A painter, illustrator, and writer, William Shelton was born in Allen's Hill, New York. He was a well-credentialed artist who studied at the Art Students League* and exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association, the Boston Art Club*, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts*, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago*.

During the Civil War, he was a Union artilleryman commanding a center section of Battery D at the Battle of the Wilderness, and was badly wounded and taken prisoner deep into the South. He made several escape attempts and finally succeeded on the day of Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration. He wrote of this adventure, A Hard Road to Travel out of Dixie, for Century Magazine, October 1890.

After the war, he continued to do illustrations for Leslie's and Harper's, and from 1908 to 1916, was Curator of Jumel Mansion, George Washington's Headquarters in New York City. Shelton became one of the founders and librarian of the Salmagundi Club*, and with Sanford Saltus, formed its collection. In 1926, he published a book titled The History of the Salmagundi Club.

Sources:
Walt Reed, The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000
Peter Hastings Falk, Editor, Who Was Who in American Art


* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com. Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx