December 7, 1867 | Illustration
This image from the December 7, 1867 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a train running on the Central Pacific Railroad with a view of California's American River in the distance.
September 7, 1867 | Illustration
This image from the September 7, 1867 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts Cheyenne Indians on horseback attacking a party working for the Union Pacific Railroad.
August 11, 1877 | Illustration
This August 11, 1877 image from Leslie's Illustrated depicts the U.S. cavalry charging into the crowd in Chicago on July 26, 1877, and emphasizes the crowd's fear and panic in the face of sabers-drawn, overwhelming military response.
May 29, 1869 | Illustration
This image was a metaphor for where the nation was going, although it said little about where the nation had been. Created by Alfred R. Waud, one of the most prolific Civil War sketch artists and lithographers, the image suggested a national tapestry of progress. Far from binding the nation, railroads and the culture that developed around them had been one of the root causes of discord and division.
June 5, 1869 | Illustration
This image from the June 5, 1869 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a large celebratory gathering around the place where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines joined at Promontory Summit, Utah.
December 21, 1872 | Illustration
This image from the December 21, 1872 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts five people seated in a passenger car.
August 11, 1877 | Illustration
The strike spread from Baltimore into small towns, big cities, and rural areas in the summer of 1877. This August 11, 1877 image from Leslie's Illustrated depicts a gang of workers under the protection of the 23rd New York State National Guard Regiment repairing the tracks near Corning, New York.
August 11, 1877 | Illustration
Scenes of repair and destruction of railroads in this August 11, 1877 image from Leslie's Illustrated were similar to illustrations throughout the Civil War. This lithograph depicts a construction gang, under the protection of the New York State Militia, righting overturned cars near Corning, New York.
February 10, 1872 | Illustration
This image from the February 10, 1872 issue of Harper's Weekly offers an artist's conception of the response of a train crew to a warning of impending disaster.
October 1, 1864 | Illustration
This image from the October 1, 1864 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the destruction of railway cars by Confederate General John Bell Hood before the evacuation of Atlanta during the American Civil War.
May 21, 1864 | Illustration
This image from the May 21, 1864 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts Union soldiers from the First Brigade, Third Division of the Twenty-third Army Corps destroying the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad during the American Civil War.
July 6, 1861 | Illustration
This image from the July 6, 1861 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the destruction of the Potomac railroad bridge near Harper's Ferry by Confederate troops.
July 25, 1877 | Illustration
This image from the front page of the July 25, 1877 issue of PUCK Magazine mockingly depicts two strikers "digging their own graves."
January 27, 1866 | Illustration
This image from the January 27, 1866 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the ceremonial "first spike" of the Atchison and Pike's Peak Railroad.
November 7, 1863 | Illustration
This image from the November 7, 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts defensive works built near the Rappahannock Railway Bridge during the American Civil War.
November 28, 1868 | Illustration
This image from the November 28, 1868 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts four scences of damage in San Francisco, California following a severe earthquake: the Coffey and Risdons Building, the Railroad house and Rosenbum's Tobacco Warehouse, the Gas Works, and California Street.
December 13, 1862 | Illustration
Harper's Weekly featured regular illustrations of southern towns and battlefields for Northern audiences following the war. This image of Fredericksburg echoes a photograph by Matthew Brady.
October 9, 1859 | Illustration
This image from the October 9, 1859 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a farewell exchange between a man and woman.
September 1, 1860 | Illustration
This image from the September 1, 1860 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts celebratory fireworks following the completion of the Victoria Tubular Bridge in Montreal, Canada.
1878 | Illustration
Railroad detective Allan Pinkerton's history of the strike emphasized the unruliness of the mob and the threat of foreign, anarchist, and communist influences on American labor. Here, his illustration shows the military defending law and order, firing their weapons into a mob in Baltimore during the 1877 strike.