FITZ HUGH LUDLOW (SEPTEMBER 11, 1836–SEPTEMBER 12, 1870)
Ludlow’s mostly forgotten 1857 masterpiece, The Hasheesh Eater, remains a fascinating read today. I recommend the Annotated Hasheesh Eater, edited by David Gross. Ludlow is outrageously erudite, sprinkling his drug tale with references to Hindu mythology, ancient Chinese folk medicine, and tenth-century Welsh royalty. Gross turns what could be maddening into a pleasure by providing helpful notations that explain the arcana.
Ludlow’s The Heart of the Continent is also an excellent read as well as a record of a long-lost American West. When the book was published in 1870, a number of accounts of cross-country journeys had recently appeared, and Ludlow was criticized for being late. With the passage of time, that criticism has become irrelevant. Both as a writer and as an observer of natural phenomena, I found Ludlow superior to many of the authors of those rival accounts such as Samuel Bowles and Albert Richardson.
Another Ludlow item worth seeking out: “What Shall They Do to Be Saved?” This is an article from the August 1867 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in which Ludlow details his use of novel cures to help others break their opium addictions. He neglects to mention his own battles with the drug. It’s a harrowing and heart-rending account. “So, coming to me, he told me that his object in trying to leave off opium was to escape from these horrible ghosts of a life’s unfulfilled promise,” Ludlow writes about one addict. This and other observations by Ludlow about opium users no doubt apply equally to the writer himself.
ADAH ISAACS MENKEN (JUNE 15, 1835?–AUGUST 10, 1868)
Dickens was no fan of Menken’s poetry, and you might not be either. Even so, there are reasons to consult her 1868 collection Infelicia such as curiosity (the volume contains experimental work by a Whitman contemporary) and historical relevance (some of her poems address themes and concerns of nineteenth-century Judaism). As for Mazeppa, though overlong and convoluted, it’s still interesting as the play that made Menken famous.
Where Menken truly shines, however, is photographs. The camera loved her, and she knew it. Like such modern stars as Elizabeth Taylor and Beyoncé, she assembled a vivid photographic record—Menken would no doubt have taken selfies if nineteenth-century cameras were easier to operate. Her most prolific collaboration was with Napoleon Sarony, a pioneering celebrity photographer—the Herb Ritts of his day—who also created iconic images of Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde. An online search will turn up a rich trove of Menken images. Aficionados might want to consult the extensive collection maintained by the Harvard theater library.
FITZ-JAMES O’BRIEN (DECEMBER 31, 1828–APRIL 6, 1862)
During his brief life, O’Brien was prolific, churning out poems, plays, essays, and fiction. But it’s as a writer of macabre short stories that he truly made his mark. His finest works continue to hold up today, including “The Diamond Lens,” “The Wondersmith,” and “What Was It?” They are available in old collections such as The Diamond Lens, with Other Stories (1885), edited by O’Brien’s friend and fellow Pfaffian William Winter. You can also find many individual O’Brien stories online.
A note for modern readers: O’Brien’s works often hew to a nineteenth-century literary convention that one must ease slowly into the supernatural, first scrupulously grounding a story in real-world detail before introducing a ghost or magic spell. As a consequence, O’Brien’s stories tend to drag at the outset. But once he gets going—it’s not for nothing that this mostly forgotten master was referred to in his day as the Celtic Poe.
ARTEMUS WARD (APRIL 26, 1834–MARCH 6, 1867)
Because humor doesn’t tend to age well, the 1862 blockbuster Artemus Ward, His Book—once so revolutionary—mostly comes across today as quaint and tame. However, it does contain “High-Handed Outrage at Utica,” the piece that Lincoln read to his cabinet before introducing the Emancipation Proclamation. It’s only a few paragraphs long, and a pleasure to read if only for the fact that Lincoln heartily enjoyed these very same words. An autographed copy of Artemus Ward, His Book that the author sent to Lincoln is in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.
For anyone interested in Ward’s stagecraft as America’s first stand-up comedian, Artemus Ward’s Lecture is a valuable resource. This 1869 book, edited by T. W. Robertson and E. P. Hingston—respectively, a close friend and Ward’s agent—contains illuminating details about the comic’s style and technique.
WALT WHITMAN (MAY 31, 1819–MARCH 26, 1892)
Whitman treated Leaves of Grass as a living document, continually revising his masterpiece through seven separate editions, each one differing, sometimes in major ways, from the one that came before. As such, the 1860 edition might be called the Pfaff’s edition. It was published while he was a regular at the saloon, and many of the poems show the influence of being part of a circle of Bohemian artists. The University of Iowa Press’s Leaves of Grass, 1860: The Anniversary Facsimile Edition is highly recommended and includes an excellent introductory essay by Jason Stacy.
If you’re curious to see the poet’s very first edition, a digitized copy is available online at the Walt Whitman Archive. It’s a rare treat given that fewer than two hundred copies of the original printing are still in existence. I enjoyed the opportunity to view the book as it looked in 1855, complete with the quirks of a nineteenth-century printing job done on the cheap.
It’s also an opportunity to read some of Whitman’s finest works in their earliest published incarnation. (He carried poems such as “I Sing the Body Electric” from the first edition to the last, making changes along the way.)
For Whitman’s sublime Civil War poetry, you’ll need to consult a later (post-1865) version of Leaves of Grass. I suggest the Norton Critical Edition edited by Sculley Bradley and Harold Blodgett. It’s comprehensive, featuring everything that appeared in Whitman’s 1891–1892 “deathbed” edition of Leaves plus additional uncollected poems, even some incomplete fragments.
For a very different flavor of Whitman’s Civil War experiences, read his letters from this period. These letters—to his mother, siblings, and friends—have a casual, folksy style that’s quite a departure from his poetry. Still, they contain some of Whitman’s most beautiful and emotive writing, such as this description of a dying soldier: “At length he opened his eyes quite wide & clear, & looked inquiringly around. I said, What is it, my dear, do you want any thing?—he said quietly with a good natured smile, O nothing, I was only looking around to see who was with me—his mind was somewhat wandering, yet he lay so peaceful, in his dying condition—he seemed to be a real New England country boy, so good natured, with a pleasant homely way, & quite a fine looking boy—without any doubt he died in course of night.” Whitman’s Civil War letters are available in The Collected Writings of Walt Whitman, volume 1, The Correspondence, edited by Edwin Haviland Miller.
There are also several Whitman sites well worth a visit. The house where he was born in 1819 still stands, a sliver of history preserved on a busy commercial street in Huntington Station, Long Island. A fascinating tour is available through the home that provided Whitman’s earliest formative experiences, as an infant and toddler, before he moved to Brooklyn. Whitman’s last home, in Camden, New Jersey, is also open to the public for tours. Its clutter has been meticulously and lovingly re-created so that it looks and feels as it did in Whitman’s day. Here, you can see Whitman’s favorite rocking chair, cane, bed, the paintings on his walls, the books he owned, and the medications he took (some items are originals, some simply from the period).
Nearby in Camden is the Harleigh Cemetery where Whitman is buried in a mausoleum. On an autumn day, I sat beside Whitman’s grave and read my favorite poem, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” At first I felt a bit self-conscious. In such a serene setting, however, Whitman’s words soon took over, and across the span of a century and a half, his poetry worked its magic.
Index
Aboliti
onism, 7, 64, 112, 120, 200, 222
Adams, George Worthington, 191
Adams, John, 47
“Adhesiveness,” as phrenology term 75, 104
Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin Lancasterian School, 6
Agesilaus, 60
Alboni, Marietta, 35
Alcoholics Anonymous, 8
Aldrich, Thomas, 45, 90, 155
Atlantic Monthly and, 256
Civil War military post and, 139, 155
Customs House job, 169
on darkness among Pfaff’s Bohemians, 47
Edwin Booth and, 56
hashish and, 55
Saturday Press and, 79, 87
Alexander the Great, 83
Algonquin Round Table, 86
Alta California (newspaper), 241
“Amativeness,” as phrenology term 75
American (magazine), 28
American Revolution, 154
American Temperance Society, 8
American Whig Review (journal), 21
Amputation, Civil War soldiers and, 191, 195
Anderson, Robert, 135, 137
Anicet-Bourgeois, Auguste, 250
Antietam, 157, 226
Apple-Blossoms (Tyng), 150
Appomattox Courthouse, 230
Arnold, George, 29, 139
death of, 256
New York Leader and, 155
at Pfaff’s, 22, 62, 160
poetry of, 22, 83
toast to Confederacy, fight with Whitman, 160
Artemus Ward, His Book (Ward), 204, 205
Artemus Ward, His Travels (Ward), 242
“As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free” (Whitman), 266
Ashtabula (OH) Sentinel (newspaper), 89
Asphodel (Clare), 109, 120–121, 258
Astor Hotel (New York), 122
“At the Café” (Aldrich), 47
Atlantic Monthly (journal), 80–81, 86, 89, 185, 248, 256
Aurora (newspaper), 34
A.W. Faber, 86
The Babes in the Wood (Ward), 146–149, 203, 204
in Virginia City, 215–216
Baker, Frank, 200
Baltimore, Menken in, 203–204
Barkley, James Paul, 249–250
Barkley, Louis Dudevant Victor, 250
Barksdale, William, 48
Barrière, Théodore, 13
Barton, Clara, 191–192
Baudelaire, 27
Beats, the, 2
Beecher, Henry Ward, 112
“Beer” (Arnold), 83
Beer-making in nineteenth century, 18–19
Benchley, Robert, 86
Bierstadt, Albert
buffalo hunt and, 173–174
marriage to Rosalie, 245–246
in Rocky Mountains, 175–177
in San Francisco, 181, 182
style as landscape painter, 170–171
success as landscape painter, 170–171, 182, 246
trip West, 170, 171–185
in Utah Territory, 177–181
Yosemite and, 181–182
Blake, William, 19
Bleecker Street (New York City), 23, 24–25
Bliss, Charles Signor, 203
Bloom, Nathaniel, 76, 201
Boardman, Henry D., 194
La Bohème (Puccini), 14
Bohemian, etymology, 8–9
Bohemianism/Bohemians
backlash against, 243
cultural zeitgeist, moment of 88–89, 96,
definitions and characteristics of 8–9, 14, 19, 26–27, 83, 139–140
early deaths of 13, 156–157, 245–262
New York City, 1, 19 (see also Pfaff’s Bohemians)
Parisian, 8, 9–16
Saturday Press and, 82–83, 88–89, 238
West Coast, 183–185
Booth, Asia, 60, 141, 223
Booth, Edwin, 56, 57–59
as actor, 58–59, 61, 72, 120, 141, 221–222, 223–224, 234, 257
after Lincoln assassination, 256–257
alcohol and, 59, 221–222, 257
Clapp’s special appreciation for, 84, 120
Ludlow and, 59, 172
Ludlow and Bierstadt partnership and, 172
slavery issue and, 60
support for Union and Lincoln, 224–225
Booth, John Wilkes
as actor, 60–61, 141–142, 221, 222–224
assassination of Lincoln and, 230–234
dislike of Lincoln, 224, 228
John Brown and, 61
manhunt for, 256
support for slavery and South, 60, 224–225
Booth, Junius, Jr., 60, 221, 223, 224
Booth, Junius Brutus, 56–57, 60
Booth family, slavery issue and, 60
Boston
Clapp’s animosity towards, 85–86, 90, 100, 239
as cultural capital, 27, 80–81
Whitman in, 98–102
Boston Globe (newspaper), 261
Boston Intelligencer (newspaper), 40
Boston Public Library, 80
Boston Saturday Express (newspaper), 89
Boston Stereotype Foundry, 98
Boston Transcript (newspaper), 170
Boston Wide World (newspaper), 106
Bowles, Samuel, 247
Boxing, 109–110, 113–117
Brady, Mathew, 35, 86, 187
Bragg, Braxton, 203
Breckinridge, John, 191
The Bride of Gettysburg (Hylton), 270
“Broadway, 1861” (Whitman), 140
Broadway (New York City), 1
as grand, nineteenth-century thoroughfare 23–24, 138
Whitman and, 35–36
Broadway Temple (New York), 35
“Brochure” (Whitman), 122
Brooklyn Daily Times (newspaper), 43
Brooklyn Eagle (newspaper), 137
Brooks, Preston, 112
Brooks, Van Wyck, 81
Brown, Charlie. See Ward, Artemus
Brown, John, 61, 102, 111
Brown, Levi, 128
Brown Decades, 243
Browne, Charles Farrar. See Ward, Artemus
Browne, Junius Henri, 81–82
Brush, Hannah, 156
Brush, Velsor, 156. See also Whitman, Walt
Buchanan, James, 48, 49, 119, 137
Bucke, Richard Maurice, 272
Buckingham, John, 232
Buffalo hunt, 173–174
Bulette, Julia, 211
Bull Run, 145, 153
Burnside, Ambrose, 161, 229
Byron (Lord), 67, 143
Café chantant, 10–12
Café Lafitte in Exile (New Orleans), 74
Café Momus (Paris), 12
Cafés
Parisian, 8, 10–11, 15
types of, 10–11
“Calamus, number 29” (Whitman), 104
“Calamus” cluster of poems (Whitman), 98, 104, 184
Calhoun, John, 65
Calliopean Society, 27
Camden (New Jersey), Whitman in, 268–272
Cameron Highlanders, 138
Campbell Hospital (Washington, DC), 189, 190
Cannabis indica extract, 51
Canterbury (New York saloon), 124–125
Carleton (publishing house), 204, 242
Carlin, George, 2
Carpenter, Edward, 76
Carpet-Bag (magazine), 129–130, 131, 216
Carver Hospital (Washington, DC), 194
Cedar Tavern (New York), 2
“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calave
ras County” (Twain), 241–242
Central Park, 23, 63
Century Club (New York City), 54
Chancellorsville, battle of, 202
“Chants Democratic and Native American” cluster of poems (Whitman), 98
Charleston Courier (newspaper), 123
Charles XII (Sweden), 142
Chase, Salmon, 198, 204
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 83, 266
Chicago Tribune (newspaper), 211
“A Child’s Reminiscence” (“Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking”) (Whitman), 92–93, 105
Christian Commission, 192
Church, Frederic, 170, 171
Cincinnati (Daily) Commercial (newspaper), 4, 105
Cincinnati (Ohio) as seat of Reform Judaism in nineteenth-century America, 70
Civil War
death toll/carnage of, 153–154, 157, 161, 202, 219
escapist entertainment and, 141–142, 145, 148, 170–171, 186–187
events leading to, 111–113
Lee’s surrender, 230
market for paintings and, 170
Marye’s Heights, 160–161
Mormon perspective on, 180
new weapons and, 154
outbreak of, 135–138
Pfaff’s Bohemians and, 3, 19–30, 136, 138–139, 153, 200–201
treatment of wounded, 189, 190–195, 202
Clapp, Henry, Jr.
alcohol use and, 15, 28, 81, 120, 259–261
animosity towards New England/Boston, 80, 85–86, 90, 239
career after Saturday Press closure, 259–262
charisma of, 21–22
childhood, 5–6
Civil War and, 139, 201
Clare and, 68, 201
as critic, 84–86, 155–156, 238–239
death of, 261
early journalism career, 6–7
Edwin Booth and, 56, 120
female Bohemians and, 64
introduction of Bohemianism in America and, 1, 17, 79, 82–83
as King of Bohemia 28, 30, 44, 66, 73, 201, 259
as lecturer, 7
obituary, 261–262
O’Brien and, 19, 155, 243
in Paris, 8–16
Pfaff’s Bohemian group and, 1–2, 17–19, 21–30, 32–3, 44, 47, 62, 64, 155, 160, 201, 243, 260–261
Pfaff’s saloon and, 17, 19, 23–25, 27–30, 62, 81, 155, 160, 201, 238
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