This 1850 print offers a defense of slavery in America by satirically comparing it with a perceived system of “wage slavery” in England. In the top panel, two Northern men and two Southern men look upon a group of seemingly content slaves who are shown dancing, playing music, and smiling. The Northerners are surprised at this scene, amazed to find that popular assumptions at home about slavery were unfounded. The Southerners hope that the Northerners will return home with a new perspective on slavery, but demonstrate their readiness to fight for their rights if necessary. The lower panel shows a gathering of people outside of a cloth factory in England. On the side of the factory, a sign reads, “Sale / A Wife to be Sold.” On the left, a young farmer talks to his childhood friend, who appears as an old man. The older figure explains that life in a British factory producing cloth ages one more quickly, and that the workers die of old age at 40. To their right, a mother looks down upon her three children, lamenting “What wretched slaves, this factory life makes me & my children. Continuing right, two factory workers contemplate running away to the coal mines, where they would only work for 14 hours instead of their current 17. On the far right, two rotund men, a priest and a tax collector, approach the workers with books labeled “Tythes” and “Taxes.” In the right corner, a man thanks God that he will soon die and be free of his “factory slavery.” Below the panels is included a portrait of the bust of George Thompson, a Scottish abolitionist. An accompanying quote from Thompson reads, “I am proud to boast that Slavery does not breathe in England,” although the creators of this print would argue otherwise. It was printed by British born John Haven ( born ca 1817), who was active in New York City at 3 Broad Street 1846-1848. He then moved to 86 State Street, Boston where he was active 1848-1850. He is known for designing maps as well as for prints on Manifest Destiny and prints with political commentary.
This 1860 colored lithograph celebrates George Washington and many important buildings from around the capital. At the top of the work, a portrait of Washington is flanked by images of Mount Vernon and his tomb. His image is encircled by the words, “First in War / First in Peace / and first in the hearts of his Countrymen.” Below Washington’s portrait is a colored illustration of the Statue of Freedom, the bronze statue commissioned to adorn the dome of the Capitol Building. Scenes of the Senate and the House of Representatives are included on either side of Freedom. Below the statue are arrayed 23 illustrations of famous D.C. landmarks, including the United States General Post Office, the United States Treasury, the Willard Hotel, the United States Navy Yard, the United States Arsenal, Georgetown College, the United States Patent Office, and the “Smithsonian Institute” [sic]. Below these, a bird’s eye view of Washington, D.C. contains a rendering of the completed Capitol Building. At the time of the print’s publication, the building’s dome was still under construction. At the bottom of the print, an illustration of the Washington Monument is situated between an image of Washington during the Revolution and an allegory of Columbia with two cherubs. In 1860, the Washington Monument remained unfinished and this illustration of the monument features its original design: an obelisk surrounded by a circular colonnade, which would be topped by a statue of Washington driving a chariot.
Charles Magnus (1826-1900) was born Julian Carl Magnus in Germany and immigrated with his family to New York City sometime between 1848 and 1850. During the 1850s, he learned the printing business while working with his brother on a German language weekly newspaper, the Deutsche Schnellpost. He later began his own lithographer firm, producing city views and commercial letterhead designs. During the Civil War, he designed pro-Union envelopes and illustrated song sheets. The firm’s Washington, D.C. branch also produced small, hand-colored scenes of Union camps and hospitals. Soldiers purchased these picturesque scenes of camp life to send home to calm the worries of anxious family members.
This hand-colored lithographic print, circa 1864, employs an optical illusion of Jefferson Davis’ profile to create an anti-Confederacy cartoon. The “War” viewing of the print reveals “Jeff. Rampant” with verses underneath the Confederate president telling of his eagerness to fight “For glory and his vaunted right.” Four vignettes depicting scenes of battle surround these verses. When the image is turned upside down, however, Davis metamorphoses into a donkey – his cap and mustache becoming the animal’s bridled snout and ears. A set of now-upright verses, entitled “Peace,” jests that “Jeff. Subdued” has lost his courage after actually witnessing battle and he now “homeward travels like an ass.” The corner vignettes around these verses contain three scenes of farm life and one of a battered, mustached Confederate, presumably Davis, returning home on a donkey.
The design for this colored lithograph was based on a similar 1861 cartoon, “Jeff. Davis going to War / Jeff. Returning from War An [Ass],” copyrighted by E. Rogers and published by S.C. Upham of Philadelphia. During the War, Upham famously printed millions of dollars’ worth of counterfeit Confederate currency, which, when taken into the South, further destabilized the already hyper-inflated Southern economy.
It was produced by the Hartford, Connecticut lithographic firm of E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. Edmund Burke Kellogg and Elijah Chapman Kellogg were younger brothers of the founder of the Kellogg lithography firm, Daniel Wright Kellogg. After Daniel Wright Kellogg moved west, his two brothers took over the family lithography firm in 1840 and changed the name to E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. They were responsible for the continued success of the family firm and involved in partnerships with Horace Thayer in 1845/1846, John Chenevard Comstock in 1848 and William Henry Bulkeley in 1867.
George Whiting, credited on this print as Witing, worked as the agent and distributor of the Kellogg brothers’ prints in New York from 1848 to 1860. In 1860, the Kelloggs closed their New York office and Whiting took over the firm, selling prints until his death two years later.
Capitalizing on the success of Civil War-related artwork during the 1880s and 90s, the Chicago-based printmakers Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison published a series of 36 battle scenes commemorating famous engagements of the war. All displayed idealized, panoramic representations of the battles with statistics of the killed and wounded below each image. Kurz and Allison did not consult photography or Civil War historians when designing their prints, instead relying on Kurz’s own first-hand experience as a soldier during the conflict. They included historical inaccuracies and eschewed aesthetic realism to remain true to earlier, pre-photographic lithographic traditions, which preferred bold graphics, black outlines, and figures performing grand, exaggerated gestures.
This 1888 chromolithograph commemorates the 25th anniversary of the surrender of Vicksburg, which took place on July 4, 1863 after a 47-day siege by Union forces commanded by General Grant. Vicksburg was the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, and its capture gave the Union control over the waterway, splitting the Confederacy in two. The Union victory at Vicksburg and General Lee’s surrender at Gettysburg on the same day are often considered the two most important turning points of the war. In this print, Union soldiers are stationed behind barricades at the base of a hill, looking up at entrenched Confederate troops. Artillery fire from ships commanded by Admiral Porter fall upon the Confederate positions. The Admiral’s ships are visible in the background on the right, sailing down the Mississippi. Grant, in the lower right, uses a telescope to survey the battle. An officer to his left guides his attention to a clump of trees, from which a group of Confederate soldiers are emerging, waving a white flag of surrender.
Louis Kurz was a mural and scene painter before the Civil War, explaining the mural-like format of the images. His illustrations also appear to have been inspired by cycloramas, which were popular at the time, such as Paul Philippoteaux’s Gettysburg Cyclorama. Kurz was an Austrian immigrant who settled in Chicago during the 1850s, where he formed a partnership with Henry Seifert of Milwaukee. He later fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. After the conflict, he co-founded the Chicago Lithographic Company. When the company’s assets were destroyed during the Chicago Fire of 1871, Kurz started a new business with his partner, financial backer, and business manager, Alexander Allison.
In 19th-century New York City, rising rent rates often led families to search out more economically suitable dwellings. All leases across the city expired simultaneously on May 1st, so on that day, thousands of people would chaotically scramble across town to their new residences with all of their belongings. This 1865 print from the New-York-based Kimmel and Forster satirizes this New York City Moving Day tradition to poke fun at Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, who are depicted leaving Richmond, Virginia after the defeat of the Confederacy. Lee holds several swords and a rifle as he stands next to a cart marked “C.S.A.,” hitched to two emaciated dogs. Davis walks out from a run-down house, struggling towards the cart with boxes labeled with the names of the Confederate States, which ultimately fall from his grip. Another dog near the cart urinates on a crate branded “C.S.A. Treasury.” A new label placed on the crate, however, describes these worthless bills as “Waste Paper” as the Confederate government at that point was supposedly bankrupt. Two white men and a boy watch these events. Two black men stand next to the house look on as well, one making a mocking gesture by putting his thumb up against his nose. In reality, Davis, fearing capture by Union forces, had already fled Richmond in early April.
In a copy of the print housed at the Library of Congress, the white man in the lower right hand corner is identified as General Stonewall Jackson, as the man’s right arm is not visible and Jackson’s was amputated after he was mistakenly fired upon by friendly troops. Jackson lost his left arm, however, and died shortly after the amputation in May 1863, two years before the alleged moving day.
The print was produced by the lithography firm of Kimmel & Forster. Christopher Kimmel was born in Germany around 1850 and after immigrating to the United States, was active in New York City from 1850 to 1876. He was part of Capewell & Kimmel from 1853 to 1860, and then partnered with Thomas Forster in 1865, forming Kimmel & Forster, which was active until 1871.
This print depicts General Ulysses S. Grant handing his rival, General Robert E. Lee, the terms of surrender under an apple tree on April 9, 1865, after the Battle of Appomattox. The men’s officers stand behind them on either side. Ranks of troops and the outline of Appomattox Courthouse are visible in the background. The entire scene is a fabrication by the lithographer, however, as the two generals discussed terms of surrender solely at the McLean house. Instead, a story that Lee had waited under an apple tree for Grant’s reply to his request for surrender morphed into the myth that the leaders had met under the tree. This confusion unfortunately led soldiers to indiscriminately cut apart several apple trees in the vicinity, desiring souvenirs of this historic event.
The print was drawn by Edward Valois, who was a lithographer based in New York City during the 1840s through the 1860s. It was printed by William Robertson, another New York lithographer. The work was published by Thomas Kelly, a successful Irish-born lithographer who had learned the craft in Philadelphia from his father. He moved to New York, where he established a print and frame dealership and continued to publish picturesque scenes of American life. He is possibly the same Thomas Kelly who printed Catholic Bibles and prayer-books in New York, winning an award for these at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.
The First Battle of Bull’s Run (also known as First Manassas) was the first major land battle of the Civil War. On July 21, 1861, the Union army, commanded by General Irvin McDowell engaged the forces of Confederate general, P.G.T. Beauregard, 25 miles southwest of the Capital. Although the Federal army achieved some early victories in the battle, Confederate reinforcements arrived, breaking the right flank of the Union lines. The Northern troops were routed as they tried to retreat. Although the Confederates had won the day, they were too disorganized to pursue the fleeing Union army, which limped back to the safety of Washington, D.C. Nearly 900 men from either side had been killed in the battle, and another 2,500 wounded. Lincoln and the members of his administration now realized that the war would be a much longer and costlier affair than they had first believed.
This 1861 print shows a moment during the battle in which men of the 11th New York Infantry, known as the Fire Zouaves, fend off a regiment of mounted Confederates belonging to the Black Horse Cavalry. On the right, a group of Zouaves exchange fire with incoming Confederate cavalrymen. On the left, the Zouaves and Confederates engage in hand-to-hand combat. The Zouaves are dressed in red jackets and baggy grey pants, their uniform design copied from those of the French Zouaves, colonial soldiers in Algeria. Soldiers on the battlefield often became confused as to who was friend or foe, as the Confederate cavalry men were themselves wearing blue uniforms. Furthermore, this print reveals the similarities between the two sides’ flags, since the Confederate Stars and Bars was similar in design to the American flag. This resemblance of flags led to further confusion among those fighting upon the smoke-filled battlefield and resulted in the adoption of the Confederate battle flag. Although the Confederacy won the battle, this print emphasizes a momentary Union victory to appeal to Northern buyers.
The work was produced by the Hartford, Connecticut lithographic firm of E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. Edmund Burke Kellogg and Elijah Chapman Kellogg were younger brothers of the founder of the Kellogg lithography firm, Daniel Wright Kellogg. After Daniel Wright Kellogg moved west, his two brothers took over the family lithography firm in 1840 and changed the name to E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. They were responsible for the continued success of the family firm and involved in partnerships with Horace Thayer in 1846-47, John Chenevard Comstock in 1848 and William Henry Bulkeley in 1867.
George Whiting worked as the agent and distributor of the Kellogg brothers’ prints in New York from 1848 to 1860. In 1860, the Kelloggs closed their New York office Whiting took over the firm, selling prints until his death two years later.
This 1861 patriotic print produced by Magnus & Co. assisted the Northern public as it followed family and friends throughout the war. It features a large 1859 map of the eastern United States, with red overprinting to designate railroad tracks, steamboat routes, and telegraph lines. Below the main map, the print also includes four smaller charts, including a military map of Maryland and Virginia, a map of the Union-occupied Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Florida, a general map of the eastern seaboard and a map of Northern military movements between New York and St. Louis. Adorning the print are illustrations of different military drills from Hardee’s Tactics, written by former West Point commandant William Hardee. Ironically, Hardee had been commissioned to write his 1855 manual of military tactics by then-Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, and would later fight for the Confederacy. Two female allegorical personifications of Liberty and Justice are included next to a view of the Capitol Building, envisioned with its dome completed.
Charles Magnus (1826-1900) was born Julian Carl Magnus in Germany and immigrated with his family to New York City sometime between 1848 and 1850. During the 1850s, he learned the printing business while working with his brother on a German language weekly newspaper, the Deutsche Schnellpost. He later began his own lithographer firm, producing city views and commercial letterhead designs. During the Civil War, he designed pro-Union envelopes and illustrated song sheets. From Washington, D.C. branch, he also produced small, hand-colored scenes of Union camps and hospitals. Soldiers purchased these picturesque scenes of camp life to send home to calm the worries of anxious family members.
This lithograph, designed by Edward William Clay, a Northern apologist for slavery, contrasts an idealized scene of seemingly content slaves in America with that of a family of forlorn factory workers in England. In the left “America” panel, a well-dressed slave-holder is depicted with his wife, children, and greyhound. The plantation-owner’s son gestures towards two elderly slaves, who thank their master for providing for them. The white man, in turn, responds that as a long as “a dollar is left me, nothing shall be spared to increase their comfort and happiness.” In the background, a group of slaves is shown smiling and dancing to fiddle music. The circumstances of the black slaves were meant to be interpreted as more favorable than the conditions of life for “white slaves” in England, depicted in the right panel. Here, a starving, unemployed factory worker sits with his malnourished, sickly family, as a man in a top hat instructs him to enter a workhouse.
Edward Williams Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799. He originally found employment as an attorney and became a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1825, but he later abandoned law for a career in art. He moved to New York City in 1837 but shortly after was forced to end his artistic career when his eyesight began to fail. The publisher of the work, Arthur Donnelly, maintained a shop at 19 ½ Courtland Street, New York.
One of the earliest images of baseball is this hand colored lithograph of Union prisoners at Salisbury Confederate Prison. It is part of the Harry T. Peters “America on Stone” Lithography Collection at the National Museum of American History. Though various forms of baseball were played in England and America for over a century prior to the Civil War, modern rules of the game were not developed and employed until the 1850s. The evolving Knickerbocker Code or rules had its origins in metropolitan New York in 1845. Union soldiers, more familiar with the game, introduced others, including Southerners and Westerners to baseball throughout the Civil War, resulting in thousands of soldiers learning the game. Upon returning home, the game spread to friends and neighbors and soon the sport was played in every region of the country, solidifying its title as “The National Pastime."
The baseball game pictured in this print was played at Salisbury Confederate Prison in North Carolina. Between December 9, 1861 and February 17, 1865, the prison housed 10,000-15,000 Union prisoners of war and other assorted detainees. The compound was designed to temporarily hold Union officers until they could be exchanged for Confederate troops. The facility was constructed around an empty 20 year-old brick three story cotton factory on 16 acres of land near a railroad line and the town of Salisbury. For the first couple of years of its existence, the prison had wells of sweet water, adequate medical facilities and sufficient food.
Soldiers’ diaries document the detainees’ daily routines and pastimes. Prisoners from the first half of 1862 noted that baseball games were played nearly every day, weather permitting. For the first couple of years, prisoners were also permitted to whittle, read, write letters, attend lectures, perform “theatrics,” play cards such as poker, and go fishing. Prisoners also gambled as is evidenced by the dice game underway in the lower right corner of the print. Prisoners even published their own newspaper. Some prisoners were given town visitation privileges, so it was not uncommon for POWs to trade buttons and barter small personal items for fresh fruits and vegetables.
As the war continued, conditions began to deteriorate. After the summer of 1862, prisoner exchanges ceased. Records indicate that few Union prisoners were held in the prison in 1863 and early 1864, but the facility was used for Southern political prisoners, conscientious objectors, Confederate deserters and Southern civilians that ran afoul with the authorities. As the war dragged on, food and medicine became scarce for both prisoners and guards. By mid 1864, the prison filled up with Union POWs of every rank. Later that year, the camp exceeded its capacity and become overcrowded. Living conditions deteriorated further and life in Salisbury prison became as miserable as other prison camps. The mortality rate jumped from a low 2% to devastating 28%; an estimated four to five thousand men died. Finally, on February 17, 1865, the Confederate and Union governments announced a general POW exchange and more than five thousand prisoners left Salisbury.
The baseball game pictured in the print was played during the late spring or summer of 1862, before living conditions deteriorated and when prisoners still had a good chance of leaving through a prisoner exchange. The baseball players on both teams are POWs, possibly men previously held in New Orleans and Tuscaloosa, as they were known to have played at the camp during this time. Although guards occasionally joined in the games, it is not reflected in this print. Spectators included townspeople as well as guards and one seated figure with a cigar that looks suspiciously like Grant. Two guards (center and center far left) are pictured with guns. The town is depicted in the background beyond the stockade or wooden fence. A red, white and blue flag flying overhead in the center of the print is probably a Confederate regimental flag, though it could possibly be an error on the artist’s part with a reversal in the colors of the North Carolina Confederate flag. The prison compound included small cottages, a meat packing plant for the Confederate Army, a blacksmith shop and a small hospital.
The artist of the original watercolor sketch used for the lithograph was Otto Botticher or Boetticher (1811-1886). Botticher was a Prussian immigrant and held the rank of a Union captain when he was captured on March 29, 1862 around Manassas, Virginia. Prior to the war, Botticher had been a portrait painter in New York and New Jersey. He produced several paintings and lithographic plates of military subjects with the aid of early photography using daguerreotypes and ambrotypes. His work displays precision and excellent attention to detail, indicating he likely had formal draftsmanship training. Botticher may also have attended a military school and/or been a member of the army in Prussia, according to his biographer, Seward R. Osborne. He was known as Major Otto Botticher prior to the Civil War. In July 1861, Botticher joined the 68th New York Volunteer Infantry, known as the Cameron Rifles and was given the rank of captain. After his capture, he was sent first to Libby Prison near Richmond, where he sketched “Libby Prison- Union Prisoners at Richmond, Va.,” also produced by Sarony, Major & Knapp and Goupil, Co.. When he was transferred to Salisbury Prison, he produced the watercolor that was used to create this lithograph. He was released as a result of a prisoner exchange on September 30, 1862 at Aiken's Landing, Virginia, when he was exchanged for a Confederate captain from Virginia’s 7th army. Botticher rejoined his regiment, serving as captain of Company B at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He was wounded at Gettysburg while serving with his regiment in the 11th Army Corps, and was discharged in June 1864, but achieved a brevet rank of lieutenant colonel with the New York State Volunteers in September 1865. After the war, Botticher continued as an artist, illustrator, and lithographer. He also worked as a consulate agent for the North German Union before dying in 1886.
Botticher’s watercolor sketch of the Salisbury Confederate Prison baseball game was used to create the lithographic print in 1863. The lithographic firm was Sarony, Major & Knapp of 449 Broadway, New York City. The firm was founded by Napoleon Sarony and Henry B. Major in 1846; Joseph F. Knapp joined the firm in 1857. Sarony, Major & Knapp earned a solid reputation for lithography and the company was especially known for its fine art chromolithography. Unfortunately, by the 1870s, the firm shifted focus to the more profitable area of advertising. It also expanded to become the conglomerate known as the American Lithographic Company, successfully producing calendars, advertising cards, and posters. In 1930 they were bought out by Consolidated Graphics.
This print was produced and promoted 1863 by Goupil & Co. or Gouipil & Cie, a leading international publisher, printer, and fine art dealer. The company was founded in Paris by Jean Baptiste Michel Adolphe Goupil (1806-1893) and his wife Victorine Brincard. The Goupils widely promoted art and owned exclusive galleries as well as common sales rooms in New York, Paris, London, The Hague, Brussels, Berlin, and Vienna. Through various partners they had considerable resources and were able to capitalize on the interest in the newly popular American game. This ready-made market proved lucrative as the print sold well overseas. While the print does picture a pro-Southern view of leisure in a Confederate prison camp, it was also popular in the North for the images of Union officers and of course for the depiction of a baseball game in progress.
On July 3, 1863, the Confederate Army of Tennessee retreated towards Chattanooga, after its defeat in the Tullahoma Campaign, leaving Middle Tennessee under the control of the Union Army of the Cumberland. A military post was maintained at Cowan by Federal forces throughout the remainder of the war. The town was strategically important to both sides due to its proximity to the Cumberland Mountain Tunnel, which linked the railroads in the Midwest to those in the Southeast. This print depicts the soldiers’ dormitories and a defensive fortification contracted by the Union Army. A transport train prepares to leave the post. The name “Rosencrans” is written on the side, in honor of General William Rosencrans, the leader of the Army of the Cumberland.
The artist of the print was Nathan B. Abbott, a Union soldier from Connecticut who served in the 20th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg and was promoted to first lieutenant when he rejoined his regiment. He most likely passed through Cowan while traveling to take part in Sherman’s campaigns in Georgia. The print was produced and published by Henry C. Eno, a New York City lithographer active for only a short period during the 1860s. Between 1862 and 1867, he was partnered with another New York lithographer, Henry A. Thomas.
The First Battle of Bull’s Run (also known as First Manassas) was the first major land battle of the Civil War. On July 21, 1861, the Union army, commanded by General Irvin McDowell engaged the forces of Confederate general, P.G.T. Beauregard, 25 miles southwest of the Capital. Although the Federal army achieved some early victories in the battle, Confederate reinforcements arrived, breaking the right flank of the Union lines. The Northern troops were routed as they tried to retreat. Although the Confederates won the day, they were too disorganized to pursue the fleeing Union army, which limped back to the safety of Washington, D.C. Nearly 900 men from either side had been killed in the battle, and another 2,500 wounded. Lincoln and the members of his administration now realized that the war would be a much longer and costlier affair than they had first believed.
This 1861 print depicts Colonel Michael Corcoran (1827-1863) leading the 69th New York Militia of Irish Volunteers during an assault on Confederate batteries. Corcoran, who was later captured during the battle, spent time in four Confederate prison camps before being paroled for a Confederate officer. Upon his release, he organized and led a new brigade, Corcoran’s Irish Legion, composed mainly of irish immigrants, but was soon after killed by a fall from his horse. In this print, he sits upon a dappled grey horse and points towards the enemy with his sabre, urging on his men. His troops wear red and blue uniforms and carry both an American flag and their distinctive regimental flag, which features a gold harp encircled by a wreath on a green background. Although the Irish militiamen appear to be gaining the upper hand, they were quickly pushed back by a large Confederate force and Corcoran was taken prisoner. The battle was marked by confusion, as the standard blue and grey uniforms had not yet been adopted, and soldiers were uncertain as to who was friend or foe. Contributing to this ambiguity was the similarity of the American flag to the Confederate Stars and Bars, leading to the South’s adoption of the more recognizable battle flag. Although the Union lost this first major confrontation of the war, the print emphasizes a temporary moment of Union success in order to appeal to Northern buyers.
The work was produced by the Hartford, Connecticut lithographic firm of E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. Edmund Burke Kellogg and Elijah Chapman Kellogg were younger brothers of the founder of the Kellogg lithography firm, Daniel Wright Kellogg. After Daniel Wright Kellogg moved west, his two brothers took over the family lithography firm in 1840 and changed the name to E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. They were responsible for the continued success of the family firm and involved in partnerships with Horace Thayer in 1846-47, John Chenevard Comstock in 1848 and William Henry Bulkeley in 1867.
George Whiting worked as the agent and distributor of the Kellogg brothers’ prints in New York from 1848 to 1860. In 1860, the Kelloggs closed their New York office and Whiting took over the firm, selling prints until his death two years later.
This print was produced sometime after the 1862 Peninsula Campaign. General McClellan had intended to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond in the summer of 1862, but after a series of engagements with Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in the Seven Days Battle, he withdrew to the James River, 20 miles from Richmond. Lincoln then called for the Army of the Potomac to return to Washington, D.C. The failure of the Peninsula Campaign crushed the morale of Union forces, who believed the capture of the Confederate capital would bring about and end to the fighting.
A critic of McClellan’s retreat, the artist of this print depicts the general reclining aboard a ship at the safety of his headquarters at Harrison’s landing. He sips on a drink while a bottle rests below him. In his left hand, he holds his sword below him and his hat lies on the ground. The illustration is signed in the lower left hand corner, simply as “Potomac.”
Although the donkey was not recognized as the Democratic Party’s unofficial mascot until the late 19th century, opponents of Andrew Jackson had famously referred to him as a “jackass,” leading political cartoonists to include depictions of donkeys in works critical of him during the 1828 Presidential Election. Jackson then famously countered his opponent’s taunts, celebrating the beast’s strong will and determination. Even so, the animal was still used throughout the mid-19th century politicians that critics found distasteful. This broadside uses the animal to symbolize James Buchanan during the 1856 Presidential race. The caption above the donkey announces, “Hunkers Attend! Fire Away!!” Hunkers was the term employed during the 1840s to describe members of the conservative Democratic faction in New York that opposed calls for abolition. A caption below the image explains that the animal represents a true likeness of Buchanan, nicknamed “ten cent Jimmy” after he stated his belief that ten cents was a fair daily wage for manual laborers. The print also refers to Buchanan as the candidate for the “Damed-Black-Rat Party,” a play on the word, “Democrat.” The cartoon also contains two songs, “Old Buck’s Song,” and Fremont’s Song.” The first attacks Buchanan while the second celebrates John C. Fremont, the Republican candidate for President. The print ends with a postscript, “‘Jimmy’ you cannot win.” Although the use of the word “Hunkers” hints that the broadside was presumably distributed in New York, it claims to have been printed at “Freedom’s Office, Fremont Peak, Rocky Mountains.” This alludes to Fremont’s earlier exploring expeditions in the American West.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved black man named Tom, who is sold downriver by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action.
Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
In the novel, Tom’s owner in Kentucky, Arthur Shelby decides to sell two of his slaves, Tom and the child Harry, the young son of another slave named Eliza. In order to keep her son, Eliza determines to escape into the North across the Ohio River. Depicting Eliza’s dramatic flight from Chapter 7 of the novel, this print around 1853 presents the slave woman crossing the River in the winter, desperately leaping across ice floes, her son clutched in her arms. As Eliza steps forward, she turns her head back in the direction of Mr. Shelby, who has pursued her to the river’s bank. After her escape, Eliza is joined by her husband George, who is also on the run, and with the aid of sympathetic Northern Quakers, the trio escapes into Canada. In the novel, Harry is described as a young child of mixed race at about 4 or 5 years of age. Strong depicts him more as a child of 2 or 3 being carried though perhaps that was a deliberate infernce that the child was small due to malnutrition?
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair. This print was the first in a series by Strong of scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
In the spring of 1865, the Union Army increased its efforts to capture the Confederate President Jefferson Davis after the surrender of Lee and assassination of Lincoln. Suspecting him to be complicit in Lincoln’s murder, the U.S. War Department issued a $100,000 reward for the capture of Davis and his aides. Without his capture or surrender, many in the Union War Department would not recognize the war as officially ended. After fleeing Richmond, Davis was caught by members of Michigan and Wisconsin cavalry units at his camp outside Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, 1865. As Davis tried to flee from the Union soldiers, he had grabbed his wife Varina’s overcoat instead of his own, resulting in a widespread Northern rumor that Davis had attempted to escape disguised as a woman. Shortly after the incident images of Davis appeared in Northern publications, picturing him dressed in petticoats, a hoop skirt, and a bonnet. This cowardly depiction of Davis’ flight further demoralized the Southern cause and shattered its president’s aristocratic reputation.
In this print, a disguised Jefferson Davis attempts to leap over a fence, but a Union soldiers grabs ahold of his petticoats and aims a pistol at him. Another soldier arrives on the scene carrying his sword and a torch. Davis has dropped a piece of luggage, labeled “Davis / Mexico,” in reference to his presumed destination. The Confederate president looks back wielding a knife, exclaiming that he thought the Union was “too Magnanimous to hunt down “Women and Children.” To the right of Davis, his wife Varina remarks, “Don’t irritate the ‘President’ he might hurt somebody.” The soldier gripping Davis mocks, “Hold on old Jeff! The ‘last Ditch’ is not on that side of the Fence.” Dialogue bubble such as these are typical of political satirical cartoons. The lithographer and publisher of this satirical print are unknown.
Major & Knapp Engraving, Manufacturing & Lithographic Company
ID Number
DL.60.2610
catalog number
60.2610
accession number
228146
Description
This print depicts General William Tecumseh Sherman at the end of his Savannah Campaign. Both Sherman Sherman and Grant believed that the Union Army would only be victorious if it could break the Confederacy both economically and psychologically. Sherman ordered the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of Georgia on a scorched earth campaign through Georgia during the winter of 1864, destroying Southern railroads, telegraph lines, and farms. When Sherman reached Savannah, the Confederate forces guarding it fled, and the mayor surrendered the city to the Union general on December 21, 1864. In this print, Sherman rides on his horse on the outside of the city. He is followed by his officers, many of whom are identified below the illustration. Various buildings of Savannah are visible in the background and to the right, a company of infantrymen stand at attention. At the lower right, the lithographer has included the text from a telegram from Sherman to Lincoln, asking the President to accept the city of Savannah – along with its guns, ammunition, and cotton – as a Christmas present.
A caption at the bottom of the print recognizes that the image was based on an “Original Picture by Br. Lt. Col. Otto Botticher.” Botticher was a Prussian immigrant artist who served as an officer in the Civil War. From 1853-1854 he partnered with Thomas Benecke as a portrait painter and lithographer. Prior to the Civil War, he produced several paintings and lithographic plates of military subjects with the aid of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, early forms of photography. His work displays precision and excellent attention to detail, indicating that he probably had formal draftsmanship training. He enlisted along with his sons, in New York City on July 22, 1861, the day after the First Battle of Manassas, in the 68th New York Volunteers Infantry (Cameron Rifles) and by August he was given the title of Captain. He was captured by Confederates March 29, 1862 near Manassas, Virginia and was in at least 2 prisoner of war camps – Libby Prison in Richmond and Salisbury Prison in North Carolina– before being paroled during a prisoner exchange. He participated in the battle at Chancellorsville, and was wounded at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. He chronicled his activity during the early years of the war and his time in Confederate prison camps in a series of sketches. Although Botticher’s regiment was stationed in Savannah in November of 1865, it was never there at the same time as Sherman, meaning that the artist instead relied on photographs and his imagination when designing the scene. The officers he depicted are:
Brigadier General Jordan, Brevet Colonel L.G. Estes, Major General Judson Kilpatrick, Major General Joseph A. Mower, Major General Peter J. Osterhaus, Major General Frank P. Blair, Brigadier General L.C. Easton, Major General John M. Corse, Major General W.P. Hazen, Major General John A. Logan, Brigadier General O.M. Poe, Major General H.W. Slocum, Major George Ward Nichols, Major General J.W. Geary, Major General Jeff O. Davis, Major General W.T. Sherman, Major General A.S. Williams, Major General O.O. Howard, Major General W.F. Barry, Brigadier General H.A. Barnum.
John Chester Buttre (1821-1893) designed this print after the original painting by Botticher. Buttre was an American steel-plate engraver and lithographer who was active in New York City. During the Civil War he sold several million copies of prints of President Lincoln and high-ranking generals.
The work was copyrighted in 1865 and produced by the company of Major & Knapp. Joseph Frederick Knapp joined the lithography firm of Napoleon Sarony and James Major in 1854, two former employees of Nathaniel Currier. After Sarony departed in the mid-1860s to pursue photography, the business was renamed Major & Knapp.
Capitalizing on the success of Civil War-related artwork during the 1880s and 90s, the Chicago-based printmakers Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison published a series of 36 battle scenes commemorating famous engagements of the war. All displayed idealized, panoramic representations of the battles with statistics of the killed and wounded below each image. Kurz and Allison did not consult photography or Civil War historians when designing their prints, instead relying on Kurz’s own first-hand experience as a soldier during the conflict. They included historical inaccuracies and eschewed aesthetic realism to remain true to earlier, pre-photographic lithographic traditions, which preferred bold graphics, black outlines, and figures performing grand, exaggerated gestures.
This 1891 chromolithograph depicts the Battle of Fort Sanders, fought on November 29, 1863. The fort had been renamed after Union General William P. Sanders, who had been killed in action 10 days prior to the battle. Commanded by General James Longstreet, Confederate forces launch an assault on the fortified Union position, held by General Ambrose Burnside. The Confederate forces needed to seize this stronghold in order to capture the city of Knoxville, currently occupied by the Union and situated on a crucial railroad hub linking the east and west parts of the Confederacy. The Confederates failed to take Fort Sanders, suffering much heavier losses than the Union soldiers.
Louis Kurz was a mural and scene painter before the Civil War, explaining the mural-like format of the images. His illustrations also appear to have been inspired by cycloramas, which were popular at the time, such as Paul Philippoteaux’s Gettysburg Cyclorama. Kurz was an Austrian immigrant who settled in Chicago during the 1850s, where he formed a partnership with Henry Seifert of Milwaukee. He later fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. After the conflict, he co-founded the Chicago Lithographic Company. When the company’s assets were destroyed during the Chicago Fire of 1871, Kurz started a new business with his partner, financial backer, and business manager, Alexander Allison.
The first fort on Point Comfort was constructed by the settlers of Jamestown in 1609, but the fortification displayed in this 1861 print was completed in 1834 and named in honor of President James Monroe. After the fall of Fort Sumter, Lincoln ordered the fort to be reinforced to prevent it from meeting a similar fate. Although located in Hampton, Virginia, Fort Monroe remained in Union hands for the entirety of the war. The strategically placed stronghold served as a base for Union attacks into Virginia and also as a refuge for runaway slaves, who were freed by the Union forces if they reached the fortress.
The Hygeia Hotel was constructed in 1822 and was visited by many famous American notables, including Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, and Edgar Allen Poe. It was demolished the year after this print was produced, in order to create more space for defenses. In the print, sailing ships and a steamboat cruise past Point Comfort, which is connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway.
The print’s creator, Edward Sachse, moved to America from Germany sometime in the 1840s. He settled in Baltimore, working under E. Weber & Co., one of the city’s most prominent lithography firms. He established E. Sachse & Co. in 1850, specializing in bird’s eye views of Baltimore and Washington D.C. His brother Theodore joined the firm in the mid-1850s and after Edward’s death in 1873, Theodore’s son Adolph headed the company, as A. Sachse & Co., from 1877 to 1887.
This undated print depicts a scene from Chapter 30 of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “The Slave Warehouse,” in which the fifteen-year-old Emmeline is separated from her mother and sold to the villainous Simon Legree. A group of white men are gathered in a circular inspecting a selection of slaves who are up for auction. On the left, a young boy is examined by a group of prospective buyers, while Emmeline stands on the auction block on the right. Her mother makes a pleading gesture towards Legree, who raises his hand to place the winning bid. A caption below the illustration, a caption reads, “The Hammer Falls…’he has got the girl body & soul unless God help her,’” revealing the man’s sexual desire towards the girl. In this illustration, Emmeline has been given distinctively white skin, to emphasize that she is a quadroon, one-fourth black, and thereby garner extra sympathy from white Northerners.