Confederate Army Crossing the Potomac for the Invasion of Maryland

The caption reads: The Rebel Army Crossing the Fords of the Potomac for the Invasion of Maryland. Nast renders the September 1862 crossing as a moonlit nocturnal procession: a bearded Confederate horseman dominates the foreground, rifle across his back, sword at his hip, wading his mount into a broad, shallow ford. Behind him, a mass of cavalry and infantry stretches into the middle distance under a full moon. Two figures linger beneath trees at left. The scene is reportorial rather than satirical—less editorial cartoon than dramatic war illustration—conveying the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's audacious first invasion of Union soil, an event that would culminate at Antietam days later. Nast here functions as visual journalist, making the distant war legible to Northern readers.