Apr 13, 2023 - Sale 2633

Sale 2633 - Lot 36

Price Realized: $ 1,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(CIVIL WAR.) Currier & Ives. The Old Bull Dog on the Right Track. Lithograph, 12 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches; light mat toning, several short tape repairs in margins, presents well in mat. New York, 1864
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A satire on the presidential candidacy of General McClellan. An angry-looking bulldog representing McClellan's successor General Grant crouches on the Weldon Railroad, prepared to attack Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and the other Confederates in their Richmond kennel. Grant's army cut off the Weldon Railroad and broke the Confederate supply line to Petersburg in fighting from 18 to 21 August 1864.

McClellan, an infamously overcautious general, is showing warning his opponent Lincoln "Uncle Abraham, don't you think you had better call the old dog off now, I'm afraid he'll hurt those other dogs, if he catches hold of them." Lincoln sarcastically reminds McClellan of the failed Peninsular Campaign of 1862: "Why little Mac thats the same pack of curs, that chased you aboard of the Gunboat two years ago, they are pretty nearly used up now. I think its best to give the old bull dog full swing to go in and finish them!" Reilly 1864-18.