Christmas and the Civil War

The Civil War shaped the way we celebrate the holiday season in the United States in surprising ways. One of the most surprising is the depiction of Santa Claus, as Civil War era illustrator Thomas Nast toyed with images of the jolly elf during the conflict that evolved into the Santa we know today in the United States.

Brad Stone served with the federal government as a senior public relations executive dealing with a wide variety of public health issues.  He led the public relations operations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). He currently combines his interest in the Civil War and medical history by volunteering as a docent on a regular basis at both the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, MD and aboard the USS Constellation in Baltimore Harbor.  He has given presentations on a variety of Civil War topics at a number of institutions including the Gettysburg Heritage Center and the U.S. Navy Museum at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC. He also recently appeared on C-SPAN3 American History TV talking about the Civil War’s impact on shaping the modern American Christmas holiday.

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