1. Category:
  2. Fine Art (2,667)

Where Are My 15,000 Sons--Murdered at Fredericksburg?

Creator:
Harper's Weekly
Location:
New York, New York
Origin Date:
1863
Materials:
paper
Measurements:
overall: 15 3/4 in x 10 11/16 in
Item ID:
71.2009.081.2826
Holding Institution:
Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum
Available for Viewing:
No
Category:
Fine Art

Description

This woodcut is a political cartoon published in the January 3, 1863, issue of Harper's Weekly. It depicts Columbia, a 19th-century symbol of the United States, pointing an accusing finger at President Abraham Lincoln, General Ambrose Burnside, and U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, captioned with "Where are my 15,000 sons—murdered at Fredericksburg?" General Burnside rashly hurled one Union division after another at the impregnable defenses of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in December of 1862 suffering one of the greatest Union defeats in the American Civil War. A broadside is shown leaning against the door of the War Department reading "Every Day of This Week--Onward to Richmond. By a select company of Star Generals." Part of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum