Taking Artillery Around the Mine Crater in the Road to Varennes

Wallace Morgan's charcoal sketch documents American forces moving artillery past a cemetery during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of World War I. The composition centers on a large cross surrounded by smaller grave markers, some adorned with wreaths, while soldiers rest and eat in the foreground. Beyond, troops and mounted officers move uphill as a supply column traverses the crater-damaged road. Morgan's sketch captures the convergence of military logistics and human mortality on the Western Front, rendered with economical charcoal strokes that convey both the scale of operations and the weight of the landscape itself.