Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -

Sale 2708 - Lot 53

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(CIVIL WAR.) Currier & Ives. A Startling Announcement. Lithograph, 12¾ x 17 inches; minimal wear. New York, [1862]
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Additional Details

The February 1862 Battle of Fort Donelson was a major Confederate defeat which put Kentucky under Union control and exposed Tennessee to further offensives. Here the cartoonist imagines Jefferson Davis receiving the bad news. We see a servant observing the desperate Confederate retreat out the front door, and warning "Oh Massa Jeff, Fort Domelsum am took by the Linkum Bobolishumists." Davis, still in bed, cannot process the news: "Ha! Thou imp of Satan! I'll not believe thee; thou bird of ill omen! Are not Floyd and Pillow there?" A noose hangs ominously over the Confederate president's head. Peters 1684a (not found for the original 1929 volume but added for the 1931 supplement); Weitenkampf, Political Caricature, page 135. One in OCLC (Clements Library); 2 others traced at auction.

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