Benson John Lossing

Benson John Lossing (1813–1891) was an American historian, engraver and illustrator. Born in Dutchess County, New York, and apprenticed to a watchmaker, he became a newspaper editor and then a wood engraver in New York City. He traveled thousands of miles to the sites of the American Revolution to sketch and gather stories for The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution (1850–1852), and later produced similar field books on the War of 1812 and the Civil War. He wrote dozens of other popular histories and biographies, including a life of Washington, and his engravings shaped how many Americans pictured their national past.