A Short History of General Robert E. Lee, one-sheet of cover and verso from the Histories of Generals series of booklets (N78) for Duke brand cigarettes 1888

Curator: This small print, dating back to 1888, is titled "A Short History of General Robert E. Lee." It’s a one-sheet piece pulled from the "Histories of Generals" series of booklets, distributed with Duke brand cigarettes. Editor: Right away, it’s unsettling. The sugary palette feels so disconnected from the subject matter. The soft pinks and blues create this bizarrely romantic sheen over what I assume are scenes from the Civil War, framing a guy who fought to preserve slavery. It feels like trying to mask something truly ugly with cheap sweetness. Curator: Precisely. These were mass-produced commercial items, essentially trading cards, intended to cultivate a particular narrative of the Confederacy in the post-Reconstruction South. We have to understand it as part of a larger effort to rewrite history and normalize white supremacist ideology. Note how Lee is presented: framed by a laurel wreath, his portrait almost Christ-like in its veneration. Editor: Yeah, there's something nauseatingly… packaged about him. And the rebel flag jammed up there feels like another piece of the puzzle, alongside the kind of generic field and cannon; together, they hint at valor and fallen heroes… Curator: While neatly sidestepping the human cost and moral bankruptcy of the Confederacy. Look closer, though; those bodies strewn across the idyllic field are almost carelessly rendered, just smears of color. This card trivializes Black suffering while elevating a figure whose legacy is inextricably linked to it. Editor: It makes me wonder who they were trying to reach. Because… was there ever actually a moment where people really sat down and learned their Civil War history thanks to a colorful portrait tucked in with their tobacco? It’s such a strange thought. Almost makes me imagine an alternate world where cigarette companies funded entire revisionist history departments. Curator: Well, in a way, they did. These cards were immensely popular and helped to shape popular opinion. The rosy aesthetic is not accidental. It reinforces the "Lost Cause" mythology that romanticized the antebellum South and downplayed the horrors of slavery, normalizing it for future generations. We can see the consequences of that rewriting even today. Editor: Thinking about its effect now... it almost hits differently now. There's a tension, and, honestly, almost like this low-key mocking feeling from something this age trying so earnestly hard to be timeless and failing. I almost pity it… just a little bit… almost. Curator: "Pity" might be a strong word! I think, to come back to the main point: seeing it and talking about it forces us to grapple with uncomfortable truths about our history and how these types of insidious representations still permeate our culture. Editor: Definitely. I won’t ever see a pack of cigarettes or a piece of cutesy old paper in quite the same way. Now I’m going to look even deeper. Thanks for that.