150 years ago Harper’s Weekly noticed some Civil War-related items that were associated with earlier times in American history. From its August 23, 1869 issue:
Unionist profiles
THE AMERICAN TRIUMVIRATE.
A MEDALLION has been recently published by W. MILLER & Co., Artists of Philadelphia, giving in a single view the heads of WASHINGTON, LINCOLN, and GRANT. The idea of combining these three heads in a single piece of art reflects a popular conception. WASHINGTON, LINCOLN, and GRANT were made Presidents at the three great critical eras of our history. WASHINGTON – the Virginian gentleman – is the characteristic representative of our colonial period. LINCOLN and GRANT belong to that new era in which the gigantic West plays so important a part. History will record that General GRANT was the guardian of our liberties even before he was called to the seat of Executive power. Truly WASHINGTON will ever stand upon record as the Father of his country, LINCOLN as its Savior, and Grant as its Preserver.
This medallion is of bronze, the heads being of life-size. It was privately presented to Mrs. General GRANT at Long Branch by ex-Secretary BORIE. Messrs. MILLER & Co. are executing a number of artistic pieces of this character, which are of great beauty and value.
rock solid
SOLDIERS’ MONUMENT AT PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS.
On Monday, August 9, the Soldiers’ Monument at Plymouth, Massachusetts, was dedicated. The location of a monument commemorative of the heroes of the war for the Union upon a spot which was nearly two hundred and fifty years ago rendered sacred by the landing of the Pilgrims makes this dedication an occasion of great popular interest; and we have, therefore, given an illustration of the monument on this page.
And it looks like the Plymouth monument is holding up quite well after all these years. In a post on August 30, 2015 at Historical Digression Patrick Browne describes the monument and includes a color photograph. Maine governor and Gettysburg hero Joshua Chamberlain gave the main speech. There’s a lot of symbolism at the top of the nearly 50 foot high statue: it is “crowned by an eagle with one foot on a serpent and another on a broken chain.” I’m pretty sure those were Abraham Lincoln’s goals by the end of the war: emancipating the slaves and preserving the Union against the rebels. At least early on some Confederates apparently adopted and adapted the rattlesnake or Gadsden flag, which was used by the American patriots during the Revolutionary War.
Another one of those amazing coincidences in life: a few days ago I was surprised to see what appeared to possibly be the rattlesnake flag combined with the Russian flag in a photo that was part of an article about protests in Moscow (The Economist July 27th 2019 page 42). It’s hard to be sure given the angle of the photo, but I think it is probably the flag of the Russian Libertarian party.
Alabama state flag 1861 (reverse)
rebels at Fort Moultrie, early 1861
flag of Libertarian Party of Russia
The first member of the American Triumvirate, George Washington, seems to have been on both sides of the snake issue. He was a leading rebel during the 1770’s but in 1787 was elected president of the Constitutional Convention in which each state gave up some of its sovereignty in order to create a stronger national government, and then in 1789 Mr. Washington was sworn in as the first president under that constitution.
correct date for pater
Mrs. Grant in profile
Thanksgiving in August? I got excited when I saw that image of re-enactors at the tercentenary pageant. Will there be a celebration for the 400th?
Of course this Harper’s material is going way back, even to the time before “0”. Ancient Rome had two famous triumvirates in the first century BCE. Unlike the American medallion, each Roman triumvirate was made up of contemporaries., but Caesar was a common theme – Julius and then his great-nephew Octavius in the second. Octavius became Augustus.
And there’s all that Latin. The Confederates used Noli Me Tangere for “Don’t Tread on Me”. According to Wikipedia the phrase is also used as the Latin translation of a bible verse, John 20:17.
render unto Caesar Augustus (c. 18 BC)
Plymouth Rock reunited
looking down on Plymouth, 1882 (Soldiers’ Monument – #7)
LeBeHa’s image of the Russia Libertarian party’s flag is licensed under Creative Commons. So is the image of the denarius by Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. John O’Neill’s photo Plymouth Rock is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License. (Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. At the left of the rock can be seen where it was split in two in 1774, with the top part relocated to the town’s meetinghouse. The two parts were later rejoined in 1880, at which time the date 1620 was inscribed into the rock. Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA.) From the Library of Congress: Fort Moultrie, a detail from an image in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper from February 23, 1861 showing S.C. Governor Pickens’ wife and daughter visiting the fort; medallion; I’ve read that Julia Dent Grant always wanted her photographs taken in profile because of an eye problem; bird’s eye view of Plymouth; tercentenary. Fornax’s Alabama flag is in the public domain.
Plymouth, Mass. 1921
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