1862

Retrogression (A Very Sad Picture). War-Dance of the I.O.U. Indian. Punch, Volume 42, February 1, 1862, p. 45

On a narrow spit of land overlooking the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, a fiendishly-grinning caricature of an American Indian breaks into a shuffling war dance. His semi-naked body is daubbed with stars-and-stripes war paint, a motif which also appears on his leather leggings and breechclout. His weapons include a fearsome war club, a tomahawk, a quiver of arrows (though not a bow!), and a feather-tipped lance, from which a copy of the New York Herald flutters like a banner. Many of Punch's readers doubtless joined Tenniel in despising the Herald for its consistent, and virulent, anti-British editorials [cf. also July 26, 1862].

In the choppy water beyond the dancing figure appears a line of half-sunken ships. These are intended to represent the "Stone Fleet," a controversial attempt by the North to close off the entrances to Charleston's harbor. A number of old, decaying New England whaling ships were purchased by the Federal government, loaded with granite ballast, and intentionally scuttled so as to obstruct the three main channels used by steamers attempting to "run" the Union naval blockade. Although the use of "block ships" had been a common military tactic for centuries, the sinking of the Stone Fleet was condemned as a barbaric act by both the British and the Confederates. Robert E. Lee, temporarily in command of Carolina coastal defenses, bitterly assailed it as being "unworthy any nation ... the abortive expression of ... malice and revenge" (the sinking of the Stone Fleet, on December 20, 1861, occurred exactly one year after the adoption of South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession, and was seen by Southerners as a vindictive punishment inflicted on the Rebel city blamed by the North for having started the War).

The convoluted political message of this cartoon is further strained by its awkward allusion to an additional reason for condemning the Federal government: the fact that the Union's war efforts were being financed by its assuming an enormous burden of debt. The British of the mid-nineteenth century (and not a few Americans as well) regarded public debt with a strong aversion incomprehensible to today's citizens, who take government deficit spending for granted. In this and subsequent cartoons, the Lincoln administration (the "I.O.U. Indian") is accused of irresponsibility for its imposition of high taxes (including the first national income tax), its printing of unsecured paper money, issuance of federal bonding in excess of gross revenue, and tolerance for war profiteering along with rampant inflation.

In titling this cartoon "Retrogression" [= a step backwards], Tenniel may be ironically invoking the words of America's Founding Fathers. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson had listed among the misdeeds of England's King George III, which had brought the American Colonies to the brink of Revolution, the following charges: "He has excited domestic insurrections [i.e. slave revolts] among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the murderous Indian Savages . . . cutting off trade with the rest of the world . . . [He has] plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." In limning this "sad picture," the artist laments that the United States has so forgotten the noble aspirations of its founders that it now not only embraces savage behavior itself, but goes into ruinous debt to do so.

Some commentators have interpreted the malign figure of the Indian as an image of Lincoln himself (which would be ironic indeed, as "Father Abraham's" only prior military experience before becoming Commander-in-Chief had been a brief stint in the Illinois militia during the abortive Sauk and Fox Indian uprising of 1832, more commonly known as the Blackhawk War). The long nose, chin whiskers, and oversized boots of Tenniel's cavorting savage do show some superficial similarities to earlier glimpses of Lincoln [see especially September 28, 1861]. However, this identification is questionable on other points, as Tenniel's caricatures of the American President typically emphasize his long, unruly hair, his craggy features, and his full beard. The Indian's facial features may instead be based on portraits of Simon Cameron, Lincoln's original Secretary of War, who had helped plan the attack on Charleston. At the date of publication for this cartoon, Tenniel would have been unaware that Cameron, accused of war profiteering, had been replaced on January 20 by the far more capable Edwin M. Stanton, who would with ability and determination help prosecute the Civil War to its victorious conclusion three years hence.