The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris

  255 “crazy about wrestling”: Ibid., 84.

  255 “Five minutes after we reached”: Ibid., 88.

  255 “Nobody got his money’s worth”: Ibid.

  256 “singing and whistling”: Ibid., 61.

  256 Conceive an idea: Saint-Gaudens, The Reminiscences of Augustus SaintGaudens, Vol. II, 19.

  256 You can do anything you please: Ibid., Vol. I, 166–67.

  256 “There was a real Egyptian sky”: McCullough, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870–1914, 54.

  257 “keeping up with the Joneses”: Singley, ed., Edith Wharton: The House of Mirth: A Casebook, 4.

  257 “deepest scorn”: Saint-Gaudens, The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Vol. I, 79.

  257 “Then,” remembered Alfred Garnier: Ibid., 93.

  257 The audience poured out: Ibid.; Wilkinson, Uncommon Clay: The Life and Works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 37.

  258 “No language can measure”: Elihu Washburne to U. S. Grant, July 20 and 27, 1870, Grant, The Papers of U. S. Grant, ed. John Y. Simon, Vol. XX, 255.

  259 “as fine as I ever saw”: Sheridan, The Personal Memoirs of Philip Henry Sheridan, General, United States, Vol. II, 450.

  259 “No person not in Paris”: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, Vol. I, 65.

  259 “covered it all over”: Ibid., 58.

  259 On September 2 came the ultimate: Horne, The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune, 1870–1871, 324; Elihu Washburne Diary, September 3, 1870, Library of Congress.

  259 More than 104,000 of the emperor’s troops: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 52.

  260 “Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and his dynasty”: Marzials, Life of Léon Gambetta, 67.

  260 “I am rejoiced beyond expression”: Elihu Washburne to his brother William, September 7, 1870, Library of Congress.

  260 “So perishes a harlequin”: Jacobi, Life and Letters of Mary Putnam Jacobi, 258.

  260 France, or at least Paris: Ibid.

  260 “I yield to force”: Carson, The Dentist and the Empress, 117.

  261 She hurried down the long Grande Galerie: Ibid., 118.

  261 “smiles everywhere, people dressed”: Higonnet, Paris: Capital of the World, 289.

  261 The house he and his wife, Agnes: Carson, The Dentist and the Empress, 73.

  262 He wasted no time: Ibid., 107.

  262 On a flat stretch of open land: Ibid., 108.

  262 “We were thoroughly impressed”: Evans, Memoirs of Dr. Thomas W. Evans, 305.

  263 At five o’clock he knocked: Carson, The Dentist and the Empress, 122.

  263 Evans appealed to an English yachtsman: Ibid., 127.

  263 “I am heart and soul”: Augustus Saint-Gaudens to Mrs. Whittlesey, September 17, 1870, Dartmouth College Special Collections, Hanover, N.H.

  263 “in utter confusion and dust”: Saint-Gaudens, The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Vol. I, 101.

  263 “They seemed to me like so many”: Augustus Saint-Gaudens to Mrs. Whittlesey, September 17, 1870, Dartmouth College Special Collections, Hanover, N.H.

  264 “in terrible grief”: Wilkinson, Uncommon Clay, 40.

  264 “Je suis persuadé”: Saint-Gaudens, The Reminiscences of Augustus SaintGaudens, Vol. I, 94.

  264 “But they are getting old”: Ibid., 99.

  9. Under Siege

  Elihu Washburne’s extraordinary Paris diary has until now been overlooked beyond the Washburne family for the reason that its daily entries were written on separate sheets of paper from which letterpress copies were made; and these were later mixed in among his regular correspondence in the bound volumes deposited in 1946 at the Library of Congress.

  It was the discovery of these entries during work on this book, as well as locating the original handwritten entries, bound separately as a diary, among the Washburne family collection at Livermore, Maine, that have made possible the account given in Chapters 9 and 10.

  It is only in the nearly 200 diary entries (68 pages in typescript) that the full drama and detail of what Washburne experienced on the scene are to be found.

  In addition, his own two-volume Recollections of a Minister to France (1887) remains a major source.

  Of great value also are the contemporary accounts by three other Americans in Wickham Hoffman’s Camp, Court, and Siege: A Narrative of Personal Adventure and Observation During Two Wars (1877); Shut Up in Paris (1871) by Nathan Sheppard; and the experiences of the Moulton family in Lillie de Hegermann-Lindencrone’s In the Courts of Memory, 1858–1875 (1912).

  Excellent historical studies are provided in The Siege of Paris, 1870–1871: A Political and Social History (1971) by Melvin Kranzberg; and From Appomattox to Montmartre by Philip Katz (1998).

  PAGE

  267 I shall deem it my duty: Elihu Washburne to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, July 19, 1870, Washburne, Franco-German War and the Insurrection of the Commune, Correspondence of E. B. Washburne, 1.

  267 There are no carriages: Elihu Washburne Diary, September 19, 1870, Library of Congress.

  267 “Has the world ever witnessed”: Ibid.

  268 The Tuileries Garden: Kranzberg, The Siege of Paris, 1870–1871: A Political and Social History, 24.

  268 “And it seems odd”: Elihu Washburne Diary, September 19, 1870, Library of Congress.

  268 “It is in Paris”: Kranzberg, The Siege of Paris, 1870–1871, 9–10.

  268 “Paris, pushed to extremities”: Ibid.

  268 A French tutor: Frank Moore to Mr. Ostermann, September 27, 1869, Papers of Frank Moore, NewYork Historical Society.

  269 Daughter Marie would remember: Fowler, Reminiscences: My Mother and I, 28.

  269 “most agreeable”: Elihu Washburne to Mr. Plummer, March 5, 1870, Library of Congress.

  269 “Her tact, her grace”: Elihu Washburne to Edward Hempstead, July 14, 1870, Library of Congress.

  269 At the start of summer: Elihu Washburne to C. C. Washburne, June 23, 1870, Library of Congress.

  269 “picked up their hats”: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. I, 127.

  269 All the rest “ran away”: Elihu Washburne Diary, September 23, 1870, Library of Congress.

  269 “I thought it would be, on all accounts”: Washburne, A Biography of Elihu Benjamin Washburne: Congressman, Secretary of State, Envoy Extraordinary, Vol. IV, 379.

  270 “However anxious I might be”: Elihu Washburne to Hamilton Fish, October 3, 1870, Washburne, Franco-German War and the Insurrection of the Commune, Correspondence of E. B. Washburne, 76.

  270 Numbers of Germans were being arrested: Kranzberg, The Siege of Paris, 1870–1871, 9–10.

  271 “Employers discharged”: Hoffman, Camp, Court, and Siege: A Narrative of Personal Adventure and Observation During Two Wars: 1861–1865; 1870–1871, 153.

  271 The suffering, both moral and physical: Ibid.

  271 As an assistant secretary named Frank Moore: Frank Moore to his wife, Laura, September 7, 1870, Frank Moore Papers, NewYork Historical Society.

  271 The American Legation: Washburne, A Biography of Elihu Benjamin Washburne, Vol. IV, 13.

  271 One day a child: Elihu Washburne Diary, November 11, 1870, Library of Congress.

  272 “I am depressed”: Elihu Washburne to Adele Washburne, September 2, 1870, Library of Congress.

  272 Yesterday forenoon: Ibid.

  272 “Everything that energy”: Hoffman, Camp, Court, and Siege, 154.

  272 “And here let me remark”: Ibid., 154–55.

  273 Raised on a farm in Maine: Hunt, Israel, Elihu, and Cadwallader Washburn: A Chapter in American Biography, 155.

  273 A judgment expressed by The Nation: Hess, “An American in Paris,” American Heritage, February 1967, 18.

  273 The New York World had called him: New York World, December 12, 1868.

  274 “coarse, uncultivated”: Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Vol. III, 551.

  274 “enlarged views”: Ibid., 543.
br />   274 “He may represent”: Ibid., 551.

  274 “Our family was very, very poor”: Hunt, Israel, Elihu, and Cadwallader Washburn, 158.

  274 He had been born on September 23, 1816: Ibid., 155.

  274 The family struggled to survive: Kelsey, Remarkable Americans: The Washburn Family, 8.

  274 It would be said of the Washburn children: Hunt, Israel, Elihu, and Cadwallader Washburn, 300.

  275 her mind was “quick”: Ibid., 158.

  275 “The foundation that is layed”: Martha Benjamin Washburn to Elihu Washburne from Livermore, Maine, March 21, 1846, Washburn-Norlands Living History Center, Livermore, Maine.

  275 When I think of her labors: Hunt, Israel, Elihu, and Cadwallader Washburn, 158.

  275 As one of the founders of General Mills: Grossman and Jennings, Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons From 15 Companies, Each with a Century of Dividends, 45.

  275 “I dug up stumps”: Hunt, Israel, Elihu, and Cadwallader Washburn, 159.

  275 “more congenial”: Ibid., 160.

  276 “There is no humbug”: Ibid., 163.

  276 In 1839, after another two years: Ibid., 166.

  276 He arrived by stern-wheeler: Elihu Washburne Diary, April 1, 1871, Library of Congress.

  276 “knee deep”: Ibid.

  276 “a litigious set”: Hunt, Israel, Elihu, and Cadwallader Washburn, 172.

  276 In less than a month: Ibid., 173.

  276 In a rough, wide-open town: Ibid.

  276 He liked the life: Ibid., 172.

  277 In 1845, at twenty-nine: Ibid., 178.

  277 “He was not under the influence”: Ibid., 179.

  277 In little time: Ibid., 183.

  277 He was praised: Ibid., 183, 193.

  277 An Ohio newspaperman: Ibid., 192–93.

  277 “blow off like a steam engine”: Ibid., 192.

  277 As chairman of the Committee on Appropriations: Ibid., 183.

  277 It was Israel Washburn: Ibid., 32–33.

  277 It happened at about two in the morning: New York Herald, February 6, 1858; New York Times, February 8, 1858; New York Tribune, February 6, 8, 1858; Chicago Tribune, February 8, 1858.

  277 “Mr. Washburne of Illinois”: New York Herald, February 6, 1858.

  278 In 1860, when Lincoln ran for president: Hess, “An American in Paris,” 21.

  278 On the day Lincoln stepped: Hunt, Israel, Elihu, and Cadwallader Washburn, 229–30; Hess, “An American in Paris,” 21.

  278 “Without doing any injustice”: Hunt, Israel, Elihu, and Cadwallader Washburn, 220.

  278 The confidence Washburne placed in Grant: Ibid., 243.

  279 “His life was despaired of”: Fowler, Reminiscences: My Mother and I, 23.

  279 “quiet and repose”: Elihu Washburne to his sister, October 12, 1870, Library of Congress.

  279 In its long history: Sibbet, Siege of Paris, 169.

  279 “The weather is charming”: Elihu Washburne to Adele Washburne, September 28, 1870, Library of Congress.

  279 The formal exchange: Undated news article in Elihu Washburne scrapbooks, Library of Congress.

  280 On September 21, a daring balloonist: Kranzberg, The Siege of Paris, 1870–1871, 38.

  280 Eventually some sixty-five balloons: Ibid.

  280 “I have never before so much”: Elihu Washburne to Adele Washburne, September 28, 1870, Library of Congress.

  280 To his brother Israel in Maine: Elihu Washburne to Israel Washburn, October 21, 1870, Library of Congress.

  281 “great courage and spirit”: Elihu Washburne Diary, September 30, 1870, Library of Congress.

  281 In early October: Transcript of recollections by Charles William May of his balloon trip out of Paris, Manuscript Collection, Boston Athenaeum, 3.

  281 But when, on the morning of October 7: Horne, The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune, 1870–1871, 85.

  281 It was another perfect day: Transcript of recollections by Charles William May of his balloon trip out of Paris, Manuscript Collection, Boston Athenaeum, 7.

  281 The air was clear: Ibid., 7–8.

  282 So we opened the sand bag: Ibid., 8.

  282 “There was no sense of motion”: Ibid.

  282 “The days go and”: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. I, 189.

  282 “laid by” his own sufficient stock: Ibid., 133.

  282 “Were it not for Mr. Washburne”: Labouchère, Diary of a Besieged Resident in Paris, 24.

  282 “cheerily shaking everyone”: Ibid., 70.

  283 “The world cannot fail to admire”: Chicago Journal, no date, Elihu Washburne scrapbooks, Library of Congress.

  283 “suffering … so sore I can hardly move”: Elihu Washburne Diary, October 15, 1870, Library of Congress.

  283 Many people called: Ibid., October 17, 1870, Library of Congress.

  283 “But Washburne”: Hoffman, Camp, Court, and Siege, 203.

  283 “interminable gabble”: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. I, 201.

  283 “a little depression”: Elihu Washburne to Israel Washburn, October 27, 1870, Library of Congress.

  283 “We drove to the French”: Hoffman, Camp, Court, and Siege, 204.

  283 While we waited: Ibid., 205.

  284 On October 31, Trochu’s army: Kranzberg, The Siege of Paris, 1870–1871, 54–55.

  284 That same day: Elihu Washburne Diary, October 31, 1870, Library of Congress.

  284 “marched with gigantic strides”: Ibid.

  284 “People, and people”: Sheppard, Shut Up in Paris, 120.

  284 Women with big feet: Ibid., 120.

  285 A tall well-bred-looking: Ibid., 122–23.

  285 “They all seemed to regard”: Elihu Washburne Diary, October 31, 1870, Library of Congress.

  286 “What a city!”: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. I, 211.

  286 “One moment revolution”: Ibid.

  286 “perfectly raving”: Ibid., 219.

  286 But by this time Bismarck: Ibid., 219–20.

  286 “a prodigy of strength”: Elihu Washburne Diary, November 7, 1870, Library of Congress.

  286 “Indeed, the defenses all round the city”: Ibid.

  286 “I do not see for the life of me”: Ibid., October 30, 1870, Library of Congress.

  287 At the Louvre, where Trochu: Becker, ed., Paris Under Siege, 1870–1871: From the Goncourt Journal, 81.

  287 Reportedly 50,000 horses: See estimates in Kranzberg, The Siege of Paris, 1870–1871, 46, and Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. I, 153.

  287 “The situation here is dreadful”: Elihu Washburne Diary, November 12, 1870, Library of Congress.

  287 “The Prussians can’t get into”: Ibid.

  287 “Nothing of interest today”: Ibid., November 22, 1870.

  287 “too sober”: Ibid., November 23, 1870.

  287 “Oh, for an opportunity”: Sheppard, Shut Up in Paris, 140.

  287 “One felt an intense”: Ibid., 3.

  288 “furtive glances”: Ibid., 4.

  288 It is the intolerable tension: Ibid., 133.

  288 Anything more dreary: Labouchère, Diary of a Besieged Resident in Paris, 70.

  288 An American physician: Sibbet, Siege of Paris, 262.

  288 The worst of it: Ibid.

  288 The American medical student Mary Putnam: Bittel, Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Politics of Medicine in Nineteenth-Century America, 79.

  288 Nor had she any desire: Letter of Mary Putnam to Elihu Washburne, February 2, 1871, Library of Congress; Jacobi, Life and Letters of Mary Putnam Jacobi, 275.

  289 Her chosen topic: Bittel, Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Politics of Medicine in Nineteenth-Century America, 83.

  289 “It is not at all probable”: Jacobi, Life and Letters of Mary Putnam Jacobi, 271.

  289 And what a class: Elihu Washburne Diary, November 18, 1870, Library of Congress.
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  289 “The sun was just warm enough”: Sheppard, Shut Up in Paris, 154.