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The Gun Boat Candidate, At the Battle of Malvern Hill

Probably after Louis Maurer American, born Germany
Publisher Currier & Ives American
1862
Not on view
Showing General George McClellan perched on a boom of "Galena," one of the Union's ironclad battleships, Currier & Ives reminds viewers of that leader's signal failures in an 1862 Union campaign against Richmond. In May, a flotilla of ironclads led by Galena were repulsed by Confederate guns, with the general refusing to call in a nearby troops for backup. This was followed by the Seven Battles, concluding on July 1 with the disastrous Battle of Malvern Hill, seen here in the distance. Surveying the action through a telescope, McClellan says "Fight on my brave Soldiers and push the enemy to the wall, from this spanker boom your beloved General looks down upon you." The battle concluded with a Union retreat to the river for gunboat protection, ending any chance that the Army of the Potomac might take the Confederate capital in 1862.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Gun Boat Candidate, At the Battle of Malvern Hill
  • Artist: Probably after Louis Maurer (American (born Germany), Biebrich 1832–1932 New York)
  • Publisher: Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
  • Sitter: General George B. McClellan (American, Phildadelphia, Pennsylvania 1826-1885 Orange, New Jersey)
  • Date: 1862
  • Medium: Lithograph
  • Dimensions: Image: 9 in. × 13 9/16 in. (22.8 × 34.5 cm)
    Sheet: 13 1/2 × 17 13/16 in. (34.3 × 45.2 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of A. S. Colgate, 1952
  • Object Number: 52.632.184
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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The Great Exhibition of 1860, Louis Maurer American, born Germany, Lithograph
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An Heir to the Throne, Or the Next Republican Candidate, Louis Maurer American, born Germany, Lithograph
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