In the Rockies

1861

“Guerrilla Warfare” shown in Brooklyn

Bierstadt based this Civil War painting on his brief stay with soldiers at Camp Cameron in 1861 and on a stereoscopic photograph by his brother Edward. Shown by the Brooklyn Art Association at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, it received a favourable review.

1863

West again, with the writer Fitz Hugh Ludlow

Bierstadt's companion was the writer Fitz Hugh Ludlow, whose wife he later married; the two spent seven weeks in the Yosemite Valley. Studies from the trip fed his huge exhibition canvases through the 1860s, which made him the pre-eminent painter of the American West.

1863

A first ascent: Mount Rosalie in Colorado

With the politician William Byers, Bierstadt made the first ascent of a 4,348-metre peak and named it Rosalie after Fitz Hugh Ludlow's wife, his own future wife (other accounts call it Mount Rosa; in 1895 it was renamed Evans). The same year he was the first to climb a neighbouring 4,287-metre peak, which still bears his name.

1863

Drafted — and pays for a substitute

During the Civil War Bierstadt was drafted and paid for a substitute to serve in his place.

1865

“The Rocky Mountains” sells for $25,000

“The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak” was bought for $25,000 — almost $400,000 in 2020 money: financial recognition confirmed his standing.