Vanity Fair, Vol. 6, No. 145

Wood engraving cover from the American comic weekly Vanity Fair, depicting George Law, a railroad magnate and Union financier, as the central figure at a war meeting. Law gestures expansively while holding documents, flanked by marching figures in the ornamental letterpress above. The satirical design lampoons the intersection of Northern commerce and Civil War policy-making. Vanity Fair (1859–1863), a New York publication of political caricature and comic verse, used sharp line-block illustration to mock the Union leadership, military figures, and financial interests shaping the war effort. This issue reflects the paper's focus on lampooning the personalities and manners of the Northern establishment during the secession crisis.