The Disbanded Soldier

A disabled veteran, still wearing his tattered soldiers’ uniform, holds his head in despair while riding on a donkey led by his pregnant wife. He has two wooden legs—the donkey is his mobility aid—and holds a crutch underneath his arm. The soldier carries a sleeping infant in a bucket, and his wife wears a child on her back. He holds a paper that reads “De’el tak the War,” the title of a folk song. This engraving, made by James Caldwell after artwork by John Collet, is entitled “The Disbanded Soldier.” It was meant to demonstrate the desperate state of wounded British soldiers who, in the artist’s view, deserved better opportunities after serving their country.