Santa Claus — Civil War style

babela · First Sergeant Joined: 18 May 2005 Posts: 21

Santa once wore red, white ... and blue

"The Civil War Santa was a patriotic Santa," Bosch said. "After two years of war, the Confederates had inflicted heavy casualties on the Union forces, especially after the battle of Fredericksburg that December, and the north was suffering from very low morale."

A Union soldier, Bosch said, took it upon himself to refashion an old American flag into a patriotic outfit to boost the morale of his comrades. Nast, who served as a war correspondent for Harper's Weekly, saw the man and sketched him. The image first appeared in the magazine in January 1863, on both the cover and as a centerfold illustration. The intent was to memorialize the family sacrifices of the Union during those early and, for the north, darkest days of the Civil War.

Read the full article:
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/213713

View Nast's Santa Claus illustrations:
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/Original_Santa_Claus.htm