Victory and Defeat, Panel 13, 1955, Inscription: No 12 The Sword, Jacob Lawrence, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross, © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
James S. Baillie’s 1845 painting Surrender of Cornwallis commemorates the moment when British General Cornwallis capitulated to General George Washington on October 19, 1781. Despite Baillie’s image, Cornwallis refused to participate in the official surrender ceremony and symbolically relinquish his sword to General George Washington. In his panel, Lawrence holds the conflict’s resolution in suspense by depicting the redcoat extending the sword to an outstretched hand.