[1][2] The painting depicts marching Finnish soldiers in a wintry landscape during the Finnish War fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 1808 to 1809.

As a result of the war, Finland was separated from the Swedish kingdom and annexed as an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian empire.

[3] The painting depicts the marching drummer boys of the Pori brigade, historically known as Björneborgs läns infanteriregemente [sv].

The subject of the painting is the poem of the same name included in the second part of J. L. Runeberg's The Tales of Ensign Stål, which was inspired by a piece of music known as Björneborgarnas marsch.

The original one from 1892 is owned by the Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation [sv] and found at the Serlachius Museum Gösta [fi] in Mänttä, Finland - it was bought in 1928 by Gösta Serlachius from Ida Aspelin-Haapkylä.