The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris (98 page)

287
Reportedly 50,000 horses:
See estimates in Kranzberg,
The Siege of Paris
,
1870–1871
, 46,
and
Washburne,
Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869–1877
, Vol. I, 153.

287
“The situation here is dreadful”:
Elihu Washburne Diary, November 12, 1870, Library of Congress.

287
“The Prussians can’t get into”:
Ibid.

287
“Nothing of interest today”:
Ibid., November 22, 1870.

287
“too sober”:
Ibid., November 23, 1870.

287
“Oh, for an opportunity”:
Sheppard,
Shut Up in Paris
, 140.

287
“One felt an intense”:
Ibid., 3.

288
“furtive glances”:
Ibid., 4.

288
It is the intolerable tension:
Ibid., 133.

288
Anything more dreary:
Labouchère,
Diary of a Besieged Resident in Paris
, 70.

288
An American physician:
Sibbet,
Siege of Paris
, 262.

288
The worst of it:
Ibid.

288
The American medical student Mary Putnam:
Bittel,
Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Politics of Medicine in Nineteenth-Century America
, 79.

288
Nor had she any desire:
Letter of Mary Putnam to Elihu Washburne, February 2, 1871, Library of Congress; Jacobi,
Life and Letters of Mary Putnam Jacobi
, 275.

289
Her chosen topic:
Bittel,
Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Politics of Medicine in Nineteenth-Century America
, 83.

289
“It is not at all probable”:
Jacobi,
Life and Letters of Mary Putnam Jacobi
, 271.

289
And what a class:
Elihu Washburne Diary, November 18, 1870, Library of Congress.

289
“The sun was just warm enough”:
Sheppard,
Shut Up in Paris
, 154.

290
On the contrary:
Ibid.

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.

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.

PAGE

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.