James Ford Rhodes (1 May 1848–22 January 1927), was an American industrialist and Pulitzer Prize winning historian born in Cleveland, Ohio.
He and his father made a pot of money in iron, coal and steel industries in Cleveland but then retired in 1885 at the age of 37 (approximately) and devoted the remainder of his life to the pursuit of history. He moved to Boston to be close to prominent libraries.
His major work, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 appeared in seven volumes, 1893-1906; the eight-volume edition appeared in 1920. The one-volume version History of the Civil War, 1861-1865 (1918), which is online, earned him a Pulitzer Prize in History in 1918
(Wikipedia)
Special thanks to Matt Davies, of Kansas City, a friend of the JSS Gallery, for sending me the image of Sargent's drawing.
From: Matt Davies
Matt Davies @ JSS Gallery.org
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005
Some time ago I purchased a book entitled, "Later Years of the Saturday Club: 1870-1920," by M. A. DeWolfe Howe, published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 1927. This drawing was in it.