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The True Peace Commissioners

1865
Not on view
Currier & Ives, premier publishers of inexpensive popular prints in the nineteenth century, distributed several political cartoons related to the Civil War. In this pro-Union image, Confederate leaders General Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis stand back-to-back in the center of the composition, attempting to ward off attacks by Union officers Philip H. Sheridan, Ulysses S. Grant, David G. Farragut, and William T. Sherman. The illustration represents the opinion of the War Democrats, supporters of the war, in response to what many considered to be false peace overtures from the South. It also criticizes the party’s other leading faction, the Peace Democrats, who pushed for a reconciliation between the North and South.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The True Peace Commissioners
  • Publisher: Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
  • Sitter: Abraham Lincoln (American, Hardin County, Kentucky 1809–1865 Washington, D.C.)
  • Sitter: Robert E. Lee (American, Westmoreland County, Virginia 1807–1870 Lexington, Virginia)
  • Sitter: Ulysses S. Grant (American, Point Pleasant, Ohio 1822–1885 Mount McGregor, New York)
  • Sitter: Jefferson Davis (American, Fairview, Kentucky 1808–1889 New Orleans)
  • Sitter: William Tecumseh Sherman (American, Lancaster, Ohio 1820–1891 New York)
  • Sitter: Major General Philip Henry Sheridan (American, Albany, New York 1831–1888 Nonquitt, Massachusetts)
  • Sitter: David Glasgow Farragut (American, Farrgut, Tennessee 1801–1870 Portsmouth, New Hampshire)
  • Date: 1865
  • Medium: Lithograph
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 13 1/2 × 17 15/16 in. (34.3 × 45.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of A. S. Colgate, 1952
  • Object Number: 52.632.219
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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