John R. Kelso’s Civil Wars:
A Graphic History - Episode 17
More on the text
Teacher, Preacher, Soldier, Spy, 212-14, 387-93. Kelso’s injuries from the shotgun blast and horse accident and are detailed in over a dozen affidavits in John R. Kelso, Pension File, National Archives. The effects of his injuries grew worse with the passing years, and he applied for a total disability military pension in 1886. He based his claim on his wounds, his injuries, and a chronic disease, all stemming from the gunshot and horse accident in 1863. The injury to his hand had been permanent, the severity of his hernia had “greatly increased,” and he also described a bad left shoulder, detailed serious problems with both hips, and complained of a chronic kidney ailment. He gave the fullest account of his condition in an affidavit sworn at the end of July. “Instead of getting well, as I hoped they would, these injuries have grown worse,” he testified. . . . I can scarce perform labor at all now.” The examining physicians considered him only 17/18th disabled, however, which meant that his pension would not be raised from $17 to $24 per month.
More on the Illustration
I knew showing Kelso getting crushed by his horse would be a challenge. I found this rodeo picture and I rotated it, because in the rodeo photo, the horse is not falling down. He's actually just rearing up on his hind legs and the guy is falling off the backside. I just kind of rotated it and then used that as my source. Then I found some images of trees in the background that I appropriated and put it all together. Again, with the hand on the ground as he's falling, for me it's the sensation of, “Oh my God, I'm going to get crushed.” The hands tell stories by the way the fingers are, and if they're open or closed. I just show the bridge of his nose, and his face kind of hidden by the lid of his hat and tucked into his collar. I've elaborated on the collar. It's really not like the uniform that he actually had, but I've kind of made the collar stand up a little bit more in a stylized way. I put Kelso and the horse on a slope, too, because it looks really different if the figure and the horse's rear legs are horizontal--it doesn't work at all. That forced me to put them on a hill, and gravity is pulling them down. Also, the full text suggests that the rope might have gotten tangled around a front leg, but this worked better in the composition. Some dramatic license.