Down with the traitors serpent flag

An illustrated unionist sheet music cover, condemning secessionist state South Carolina, and probably issued shortly after its Charleston Convention of December 20, 1860. (See "The Palmetto State Song," no. 1861-2.) Strongly militant in tone, the illustration shows an American soldier standing on the palmetto flag of South Carolina, which lies on the ground. The flag is partially draped over a broken military drum. Two cannonballs appear on the ground around it. The soldier holds a saber, whose point seems to pierce the Southern flag, and an American flag. Four lines of the song appear above the illustration: "Down with the Traitors serpent flag! / Death to the wretch o'er whom it waves! / And let our heaven-born banner float / O'er freemen's Homes & Traitors' Graves!"
Chicago. A. Judson Higgins Publisher.
Entered . . . 1861 by A. Judson Higgins . . . Illinois.
Lith. Chas. Shober 109 Lake St. Chicago.
Title appears as it is written on the item.
Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1861-3.