Scope and Contents
Pencil-drawings on a four-page lettersheet. The largest drawing, titled "S. Carolina traitor/ Lincoln commander" features
a South Carolina militia officer marching with a drawn sword with a young slave looking up at him. A canon, named the "Preserver",
points at the South Carlinian from underneath a U.S. flag emblazoned with the word UNION. The illustration is referring to
South Carolina's secession from the Union, which occured in 1860 December before Lincoln took office and reflects the idea
that Lincoln would use force to preserve the Union but also that even southern slaves must have realized from their masters'
demeanor and actions that something was amiss.
A second drawing dated 1861 March 4, the day of President Abraham Lincoln's first inauguration represents Abraham Lincoln
chasing President James "Buck" Buchanon out of qashington and relates to his lack of action after a numr of southern states
suceeded from the Union.
Another drawing depicts a sailing ship approaching a coast-line where a threatening snake has coiled itself around a tree,
referencing the first South Carolina Palmetto flag. The sailing ship likely refers to the civilian freighter, STar of the
West, that futilely attempted to resupply Fort Sumter in the Charleston harbor.
There are three other additional pencil sketches: a Native American with bow and tomahawk, a hunting scene with a being simultaneously
wounder by both a Native American using a bow and arrow and a white man shooting a gun, as well as a mother and son holding
open books.
Although the drawings are primitive and child-like, their polticial nature and comentary suggests that they were made by an
adult around the tim that Lincoln was inaugurated but before the South Carolina artillery fired upon Fort Sumter. These drawings
offer visual commentary upon Lincoln's election and the state of the Union in the days immediately prior to the outbreak of
the American Civil War.