The Mississippi in Time of War

Currier & Ives issued more than thirty lithographs of the great Mississippi River; those pictures showing steamboats ranked among the most popular. This print features an American Civil War scene of fiery destruction, however, inspired by several Union river battle victories over the Confederacy, rather than by a specific military engagement. It was important for Union forces to gain control of the Mississippi River, which was a vital waterway for transporting farm-produced goods, as well as military supplies and men. After the Confederate South lost control of the Mississippi in 1863, they were cut off from their supplies and thus weakened.

Intended for Northern (Union) viewers, this print exemplified a vision of ruin striking the secessionist Southern plantation way of life. Here, a steamboat, engulfed by flames, has run aground onto the river bank at the right. The burning blaze casts a glowing light onto the surrounding trees and vegetation as frantic crewmen jump or dive into the river to escape. In the foreground, several Black men and white men swim towards a sinking barge (lower left) or cling to floating debris. In the river at the center, the guns of an iron-clad battleship (with two smokestacks and flying a Union flag) bombard the opposite bank, thereby causing fiery damage to a large plantation house and its surroundings. Two other ships, also on fire, are in the background. Above this inferno, a full moon shines serenely through a break in the clouds.

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography business had thrived since 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life. After1857, when Currier made James Merritt Ives a partner, the renamed Currier & Ives firm continued until 1907. Frances Flora (Fanny) Palmer was one of the most important artists working for Nathaniel Currier, and later Currier & Ives, between 1849 and 1868, when she produced approximately 200 of the firm's best landscapes and most engaging scenes of daily life. This Civil War era print ranks among her finest.