SOUTH CAROLINA'S "ULTIMATUM."
New York: Currier & Ives, 1861. Lithograph broadside, oblong 13-1/2" x 17-1/4." Mounted to linen. Vertical separation at central fold expertly repaired with linen on verso. Faint ghosting in blank left field. Else Very Good. Hinged at top and matted.
After South Carolina seceded in December 1860, it sent three commissioners to negotiate with the weak-kneed and still-President Buchanan for possession of the forts in Charleston Harbor. This rare broadside mocks Buchanan, and lampoons Governor Pickens's insistence on the evacuation of Union forces.
"Pickens holds a lit fuse to a giant Union cannon 'Peacemaker,' which is pointed at his own abdomen. He threatens, "Mr. President, if you don't surrender that fort at once, I'll be blowed if I don't fire. Buchanan throws up his hands in alarm and cries, 'Oh, don't! Governor Pickens, don't fire! till I get out of office'." Weitenkampf emphasizes the "uncertain and anxious look on Buchanan's face."
Reilly 1861-4. Weitenkampf 125. OCLC 982166633 [1- DLC], 191120177 [1- Clements], 1021887634 [1- U So. Car.] as of November 2024. Item #40567
Price: $1,750.00