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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC00493.14 |
| From Archive Folder | Confederate war etchings |
| Title | Valiant men "Dat Fite Mit Siegel" |
| Date | ca. 1880-1890 |
| Author | Volck, Adalbert John (1828-1912) |
| Document Type | Artwork |
| Content Description | Depicts a house being plundered and burned while a woman kneels, begging Federal officers to spare her children from the flames. The officers appear haughty and indifferent to her pleas. The threat of sexual violation is implicit as an officer with a gun holds her by the laces of her corset, revealing a torn dress and her bare breast. In the upper left of the sketch one sees an older child holding a baby trying to escape out a second-floor window. An oddly dressed character to the right of the frame takes aim at the children, in a seemingly despicable act of wanton cruelty. Amidst this cruelty and destruction a soldier waves the American flag. General Franz Sigel was a German American who was active in St. Louis's emigrant community before the war. His strong antislavery beliefs attracted many of his fellow Germans to support the Union, and when hostilities broke out, Sigel, who had been a leader in the 1848 Revolutions in the German states, quickly offered his services. Volck was a German immigrant right after the 1848 Revolutions as well, and seems to have been offering a commentary on the choices one can make in America. Size in extent is for the mount. The actual size of the etching is 20.1 x 26.6 cm. Title in pencil on verso. |
| Subjects | Art, Music, Theater, and Film Immigration and Migration Civil War Military History Women's History Atrocity Union General |
| People | Volck, Adalbert John (1828-1912) |
| Place written | s.l. |
| Theme | Government & Politics; The American Civil War; Women in American History |
| Sub-collection | Papers and Images of the American Civil War |
| Additional Information | Adalbert John Volck was a dentist, political cartoonist, and a caricaturist who sympathized with the Southern cause. During the Civil War, Volck supported the Confederacy through his satirical political cartoons. He also smuggled drugs and medical supplies for the Confederate army, and served as a personal courier to President Jefferson Davis. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |