Part 8 (1/2)

Many of the best cartoons of the period revolve around the rivalry between General McClellan and General Grant, and the incidents of the McClellan-Lincoln campaign of 1864. ”The Old Bull-dog on the Right Track” is one of the best products of the war cartoonists. It represents Grant as a thoroughbred bulldog, seated in dogged tenacity of purpose on the ”Weldon Railroad,” and preparing to fight it out on that line, if it takes all summer. At the end of the line is a kennel, labeled ”Richmond,” and occupied by a pack of lean, cowardly hounds, Lee, Davis, and Beauregard among the number, who are yelping: ”You aint got the kennel yet, old fellow!” A bellicose little dwarf, McClellan, is advising the bulldog's master: ”Uncle Abraham, don't you think you had better call the old dog off now? I'm afraid he'll hurt these other dogs, if he catches hold of them!” To which President Lincoln serenely rejoins: ”Why, little Mac, that's the same pack of curs that chased you aboard of the gunboat two years ago. They are pretty nearly used up now, and I think it's best to go in and finish them.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Old Bull Dog on the Right Track.

_From the collection of the New York Historical Society._]

The conservative policy which marked the military career of General McClellan and his candidacy for the Presidency in 1864 is ridiculed in a cartoon ent.i.tled ”Little Mac, in His Great Two-Horse Act, in the Presidential Canva.s.s of 1864.” Here McClellan is pictured as a circus rider about to come to grief, owing to the unwillingness of his two steeds to pull together in harmony. A fiery and stalwart horse represents ”war”; while peace is depicted as a worthless and broken-down hack. Little Mac is saying, ”Curse them balky horses--I can't manage the Act nohow. One threw me in Virginia, and the other is bound the wrong way.” In the background is the figure of Lincoln attired as a clown. ”You tried to ride them two horses on the Peninsula for two years, Mac,” he calls out, ”but it wouldn't work.”

Another striking cartoon of this Presidential campaign depicts the Republican leaders burying the War Democracy. The cartoon is called ”The Grave of the Union,” and was drawn by Zeke. The hea.r.s.e is being driven by Secretary Stanton, who commenced, ”My jacka.s.ses had a load, but they pulled it through bravely.” In harness and attached to the bodies of jacka.s.ses are the heads of Cochrane, Butler, Meagher, and d.i.c.kinson. At the head of the grave, a sort of master of ceremonies, is the familiar figure of Horace Greeley, saying, ”I guess we'll bury it so deep that it will never get up again.” By his side is Lincoln, who is inquiring, ”Chase, will it stay down?” to which Chase replies, ”My G.o.d, it must stay down, or we shall go up.” The funeral service is being conducted by Henry Ward Beecher, who is carrying a little negro in his arms. ”Not thy will, O Lord, but mine be done.” Beecher is reading from the book before him. The coffins about to be lowered into the grave are marked respectively ”Free Speech and Free Press,”

”Habeas Corpus,” and ”Union.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: Little Mac, in his Great Two Horse Act, in the Presidential Canva.s.s of 1864.

_From the collection of the New York Historical Society._]

One of the most striking caricatures suggested by the contest between Lincoln and McClellan for the Presidency of 1864 is ent.i.tled ”The Abolition Catastrophe; or, the November Smash-up.” It is really nothing more than the old hackneyed idea of the ”Presidential Steeplechase” presented in a new guise. The artist, however, proved himself to be a false prophet. It shows a race to the White House between two trains, in which the one on which Lincoln is serving as engineer has just come to destruction on the rocks of ”Emanc.i.p.ation,”

”Confiscation,” and ”$400,000,000,000 Public Debt.” The train in the charge of General McClellan, its locomotive flying the flag ”Const.i.tution,” is running along smoothly and rapidly and is just turning the curve leading up to the door of the White House.

McClellan, watching from his cab the discomfiture of his foe, calls derisively, ”Wouldn't you like to swap horses now, Lincoln?” In the coaches behind are the elated pa.s.sengers of the Democratic train. In striking contrast is the plight in which the Republican Party is shown. Lincoln, thrown up in the air by the shock of the collision, calls back to his rival, ”Don't mention it, Mac, this reminds me of a”--an allusion to the President's fondness for ill.u.s.trating every argument with a story. From the debris of the wreck of the locomotive peer out the faces of the firemen--two very black negroes. One is calling, ”War's de rest ob dis ole darky? Dis wot yer call 'manc.i.p.ation?” And the other, ”Lor' A'mighty! Ma.s.sa Linc.u.m, is dis wot yer call Elewating de n.i.g.g.e.r?” The pa.s.sengers behind are in an equally unhappy strait. Secretary Stanton, pinned under the wheels of the first coach, is crying, ”Oh, dear! If I could telegraph this to Dix I'd make it out a victory.” Among the pa.s.sengers may be recognized the countenances of Beecher, Butler, and Seward, while blown up in the air is Horace Greeley, calling out to Lincoln that the disaster only verifies the prediction which had been printed in the _Tribune_.

Popular discontent at the unreliability of news of the war found utterance in a skit representing Lincoln as a bartender occupied in concocting a mixed drink, called ”New York Press,” which he is dexterously pouring back and forth between two tumblers, labeled respectively ”Victory” and ”Defeat.” The ingredients are taken from bottles of ”Bunk.u.m,” ”Bosh,” ”Brag,” and ”Soft Sawder.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Grave of the Union.

_From the collection of the New York Historical Society._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Abolition Catastrophe.

_From the collection of the New York Historical Society._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Blockade on the ”Connecticut Plan”.

_From the collection of the New York Historical Society._]

In the same series as the ”Abolition Catastrophe” is a cartoon ent.i.tled ”Miscegenation; or, the Millennium of Abolition,” intended to depict the possible alarming consequences of proclaiming the whole colored race free and equal. It humorously depicts a scene in which there is absolute social equality between the whites and the blacks.

At one end of the picture Mr. Lincoln is receiving with great warmth and cordiality Miss Dinah Arabella Aramintha Squash, a negress of unprepossessing appearance, who has as her escort Henry Ward Beecher.

At a table nearby Horace Greeley is treating another gorgeously attired negress to ice cream. Two repulsive looking negroes are making violent love to two white women. A pa.s.sing carriage in charge of a white coachman and two white footmen contains a negro family. In the background, Englishmen, Frenchmen, and others are expressing their astonishment at the condition in which they find American society.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Miscegenation.

_From the collection of the New York Historical Society._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Confederacy in Petticoats.

_From the collection of the New York Historical Society._]

The attempt at escape, the apprehension and the incarceration of the President of the Confederacy are ill.u.s.trated in a long series of cartoons. Two of the best are ”The Confederacy in Petticoats” and ”Uncle Sam's Menagerie.” The first deals with the capture of Jefferson Davis at Irwinsville by General Wilson's cavalry. Davis, attired in feminine dress, is climbing over a fence in order to escape his pursuers. He has dropped his handbag, but he still holds his unsheathed knife. ”I thought your government was too magnanimous to hunt down women and children,” he calls out to the Union soldiers, one of whom has caught him by the skirts and is trying to drag him back.

Mrs. Davis, by her husband's side, is entreating, ”Don't irritate the President. He might hurt somebody.”