Life, 1885-10-01 · page 12 of 16
Life — October 1, 1885 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Political Satire Analysis This page from *Life* magazine contains Civil War-era satire mocking Union General Ulysses S. Grant through the persona of a boastful, illiterate soldier claiming credit for victories Grant achieved. **Top cartoon**: A caricatured Black soldier (rendered in period racist stereotype) depicts himself as the real military genius at the Battle of Shiloh (1862), claiming Grant needed *his* guidance. The misspelled dialect—"fite," "speche," "campane"—is satirical mockery suggesting the speaker's actual ignorance while paradoxically crediting him with strategic brilliance. The joke undercuts Grant's reputation by attributing his success to an implausible source. **Bottom cartoon**: Shows another figure falling into mud or water, illustrating the absurdity of overconfidence. **"Hints for the Family"** section: Darkly comic advice (put powder *over* shot; use beefsteak as wagon hardware) parodies self-help columns. **Political note**: The final quip about Republicans' "bloody shirt" references the political tactic of invoking Civil War sacrifice—criticizing their reliance on worn-out war rhetoric rather than new ideas.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
EXTRACT FROM A FORTH- COMING WAR BOOK. “cc T the battle of Shilo, me and grant was right together all | the time. I kep cool all day, but some- times grant got sorter excited. As I gallupt cross the battle-feel with my blak hare flowin’ and lookin’ like the smoke comin’ out the chimley of a steam injine, grant stopt me and sed to me: ‘Genrul, your life is too pre- shus to be flung away.’ Then I sorter | toned down and pade tention to the | bumshells flyin’ thickern hailstones in a storm. When the fus’ day's fight was over, the inemy thawt we was licked; but we had jes’ done drawed ‘em into a trap whar we cood pestle them all to peeces the nex’ day. Sum fokes thawt we had bin serprised ; but we want serprised a bit. We was jes’ foglin’, an’ the nex’ mornin’ we jes’ cut loose an’ made the confedrits git up an’ git away from that place same as a passel of chickens when they see a | chicken hork salin’ in the ar. I made a big speche to my men after the My KINGDOM! WHAT A GUS’ OB WIN’ Dis IS! SPEC’ DAR AM A SLY- fite, an’ me an’ grant went to the tent CONE GWINE TER STRIKE. * | an’ maid plans for the nex’ campane.” HINTS FOR THE FAMILY. WHEN you spill soup on the table- cloth, set your tumbler on it while your wife is not looking, and trust to Provi- dence for the thereafter. A HOLE in a garment can be inge- niously stopped by gathering up the cir- cumference of the aperture into a sort of | a neck and then tying it with a twine string. WHEN you go hunting, the best way to economize ammunition is to put the shot in your gun first and put the pow- der on top of the load. You can keep burglars out of the smoke-house by putting strychnine on the meat and talking about it at the cross- roads, | A Goop coupling pin for the plantation wagon can be made out of a cylindrical section of a laminated beefsteak. HE Republican platform is deco- rated with the same old bloody shirt remnant that has seen service for so many years. . ; Dar! DaT Was A SLYCONE, SHUAH! I NEBBER SPOSED DEY Can 't the G. O. P. get anew garment? | STRUCK ALL IN ONE SPOT'LIKE DAT YER. comicbooks.com