Alfred Rudolph Waud ( ; October 2, 1828 – April 6, 1891) was an American artist and illustrator, born and raised in Hackney, London, England. He is most notable for the sketches he made as an artist correspondent during the American Civil War.
Waud trained at the Government School of Design at Somerset House, London, with the intention of becoming a marine painter. He did not achieve this but, as a student, he also worked as a painter of theatrical scenery. He intended to pursue that work in the United States when he immigrated in 1850; he sought employment with actor and playwright John Brougham. In the 1850s, Waud worked variously as an illustrator for a Boston periodical, the Carpet-Bag, and illustrated books such as Hunter's Panoramic Guide from Niagara to Quebec (1857).
In 1850, Waud sailed from London aboard the sailing ship Hendrik Hudson, bound for New York City. His brother William followed in 1855 aboard the sailing ship Hermann, also bound for New York.
Waud married Mary Gertrude Jewell from New York in 1855 or 1856. They lived in Orange, New Jersey, where they raised their family. Waud was naturalized as an American citizen on January 10, 1870.
In 1860, Waud became an illustratorfor the New York Illustrated News. In April 1861, the newspaper assigned Waud to cover the Army of the Potomac, Virginia's main Union army. He first illustrated General Winfield Scott in Washington, D.C. He entered the field to render the First Battle of Bull Run in July. Waud followed a Union expedition to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina the next month and witnessed the Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries. That autumn, he sketched army activity in the Tidewater region of Virginia. Waud joined Harper's Weekly toward the end of 1861, continuing to cover the war. In 1864 Alfred's brother, William Waud (who up to that time had been working with " Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper"), joined Alfred on the staff of Harper's. The two men worked together during the Petersburg Campaign.
Waud visited every battle of the Army of the Potomac between the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861 through the Siege of Petersburg in 1865. He was one of only two artists present at the Battle of Gettysburg, which proved both the Civil War's deadliest and most decisive battle. Waud's depiction of Pickett's Charge is thought to be the only such depiction based on a visual account.
Waud died in 1891 in Marietta, Georgia, while touring battlefields of the South.
File:Waud - infernal machines.jpg|Inscribed above Image:Infernal machines discovered in the Potomac near Creek by the flotilla for whose destruction they were intended. July 22, 1861, p. 177 (Cover) File:Phila. Ice Boat. Navy Yard. Washington DC May 23-61 LCCN2004660134.jpg|Drawing shows the U.S.S. Ice Boat docked at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington DC on May 23, 1861 File:Skinker's Neck Alfred Waud.jpg|Skinkers Neck on the Rappanhannock River below Fredericksburg, VA (1862) File:General Humphrey charging Alfred Waud.jpg|Union General Humphrey charging during the battle of Fredericksburg of the American Civil War (1862) File:John Reynolds death 2.jpg|The Fall of Reynolds - The death of John Fulton Reynolds at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, depicted by Alfred Rudolph Waud (July 1, 1863) File:Waud Chickamauga.jpg|Battle of Chickamauga, Confederate line advancing up hill through forest toward Union line by Alfred Waud (September 20, 1863) File:Kennesaw bombardment2.jpg|"Kennesaw's Bombardment, 64", sketch of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, scanned from the original and digitally restored. File:Waud-Petersburg-Crater.jpeg|Before Petersburg at sunrise, July 30th 1864 Spires in Petersburg. The mine. File:USS Monticello by Waud.jpg|The gunboat USS Monticello in service during the American Civil War. Prior to the war she was a merchant steamship. File:Gun Boats Blockade Mobile Bay, Alabama, Our Flag is There, by Alfred Rudolph Waud.jpg|Painting of Gun Boats Blockade Mobile Bay, Alabama, Our Flag is There, by Alfred Rudolph Waud (1865) File:Waud - 1867 - The First Vote.jpg|African Americans vote for the first time, as depicted in 1867 on the cover of Harper's magazine. Engraving by Alfred R. Waud (1867) File:Sunday in New Orleans 1871 by Alfred Waud - A Pompano Dinner.jpg|Sunday in New Orleans 1871 by Alfred Waud - A Pompano Dinner - Engraving in "Every Saturday", publication date 15 July 1871. Photographed from reproduction on display at the Historic New Orleans Collection File:FrenchMarketSceneWithUmbrellaWaud1871.jpeg|French Market, New Orleans, sketch by A. R. Waud, 1871
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