Poster Art of the Outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861

A grand allegory of the Civil War in America, harshly critical of the Buchanan administration, Jefferson Davis, and the Confederacy. In the center stands Liberty, wearing a Phrygian cap and a laurel wreath. She is flanked by the figures of Justice (unblindfolded, holding a sword and scales) and Abraham Lincoln. Principal figures (from left to right) are: Confederate president Jefferson Davis (beneath a palm tree about whose trunk winds a poisonous snake), James Buchanan (asleep), his secretary of war John B. Floyd, who was accused of misappropriation of government funds (raking coins into a bag), Justice, Columbia, Lincoln, Gen.

Winfield Scott (in military uniform), and various figures exemplifying the generosity and suffering of the Northern citizenry. The left foreground is filled with Confederate soldiers, some of them engaged in tearing the Union flag from the hands of other soldiers. In the background are scenes of war. In contrast, on the right, the sun rises over mountains in the distance beyond a prosperous countryside.

The Poster Art of the Outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861 is evidently a companion piece to "The End of the Rebellion in the United States, 1865," (no.1866-1), which is a lithograph designed by Charles Kimmel and published by Kimmel & Forster in 1866. The same New York firm issued hundreds of illustrated patriotic envelopes during the Civil War.

Information presented by the Library of Congress is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. No known restrictions on publication. Use of appropriate attribution is requested. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

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