Item Info

Item 1, entire page:  Two images and text, from a page in the Boston-based weekly publication Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion (published from 1851-1859).  Nicholas B. Devereux was their staff artist, who provided them with many drawings and engravings featuring Philadelphia and vicinity.  The images on this page (drawn by Devereux and engraved by Gulick) show an 1850s view of Red Bank, NJ, where, almost 80 years earlier, the 1777 naval battle and destruction of Fort Mercer took place.  In 1829, the obelisk-shaped monument seen in the bottom image of this article was erected in honor of the soldiers who had briefly held the fort.  The lengthy inscription on the monument is transcribed in this article. (The structure to the left of the monument appears to be a rudimentary lookout pole, but that is unverified.)  The resort depicted at the top, and described in the last paragraph of the text, was developed for a time on the former ruined battlefield.  The resort buildings do not exist anymore, as by the early 1900s, interest grew in preserving the history of, and several surviving artifacts from, the fort and battleground.  Red Bank Battlefield Park was eventually created, and was designated a national historical landmark in 1972.  The 1829 monument pictured here still resides in the park, protected by a shelter and an iron fence.  Text and reproductions of two engravings, for Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, measuring 23.5 x 34 cm.  The top image measures 23.5 x 13 cm; the bottom image measures 12 x 12.5 cm.  Both were drawn in the 1850s.