Hello, all Twain scholars.

I am a relative newcomer to the historiography of Twain. My first
book, *Frederick
Douglass in Washington, D.C.* was published in early October by The History
Press. I have recently begun research for "Mark Twain in Washington." I'm
looking for more information on Twain's February 1868 short story, "General
Washington's Negro Body-Servant" that he seemingly wrote while living in
Washington, D.C.

I've reviewed Twain's D.C.-related journalism online at TwainQuotes.com as
well as the twenty-plus clips that David C. Mearns gathered that are now
held at the LOC's Manuscript Division. Many of the Mearns clips are
articles from the *Daily Evening Star *and *National Intelligence* that
report on Twain in D.C. as oppose to Twain's writings on D.C., with the
exception of a "Letter to the Editor." I've also done independent searches
of the *Star* and other Washington papers for Twain hits from November 1867
- March 1868. This research has yielded insights into not only Twain's time
in Washington but how he interacted with the local city.

My own speculation, which I would like to try to prove or disprove, is that
when Twain was in D.C. he would have regularly heard of the story of
General / President Washington's Negro Body Servant. (In D.C. today there
are many urban myths that are told over and over again, so this is where my
speculation comes from.) Following this speculation, my guess is Twain
heard it enough times, and had read about enough times that he grew tired
of it, and this inspired him to write the article in question. In George
Alfred Townsend's 1873
book<http://books.google.com/books?id=WHoFAAAAQAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s>
he
writes, “It was not uncommon as well for Congressmen, Bureau officers, and
the loitering gentry of Washington to so embarrass themselves at the gaming
tables as to be obliged to sell their body servants.”

I've read through Twain's autobiographical sketches for the *North American
Review*, Justin Kaplan's Pulitzer-Prize winning work that details Twain in
Washington, Fishkin's work "Was Huck Black," Paine's Vol. 1 with a short
chapter on Twain in Washington, and other sources. I haven't found any
specific or substantive references to "General Washington's Negro Body
Servant" in these works, unless I have overlooked them which is possible. I
have checked JSTOR which hasn't turned up anything of consequence.

A search of Twain's letters at the MT Project show up three annotation hits
on the story. In a Jan. 24, 1868 letter <http://bit.ly/RXSem3> from Twain
(SLC) to his mother and sister he mentions the story as "I have a stupid
article in the Galaxy, just issued."

This is a synopsis of my research to this point which has yielded limited
success. If there is any existing scholarship on "General Washington's
Negro-Body Servant" that I have overlooked or missed I would appreciate any
advice or guidance.

Thank you for your time and help.

Sincerely,
John


-- 
John Muller
202.236.3413
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Capital Community News
Greater Greater Washington
*Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C: The Lion of
Anacostia<http://www.amazon.com/Frederick-Douglass-Washington-D-c-Anacostia/dp/1609495772/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=H42HP4SBZ8OA&coliid=I34OMAR1SV8L9G>
*
Published by The History Press, October 2012
http://thelionofanacostia.wordpress.com/
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