parting-shot-winter-2024
Courtesy of Hake’s Auctions (Hakes.com)
Sometime in the runup to the presidential election of 1864, New York photographic artists J. Gurney & Son published this carte de visite. Titled “The Winning Hand,” it depicts President Abraham Lincoln and George B. McClellan, his Democratic challenger (and former general-in-chief of the Union armies), playing cards. The prize—control of the federal government—is represented by a miniature model of the U.S. Capitol sitting on the table between them.
A pleased McClellan reveals his presumably winning hand while a somber Lincoln stares past his cards into the distance. This pessimistic appraisal of his chances for reelection was one Lincoln himself shared for most of the year. But by November, timely battlefield victories (including William T. Sherman’s capture of Atlanta in September) and a robust pro-Republican soldier vote helped propel Lincoln to victory with 55 percent of the popular vote.
Related topics: Abraham Lincoln
