THE GUNBOAT CANDIDATE AT THE BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL

New York: Published by Currier & Ives, 152 Nassau St., 1864. Broadside lithograph, 13-1/4" x 17-3/4". Light soiling to far margins, Very Good.

"Democratic presidential candidate George Brinton McClellan is lampooned as an incompetent military leader. He sits in a saddle mounted on the boom of the Union ironclad vessel Galena... He calls to his troops, 'Fight on my brave Soldiers and push the enemy to the wall, from this spanker boom your beloved General looks down upon you'... The print recalls two prominent failures in McClellan's tenure as commander of the Army of the Potomac, which haunted him during the 1864 campaign" [Reilly].
The Union ironclad 'Galena' suffered severe damage from Confederate batteries and was forced to withdraw from the approach to Richmond in May 1862. McClellan failed to bring nearby land troops to the Navy's aid. Soon thereafter, at the "disastrous conclusion" [id.] of the Peninsular Campaign, his troops were badly routed at the Battle of Malvern Hill, depicted in the lithograph's background.
Reilly 1864-17. Weitenkampf 145. OCLC records locations at AAS, Clements, Peabody - Essex, DLC under several accession numbers as of December 2022.