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For the Harper’s Weekly issue dated August 3, 1872, the series of
“Hands Clasped over the Bloody Chasm” began in earnest with “Baltimore
1861-1872.” It depicts a supposed Baltimore anti-war rioter of April 19, 1861,
reaching across the flag-draped corpse of a member of the 6th
Massachusetts Regiment to accept a fawning clasp from Greeley. A second fallen
Union soldier lies beyond the first. (The Massachusetts contingent was en route
through Maryland to assist in the defense of Washington, D.C., when waylaid by a
mob.) At the right rear, Senators Carl Schurz and Reuben Fenton try to placate
Senator Charles Sumner, whose concern for his state’s militia is
understandable. The reference to “1872” is a reminder of Greeley’s Baltimore
nomination by the Democrats.
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