A Short History: General James Longstreet, from the Histories of Generals series (N114) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco 1888

This small chromolithograph was made by W. Duke, Sons & Co. around the turn of the century as a promotional item for their tobacco products. The portrait is of General James Longstreet, a prominent Confederate general. Here, Longstreet’s image is used to market "Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco," in a commodification of the Confederacy that obscures the brutal realities of slavery and war. The imagery romanticizes a divisive historical figure, ignoring the complex and painful legacy of the Civil War for African Americans. It also obscures Longstreet's controversial post-war cooperation with the Republican Party and his support for civil rights, a move that ostracized him from many of his former Confederate colleagues. The inclusion of Longstreet serves to normalize and celebrate a past rooted in inequality and oppression, reflecting how deeply embedded these ideologies were in the social and commercial fabric of the time. It forces us to reflect on whose histories are remembered, celebrated, and even sold, and at what cost.