A goose wears a Union jacket, carries a rucksack, holds a gun, and smokes a small pipe., Text: Pray tell me if you can, whatever was the use / Of your going for a soldier? Eh, you silly, green old goose; / You should have staid at home with your friends, my pretty creature / Instead of going 'mongst your foes, who'll kill and maybe eat yer. / With war's chances all against you, there's no telling how you'll die, / Things won't look so lovely, if, dear goose, you should hang high., "519", Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A man on ice skates has long mutton chops and holds a walking stick, suggesting that he is a dandy. The valentine encourages enlistment in the Union army and mocks the recipient's unmanly interest in dress and ice skating., Text: Faint-hearted youth! you talk of skating, / And call the sport quite animating; / You say there's nothing half so bracing; / There's naught the manly form so gracing, / As through the icy maze to twine. / But hark! your country's voice is calling, / Treason all her hopes is thralling; / 'Tis manlier games men now delight in, / For God and Liberty they're fighting; / From these I'll seek my Valentine., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A Union soldier holds a bouquet of red roses and a sword. In addition to his uniform, he wears a monocle and cap, suggesting that he is a dandy. The sender mocks the recipient's inflated sense of his attractiveness., Text: Swaggering like some great high-grandee, / How d'ye do, my Soldier Dandy; / The girls, you think, no doubt get sweet / On you as you strut through the street. / But they're more apt to think you scamp, / When you're found roaming from your camp., "515", Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A soldier lies asleep with his arm around a barrel of lager and a rifle, or "yager," resting on him. The "picket guard" means guard duty for the regiment, and the sender criticizes the recipient for neglecting his military duty., Text: Asleep on your post! Mister Sentry, O fie! / What, ho! sir, wake up! rise and shoulder your yager, / Before thus laid low I supposed you got high / On repeated libations of brain-muddling lager. / Be stirring, be stirring, the guard on their round / Will soon -- as in duty bound -- visit the spot, sir, / And should you asleep by your comrades be found, / They'd report you, and then-- why, of course, you'd be shot, sir!, Cf. Valentine 8.25., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The valentine shows three men in uniform carrying guns.The first and last men are the same height, but the middle figure is twice their heights and much thinner., Text: Gaunt and slim and bony baby, / You will be promoted -- maybe; / Than your comrades two foot higher, / For what more can you aspire?, Variant of Valentine 5.9., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A drunken Union soldier holds onto a pole and stands in front of a restaurant., Text: My friend, your picture here you see, / A patriotic warlike Soldier, yes, sir'ee! / You love your country, and are its sworn defender, / But love your cocktails, and glory in a bender. / With an army as you to fight, to slaughter, / Jeff. Davis need not fear on land or water., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman holds a knife and a book marked "Tragedy." Her gown is trimmed with ermine and torn. The border shows cupids and hearts; one cupid shoots a heart out of a thimble cannon labeled "Love"; another cupid travels with a heart in a hot-air balloon; and another cupid hammers at a cracked heart below a heart on a fishhook labeled "Caught." Charlotte Cushman was a prominent actress in the nineteeth century., Text: Who are you, rampaging stranger / Who upon our sense burst? / Lady Macbeth courting danger / Mid the "murrderrerrs accurrst?" / Cleopatra? Charlotte Cushman? / Or old Hamlet's awful queen? / Or some wild outlandish bushman / Half-way girl and boy between? / Decked as you as with ermine skin and bloody/ dagger, / A pretty waiter-girl you'd make to serve out / Lager., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A Union Zouave soldier holds his rifle on his shoulder. Chicken heads peak out from his pants, suggesting that "hens" means "women" in the text., Text: My Zouave is a pretty bird, / He wears a bushy tail; / He never missed secessia's hens, / When one upon their trail. / But now he's gone to / A long way from the snore [i.e., shore], / Where he can never hook the hens, / He gaily hooked before., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The colonel wears a green jacket and red pants, and his uniform is neither Union nor Confederate. He wears a disproportionally long sword in a scabbard and stands in front of a writing desk. He has long sideburns and a thick moustache., Text: When perched on your charger on dress parade / You look as brave soldier as ever was made / If you look but as brave when bullets fly / You Country will love you and so will I., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The valentine depicts a woman sewing a pair of breeches with a pile of completed breeches next to her. The border features a woman embracing a man; the pair resemble Commedia dell'arte characters. At the bottom is a pack of matches marked "Lucifer's matches.", Text: Hard is thy lot, my honey dear / On soldier's pantaloons aye working, / And yet this thought is so funny, dear, / Within my wicked mind is lurking / Far fitter you than cannon balls / Breaches to make in fortress walls., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A Union soldier holds a rifle with a bayonet while embracing an African-American woman. His actions cause the woman to spill the liquid in the bottle she carries on a platter. Her dress is turned up to reveal her crinoline and legs. Behind them, an African American man holds his fist up., Text: You nasty, Black Republican, / To hug the sooty African, / How sweet to you her stench must seem, / When the day Star reigns reigns surpreme; -- / That she's your equal in your creed, / To Niggerdom then quickly speed, / For such a filthy kin to swine / Shall never be my Valentine., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
