Twenty years after the American Civil War, the memory of walking with death is still fresh for this former soldier. Barely visible, the Medal of Honor decorates George Reynolds’s lapel as a reminder of his former service in the Union army. Reynolds’s physical scars from battle are evident on his forehead; less obvious are the psychological and emotional consequences of that wartime experience. By titling this haunting portrait The Veteran, the artist invested the distinctly individual image with a more universal meaning. Reynolds was a living monument to the war; his furrowed brow and distant, thoughtful gaze combine with his clasped hands to suggest lingering anxiety about the fate of the reunified country.