The Hercules of the Union

Title: The Hercules of the Union, slaying the great dragon of secession Creator(s): Currier & Ives., Date Created/Published: [New York : Published by Currier & Ives, 1861] Medium: 1 print on wove paper : lithograph ; image 33 x 23 cm. Summary: A tribute to commander of Union forces Gen. Winfield Scott, shown as the mythical Hercules slaying the many-headed dragon or hydra, here symbolizing the secession of the Confederate states. At left stands Scott, wielding a great club “Liberty and Union,” about to strike the beast. The hydra has seven heads, each representing a prominent Southern leader. The neck of each Southerner depicted is labeled with a vice or crime associated with him. They are (from top to bottom): Hatred and Blasphemy (Confederate secretary of state Robert Toombs), Lying (vice president Alexander Stephens), Piracy (president Jefferson Davis), Perjury (army commander P. G. T. Beauregard), Treason (United States general David E. Twiggs who in February 1861 turned over nineteen federal army posts under his command in Texas to the South), Extortion (South Carolina governor Francis W. Pickens), and Robbery (James Buchanan’s secretary of war John B. Floyd, accused of supplying federal arms and supplies to the South) Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

General Winfield Scott as Hercules vs. The Hydra of Secession

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