Pay-Day in the Army of the Potomac

This illustration most likely was part of the series that Harper’s ran on life at the front. Here, the soldiers line up to receive their pay, and after sending money and letters home, they descend upon the sutler, a merchant who followed the army and sold provisions to the soldiers. Homer took care to depict the men as a heterogeneous group—old and young, white and black, officers and enlisted men.