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
|
