Image – Painting by W.T. Carlton, Watch Meeting - Dec. 31st 1862 - Waiting for the Hour (1863)

Chapter 14

Painting by W.T. Carlton, Watch Meeting-Dec. 31st 1862-Waiting for the Hour (1863)

This painting by W.T. Carlton captures the moments before the Emancipation Proclamation took effect at midnight on Thursday, January 1, 1863. A group of slaves surrounds a crate with an older man at the center holding a large pocket watch as the group counts down the remaining time until New Year's Day. The crowd of figures is illuminated only by a torch at the right edge of the canvas, beside which is a print of the Emancipation Proclamation posted to the wall. At left is a doorway, beyond which is an illuminated cross and, in the doorway, stands the silhouette of a figure holding the Union flag. There is one white woman present, sitting left of the center, looking toward the black woman beside her. Across the bottom, Carlton has inscribed the title of the painting on connecting links of a chain. The painting was a gift to President Abraham Lincoln in July 1864.