Life — May 7, 1885 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Repentant in a Horn" This political cartoon satirizes Editor Henry Grady of Georgia, who has petitioned President Cleveland to pardon Confederate general Jefferson Davis. The image depicts a figure in Civil War-era military dress standing in a swampy landscape, blowing a horn toward the Capitol building. The horn itself appears to be labeled, suggesting the "horn" is Grady's petition—a play on words treating his written appeal as literally a horn used to summon authority. The satire targets Grady's apparent reversal on Reconstruction politics: by seeking Davis's pardon, he's portrayed as hypocritically "repenting" or backtracking from previous stances. The cartoon mocks what the artist sees as opportunistic or insincere political positioning regarding the still-contentious question of Confederate reconciliation in post-Reconstruction America.