Leaders of the Democratic Party

A broadside-scale wood engraving, Nast arraigns four Democrats as enemies of Reconstruction. Top left, 'The Rioter Seymour'—presidential nominee Horatio Seymour—is shown mid-harangue against a burning cityscape, recalling his 1863 draft-riot address. Top right, 'The Butcher Forrest'—Nathan Bedford Forrest—looms over a battlefield, referencing the Fort Pillow massacre of Black Union soldiers. Bottom left, 'The Pirate Semmes'—Admiral Raphael Semmes—stands on a Confederate raider's deck. Bottom right, 'The Hangman Hampton'—Wade Hampton—presides over a gallows. Each panel carries extensive letterpress quotations meant to indict the subject in his own words. The figures of Forrest and Hampton are rendered with visual caricature alongside their victims, a common visual grammar in illustrated press of the period.