Recent Purchase - Another 1864 George McClellan Presidential Campaign Token.

BillJones

I have come to admire the political tokens that were made by Frederick B. Smith. Every one of Smith's presidential campaign pieces that he made during the 1850s and '60s seem to capture the major issues of the day either in words or symbols. This piece falls into the symbol category.

Smith got a biographical write-up in the Patriotic Civil War token book. The CWT author dismisses his work as "rather indifferent" perhaps because he did not view Civil War tokens as something that was "worthy of his best efforts." Smith continued making token dies for many years until he was well into his seventies.

This piece was issued for George McClellan's 1864 presidential campaign against Abraham Lincoln. McClellan started the campaign with quite a handicap because many in his party favored ending the Civil War without a victory, and some of them were openly supportive of the Southern cause. Those northerners who were sympathetic to the Confederacy were called "copperheads" because they worn a cut down liberty head from a large cent on a stick pin that they stuck into their lapels. The name also compared them to the poisonous snake.

Lincoln speculated that the Democratic Party would either nominate a peace candidate with hawkish statements in the party platform or a pro war candidate with a peace plank in the platform. As it turned out the Democrats picked McClellan who supported the war effort and stuck a peace plank in their platform. It labeled the war "a failure and called upon the new president to make peace with the South as soon as he took office.

In those days the party platform met a lot more than it does today. Back in the days before radio and television, the strongest way for a candidate to convey his message was through the party platform. If it didn't agree with his views, he was stuck with it. Quite often today the delegates will fight over what is in the platform, but then the candidate can choose to ignore it.

McClellan's pro-war, anti-copper position is shown here with an eagle perched on a Union shield attacking a copperhead snake. The image cannot be more emphatic in support of McClellan's true position.

This piece is quite scarce, and this piece is far nicer than the other two examples of this variety that I have seen offered for sale. The DeWitt - Sullivan number is GMcC 1864-6.

Broadstruck

That's a great looking McClellan... That token would look great in my collection too I'm quite envious

coinkat

Congrats... very attractive for the type

TopographicOceans

I've never seen that one before. And that's an excellent example.

General George was my great, great, great, great uncle so I've added some tokens and medals with his likeness to my collection.

This one is my favorite.

coinsarefun

Bill, That is a fantastic example you have and I adore the reverse .......beautiful design!

cwt

My favorite McClellan token (from one of Steve Hayden's sales)

Zoins

That is a beautiful piece Bill. Congrats on the pick up and thanks for the detailed write up! I just found out Frederick B. Smith was based in New York but haven't found much more information on him. How much do we know about him?

Nice tokens TopographicOceans and cwt. Who made those?

ricko

Beautiful medal Bill...thanks for showing and the write-up....Cheers, RickO

garrynot

Very impressive. Impeccable condition.