Christmas in the American Civil War the Union blockade, and one little girl, Sallie Brock Putnam, plotted the course Santa Claus would have to take to avoid it. Sometimes fathers on both sides were allowed furlough, and children were said to react to their fathers as if seeing "near strangers". Excuses for a lack of Santa included Yankees having shot him. Thomas Nast, who used his editorial cartoons to issue Union propaganda, made several illustrations reflecting the war. The one for Christmas Eve 1862, which ran in the January 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly shows a wife on one side praying though a window in one
Allen Bert Christman Allen Bert Christman Allen Bert Christman (May 31, 1915 – January 23, 1942), known professionally as Bert Christman, was an American cartoonist and naval aviator. He is best known as artist of the newspaper comic strip "Scorchy Smith", about a pilot-adventurer in the inter-war years. He was also credited with co-creating the original, Wesley Dodds version of the DC Comics character the Sandman. Artist Bert Christman and writer Gardner Fox are generally credited as co-creating the original, Wesley Dodd version of the DC Comics character the Sandman. While the character's first appearance is usually given as "Adventure Comics" #40 (cover-dated