You Should Have Seen It In Color

For any historian, seeing or hearing the past, holding it in your hand, is almost euphoric. We trudge around cemeteries, carefully handle old letters, documents, and newspapers while every word drips like nectar from the pages, visit historic houses and museums to “hear” the artifacts talk—to feel the past—and pour over old photographs and paintings to understand the humanity of the subject or event. History is alive to us, as alive as the people sitting in the room. I have more often than I can remember talked to the pages of old books and documents. Historians have vivid imaginations. You cannot be a good historian without one.

We often wonder what it would be like to hear George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, to be a fly on the wall at the Philadelphia State House in 1776, or to be an eyewitness to some great event, to see it in color, undimmed by the shades from black and white photographs. We want to smell it, touch it, see it, taste it, and feel it. The best histories, whether in print, film, sound, or presentation, come to life. They are a part of us and define who we are as a people.

Thankfully, there are artists who work to “colorize” the past. For those of us who enjoy Southern history, a Danish artist named Zuzah has produced several beautiful colorizations of Southern heroes. His website and Facebook account have more, but I have provided a sampling of his work, some from the War, others from American history that Abbeville readers may find interesting. He does work on commission, so if you have an old photograph or a historic event or person in mind that you think would look great in color, contact him. His specialty is the War, but as you can see from his website portfolio, he has produced some interesting prints in American and European history and pop culture as well. Enjoy!

Robert E. Lee

Thomas J. Jackson

Jefferson Davis

Kirby Smith

George Pickett

John Singleton Mosby

George Washington Custis Lee, Robert E. Lee, and Walter Taylor

Richard Taylor

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee

Captain George W. Hackworth, 1st Virginia Cavalry

Benjamin Huger

John B. Gordon

John B. Hood

Lewis Powell, William H. Seward’s would-be assassin

George Patton (had Confederate ancestors)

President Martin Van Buren (one of the better U.S. Presidents)

President James Buchanan (the most underrated President in American history)

President Grover Cleveland (the last Jeffersonian to hold the office)

Edgar Allen Poe

Brion McClanahan

Brion McClanahan is the author or co-author of six books, How Alexander Hamilton Screwed Up America (Regnery History, 2017), 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America and Four Who Tried to Save Her (Regnery History, 2016), The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, (Regnery, 2009), The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution (Regnery History, 2012), Forgotten Conservatives in American History (Pelican, 2012), and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Real American Heroes, (Regnery, 2012). He received a B.A. in History from Salisbury University in 1997 and an M.A. in History from the University of South Carolina in 1999. He finished his Ph.D. in History at the University of South Carolina in 2006, and had the privilege of being Clyde Wilson’s last doctoral student. He lives in Alabama with his wife and three daughters.