The Little Contraband
date: label: Date made
content: 1862
name: label: maker
content: Bufford, John Henry
notes: label: Description
content: Before Emancipation, the term “contraband” was used to refer to former slaves who had escaped and made their way to Union lines. This 1862 print depicts a young, previously-enslaved girl who has been intercepted by Federal troops. She smiles as the Union officer on the right lifts her onto a gun carriage. A caption below the illustration explains, “And her little limbs had, perhaps, become strengthened by some vague dream of liberty, to be lost or won, in that hurried night march.” To the right of these lines, the print contains the facsimile signature of Nathaniel P. Banks, the officer depicted on horseback who points towards the girl. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Lincoln selected Banks as one of the first major generals of volunteers. Before the war, he had served as Speaker of the House of Representatives and then as the Governor of Massachusetts. He lacked prior military experience, however, and many of his military engagements resulted in defeat. Despite these failures, this print focuses on the general’s continuing commitment to the abolitionist cause.
label: Description
content: This print was published by the lithographer John Henry Bufford. The son of a sign painter and gilder, Bufford trained with Pendleton's Lithography in Boston, 1829-1831. He worked in New York with George Endicott and Nathaniel Currier (1835-1839) before returning to Boston where he had a good reputation for printing and publishing popular framing prints, commercial work, labels, and trade cards. The company went through several iterations and name changes until about 1865. He became the chief artist for Benjamin Thayer until buying out the firm to found J. H. Bufford & Co. (1844-1851). He continued to work in the lithography and publishing business for the remainder of his life. In 1865, his sons Frank and Henry John became partners in Bufford & Sons or J.H. Bufford’s Sons Litho. Co. After his death they continued the family business as Bufford Brothers and as Bufford Sons Engraving & Lithographing Company until 1911.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
topic: label: Subject
content: Blacks
label: Subject
content: Children
label: Subject
content: Chronology: 1860-1869
label: depicted
content: Uniforms, Military
label: Civil War
content: Civil War
label: Subject
content: Slavery
label: related event
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
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.60.3319
label: catalog number
content: 60.3319
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 in x 9 1/4 in; 30.48 cm x 23.495 cm