Early Life and Military Service Henry Bacon enters the historical record in 1839, born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. His early years precede the upheaval of the American Civil War, a conflict that would fundamentally alter his trajectory. On 16 July 1861, he enlists in the Union Army. He is assigned to the 13th Massachusetts Infantry, but his role is not strictly that of a combatant. He serves as a field artist for Frank Leslie's Weekly, documenting the realities of war through his sketches and observations. The violence of the conflict finds him personally. During the Second Battle of Bull…