American Shepherd

The shepherd is one of the oldest images in Christian scripture. Psalm 23 begins, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” and in the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11, King James Version).

In the Continental Army the language became a practical matter. On July 9, 1776, five days after the Declaration, Washington's General Orders told every regiment to procure a chaplain, and said he hoped every officer and man would live and act “as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.”

The scene joins the two: Christ in a red robe over cream, one hand reaching out toward three people of the 1770s, a woman in a white cap and apron, a man in a brown coat and tricorn hat, and a younger man in a blue coat holding a musket. Behind them a golden sun with a cross at its center stands over green rolling hills, ringed by stars, with dark leading lines between the panes of color in the manner of a church window.