Billy Yank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Billy Yank is the personification of the Northern states of the United States. Political Cartoonists used his drawing and that of Johnny Reb to symbolize the combatants in the American Civil War of the 1860s.
Billy Yank is usually pictured wearing a wool uniform that included the fatigue blouse, a light-weight wool coat with an inside pocket and four brass buttons on the front, with a forage cap made of wool broadcloth with a rounded, flat top, cotton lining, and leather visor. This is indicative of the fact that the Union uniform was standardized by U.S. War Department.
[edit] Comics
Billy Yank in publications owned by DC Comics is tied to that of Uncle Sam in that company's comics. In this version, the "Spirit of America" (who is currently embodied as Uncle Sam) had taken human form as the Minuteman, Brother Jonathan and, during the American Civil War, had been split in two as Johnny Reb and Billy Yank.
