John Camel Heenan, (Benicia Boy.) by E.B. and E.C. Kellogg, circa 1859
date: label: Date made
content: n.d.
name: label: distributor
content: Whiting, George
label: depicted
content: Heenan, John Camel
label: maker
content: E.B. and E.C. Kellogg
label: maker
content: Kellogg, E.B. and E.C.
notes: label: Description
content: This color lithograph is a half-length portrait of John Camel Heenan, dressed formally in a three-piece suit and tie. An eagle with a banner in its mouth is depicted beneath the portrait. The banner reads "Champion of America." Beneath it is a declaration of his height (6’ ½”) and his fighting weight (192-195 pounds).
label: Description
content: John Camel Heenan (1833/34-1873) was an American bare-knuckle prizefighter, who was born in West Troy, New York, the son of Irish immigrants. At the age of 17, he headed west to the Gold Rush town of Benecia, California, where he worked as a strong man and enforcer in labor and political disputes. His reputation for informal brawling earned him the nickname the “Benecia Boy” and captured the attention of an English trainer named Jim Cusick, who moved with Heenan back to New York. Because fighting was illegal in the United States at that time, Heenan participated in his first national heavyweight bout in Canada in 1858. He lost the match to reigning champion John Morrissey in what some claimed to be an unfair fight because of crowd interference. After Morrissey retired from the ring, Heenan became national champion by default. He fought his second match—this time against Tom Sayers in 1860—in a field in Farnborough, Hampshire, England. Bare knuckle fighting was also illegal in England, and the confrontation attracted widespread public attention. It quickly turned brutal and chaotic, and ended in a draw after five rounds when the police threatened to intervene.
label: Description
content: The match has been described as the first world title fight, and it led to the establishment of a boxing code of conduct that included three-minute rounds, mandatory gloves, and ten-second counts after knockdowns. Heenan lost his third and final world title match, also in England, to a fighter named Tom King in 1863. Again, there were charges that the fight had been unfair, this time because of biased calls by the referee. Heenan also later claimed he’d been drugged. He devoted his final years to the gambling business. He died at the age of 38 after contracting tuberculosis in what was then the Wyoming territory. Heavy press coverage turned Heenan into a superstar, celebrated not only in prints, but in advertisements, poems, ballads, and theatrical productions.
label: Description
content: This lithograph was produced by the lithographic firm of E. B. & E. C Kellogg and published and sold by George Whiting. Edmund Burke Kellogg and Elijah Chapman Kellogg were younger brothers of the founder of the Kellogg lithography firm, Daniel Wright Kellogg. After Daniel Wright Kellogg moved west, his two brothers took over the family lithography firm in 1840 and changed the name to E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. They were responsible for the continued success of the family firm and involved in partnerships with Horace Thayer in 1845/1846, John Chenevard Comstock in 1848 and William Henry Bulkeley in 1867.
label: Description
content: This print was published by George Whiting, who worked as the agent and distributor of the Kellogg brothers’ prints in New York from 1848 to 1860. In 1860, the Kelloggs closed their New York office and Whiting took over the firm, selling prints until his death two years later.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Connecticut, Hartford
topic: label: Subject
content: Patriotism and Patriotic Symbols
label: Subject
content: Boxing
label: depicted
content: Eagles
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Art
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content: Peters Prints
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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.60.3125
label: catalog number
content: 60.3125
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 12 1/2 in x 9 in; 31.75 cm x 22.86 cm