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President Lincoln and His Cabinet

ca. 1861
Not on view
Schussele’s drawing documents Lincoln's chief advisors early in the Civil War. Pictured from left to right are Edward Bates (Attorney General), Gideon Welles (Secretary of the Navy), Montgomery Blair (Postmaster General), William Henry Seward (Secretary of State), Salmon Portland Chase (Secretary of the Treasury), the President, General Winfield Scott (Chief of the Army), Caleb Blood Smith (Secretary of the Interior), and Simon Cameron (Secretary of War). The accurate furnishings and view through the window of an unfinished Washington Monument lend a sense of immediacy. The image was conceived to reassure viewers that Lincoln, regarded by many as an ill-prepared Westerner, was surrounded by experienced men (see 2013.634.2 for a related engraving, which lacks a publication line and may never have been issued, perhaps because Scott retired and Cameron had been replaced by February 1862).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: President Lincoln and His Cabinet
  • Artist: Christian Schussele (American (born France), Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin 1824–1879 Merchantville, New Jersey)
  • Sitter: Abraham Lincoln (American, Hardin County, Kentucky 1809–1865 Washington, D.C.)
  • Sitter: Edward Bates (American, Goochland County, Virginia 1793–1869 St. Louis, Missouri)
  • Sitter: Gideon Welles (American, Glastonbury, Connecticut 1802–1878 Hartford, Connecticut)
  • Sitter: William H. Seward (American, Florida, New York 1801–1872 Auburn, New York)
  • Sitter: Montgomery Blair (American, Franklin County, Kentucky 1813–1883 Silver Spring, Maryland)
  • Sitter: Samuel Portland Chase (American, Cornish, New Hampshire 1808–1873 New York)
  • Sitter: General Winfield Scott (American, Petersburg, Virginia 1786–1866 West Point, New York)
  • Sitter: Caleb Blood Smith (American, 1808–1864)
  • Sitter: Simon Cameron (American, Maytown, Pennsylvania 1799–1889 Maytown, Pennsylvania)
  • Date: ca. 1861
  • Medium: Pen and grey ink, brush and gray and brown wash
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 10 7/8 × 15 1/8 in. (27.6 × 38.4 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Harold Holzer, 2013
  • Object Number: 2013.634.1
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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