Petroleum V. Nasby

Petroleum V. Nasby is a satirical fictional persona created by American humorist and journalist David Ross Locke (1833–1888). Locke wrote in Nasby’s voice in a series of comic letters during the U.S. Civil War era, using the character to parody Copperhead (antiwar Democratic) rhetoric while promoting the Union cause. Presented as a blustering, self-interested partisan, Nasby allowed Locke to lampoon political hypocrisy, racism, and opportunism through misspellings, malapropisms, and exaggerated logic. The Nasby letters circulated widely in newspapers and were later collected in book form, helping establish Locke as a prominent American political satirist.