Fort Pickering was a major fortification located along the Mississippi River in West Tennessee. It was constructed by the Federal government in 1862, on top of an earlier 19th century fort, and used to garrison nearly 10,000 Union troops for the defense of Memphis. Built after the First Battle of Memphis (June 6, 1862) that resulted in the Union occupation of Memphis, this fort saw little action during the war. It did house commanders Grant and Sherman and served as a staging ground for the eventual conquering of the Mississippi by Union forces. About the Artist: Born in Berlin, Prussia in 1829, Henri Lovie became portrait and landscape painter. In the 1850s, he illustrated The Ohio Railroad Guide, Zoe: or the Quadroon's Triumph, Brother Mason, the Circuit Rider; or Ten Years a Methodist Minister, The Gallows, the Prison, and the Poor-House. Among other illustrator positions held, Lovie was a 'special artist' for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.