1864 Lincoln Campaign Rally Quarter-Plate Tintype
Believed taken at Plattsburgh, New York, October 5, 1864
Overall: 3¾ x 4⅝ inches; plate: 3¼ x 4¼ inches
 
An exceptional quarter-plate tintype depicting a Lincoln campaign rally during the presidential election of 1864, believed to have been taken at Plattsburgh, New York, on October 5. The composition captures a large group assembled upon a horse-drawn wagon adorned with patriotic bunting and an American flag. Prominently displayed are satirical campaign placards reading "Grant's Pills," illustrated by a stack of cannonballs, and "Our Compromise," represented by a discharging cannon—pointed visual references to the military successes and political issues that shaped Lincoln's successful reelection campaign. As with all tintypes, the image is laterally reversed, accounting for the reversed lettering.
 
Photographic documentation of organized political campaigning during the Civil War is exceptionally scarce. We are unaware of another surviving photograph depicting a public political rally from the 1864 presidential campaign, making this an important visual record of nineteenth-century American political life.
 
Condition: Very good, with several tiny raised white specks and a few minor surface scratches consistent with age.