A sequel to Kimmel's grand image "The Outbreak of the Rebellion in the United States" (no. 1865-19), issued the year before. The artist depicts in symbolic terms the downfall of the Confederacy.
Columbia, crowned with stars, and Liberty, wearing a Phrygian cap and holding an American flag, stand on a pedestal in the center. On the pedestal are carved the likenesses of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. In front of the pedestal Justice, armed with sword and scales, leads a charge of Union troops toward the right. Immediately behind Justice stands President Andrew Johnson, and behind him Union generals Butler, Grant, and Sherman are visible.
A black soldier stands in the foreground and a freed slave kneels before Liberty's pedestal.
An eagle bearing thunderbolts flies overhead, also toward the right, where the vanquished Confederates are gathered. Jefferson Davis (holding a sack of money), Robert E. Lee (offering his sword in surrender), and John Wilkes Booth (with a pistol and knife) are prominent among them. In the distance are a leaning palmetto tree with a dead serpent hanging limp from it and (beyond) Fort Sumter flying an American flag.
