Kerr Eby, born Tokyo, Japan 1889-died - Washington and Lee at Monmouth - 1931 - T-Shirt

A mounted officer raises his sword above ranks of musket-bearing infantry in this charcoal-and-crayon drawing of the Battle of Monmouth.

Visual Elements & Composition

The scene is drawn on cream paper in charcoal black and warm grey, with loose, energetic hatching that gives the battle a restless surface. A mounted officer in a tricorn hat sits high on the right, his sword lifted, while a second rider and a small group of horsemen sit against a pale sky. Below them, dense ranks of infantry press across the picture, some hurrying toward the viewer in the foreground and others sprawled or crouched in the grass. Smoke and a fire climb along the left horizon, and the diagonal line of troops carries the eye across the composition.

Meaning & Symbolism

The title places the scene at Monmouth, New Jersey, on 28 June 1778. General Charles Lee had ordered a withdrawal that threatened to break the American line, and George Washington rode forward to rally the retreating troops and bring them back into the fight. The raised sword and the massed, moving ranks mark that turning point, when command was restored and the engagement held. The smoke and the fallen figures give the moment its cost, showing a victory of resolve rather than a clean triumph. Kerr Eby, born in Tokyo in 1889, was an American printmaker and illustrator who returned often to historical and military subjects. This 1931 print belongs to his interwar work on episodes from the American Revolution as scenes of national memory.

Wearing the Battle Line

Across the chest, the drawing's diagonal battle line and rising smoke take in the whole front of the shirt, so the turning point reads as one continuous moment. The dense hatching and sprawling figures set in pale cream read clearly at a glance, and the mounted officer at the top holds the eye as you move. Each figure carries its own weight of motion, so the scene rewards a closer look.