I've slowly dug up info on this phenomenon and its perpetuating legacy that
Twain wrote about while in Washington, D.C.
Here's an article from 1912...
*Roy K. Moulton's letter from Washington*
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024827/1912-02-23/ed-1/seq-4/
<http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024827/1912-02-23/ed-1/seq-4/>
Has Twain's Feb. 1868 article escaped analysis by Twain scholars or have I
missed the analysis?
Thank you for your help.
John
--
John Muller
202.236.3413 [log in to unmask]
Washington Syndicate / 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>
* [The History Press, October 2012]
Forthcoming: "Mark Twain in Washington, D.C.: The Adventures of a Capital
Correspondent" [The History Press, Fall 2013]
On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 12:27 PM, John H. Muller <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Howard,
>
> Thank you for your reply. I apologize about the lack of clarity in my
> inquiry. I have the text of "General Washington's Negro Body-Servant" but I
> don't have much in terms of its genesis or context outside of the text
> itself. I'd like to confirm or refute my suspicion that when Twain was in
> D.C. he would have heard this story told and re-told on the streets, bars,
> halls of Congress, etc. Being familiar with it as a frequent item in
> newspapers, my speculation is Twain wrote "General Washington's Negro
> Body-Servant" to show the silliness of the the frequently told story.
>
> In 1819 Charles Wilson Peale painted Yarrow Mamout in Georgetown who was
> believed to be 140 years old. There's a recent book about Yarrow, *Slave
> Ship to Harvard** -- *
> http://www.amazon.com/Slave-Ship-Harvard-History-American/dp/0823239500
> *
> *
> With this said, I'm trying to over turn ever rock I can for more
> information about this Twain piece. In *Runaway and Freed Missouri
> Slaves and Those Who Helped Them, 1763 - 1865* there's a brief mention
> of the story in context. http://bit.ly/10rQ02B.
>
> I have yet to dig into Twain's Notebooks & Journals which will hopefully
> provide some insights. But overall it doesn't look like there has been much
> independent study of this story or at least I haven't stumbled upon it yet.
>
> Appreciate your help and time.
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
> On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 12:28 PM, Howard Harrelson <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Hello John,
>>
>> This may be what you are looking for:
>> http://etext.virginia.edu/washington/twain/servant/index.html
>>
>> Howard Harrelson, author
>> *Twain's 21st Century Reader*
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 7:17 PM, John H. Muller <
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> > 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=3DWHoFAAAAQAAJ&source=3Dgbs_navlinks_=
>> > s>
>> > he
>> > writes, =93It was not uncommon as well for Congressmen, Bureau officers,
>> > an=
>> > d
>> > the loitering gentry of Washington to so embarrass themselves at the
>> gaming
>> > tables as to be obliged to sell their body servants.=94
>> >
>> > 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
>> >
>> >
>> > --=20
>> > John Muller
>> > 202.236.3413
>> > [log in to unmask]
>> > 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=3Dwl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=3DUTF8&colid=3DH42HP4SBZ8OA&col=
>> > iid=3DI34OMAR1SV8L9G>
>> > *
>> > Published by The History Press, October 2012
>> > http://thelionofanacostia.wordpress.com/
>> > Facebook: http://on.fb.me/uca9za
>> >
>>
>
>
>
> --
> John Muller
> 202.236.3413
> [log in to unmask]
> 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/
> Facebook: http://on.fb.me/uca9za
>
>
>
>
--
John Muller
202.236.3413 [log in to unmask]
Washington Syndicate / 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>
* [The History Press, October 2012]
Forthcoming: "Mark Twain in Washington, D.C.: The Adventures of a Capital
Correspondent" [The History Press, Fall 2013]
|
