How the War Commenced, and How Near It Is Ended.

New York: National Union Executive Committee, Astor House, 1864. Broadside, 44.5 x 29 cm, with wood engraved map, 12.5 x 28 cm, above text in two columns. CONDITION: Very good, minor toning, a few small spots of soiling and damp-staining, some light wear to corners.

A broadside featuring a persuasive map, issued by the National Union Party near the end of the Civil War in an attempt to sway Democrats to reelect President Lincoln in 1864.

Produced by The National Union Party—the name the Republican Party adopted for the 1864 national ticket—this broadside seeks to win over Democrats who oppose Lincoln and his handling of the Civil War. The publication demonstrates to the public that, contrary to claims advanced by Democrats and Copperheads, President Lincoln was not the cause of the war, and further, that the North was actually winning the war and would restore the Union in the near future.

Appearing at the top is a map showing the territory formerly controlled by the Confederates (shaded in gray) and the territory presently under Confederate control, in black, presenting an immediately comprehensible compliment to the argument made here. The first section of the text, “Who Commenced the War” offers a chronology of events (excerpted from the Confederate States Register) of aggressive acts committed by Southern States prior to Lincoln’s election—revealing the South as the primary cause of the protracted conflict. The National Union Party insists the North was “forced into the contest for the supremacy of the Union.” Under the heading, “Have we made any Progress in Crushing the Rebellion?” the text dispels another claim asserted by Democrats and Copperheads: that the ongoing war—four years on—is a failure and cannot succeed in restoring the Union.

Also provided are two tables presenting the area in sq. miles and population of various Southern states and territories in 1861 and 1864. The amount of “area conquered” totals 1,311,184 sq. miles, and the “population recovered” (by the Union Army) amounts to 7,638,062. The broadside offers further facts and figures to reveal how much the Confederacy has lost over the past four years. By contrast, the Union has not ceded any of its territory: “To-day not a rebel foot-step profanes the soil of the Loyal States, except that of a prisoner of war.” In fact, the Union has only grown stronger since the outbreak of the war through its numerous “material victories,” in whose wake have “followed moral and social triumphs such as war rarely brings, of which we may be more proud than of all our other conquests.” It is further noted, “[w]e have, by due process of law, abolished slavery in Louisiana, Maryland [etc.] and should the war stop now, as stop it soon must, from the steady onward march of Grant, and Sherman, and Sheridan [et al.] no human could reconstruct the blighting fabric of human slavery.”

A strong argument in support of Lincoln, made especially vivid and persuasive by the inclusion of a map.