AT THE OUTBREAK of the Civil War, publishers in the North hurried to capitalize on the burst of pro-Union sentiment by creating stationery and envelopes (or covers) decorated with patriotic scenes. While many such designs (more than 20,000 are estimated to have been created during the conflict) depicted the honor and prowess of Union troops or the depravity and cowardice of Confederates, others struck a comic tone. In the one shown here, a line of distracted Union soldiers—their heads turned by a prancing woman lifting her skirts and exposing a stockinged leg—is loudly admonished by their elder officer: “FRONT FACE! EYES RIGHT! Why in th’ thunder don’t you cast your faces to the front?” Produced in several slight variations during the war, this cheeky design undoubtedly put a smile on the faces of whoever sent and whoever received the adorned missive.
