1862

One Head Better Than Two. Punch, Volume 43, November 22, 1862, p. 211

Although Britain and France had accorded belligerent rights to both the United States and the Confederate States on the outbreak of the Civil War, the European powers held back from recognizing Southern independence. Davis' government pinned its hopes on eventually achieving diplomatic recognition, which Southerners believed could lead to commercial, or even military, alliances. Throughout the first two years of the war, the likelihood of European intervention rose and fell with the battlefield successes of the two contending sides.

Southern fortunes appeared to reach a high point during the summer of 1862. Frustrated after the failure of McClellan's costly Peninsular Campaign, Lincoln removed "Little Mac" from command of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan's replacement, General John Pope, fared no better, leading the Union forces into a second disastrous defeat on the old battlefield at Bull Run. Brimming with confidence after trouncing the Yankees at Second Bull Run (Second Manassas), Robert E. Lee launched an invasion of the North, hoping to detach Maryland from the Union, and perhaps even capture Baltimore or Washington, D.C. The influential London Times warned: "North and South must now choose between separation and ruin." Southern supporters in Parliament urged the British government to grant the Confederacy immediate recognition.

But Prime Minister Palmerston, seconded by Foreign Minister Russell, cautiously assumed a "wait and see" approach: let the Confederacy clearly win its independence, and European recognition could follow apace. On September 17, the British cabinet discussed a plan to offer mediation if Lee's invasion were to succeed. On that same day, Union forces, once again under the command of McClellan, checked Lee in fierce fighting at Antietam (Sharpsburg) -- a day which ended with over 23,000 casualties on both sides. Tactically a drawn battle, Antietam forced Lee to retreat, after having lost more than a quarter of his entire army.

The North was saved from invasion, and Lincoln used the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Antietam changed the picture in Europe as well. Palmerston backed off from any further proposals to recognize the South, despite constant pressure from the French Emperor Louis Napoleon, who had hoped to benefit from a jointly-mediated peace that would give him both a renewed supply of Southern cotton and a free hand in his attempts to intervene in Mexico. Tenniel's cartoon reflects the tensions of this volatile military and political situation. Its caption inverts the old saying "Two heads are better than one," suggesting that France should let Britain, led by the judicious Palmerston, shape their joint policy.

The realistically-rendered Palmerston stands with his hands in his pockets, calm and reserved. The figure of Louis Napoleon, in contrast, is a quasi-caricature. Grinning slyly, the French Emperor (the Legion of Honor showing prominently on his uniformed chest) indicates the embattled Americans by jerking his thumb over his left shoulder. At the same time, he gives Palmerston a conspiratorial prod in the abdomen with the pointed finger of his right hand -- an ungentlemanly intrusion on the Prime Minister's dignity and personal space.

Across the water (the Atlantic), and beyond the two leaders, Union and Confederate troops clash in a stylized battle scene. This background may have been inspired by the popular lithographs of Civil War scenes produced by the firm of Currier & Ives, a New York publisher sympathetic to the Northern cause. These hand-colored prints answered the public's desire for images about the war to complement text-based news. The Currier & Ives prints typically presented a romanticized take on events, in which every engagement was a Union triumph (or at least a moral victory), and war was a splendid pageant of bright uniforms, swirling banners, and formal charges of neatly-dressed ranks across open fields. Currier & Ives artists quoted centuries of battle art tradition. For instance, the "good" Union troops advance dextrally (left to right) in a sweeping, dynamic line that makes them appear inexorable. The United States flag appears higher in the composition, and moves diagonally towards the foe; the Rebels' flag wavers in confusion. Selected Confederate soldiers show fear by turning away from the enemy, looking back over their shoulders in alarm. Strategic clouds of white gunpowder smoke help to set off the soaring flag and direct the viewer's eye around the composition, while a fierce hand-to-hand combat between representative individual soldiers in the foreground recalls the democratic character of this war of "brother against brother."

Currier & Ives. Second Battle of Bull Run, 1862. Hand-colored lithograph.