Existing comment:
"Our Best Recruiting Sergeant":
Harper's Weekly, known as "America's picture paper," found itself in a challenging position. The publishers strived to inform their readers about the battles fought during the Civil War, but for the most part lacked the technology. Photography was in its infancy, and the bulky equipment and heavy photographic plates used to produce pictures were too cumbersome to carry across the battlefields. This created demand for illustrators, and Thomas Nast was their best man for the job. Nast understood war, having already followed the Garibaldi campaign during the Italian War in 1860. Nast regularly visited battlefields, but also often worked from sketches other artists had sent in.
His drawings frequently appeared as centerfolds in Harper's Weekly and presented not only a detailed view of the war effort, but also included illustrated sidebars to tell complex stories. He was a truth-seeker with a keen eye for detail, and he was a passionate supporter of the Union.
His unwavering political support for Lincoln's cause is especially embodied in his emotional drawing "Compromise with the South," where he criticized the proposal of the Democratic Convention of 1864. Nast shows what such a compromise would entail -- making peace with the South would negate all the death and sacrifice of the brave soldiers.
Nast's illustrations of the Civil War attracted a high level of attention and won support for the Union, so much so, in fact, that President Lincoln called Nast "Our best recruiting sergeant." |