Through Mud to Glory

After a stint as a staff artist for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers, William Henry Dethlef Koerner decided to further his art education first at the Art Students League and then with Howard Pyle in Wilmington. He undertook hundreds of magazine commissions, including this one for Good Housekeeping, illustrating the article “Decoration Day” by Eugene Wood in 1914. Decoration Day was first celebrated in 1868, specifically to pay tribute to the Civil War dead. Over the years, however, the celebration has turned into the holiday known today as Memorial Day.