290 Shoes were polished: Ibid., 155.
290 “They are arriving”: Elihu Washburne Diary, November 20, 1870, Library of Congress.
290 “With an improvised”: Ibid., November 27, 1870, Library of Congress.
290 The American Ambulance: Carson, The Dentist and the Empress, 108–9.
291 “Here were order”: Hoffman, Camp, Court, and Siege, 222.
291 “I have known”: Ibid., 225.
291 “Is it necessary”: Evans, History of the American Ambulance Corps: Established in Paris During the Siege of 1870–71, 44.
291 The surgeon general: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. I, 144.
291 Numbering the days of the siege: See daily notations in Elihu Washburne Diary, Library of Congress.
293 As he explained in a letter: Kelsey, Remarkable Americans: The Washburn Family, 218.
293 “Too much cannot be said”: New York Times, January 15, 1871.
293 Never did any population: Ibid.
293 “There is universal approbation”: Secretary of State Hamilton Fish to Elihu Washburne, December 8, 1870, Library of Congress.
294 Lines formed as early as four: Galignani’s Messenger, December 27, 1870.
294 As firewood began running out: Ibid.
294 “the climax of the forlorn”: Sheppard, Shut Up in Paris, 203.
294 “Never has a sadder Christmas”: Elihu Washburne Diary, December 25, 1870, Library of Congress.
294 The government is seizing: Ibid.
294 The bill-of-fare: Elihu Washburne Diary, December 26, 1870, Library of Congress.
295 “The French knew nothing”: Hoffman, Camp, Court, and Siege, 208.
295 The large square: Elihu Washburne Diary, December 26, 1870, Library of Congress; Elihu Washburne to his brother, December 26, 1870, Library of Congress.
295 “These people cannot freeze”: Elihu Washburne Diary, December 26, 1870, Library of Congress.
295 “The situation becomes more and more critical”: Ibid., December 28, 1870.
296 I am unfitted: Ibid.
296 “sawdust, mud, and potato skins”: Sheppard, Shut Up in Paris, 220.
296 “downright good eating”: Ibid., 219.
296 By the second half of December: Galignani’s Messenger, December 31, 1870.
296 A rat, Sheppard was surprised to find: Sheppard, Shut Up in Paris, 165.
296 “The worst of it is”: Ibid., 197.
296 With little or nothing to feed: Galignani’s Messenger, December 18, 1870.
297 “But bah!!!”: Jacobi, Life and Letters of Mary Putnam Jacobi, 277.
297 The death toll in the city: See Horne, The Fall of Paris, 221 for figure of 4,444 during the week of January 14–21.
297 “Great discontent”: Elihu Washburne to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, January 2, 1871, Washburne, Franco-German War and the Insurrection of the Commune, Correspondence of E. B. Washburne, 118.
297 With the ground frozen: Galignani’s Messenger had ceased publication on September 19, 1870, during the siege. They resumed publication on March 10, 1871, with a day-by-day news chronology of events from September 20, 1870, to date. The entry from the weather on this day was for December 23, 1870.
298 In fact, Bismarck: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 203.
298 “At 2 P.M. I walked”: Elihu Washburne Diary, January 5, 1871, Library of Congress.
298 “Sometimes they would strike”: Olin Warner to his parents, February 20, 1871. Archives of American Art.
298 An American student from Louisville, Kentucky: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 213.
298 They carry with them: Sibbet, Siege of Paris, 335.
298 “It was singularly dramatic”: Jacobi, Life and Letters of Mary Putnam Jacobi, 277.
299 “Nearly twelve days of furious bombardment”: Elihu Washburne Diary, January 16, 1871, Library of Congress.
299 “The bombardment so far”: Elihu Washburne to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, January 16, 1871, Washburne, Franco-German War and the Insurrection of the Commune, Correspondence of E. B. Washburne, 123.
299 The total number of those killed: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 217.
299 “I am more and more convinced”: Elihu Washburne Diary, January 18, 1871, Library of Congress.
299 “The ambulances have all been notified”: Ibid.
299 The French novelist Edmond de Goncourt: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 230.
300 One hundred thousand men: Ibid.
300 They had brought in sixty-five: Elihu Washburne Diary, January 19, 1871, Library of Congress.
300 “whole country was literally covered”: Ibid.
300 “All Paris is on the qui-vive”: Ibid.
300 “trouble in the city”: Ibid., January 21, 1871.
300 “And then such a scatteration”: Ibid., January 23, 1871.
301 “‘Mischief afoot’”: Ibid., January 22, 1871.
301 “The city is on its last legs”: Ibid., January 24, 1871.
301 “‘Hail mighty day!’”: Ibid., January 27, 1871.
10. Madness
Alistair Horne’s The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune, 1870–1871, published in 1966, remains much the most thorough and well-written history of the Commune.
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303 In the madness: Elihu Washburne to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, May 2, 1871, Washburne, Franco-German War and the Insurrection of the Commune, Correspondence of E. B. Washburne, 193.
303 The terms of the surrender: Horne, The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune, 1870–1871, 243.
303 The cost to France: Ibid., 244.
303 By the terms of the surrender: Wawro, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870–1871, 310.
304 “The enemy is the first to render”: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 242.
304 “France is dead!”: Ibid.
304 “Paris is trembling”: Ibid.
304 Olin Warner spoke for nearly: Olin Warner to his parents, June 6, 1871, Archives of American Art.
304 “We are all furious”: Jacobi, Life and Letters of Mary Putnam Jacobi, 274.
304 “quite Parisian”: Elihu Washburne to General Read, February 25, 1871, Library of Congress.
304 “Oh, I was only a post-office”: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 171.
305 The conduct of Mr. Washburne: New York Tribune, undated news article, Elihu Washburne scrapbooks, Library of Congress.
305 “No Minister”: Secretary of State Hamilton Fish to Elihu Washburne, February 20, 1871, Library of Congress.
305 The German army marched: Galignani’s Messenger, March 10, 15, 1871.
305 The first of the conquerors: Ibid.
306 At first the troops: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. II, 11.
306 The gas was not yet lighted: Ibid., 13.
306 “At 3 o’clock in the afternoon”: Ibid., 19.
306 Gaslights burned once more: See Galignani’s Messenger, March 5, 7, 1871.
307 In a surprise move: Ibid., March 10, 1871.
307 In an improvised mock trial: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 272.
307 The Commune, as often mistakenly assumed: Ibid., 291.
308 “culmination of every horror”: Elihu Washburne to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, March 19, 1871, Library of Congress.
308 With the official government now at Versailles: Elihu Washburne to Peter [illegible], March 23, 1871, Library of Congress.
308 He was gravely worried: Elihu Washburne to his brother, March 21, 1871, Library of Congress.
308 “no law, no protection”: Elihu Washburne to Benjamin Shaw, March 30, 1871, Library of Congress.
308 On March 28, with great to-do: Elihu Washburne to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, March 30, 1871, Washburne, Franco-German War and the Insurrection of the Commune, Correspondence of E. B. Washburne, 171–72; Horne, The Fall of Paris, 288.
309 At the same time: Elihu Washburne to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, March
30, 1871, Washburne, Franco-German War and the Insurrection of the Commune, Correspondence of E. B. Washburne, 173.
309 Such a system of “denunciation”: Ibid.
309 His private secretary: Ibid.
309 “He is mistaken”: Elihu Washburne Diary, March 28, 1871, Library of Congress.
309 “The Commune is looming”: Ibid., March 31, 1871.
310 The morning of that same day: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 334–35.
310 “a horrid place”: Elihu Washburne Diary, April 23, 1871, Library of Congress.
310 “What mysteries”: Ibid.
310 “I want sexual promiscuity”: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 334.
310 Lillie Moulton described him: Ibid., 335.
310 “hideous” figures in history: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. II, 192.
310 Lillie was admitted to Rigault’s office: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 335.
311 “No Elsa ever welcomed”: De Hegermann-Lindencrone, In the Courts of Memory, 1858–1875, 222.
311 On April 4, the Commune formally impeached: Galignani’s Messenger, April 7, 1871.
312 At first M. Darboy: Ibid.
312 “Big firing this morning”: Elihu Washburne Diary, April 10, 1871, Library of Congress.
312 The firing is going on all the time: Ibid., April 17, 1871, Library of Congress.
312 All is one great shipwreck: Ibid., April 19, 1871, Library of Congress.
313 When the pope’s nuncio: Elihu Washburne Diary, April 23, 1871, Library of Congress.
313 On the morning of Sunday, April 23: Ibid.
313 “So we all started off”: Ibid.
314 With his slender: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. II, 169.
314 He seemed to appreciate his critical situation: Elihu Washburne to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, April 23, 1871, Washburne, Franco-German War and the Insurrection of the Commune, Correspondence of E. B. Washburne, 188.
314 He was confined: Elihu Washburne Diary, April 23, 1871, Library of Congress.
314 When Washburne offered him any assistance: Ibid.
315 Two days later he was back: Ibid., April 25, 1871, Library of Congress.
315 “It is a little French village”: Elihu Washburne to [unknown] in Galena, Illinois, May 4, 1871, Library of Congress.
315 “I have been so run down”: Ibid.
315 Back in Paris an incident: De Hegermann-Lindencrone, In the Courts of Memory, 1858–1875, 235.
316 Mr. Moulton took the paper: Ibid., 236.
316 The Commune issued a decree: See Horne, The Fall of Paris, 349–51.
316 Hundreds of laborers: Ibid., 350.
317 The engineers had cut through: Ibid.
317 “I did not see it fall”: Elihu Washburne Diary, May 16, 1871, Library of Con- gress.
317 Writing in his diary the next day: Becker, ed., Paris Under Siege, 1870–1871: From the Goncourt Journal, 292.
318 “Today they threaten to destroy”: Elihu Washburne Diary, May 19, 1871, Library of Congress.
318 “a very delicate piece of business”: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. II, 175.
318 On another visit to the Mazas Prison: Elihu Washburne Diary, May 19, 1871, Library of Congress.
318 “everything in a vastly different state”: Ibid., May 28, 1871.
319 “He had lost his cheerfulness”: Elihu Washburne to Dr. Henry James Anderson, January 31, 1873, Library of Congress.
319 He and Gratiot both dressed at once: Elihu Washburne Diary, May 22, 1871, Library of Congress.
320 “Everyone passing was forced”: Galignani’s Messenger, June 1, 1871.
320 “thick and fast”: Elihu Washburne to an unknown friend in Galena, Illinois, May 4, 1871, Library of Congress.
320 “5:45 P.M. Have just taken a long ride”: Elihu Washburne Diary, May 22, 1871, Library of Congress.
320 Washburne, for his part: Ibid., May 23, 1871.
321 “He[MacMahon]hopes they will”: Ibid.
321 “Tremendous[cannon]firing”: Ibid., May 24, 1871.
321 “Every woman carrying a bottle”: Hoffman, Camp, Court, and Siege: A Narrative of Personal Adventure and Observation During Two Wars: 1861–1865; 1870–1871, 282.
321 All the fighting in all the revolutions: Elihu Washburne Diary, May 24, 1871, Library of Congress.
322 Nor was it yet generally known: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 397.
323 That afternoon on the avenue d’Antin: Ibid., 392.
323 The insurgents fought on “like fiends”: Gibson, Paris During the Commune, 1871, 37.
323 “They are as they were when caught”: Becker, ed., Paris Under Siege, 1870–1871, 306.
323 There are men of the common people: Ibid.
323 On Friday, 50 prisoners: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 409.
323 On Sunday, May 28: Ibid., 413.
324 One of the most infamous: Ibid., 414.
324 “There has been nothing but general butchery”: Elihu Washburne Diary, May 29, 1871, Library of Congress.
324 “The vandalism of the dark ages”: Elihu Washburne to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, May 31, 1871, Library of Congress.
324 The incredible enormities: Ibid.
325 Although estimates of the total carnage: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 418.
325 Olin Warner, like Washburne: “Olin Levi Warner Defense of the Paris Commune,” Archives of American Art.
325 “I hope it will never be my lot”: Olin Warner to his parents, June 6, 1871, Archives of American Art.
325 The body of the archbishop: Galignani’s Messenger, June 9, 1871.
325 one of “the most emotional and imposing” services: Washburne, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877, Vol. II, 185–86.
326 “Paris, the Paris of civilization”: Galignani’s Messenger, June 3, 1871.
326 Cook’s Tours of London: Horne, The Fall of Paris, 421.
326 By July the Tuileries Garden: Galignani’s Messenger, July 1, 1871.
326 The Venus de Milo: Ibid., June 30, August 27, 1871.
327 Everyone leaned forward: Ibid., August 27, 1871.
327 Lillie Moulton ordered several fine dresses: De Hegermann-Lindencrone, In the Courts of Memory, 1858–1875, 246.
327 Her engagement, too: Jacobi, Life and Letters of Mary Putnam Jacobi, 281.
327 “I have passed my last examination”: Ibid., 286.
327 That a woman had acquired the legal right: Ibid., 290.
328 Tributes were to be published: See various newspaper articles, editorials, and tributes in the Washburne Family Scrapbooks, Library of Congress.
328 “Speaking of diplomacy”: Diary entry of Frank Moore, Paris, September 30, 1871, Frank Moore Papers, NewYork Historical Society.
11. Paris Again
The wealth of Cassatt and Sargent family correspondence, in two collections at the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, adds enormously to an understanding of the formative years in the lives of both Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent. Dr. FitzWilliam Sargent’s letters are particularly important, given that his son John wrote so little about himself.
The best books about Mary Cassatt are those by Nancy Mowll Mathews: Cassatt and Her Circle; Selected Letters (1984); Mary Cassatt (1987); Mary Cassatt: A Life (1994); and Cassatt: A Retrospective (1996).
For Sargent, the two essential biographies are John Sargent by Evan Charteris, published in 1927, two years after Sargent’s death, and the engagingly written John Singer Sargent: His Portrait by Stanley Olson (1986). Of particular appeal, too, are the Sargent vignettes in the letters and reminiscences of his friends Will Low and James Carroll Beckwith (as cited below).
Sargent’s early work is magnificently reproduced and documented in two monumental books by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Sargent: The Early Portraits (1998), and John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1874–18
82.
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