Private, National Lancers, Massachusetts, V.M., from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

This chromolithograph, created by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company in 1888, depicts a private from the National Lancers, Massachusetts, in full uniform. The card was one of a series of trading cards issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. The soldier is depicted from the back, in the traditional pose of a military soldier standing at attention, holding a lance and a sword. This print provides an interesting snapshot of nineteenth-century military fashion and the ways in which American businesses used advertising to promote their products.