Browse Items (50 total)

King Cotton - interpreted here as a caricature of European-style monarchs, displaying elements of the British government - recieves a dangerous gift from Union General George McClellan. The illustration mocks British reliance on southern cotton while…

Captured by the Union alongside his fellow Confederate diplomat, James Mason, in the 1861 Trent Affair, John Slidell's intended post was making appeals on the South's behalf to the French government under Napoleon III. After being released, Slidell…

Punch's satirical criticism of the American conflict highlights their view of British neutrality in this image, perceiving the nation as above the conflict. While certain groups within the population and government displayed sympathy for either side,…

While declaring itself neutral, and remaining that way for the duration of the war, some in the North believed that sympathies for the South permeated Britain's top levels of government. This image from Harper's Weekly uses the figure of John Bull in…

This print, likely published in the first years of the war, conveys some of the fears Americans had concerning the sympathies and interests of Britain. Would the anti-slavery sympathies that had grown over the course of the 19th century falter in the…

James M. Mason played an important role for Confederate activity in the United Kingdom, organizing funds and the purchase of supplies and ships. Following his arrest and release as part of the Trent Affair of 1861, Mason began his work in London,…

Thurlow Weed was one of several prominent Americans abroad in Europe during the American Civil War. Primarily operating in the area of London, Weed was effectively on an unofficial diplomatic mission. His work and connections in Great Britain enabled…

Serving as Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston guided Britain through, or better put, around the affairs of the American Civil War. The leader of the nation most likely to intervene in the conflict, and at times Palmerston faced the temptation to do so.…

Henry Hotze was a Swiss-born immigrant to the United States who would become one of the Confederacy's prominent propaganda agents abroad. Operating as a journalist in Alabama prior to the war, Hotze would later enter into work for the Confederate…

Compiled together as a tribute to Lincoln's memory, this item combines both a print of a wood engraving, likely by Punch artist John Tenniel, and a poem also published by Punch, together on a single page. Though republished in 1910, this document…