Collage of historical images and cartoons of the American Civil War

Visual Culture of the American Civil WarA Special Feature of Picturing US History

The Soldier's Grave.

Currier & Ives, the most successful publisher of mass market lithographs from 1834 to 1907, produced a number of memorial prints similar to this one. During the Civil War, soldiers were often buried on the battlefield, thus denying their survivors the burial ritual. These prints often served as surrogate grave sites for families who lost loved ones in battle. Shrouded by the Victorian symbol of grief, a Weeping Willow tree, the image's central gravestone reads: “In memory of” with space for the name, place of death, and date, followed by the dead man's identification as “A brave and gallant soldier, and a true patriot." "His toils are past, his work is done," follows a short poem, "And he is fully blest; / He fought the fight, the victory won, / And enters into rest.”Currier & Ives, the most successful publisher of mass market lithographs from 1834 to 1907, produced a number of memorial prints similar to this one. During the Civil War, soldiers were often buried on the battlefield, thus denying their survivors the burial ritual. These prints often served as surrogate grave sites for families who lost loved ones in battle. Shrouded by the Victorian symbol of grief, a Weeping Willow tree, the image's central gravestone reads: “In memory of” with space for the name, place of death, and date, followed by the dead man's identification as “A brave and gallant soldier, and a true patriot." "His toils are past, his work is done," follows a short poem, "And he is fully blest; / He fought the fight, the victory won, / And enters into rest.”

URL: http://gigi.mwa.org/netpub/server.np?find&catalog=catalog&template=detail.np&field=itemid&op=matches&value=22639&site=public

Source: American Antiquarian Society

Publisher: New York: Currier & Ives

Date: c. 1862