# Taking the Oath and Drawing Rations

- By: John Rogers (born Salem, MA 1829-died New Canaan, CT 1904)
- Date: modeled 1865, patented 1866
- Medium: painted plaster
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: 23 x 14 x 10 in. (58.4 x 35.5 x 25.4 cm.)
- Culture: African Americans
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Rogers and Son
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=21159)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/e93323339904c750f3e51fb2add537b7.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Taking the Oath and Drawing Rations exemplifies the small genre sculptures for which John Rogers is best known. These statuettes, sculpted in plaster and painted a sandy color, portray individuals engaged in everyday activities. This particular sculpture is from Rogers's well-known Civil War series, in which a Southern woman and her young son must take the oath in order to receive food rations distributed by the Union Army. Taking the Oath and Drawing Rations illustrates the hardships endured by the masses throughout the Civil War.