Hi, I'm Chris Gregg, an English artist and old friend of Captain Chris Monzi of the 61st PVI. In 2004 Chris kindly invited me to visit and join in as a private in that year's re-enactment at Gettysburg.

That was my introduction to the hobby and, although I've been a keen military history enthusiast all my life, I was "blown away" by the fun and comradeship of actually joining a unit and marching and shooting and charging and "dying". The martial atmosphere engendered by the fifes and drums while we were inspected by the General made me swell up with some kind of pride like I'd never felt before. Add to this the good natured banter in camp and the delicious period grub cooked over an open fire and it was a great holiday. I never got a chance to repeat this until the 145th Gettysburg anniversary loomed in 2008 and I got another invitation from Captain Chris, and Colonel Rob Wingert, who evidently had not minded an Englishman in his Regiment! I wanted to do something special that might be a way of thanking all the "boys" in the 61st for making me feel so at home and I was confident of the same "treatment" in 2008 (Yes, that does mean you, Jeff!).

Since I paint professionally it was natural to want to do a painting for them. I had the germs of a few ideas from looking at photos of re-enactors and tried them on Captain Chris. He seemed to have been inspired and copied me several pages from the official history of the 61st PVI concerning the Regiment's first battle - Fair Oaks or Seven Pines. A quick read through stirred my blood and conjured up images of the desperate struggle of that day, epitomized by the courage of a few in rallying the regiment in its hour of need. I passed a quick color sketch to Captain Chris by email and he quickly gave approval.

I owe him a debt of gratitude for helping me with further authentic features so that the result is a fair rendition of what the newly blooded Volunteers might have looked like that day, forming up in front of the pine trees after their first hour of action. The oil painting, although only 16 inches by 12 inches, is a painstakingly developed oil painting in a traditional style and took about 50 hours over 2 months or so to complete. The sources are mainly poses of re-enactors, period photographs, and photographs of authentic and reproduction equipment, all of this backed up by constant references to the work of the real Civil War Art Master - Don Troiani. I was delighted to present the painting to Captain Monzi in June 2008 when I visited Pennsylvania for several more exciting days of battle.

I hope the finished painting gives you as much pleasure to view as it did me to paint. I'm interested in being commissioned by any other Regiments to do something similar, and would be pleased to discuss requirements and give an estimate of cost. Please contact me on chrisgregg@blueyonder.co.uk 

See my paintings at http://cheltenham-art.com/chrisgregg.htm