Campaign Parade Torch

PeriodCirca 1860

Place MadePossibly New Jersey, U.S.A.

MediumCut sheet tin, steel wire

Dimensions8 × 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 20.3 × 25.4 cm)

ClassificationsPolitical Memorabilia

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, 1963

Object number1998.721.2

DescriptionA prop lantern of cut and soldered tin, consisting of a short cylindrical fuel cannister topped with a narrow filler tube to accomodate the torch's wick. The cannister is swivel-mounted between to iron prongs above a cut-tin axe head. A hidden socket between the two axe head sheets contains a tin socket into which a brightly painted wooden dowel or handle was fitted. This axe is closely related to a campaign axe (see accession 1998.721.2).
NotesThis simple and relatively crudely constructed lantern, with the symbolic axe head incorporated into the design, was used around 1860 as part of the many torchlight parades held across the country for Abraham Lincoln's Presidential campaign. One of Lincoln's early jobs as a rail splitter (cutting lengths of wood for fencing) was used by his supporters to emphasize their candidate's strenght, hard work, and "frontiersman" qualities.

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