The Volunteers/ In defence of the Government against usurpation/1861
date: label: Date made
content: 1861
name: label: maker
content: P.S. Duval & Son Lith.
label: artist
content: Queen, James
notes: label: Description
content: When Congress authorized a 500,000 man army to put down the Southern insurrection, Northern men enthusiastically responded to its call for volunteers. Northern men enlisted for a variety of causes: to seek adventure, to prove their manhood, to fulfil a duty to state or country, because of their religious beliefs, or because their friends, family, and community-members had volunteered. As an added incentive to enlist, Congress authorized a bounty system, which offered additional cash payments to men who volunteered. While the Confederacy also attempted to establish a bounty system, the extremely low value of Confederate currency made it much less of an incentive to Southern volunteers. The federal government paid a bounty of $100 to those who enlisted for three years in July of 1861, and after the Enrollment Act of 1863, this increased to $300 for three-year recruits and $400 for those who enlisted for five years. $100 during the war had the same buying power as about $2,700 today, which provided enough incentive for soldiers to enlist. Even with the bounty, however, pay in the Union Army was still usually less than average yearly incomes. This often placed hardship on families back home, whose primary financial support was off at war. As the war dragged on into 1863, however, patriotism and bounties were not enough to recruit the necessary manpower to wage war, and Congress passed the controversial Enrollment Act, which authorized a military draft.
label: Description
content: This print depicts three Union volunteers, two soldiers and one sailor, gesturing upwards toward an enormous American flag. This wartime, patriotic image was surely created to attract more potential volunteers to the Union cause. It was designed by James Fuller Queen, a pioneering chromolithographer active in Philadelphia, who served in a Civil War militia between 1862 and 1863. It was printed by P.S. Duval & Son. Peter S. Duval, a French-born lithographer, was hired by Cephas G. Childs in 1831 to work for the firm of Childs & Inman in Philadelphia. Duval formed a partnership with George Lehman, and Lehman & Duval took over the business of Childs & Inman in 1835. From 1839 to 1843, Duval was part of the lithography and publishing house, Huddy & Duval. He established his own lithography firm in 1843, and was joined by his son, Stephen Orr Duval, in 1858.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: depicted
content: Flags
label: referenced
content: Civil War
label: related event
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: American Civil War Prints
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.3324
label: catalog number
content: 60.3324
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Chromolithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 18 in x 11 1/2 in; 45.72 cm x 29.21 cm