This from the website https://mymerrychristmas.com/

The Christmas Legend of Abraham Lincoln by B. Francis Morian
https://mymerrychristmas.com/the-christm...m-lincoln/

During the turmoil of the Civil War,
"These interwoven bits of art, history, culture and military strategy show an American culture fully engaged in the celebration of Christmas
– and President Abraham Lincoln was squarely in the middle of it all."

(12-03-2022 11:17 AM)Gene C Wrote:  This from the website https://mymerrychristmas.com/

The Christmas Legend of Abraham Lincoln by B. Francis Morian
https://mymerrychristmas.com/the-christm...m-lincoln/

From the article:

"The famous vote that Lincoln took against Christmas came in his term in the state legislature in Illinois. It was a vote he took more on principle than in opposition to Christmas. As a public servant, Lincoln felt state workers did not need another paid day off that regular folks themselves would not receive."

"[President Lincoln] commissioned artist Thomas Nast to draw a picture of Santa Claus visiting Union Troops in the January 3, 1863 edition of the widely read Harper’s Weekly. . . . Lincoln instructed Nast to show Santa with Union troops as much as possible and the enduring images from 1863 and 1864 publications are largely credited with defining the image of the modern Santa Claus. Their affect was so profound that Lincoln one time claimed Santa was 'the best recruiting sergeant the North ever had.'"

Thomas Nast's "'Santa Claus In Camp"

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundati...-claus.htm