A Metamorphic View of General Nathaniel Lyon

   

[1] Civil War Patriotic Notepaper.

  

A Civil War 

“Topsy-Turvy”

   
by E.M. Sanchez-Saavedra

AN earlier publication here — titled “A Metamorphic View of Jefferson Davis” in Yesterday’s Papers, August 23, 2012 — featured a patriotic sheet of writing paper produced in 1861, depicting Confederate President Jefferson Davis going to war a soldier and returning as a jackass. The clever image, when rotated 180 degrees, produced the transformation: 

[2a] Gen. Lyon, of Missouri — Topsy-Turvy Envelope.

SIMILAR. I recently came across a similar treatment of Union General Nathaniel Lyon (1818-61) on a patriotic envelope. Unlike the scathing Jefferson Davis caricature, this was a highly laudatory image of an early Federal war hero – the first Union General to die in the Civil War. Punning on the general’s surname, the unknown artist metamorphosed his mustachioed profile into the “king of the beasts” and in a rhymed couplet contrasted his image with the earlier well-known Jefferson Davis topsy-turvy:

A Lion, loyal, eager for the fray,
No traitorous ass discovered by the bray.

The image needs to be turned 90 degrees to see the snarling lion’s face and read the verse. 

[2b] Gen. Lyon, of Missouri — Topsy-Turvy Envelope.

YOUNG Nathaniel, a Connecticut farm boy, the seventh of nine children of Amasa and Kezia Lyon, secured an appointment to The United States Military Academy at West Point in 1837. After graduating high in his class in 1841, he served in the second Seminole War and in the war with Mexico in 1846-48. He was wounded and promoted to a captaincy before serving in California and later in the bitter 1850s Kansas struggles between pro- and anti-slavery factions.

[3] Nathaniel Lyon CDV.

TENSION. During the tense months between South Carolina’s secession in December 1860 and the commencement of open warfare in April 1861, the original “border” states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri formed a troubling “third world” of unaligned loyalties. (A “brother against brother” situation would prevail in the border areas throughout the war: East Tennessee unionists attempted to break away from secessionist Tennessee in 1861, while several Virginia counties would form the new state of West Virginia in 1863.) Elected legislators and their constituents included both Union and Secession supporters and a mass of undecided or neutral people. Missouri proved to be a dangerous flashpoint when pro-secession Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson began to cast his eyes on the Federal arsenal in St. Louis.

[4] Claiborne Fox Jackson.

HE RECKONED without the fiery-tempered Union regular, Nathaniel Lyon, who had been ordered to St. Louis to protect the munitions. Raising a force of mainly German volunteers, Lyon combined political strategy with a show of force to remove the stores to Illinois. In retaliation, Governor Jackson ordered out the new Missouri State Guard to begin training for eventual Confederate service. Lyon preemptively marched his equally untrained force against Camp Jackson, took prisoners and marched them through St. Louis. Riots ensued. Lyon’s men fired on civilian mobs, killing 28 in the “Camp Jackson Affair.”

[5-6] Missouri Confederates, 1861.

Lyon was relieved of his duties, but soon received a commission as Brigadier General of Volunteers, in charge of all loyal Missouri forces on May 17. Governor Jackson appointed ex-Governor Sterling Price to command the Confederate Missouri State Guard. After peace negotiations failed, Jackson and Price attempted to reach the state capital at Jefferson City. Lyon pursued Price’s green troops westward and, in a rare early Union victory, Lyon’s equally neophyte army prevented the capture of the state capital by defeating Price at Boonville on June 17, 1861.

[7] General Sterling Price, CSA.

Lyon’s triumph put the Missouri River firmly under Union control for the rest of the war. A patriotic envelope carried a cartoon showing Missouri, depicted as a cat in a cap and apron, boiling a pot of “Secession Soup” captioned “Missouri tasting Secession Soup and gets burnt! and thinks she won’t go in.” Another cartoon, titled Strayed, punned on the names of the three principal leaders, advertising for

“a mischievous JACK[SON] who was frightened and ran away from his Leader by the sudden appearance of a Lion. He is of no value whatever and only a low PRICE can be given for his capture. (signed) [Uncle] Sam.”

[8] Strayed – Battle of Boonville Cartoon.

LUCK RAN OUT for Lyon two months later, however. Many of his ninety-day volunteers had returned home. His “Army of the West,” made up of troops from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and some regular U.S. Army forces, was short of supplies and outnumbered 2 to 1. A combined force of Missouri State Guards and regular Confederate troops under ex-Texas Ranger General Ben McCulloch now opposed Lyon. The two armies met at Wilson’s Creek, near Springfield, on August 10, 1861.

[9] General Lyon, Harper’s Weekly, August 31, 1861.

BATTLE.  This first major battle west of the Mississippi was characterized by confusion and blunders on both sides. Lyon divided his forces, hoping to flank the enemy, but he and Col. Franz Sigel soon lost contact with each other. Attacking Louisiana troops were mistaken for their own gray-clad Iowa infantry and routed the Unionists. Lyon received two wounds and had a horse shot from under him. While rallying his troops, mounted on a borrowed horse, Nathaniel Lyon was shot through the heart. The martyred general became a rallying point for Union sympathizers.

[10] Missouri tasting Secession Soup — Envelope.

Although Governor Jackson rammed an ordinance of secession through the legislature, Missouri remained in the Federal fold. A majority of the state population still opposed quitting the Union. Although Confederate forces could not drive increasing numbers of Federal troops out of the state, Missouri would become the scene of some of the most vicious guerrilla warfare in North America since the Carolina campaigns of the early 1780s.

[11] Gen. Nathaniel Lyon — Envelope.

“BUSHWHACKERS” under William Quantrill, “Bloody Bill” Anderson and other ruthless commanders kept Missouri in a state of constant violence. Alumni of these irregular guerilla bands included Jesse and Frank James and the Younger brothers, who would carry on a private war against bankers, railroads and other capitalists until Jesse’s assassination in 1882.

[12] English Envelope, 1840.

POSTAL ACT.  The phenomenon of patriotic and comic envelopes and writing paper had begun in England during the 1840s, immediately following the introduction of prepaid postage stamps. In America, the 1845 Postal Act established rates based on weight and distance. (Previously, a separate wrapper or envelope had counted as a second sheet, and doubled the rate, which is why envelopes were rare before 1845.) With the popularity of the newfangled envelopes, merchants and politicians saw a golden opportunity to include advertising on all their correspondence.

[13] Charles Magnus Envelope.

DESIGNS.  The four-way election of 1860 gave scope for stationers and printers to produce and market decorative envelopes touting the candidates, but the outbreak of civil war a few months later spurred the creation and distribution of perhaps 15,000 different designs. Many people were captivated by their color and variety and began to collect them for their own sake or as mementos of the national crisis. They ran the gamut from crude and amateurish anonymous prints to the finely lithographed and hand colored products of Charles Magnus. Lacking the manpower and essential paper, inks and presses, a handful of Confederate publishers nevertheless managed to issue a small number of Southern inspired patriotic envelopes.

[14] General Boar-a-Guard, On Duty — Envelope.

PUBLISHERS.  One of the more prolific publishers was the New-York Union Envelope Depot at 144 Broadway, New York City. The Lyon/Lion design was one of hundreds of patriotic, sentimental and comic envelopes issued by the firm. One design lampooned Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard as “General Boar-a-Guard,” as a porker in uniform, a Confederate “Stars and Bars” flag attached to his curly tail.

[15] A Southern Gorilla (Guerilla) — Envelope.

Another memorable cartoon showed a monstrous “Southern Gorilla (Guerilla)” accoutred with a musket, a sword, two pistols, a bowie knife, a whip and a canteen of “rot gut.” (The accompanying verse was plagiarised from the New York Daily Tribune for June 17, 1861, the day of Lyon’s victory at Boonville.) A more subdued design imagined “Jeff Davis’ Passport: Mr. Jeff. Davis and friends are permitted to leave the State of Virginia, (signed) Winfield Scott.

[16] Recruits wanted for the Brave Southern Army — Envelope.

BY 1863, after both sides began to tire of the unending battles and high casualties, the patriotic stationery fad waned, although printed envelopes with war themed designs continued to be produced though 1865. These tended to be more serious and sober than the unbridled hyper-patriotic messages of 1861. A popular theme was “the Soldier’s Farewell.” 

[17] Jeff Davis Passport — Envelope.

[18] Soldier’s Farewell — Envelope.

[19] General Frans Sigel, CDV.

[20] General Ben McCulloch, CSA.

★

For Further Reading: Steven R. Boyd, Patriotic Envelopes of the Civil War: The Iconography of Union and Confederate Covers (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2010).

A Metamorphic View of Jefferson Davis

[1-2]

by E.M. Sanchez-Saavedra

A  fascinating subgroup of 19th century political satirical paper items involved the use of metamorphic visual effects. In the years before animated cartoons, ingenious artists and photographers used a variety of tricks to achieve images that could be manipulated by the viewer to produce different pictures. These ranged from layered formats, such as pictures divided into strips revealing one picture when seen from the left and another when the viewer shifted to the right. Sliding paper inserts could be sandwiched  between two sheets of paper to make a portrait smile or frown. Cards fitting into a stereoscopic viewer could contain two slightly different pictures of reciprocating motion. Alternately opening and shutting the right and left eyes produced a crude animated effect. More elaborate effects were achieved by various mechanical means.

(See: Robert Taft, Photography and the American Scene; A Social History, 1839-1889, New York: Dover Publications reprint, 1964: 220.)

The simplest metamorphic picture was one in which the viewer merely turned the image upside down. During the American Civil War a number of these topsy-turvys were produced to lampoon various controversial figures, chiefly Jefferson Davis (1808-89) the first and only president of the Southern Confederacy.

[3] Jefferson Davis Metamorphic Topsy-Turvy.

Around 1850, an unknown American printer invented the “patriotic envelope” featuring a bold symbol in one or two colors on the left side of an ordinary envelope. Gradually, political and social satire appeared on these small ephemeral productions, similar to the crude humor of the “comic valentines” and “comic almanacs” which shared display space in stationers’ windows. In 1861, fueled by the insanely patriotic frenzy that gripped both the Northern and Southern populations, many enterprising publishers and stationers produced thousands of cheap paper items with patriotic and/or satirical motifs. Sets of writing paper and matching envelopes seem to have been among the most popular, judging by the enormous quantity of surviving examples. The images ran the spectrum from tiny, crude black-and-white vignettes to elaborate multicolor prints that took up the entire first page of the letter sheet. Many designs were adapted from comic papers such as Punch or The John-Donkey.

[4-5] The John-Donkey, January 1, 1848.

A classic metamorphic image, copyrighted by E. Rogers and published by S.C. Upham of Philadelphia in 1861, is entitled “Jeff. Davis going to War / Jeff. Returning from War An [Ass]” It occupies the top half of a lightly-ruled letter sheet and is printed sideways in blue ink. When folded and viewed one way, we see a warlike face with huge mustaches and an odd asiatic headgear. Rotated 180 degrees, the mustaches become ears, the cap  becomes a muzzle, and the face is that of a mournful jackass.

[6]

Samuel Curtis Upham (1819-85), a forty-niner, operated a stationery, drug and toiletries shop. He is best known as a prolific counterfeiter of Confederate paper money, producing millions of dollars in a scheme to destabilize the already shaky C.S. finances. These were sold as “Mementos of the Rebellion,” but they flooded the Confederate States with worthless currency – or at least more worthless than the genuine article. He also marketed facsimiles of Confederate postage stamps.

(See: George S. Cuhaj, (ed.), Arlie Slabaugh, Confederate States Paper Money. Civil War Currency from the South, 11th Edition, Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2008: 108-116, and George B. Tremmel, Counterfeit Confederate Currency, History, Rarity and Values, Whitman Publishing Co., 2007.)
Much of Upham’s printing was possibly done by his neighbor, publisher James Magee.

[7] Upham Counterfeit Confederate Note.

The shadowy Edward Rogers of 132 S. 3rd Street, who created and copyrighted the Davis cartoon, is credited with a sketch of Japan’s ambassadors arriving in Philadelphia, printed in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper in June 1860. He seems to have been a free-lance artist/engraver. In 1859, he was referred to as “an enterprising young artist, rapidly rising in his profession.” (Edwin T. Freedley, Philadelphia and its Manufactures, 1859.) Rogers was still at work as an engraver in 1889.

[8] Upham Envelope.

Upham purchased his cut of the topsy-turvy Jeff. Davis, had stationery printed from it and began advertising “The Jeff. Davis Letter Sheet” on June 30, 1861. These sold for $1 per 100 and $8 per 1,000. Matching envelopes cost 50 cents per 100 and $4 per 1,000. Upham’s ad stated that:

“Should you wish to engage in the sale of them, which I advise you to do, as I know by experience that they will sell rapidly, please address all correspondence to S.C. Upham, 310 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

[9-11] Anti-Davis Envelopes.

N.B. Having purchased the above copyright, I alone have the power of appointing agents. Anyone selling without my authority will be prosecuted.”

[12] Upham Circular, 1862.

Other printers quickly stole the design, however. Upham later employed it to advertise “Upham’s Cream Soda” in his drugstore. Like the infamous Dr. Tumblety, Upham also formulated and sold a “pimple banisher” and other quack nostrums.

[13] Samuel Curtis Upham.

Although to modern sensibilities, the Davis topsy-turvy is a feeble jape at best, it was popular enough to warrant a more elaborate hand-colored lithographic version in 1864, published by Edmund Burke Kellogg and Elijah Chapman Kellogg of Hartford, Connecticut, and their co-publishers Carlos L. Golden and Thomas J. Sammons of Chicago, Illinois, and George Whiting in New York.

[14a]

The end with ‘War’ shows ‘Jeff. Rampant.’ and has the verses: “With lion heart and frantic mien, / The warrior seeks the battle scene, / To risk his precious blood and fight / For glory and his vaunted right.” When turned around, ‘Peace’ shows “Jeff. Subdued.” and has the lines: “But when he hears the cannon roar, / And views the dying in his gore, / His courage fails and then, alas! / He homeward travels like an ass.”  Four vignettes of Civil War battle scenes were added to the corners of ‘War’ and four bucolic scenes to ‘Peace.’

[14b]

In the 1880s, the image inspired C.A. Jackson & Co., a Petersburg, Virginia tobacco company, to issue a similar one adapted to the marketing of chewing tobacco. Their card was printed by “Donaldson Brothers, Five Points. N.Y.” This time around, the ass is the first view:

[15]

“I was a most consummate ass, / For nothing human could I pass. / I got a chew of ‘Jackson’s Best.’ / Invert this card and know the rest.” When turned around, we see a placid face with the verses: “My worthy friend, if ever you / Should want a really first class chew. / Use Jackson’s Best, or you will be / An ass, like I was formerly.”

[16] Jefferson Davis, 1862.

Jefferson Davis, like his counterpart Abraham Lincoln, was born on the Kentucky frontier. After attending Jefferson College, Mississippi, Transylvania University and West Point Military Academy, Davis served on the Wisconsin frontier under Zachary Taylor in the Black Hawk War of 1832. (Abraham Lincoln was a captain of volunteers in the same conflict.) He left the army in 1835, married Taylor’s daughter Sarah, and became a planter in Mississippi. His 19-year-old bride died three months after the wedding. Plagued by depression and chronic ill health, Davis gradually took an interest in politics and eventually became a force in the Democratic Party. In 1845 he married Varina Banks Howell, who would bear him six children. He raised the volunteer Mississippi Rifles and served with distinction in the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. He became a U.S. senator in 1847 and Secretary of War in 1853 under President Franklin Pierce. He reentered the Senate in 1857, and was a staunch Union man, in opposition to the rabid secessionists who were trying to split the nation. However, he upheld the right of states to secede from the Union if they chose. This philosophy put his principles to the ultimate test and his loyalty to his home state trumped his Union sentiments. When Mississippi adopted an ordinance of secession in January 1861, Davis was the leader of the state delegation. He resigned his seat in the U.S. Senate and cast his lot with the Confederacy.

[17] New York Illustrated News, April 23, 1853.

Although he would have preferred to serve his state as a military officer, the Confederate Constitutional Convention chose him as provisional president of the breakaway nation. After Virginia seceded, Davis moved the seat of government from remote Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, close to the principal rail lines and Atlantic seaports.

[18-19] Jeff Davis cell at Ft. Monroe, Virginia.

Davis’ authoritarian personality and hot temper were not improved by his many physical ailments and he may not have been the best man for the job. His vice-president, Alexander H. Stephens, a semi-invalid, retired to his home and left Davis to micro-manage the executive branch alone. After leading ‘The Lost Cause’ for four tragic years, Davis and his government fled Richmond as Grant’s army threatened Richmond. He was captured by Union troops in Georgia and imprisoned at Fort Monroe, near Hampton, Virginia. Prominent Americans signed his bail bond, including Horace Greeley and Gerrit Smith (of the ‘Secret Six’ who had backed abolitionist John Brown in 1859!) and he was released from confinement in the dank stone casemate, overlooking the fort’s stagnant moat. He never stood trial for treason and retired to a literary and historical career. He died in 1889 in New Orleans.

[20] ‘In Memoriam’ Lithograph.

Although the patriotic envelope’s heyday came and went during the Civil War, they were produced in greater or lesser quantities in 1898, 1917 and 1941, reflecting wartime sentiments reminiscent of 1861.

[21] Civil War Patriotic Paper and Envelope.

[22] Confederate Patriotic Envelope.

[23] C.S. Patriotic Envelope.

[24] Harper’s Weekly, February 2, 1861.

[25-26]

[27] McClure’s Magazine, November 1906, Vol. 28, No. 1.