Milton Bradley – The Myriopticon: A Historical Panorama of the Rebellion (Toy Theater Panorama), 1866 – Complete with Scroll and Box (Movable Toy)

Milton Bradley & Co.

The Myriopticon: A Historical Panorama of the Rebellion (Toy Theater Panorama)

Springfield, Mass.: Milton Bradley & Co., 1866. Original toy theater panorama housed in its publisher’s pictorial cardboard box, titled: THE MYRIOPTICON, A HISTORICAL PANORAMA OF THE REBELLION. PUBLISHED BY MILTON BRADLEY & CO., SPRINGFIELD, MASS. Hand-colored lithographed images on a continuous paper roll operated by two wooden spindles.

The toy comprises a cardboard proscenium-shaped box (approx. 8½ × 5½ × 2¼ inches; 13 × 20 × 5 cm) with a cut-out viewing window. When operated by hand, the interior scroll displays a sequence of twenty-two hand-colored lithographic scenes depicting key events of the American Civil War. The scroll measures approximately 15 feet in length and is turned manually by the attached wooden dowels. The complete set includes the frequently missing top lid.

Condition: Box structurally sound, with one split at a bottom corner (see photograph). Label on box cover shows a torn loss to one section (see photographs). Scroll itself is complete and in excellent condition, with vibrant coloring and no tears noted.

The following are concise summaries of the twenty-two illustrated scenes:

1. Major Anderson Enters Fort Sumter
   Depicts Major Robert Anderson and his 80 men secretly moving into Fort Sumter on the night of December 26, 1860, after evacuating Fort Moultrie. This marks the start of rising tensions in Charleston Harbor.

2. Bombardment of Fort Sumter
   Shows the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter from Morris Island, a pivotal moment that triggered the outbreak of the Civil War.

3. Murder of Colonel Ellsworth
   Portrays Col. Ellsworth being shot by hotel keeper Jackson in Alexandria, Virginia, after removing a Confederate flag—one of the first Union officer deaths.

4. First Battle of Bull Run
   A chaotic scene from the July 21, 1861 battle, showing Union forces retreating in disorder—many even fled all the way back to Washington, D.C.

5. Soldiers and Pigs
   A humorous interlude showing soldiers chasing pigs—illustrating a lighter side of camp life amidst the grimness of war.

6. Signal Station in Tree
   Depicts a signal corpsman operating from a high tree platform, using flags to communicate between army units—a secret visual code system.

7. Campfire Surprise
   A nighttime military camp with sleepy guards, allowing the viewer to “sneak up” on unaware soldiers warming themselves by the fire.

8. Naval Duel: Monitor vs. Merrimac
   Captures the famous 1862 ironclad battle in Hampton Roads, a revolutionary naval encounter between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (Merrimac).

9. The Contrabands (Escaping Slaves)
   Depicts African American families posed beside a covered wagon making their way toward Union lines—symbolizing seekers of freedom, often referred to at the time as “Contrabands.”

10. Field Hospital Scene
    Portrays injured soldiers receiving medical attention, highlighting the grim aftermath of battle and the rudimentary conditions of Civil War medicine.

11. Sharpshooter in a Tree
    This scene depicts a Union sniper perched high in a tree, aiming his rifle from a camouflaged platform. The composition is directly based on Winslow Homer’s iconic wood engraving titled The Army of the Potomac—A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, published in Harper’s Weekly on November 15, 1862.

12. Burning Southern City
    Possibly Richmond, this dramatic scene shows a major city in flames—symbolizing the destruction wrought by advancing Union armies.

13. Battlefield Charge
    A vivid cavalry attack mid-battle, with sabers drawn and horses in motion—emphasizing the chaos and bravery of Civil War charges.

14. River Steamboats
    Depicts steamboats traveling the Mississippi River, showing the importance of river control in the Union’s war strategy.

15. Sinking of the Columbia
    A dramatic image of the Union transport steamer “Columbia” being sunk by a Confederate ironclad.

16. Military Bridge Building
    Shows Union engineers constructing a temporary bridge under fire—a critical task to allow troop movements across rivers.

17. Artillery Firing
    A battery of Union cannons blasting toward enemy lines, with smoke and fury capturing the intensity of battle.

18. Battle in the Forest
    Dense woods obscure lines of sight as Union and Confederate forces clash in a thick forest setting.

19. Scouting Party in Action
    Depicts a small reconnaissance unit cautiously navigating hostile territory, with weapons ready and eyes alert.

20. Battlefield Aftermath
    Fallen soldiers lie across the field, showing the grim cost of war and the heavy casualties suffered on both sides.

21. Troop Review and Flag Salute
    A formal military parade or flag presentation, with troops saluting the Union banner in formation.

22. Victory Celebration / Return Home
    The final scene likely portrays Union soldiers returning victorious, greeted by waving civilians or enjoying a moment of rest.

Collector's Corner:
(Historical interest only — item available for sale described above)

The Myriopticon was the first in a series of five toy moving panorama sets created by Milton Bradley. Marketed as both entertainment and education, the Myriopticon was introduced “just in time for Christmas” in 1866, only a year after the Civil War ended. It offered American families a miniature parlor-room theater experience that recreated the nation’s most recent and traumatic conflict through hand-colored, scrolling images.

The complete original set, as preserved in the Yale University collection, included theatrical accessories designed to elevate the toy into a full-fledged performance event. These accessories comprised a decorative hand crank (now often missing), a vibrantly illustrated broadside promoting the “Grand Artistic and Historical Exhibition! The Myriopticon…,” a seven-page lecture booklet titled Myriopticon Lecture (with instructions for the “proprietor”), and a sheet of perforated “admission tickets.” These materials collectively framed the toy as a miniature theatrical event, designed to be performed at home with all the pomp and ritual of a real playhouse.

The American Antiquarian Society’s digital archive preserves the full scroll in high resolution: gigi.mwa.org/imagearchive/filename/505204. This resource provides high-resolution images of each of the 22 original hand-colored scenes from Milton Bradley’s 1866 panorama. You can also read the accompanying pamphlet, Myriopticon Lecture, which concludes with a section titled “Directions to the Proprietor,” offering instructions for presenting the toy. The archive also displays the original hand crank, admission tickets (shown on page 1), and the vibrant broadside advertising the “Grand Artistic and Historical Exhibition.” All of these items are preserved within the American Antiquarian Society’s historic games collection.

The poster's elaborate typography, woodcut border, and image of a young showman turning the crank emphasize the interactive and performative nature of the toy. The poster announces that the panorama was painted from sketches by “celebrated artists,” covering “nearly 1000 square inches of surface.” The scenes feature “a great number of the most interesting and important events of the war—naval engagements, battlefields, wounded soldiers,” beginning with Major Anderson entering Fort Sumter and culminating in the “splendid burning of Richmond.” Performances were to be narrated by the fictional Brig. Gen. B. R. Stadt from the Rocky Mountain Rangers and held at "Studio Hall." In keeping with the toy's humor, the broadside satirically adds that “Gentlemen with bricks in their hats will please deposit them at the Ticket Office for safe keeping,” and famously promises that “the audience will be supplied with peanuts while the Panorama is moving, free of charge.” Children, regardless of age, are ironically charged double price, while “Old Women” are to occupy the Family Boxes. The show is “rendered doubly interesting by the accompanying scriptive Lecture by Brig. Gen. B.R. Stadt (from the Rocky Mountain Rangers),” an entirely fictional character typical of 19th-century toy marketing.

Milton Bradley (1836–1911) is a legend in the toy business. He emerged as one of early America’s leading game manufacturers. After establishing a successful lithography business in Springfield, Massachusetts, he entered the toy industry with The Checkered Game of Life in 1860. In 1866 Milton Bradley developed its first moving panorama toy, The Myriopticon: A Historical Panorama of the Rebellion. According to Home Front: Daily Life in the Civil War North, a young viewer wrote to Bradley that neighbors regularly visited to watch multiple performances of The Myriopticon, hoping he would produce more so their parlor would be less crowded. The child’s veteran brother reportedly said “it is just as your game represents it to be,” underscoring how vividly the panorama replicated battlefield scenes.

Milton Bradley’s Myriopticon was more than just a toy; it was a reflection of the growing belief that play could serve as a moral and educational tool in post-war American households. As James J. Shea notes in It’s All in the Game, Bradley was heavily influenced by the values of the kindergarten movement, which emphasized imaginative play as a means of character development. The Myriopticon was an ideal medium to merge this educational philosophy with emerging patriotic sentiment, allowing children to absorb national history through family storytelling. Shea also points out that Bradley was inspired by the mechanical image toys of Europe, particularly those of German origin, and adapted them into something uniquely American—imbued with civic pride and democratic ideals.

In Toys in America, Inez McClintock further underscores the Myriopticon’s cultural impact, observing that it helped elevate the reputation of toys as legitimate tools for instruction. Rather than licensing his creations, Bradley chose to maintain complete control over their production and distribution, ensuring that the didactic quality of his toys remained intact. McClintock identifies the Myriopticon as an early example of a “serious” toy—one that straddled the line between amusement and education, at a time when American parents were becoming increasingly interested in shaping children’s values through their leisure time. The toy’s blend of visual spectacle, scripted performance, and Civil War narrative created a parlor-room theater that brought history home in a literal sense.

Bradley's passions came together in The Myriopticon as well as his next panorama, the Historiscope. Both are beautifully illustrated toys meant to be fun and educational tools for young children. Note: Unlike the Myriopticon, which created the theater of the Great Rebellion, the Historiscope presents the theater of American history. These toys were pre-cinema devices marketed to children along the lines of the thaumatrope, the phenakistoscope, and the magic lantern. Old advertisements for The Myriopticon included phrases like “Just in Time For Christmas,” and described it as “moral, entertaining, wonderful, and instructive,” and “immensely popular with boys,” especially those ages 7 to 12. The original price was $1.25.

A light could be placed behind the panorama for a more immersive viewing experience. The original instructions recommended that the “exhibition” take place in a dark room, with parlor curtains drawn around the box and a candle lit behind it to give the ambiance of a real theater. The broadside “respectfully” asked that the audience remain seated till the first scene rolled by. It also stated: “It is much better to have the lecture committed to memory than to read it, as then the facts are impressed upon the memory, and any other remarks can be mixed in, or the description varied to any extent, as long as the facts and dates are retained.”

The Myriopticon was created just two years after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. The designer was 30-year-old Milton Bradley, a draftsman, print-maker, and designer living in Springfield, Massachusetts. He had entered the game industry just prior to the Civil War. It was first advertised as "just in time for Christmas" in 1866, when Bradley ran an advertisement in Colman’s Rural World, a St. Louis-based publication for farmers.

The Milton Bradley company history says that Bradley illustrated the images himself, basing them on iconic illustrations from magazines such as Harper's Weekly and books of the time. He also wrote the script. The toy is designed from a Union point of view as is evidenced by the use of the term "Rebellion."

The first scene in the miniature story has Major Robert Anderson and his troops entering Fort Sumter on Dec. 26, 1860, as they prepare to defend it against the Confederates. The images scroll on to battle and camp scenes. You see rebel prisoners, explosions, guns. There is the duel of the Monitor and Merrimack, steamboats on the Mississippi, “colored troops” entering Charleston, S.C., and more. The whole production finally ends with the evacuation and burning of Richmond.