are considered as important historical records.

His works are currently held by the Virginia Historical Society, and also are available through the Library of Congress.