1. Creator/Author:
  2. Adalbert Johann Volck (35)

Buying a Substitute in the North During the War

Creator:
Adalbert Johann Volck
Location:
Unknown place made
Origin Date:
1861-1863
Materials:
paper
Measurements:
overall: 9 1/2 in x 12 in
Item ID:
71.2009.081.2086
Holding Institution:
Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum
Available for Viewing:
No
Category:
Fine Art

Description

This etching is a political cartoon by Adalbert Volck, a Southern sympathizer living in Baltimore, Maryland, during the United States Civil War. This cartoon, one of the Confederate War Etchings series, focuses negatively on the Northern policy of allowing men to find a substitutes to take their places in the draft. A well-dressed man greets a timid-looking man at the door on which there is a sign that reads "Substitutes for sale. Supply of able-bodied men always on hand. Cheap." The agent gestures to the group of men looking much less than able-bodied. Some are playing cards, some are inebriated, a couple are dressed in ragged clothes. This cartoon reflects Volck's belief that Northerners are lower-class, uneducated oafs. Original etching one of thirty published in Volck's "Confederate War Etchings." Part of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum