Arms of the United States of America by Joseph Edward Baker and John Henry Bufford

Bufford, John Henry · 1864

In 1864, Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant to lead all Union armies, and reinvigorated under the General’s leadership and policy of total war, the Union armies launched numerous offensives against the Confederate armies in all of the war’s theaters. This print published that same year by J.H. Bufford provides a detailed allegory of the United States at war. The female personification of Liberty sits on a throne of clouds below the words “E Pluribus Unum” and an arc of 13 stars. She wears a Phrygian cap, and wields a sword, shield, and American flag. Below her, an eagle perches atop a shield decorated with stars and stripes, grasping arrows and an olive branch in its talons. To the left, a Native American warrior stands armed with a bow and tomahawk, extending his right hand. On the right, a sailor gripping an anchor gazes up at the figure of Liberty. At their feet lie cannons, rifles, swords, and other instruments of war. Below this symbolic arrangement, one can make out the U.S. Capitol, the Potomac River, and a camp of Union soldiers through the clouds.