1-150-393 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Britannia Sympathises with Columbia', 1865. Only days after the long and bitter Civil War in America had finally come to an end, its victorious President Abraham Lincoln was shot whilst attending the Lord's Theatre in Washington. His assassin was John Wilkes Booth. This cartoon depicts a sorrowful Britannia laying a wreath on Lincoln's shrouded body. To the left, Columbia weeps as she clutches her country's flag and, to the right, a representative of the slaves given freedom by the war, with his opened shackles by his feet, mourns. The man may now be free, but he is still shown occupying his 'proper' place on the floor. From Punch, or the London Charivari, May 6, 1865.