Private, Vicksburg Southrons, Mississippi Militia, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

This image of a Confederate soldier was printed by the Kinney Tobacco Company, as an advertisement for Sweet Caporal cigarettes. The lithographic process allowed for mass production and vivid color, embedding the image within a broader culture of consumption and promotion. Consider the material qualities of the print itself. The thin paper stock speaks to its ephemerality, designed to be collected, traded, or simply discarded. The flat, graphic style prioritizes immediate recognition over artistic nuance, aligning with its purpose as a commercial object. The image’s crisp lines and bold colors belie the complex industrial processes – the work of designers, engravers, and machine operators – that brought it into being. While seemingly a piece of Americana, the card reflects the industrialization of image-making, and its entanglement with marketing and consumerism. By understanding the print's production, we can appreciate how such images circulated and shaped perceptions of the Civil War era.