[19th Century Vernacular Antebellum Folk Art Drawings of Samuel Sullivan Pine of Port Chester, New York].

“We will make them run won’t we…”

---

C. 1850s–1860s vernacular folk art drawings of soldiers, railroad trains, town views, etc. made by Samuel Sullivan Pine of the village of Port Chester in Rye, Westchester County New York.

Pine’s sometimes cartoon-like, sometimes well delineated sketches and vignettes were made within his 1847 schoolboy grammar textbook, The Institutes of English Grammar. There are approx. 22 pencil drawings.

Among the larger drawings is a view of a boarding school-like building in nearby Garnerville, New York, a two-page spread of marching soldiers, two townscape views, and an elaborate, detailed scene of a railroad engine and cars crossing a bridge, under which are sailing several steamboats.

The drawings are likely to date from the 1850s–1860s. A parade scene on page [262] of marching soldiers is labeled “For Kansas,” suggesting the the armed disturbances of the Bleeding Kansas border wars of 1854–1861. The front soldier (he is preceded by what appears to be a pig holding a baton and leading the troops!) declares: “We will make them run won’t we.”

The scene of marching soldiers on page [14] might depict the Confederate battle flag with its distinctive “X” or saltire cross. Later, a two page spread drawing appears to show a battle between Confederate and Union troops, each side with its proper flags.

Two town views within the book, on pages 183 and 193, seem likely to depict Port Chester. This is surmised because one of the drawings identifies the owners of various buildings. A detailed map on page 293 also has name identifications and appears to conform in its layout to the geography of Port Chester. Also seen in the book (page 261) is a drawing of a neoclassical building labeled “E.W. Meeks;” the building may be a church or a bank there. The bridges and railroad scenes as well as the steamboats and sailing ships may also have been observed in or near the town.

We tentatively identify the creator of these vernacular drawings as Samuel Pine, born in Rye Township, Westchester County, New York on August 31, 1839. This would make him a teenager or young adult when he sketched these vignettes, darawings, views and the map.

Pine came from a prominent Long Island family who emigrated to America from England in 1682. “Samuel Pine had better educational opportunities than the average farmer boy of his day, and attended school until he gave it up of his own accord at the age of eighteen years, having studied at district and boarding schools. He always assisted more or less on the farm, and has been a lifelong agriculturist…”¹

Sold