Enlistment of Sickles brigade [graphic].
Title
Enlistment of Sickles brigade
Description
Caustic satire depicting the enlistment by notorious New York Congressman Colonel Daniel Sickles of recruits from offices near New York's crime-ridden Five Points area. The congested scene depicts several men, including African American men, clustered on a city street near a liquor store. In the left, Sickles, unwigged, stands above the crowd, and holds out Bibles in each hand. In the right above the crowd, "Mrs. Higby," wife of a New York clergyman, hands out pipes to the men (an allusion to Sickles's men being given pipes and Bibles for enlisting). A sign near Sickles reads "The Capital in danger. Sickles Brigade to the Rescue!!" A sign near Mrs. Higby reads "Pipes for the noble saviors of their country by Mrs. Higby." The "enlisting" men wear torn, worn, and patched uniforms or street clothes and hold picket signs, guns, and clubs. Within the crowd, a pit bull terrier and a white boy watch the melee, which includes a white man, attired in a uniform and a "Colonel Sickles Brigade" cap, offering an African American man a medal, who scratches his head, next to another African American man, attired in uniform and portrayed in racist caricature, and seated on a barrel. A few years before the war in 1859, Sickles gained notoriety for murdering Philip Barton Key II for having an affair with his wife Teresa Bagioli. He was acquitted based on the first successful use of the insanity defense in the U.S., Inscribed upper left corner: 6., Issued as plate 6 in Sketches from the Civil War in North America (London [i.e., Baltimore]: [the author], 1863-1864), a series of pro-Confederacy cartoons drawn and published by Baltimore cartoonist Adalbert John Volck under the pseudonym V. Blada. The "first issue" of 10 prints (numbered 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 15, 16, 21, 24), with imprint "London, 1863" were printed as etchings. The remaining 20 prints (numbered 4, 8, 9-11, 14, 17-20, 23, 25-27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 40, 45) headed "Second and third issues of V. Blada's war sketches" and dated "London, July 30, 1864" were printed as lithographs., Tile and publication information from series at Brown University Library., Research file about artist available at repository., Accessioned 1935., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator
Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912, artist
Date
[1863]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Volck - Sketches - Volck 6 [2990.F.23]
[Miscellaneous prints from the Joe Freedman collection of Philadelphia ephemera] [graphic].
Title
[Miscellaneous prints from the Joe Freedman collection of Philadelphia ephemera]
Description
Collection of miscellaneous prints, including promotional novelties, vignettes, views, proof sheet of banknotes, a photograph reproduction, and a postcard. Imagery depicts City Hall, Continental Hotel, Girard Fire Insurance Company, interior of Independence Hall, "Bird's Eye View from Lemon Hill" showing the Fairmount Water Works, Market Street and Delaware Avenue, the storefront of optician William Y. McAllister and Alex. R. Harper & Bro., watches (728 Chestnut), and vignettes showing miners at work, and a view of laborers at work in a stone quarry juxtaposed with a view of Native American persons. Also includes a 1777 German calendar illustration showing Philadelphia along the Delaware River (.193x); an 1804? lottery ticket for the African Church of St. Thomas (.190x); a ca. 1833 proof sheet of bank notes in German for The Western Bank of Philadelphia; a ca. 1830 textile sewn on paper and illustrated with a genre scene in front of the "House of Refuge, Philadelphia"; a pocket-size political print depicting Philadelphia mayor-elect Morton McMichael holding a fox by its tail to satirize his 1865 election win over Daniel M. Fox; and a 1919 calligraphic envelope (in color inks) addressed to Mrs. Sarah Zook, Temple University Hospital, Broad & Ontario Streets, Phila, Pa. Some prints also depict street and pedestrian traffic. Vignettes are possibly specimens for illustrations on certificates., Title supplied by cataloger., Artists, photographers, and publishers include C. G. Childs, W. N. Jennings, and The Rotograph Co., P.2013.87.190x and 193x in frames and housed separately in phase box., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date
[ca. 1830-ca. 1950, bulk ca. 1860-ca. 1890]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Freedman Collection - Box 2 - Miscellaneous [P.2013.87.2; 185-195x], Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Freedman Collection - Lottery & Calendar Illustrations [P.2013.87.190x and 193x]