Valley towards Saltillo, From near the base of "Palace Hill," at Monterey (Looking to the S. West) [No. 3 of a Series]

New York: G. & W. Endicott, 1847. Tinted lithograph, engraved by C. Parsons after Whiting. Very good condition apart from some overall light soiling and a 1 3/4" loss in the lower left corner of the sheet. From Whiting's "Army Portfolio," a very scarce series of Mexican War views, which is not only one of the primary visual records of the conflict, but also a fine topographical work that accurately recorded the area at a crucial turning point in its history."The rarest lithographs of the war" (Tyler). According to Whiting family tradition, the work was limited to no more than 24 sets (quoted by Goodspeed's of Boston: "The Month at Goodspeed's Book Shop" vol. XXI, nos. 2-3, Nov-Dec. 1959, p. 43).

In late 1845, General Taylor's army was camped at Corpus Christi, Texas. In January 1846, they advanced to the United States side of the Rio Grande, where they remained until May, and then marched on to the strongly fortified city of Monterey, which was taken in September. Whiting's work documents this campaign. Although he originally intended to continue the series beyond five plates, the original drawings for the additional plates were lost aboard a steamboat that sank in the Mississippi. Daniel Powers Whiting was born in Troy, New York, and graduated in 1832 from the U.S. Military Academy, where he received formal training as a topographical artist. He was assigned to the 7th U.S. Infantry, with which he served in various garrisons before being promoted to captain in the spring of 1845. During the Mexican War, he served in the army of General Zachary Taylor and was made major "for gallant and meritorious conduct" in the battles of Fort Brown, Monterey, Vera Cruz, and Cerro Gordo. After the war, he fought the Seminoles, joined the Utah expedition of 1859, served in various garrisons in Missouri and Kansas, and completed frontier duty in the Indian Territory. During the Civil War, he commanded at Fort Garland, Colorado (1861-1862), was a member of the Board of Examination at Annapolis (1862-1863), and commanded at Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania (1864). At the time of his retirement for "disability resulting from long and faithful service," he was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 6th Infantry.

Cf. America on Stone, p. 175; cf. Eberstadt 162, 910; cf. Streeter Sale 275; cf. Tyler, The Mexican War, pp. 24-45.