Although farewell rituals were enacted in numerous homes during the Civil War, artists rarely depicted them. In Lambdin’s portrayal, a woman kisses her husband’s sword as an oath of honor, declaring her loyalty to him and her commitment to the nation’s good. Painted during the fourth year of the war, when both sides were exhausted, the picture evokes the patriotic zeal and idealism that had marked the war’s early days and perhaps commemorates the many soldiers who would not return to their loved ones. Lambdin may also have intended to refer to the ultimate reconciliation of the North and the South, which was commonly equated with a marriage in which the North was the husband and the South the wife. Lambdin’s woman, dressed in gray in contrast to her husband’s dark blue Union uniform, may thus imply the expected allegiance of the South to the reunited nation.
1861/Indianapolis Museum of Art