Catalogue Entry
In addition to his scenes of everyday life and portraits of people, Johnson created images of historical events and figures from works of literature, drama, and music. For example, “Carry Me, and I’ll Drum You Through” was inspired by an incident from the Battle of Antietam, 1862, and Membership Vote at the Union League Club, May 11, 1876, recorded a contentious meeting in which he participated much later. His Marguerite, Cosette, and Minnehaha are personifications of fictional heroines from novels and poetry. His Boy Lincoln represents both the future United States president and the archetypical American youth who, with determination and hard work, could succeed. Johnson rendered several of these imaginative images as both paintings and drawings. These literary and historical works evince both his personal interest in those subjects and his awareness of their popularity with the broad public. —AM
MacGibeny, 2021: Patricia Hills has speculated that the specific date of May 11, 1876 inscribed by Johnson suggests this scene may represent a vote or other proceeding taking place at one of the clubs of which he was a member. On that evening the Union League Club of New York, of which Johnson had been a member since 1868, held a special meeting that included a highly contested vote. As reported by the New York Times the next day:
“Among the names proposed for membership was Secretary Bristow [Benjamin Helm Bristow, secretary of the Treasury]. There were 118 votes cast for Mr. Bristow, and twelve black balls. Immediately after the result was made known, the wildest commotion ensued. Every man jumped to his feet and exclaimed against the vote, at the same time protesting that he had had no hand in the plot to defeat the election of the Secretary of the Treasury…”
This scene painted by Johnson may depict the calm before the storm, with the empty bowl for collecting the men's votes placed on the floor near the feet of the two central figures. Although this is a finished painting, Johnson leaves the men's faces sketchy and unidentifiable, consistent with the private nature of the Club and the spirit of an anonymous vote.
Club member Colonel [Le Grand B.] Cannon (later portrayed by Johnson), told the Times reporter that the vote was partisan. Bristow was a popular but controversial figure, a Republican reformer under President Ulysses S. Grant who had presidential aspirations himself and would resign his post to run unsuccessfully for the office later that year. He eventually was elected a member of the Union League Club in 1882.