Beschreibung:

Hand-carved wooden cane, medium to dark in color, 36 in. ln., no ferrule. With relief carved snake coiled around two-thirds of the shaft. With the date, 1864, crudely carved just below the handle, which is in the form of a snake's head. Considering the cane's date and subject matter, it almost certainly relates to the Copperheads, a democratic political faction ferociously against the Civil War. The party believed that Lincoln should let the Confederacy secede in order to stave off any violence. Republicans started calling the anti-war Democrats Copperheads, likening them to the venomous snake; however, the Democrats accepted the label, reinterpreting the copper "head" as the likeness of Liberty. They became a major target of the Republican party in the 1864 presidential election. Some of the leading Copperheads, such as Clement Vallandigham, voiced their sentiments so loudly that they were accused of treason in a series of trials in 1864. Condition: Some scattered nicks in case. Surface wear, especially near handle and areas of high relief.