Good morning! Today’s Friday Funny is an 1861 Currier & Ives sketch commenting on the Union’s substantial advantage in terms war materiel.

The above cartoon illustrates the might of the Union by casting General Winfield Scott as a snarling bulldog protecting a substantial arsenal of munitions, supplies, food, and cash. Cowering in front of him is Confederate President Jefferson Davis cast as a scrawny greyhound who has nothing in his corner save bales of cotton. The bulldog taunts the greyhound with a juicy bone—“Washington Prize Beef—” and jests “Why don’t you take it?” Such commentary indicates that the staff at Currier & Ives thought that the Confederacy was too weak to wrestle a stronger and more powerful Union army.

Image Credit: Currier & Ives, July 1861.