A Short History of General William Tecumseh Sherman, from the Histories of Generals series of booklets (N78) for Duke brand cigarettes 1888

Editor: So, here we have "A Short History of General William Tecumseh Sherman," a lithograph print from 1888, created by W. Duke, Sons & Co. It has a strange aura to it, a serious yet almost cartoonish take on a historical figure. What kind of imagery stands out to you in this work? Curator: Instantly, I notice the strategic deployment of colour. Note the gentle pinkish tones in Sherman's face juxtaposed against the severe blue of his military jacket. It’s a softening effect, hinting perhaps at the complexities of a man known for a brutal "scorched earth" policy during the Civil War. Observe the almost haphazard application of detail—the lack of sharp lines. It echoes the tumultuous atmosphere of that time, suggesting that even the most concrete of figures can be viewed through a hazy, subjective lens. The artist subtly presents Sherman as both a commanding figure and a product of the fractured era he inhabited. Editor: That's fascinating, that it mirrors the complexities. I was mostly struck by its caricatured nature for commercial purposes. Did people interpret the piece differently then, because it came with cigarettes? Curator: Indeed. The fact that this image appeared on a cigarette card is particularly revealing. It points to a society grappling with how to memorialize a controversial figure. While valorizing generals was common, presenting it in a medium like this brings to question the cost and the weight of glorifying even imperfect protagonists of our past. Cigarette cards, in a way, democratized heroism but also trivialized it. What does it mean to hold a "history" in something so fleeting and consumable? Editor: That is insightful - the temporality, versus the attempt to capture history...It really gives a lot of perspective on that historical memory. I never considered how disposable packaging contributes or, maybe even subverts the image it portrays. Thank you. Curator: My pleasure. It is important to remember that images are not fixed entities but exist as mirrors of the culture from which they came, always carrying multiple and at times contradictory meanings.