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All,
As we take the time to better our impressions via correct clothing, uniforms, drill.... let us not forget the culture of the times as well. For the Confederate soldier, new literature was hard to come by due to paper shortages and import limitations caused by the blockade. One of the few works to circulate was Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables” which originally was published in 1862 with English translations of the five parts of the novel appearing in the South later that year. John Esten Cooke (aide to Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart) had the following to say about the Hugo's work:
The name had a somewhat curious origin. Victor Hugo’s work, “Les Miserables” had been translated and published by a house in Richmond; the soldiers, in the great dearth of reading matter, had seized upon it; and thus, by a strange chance th...e tragic story of the great French writer had become known to the soldiers in the trenches. Everywhere, you might see the gaunt figures in their tattered jackets bending over the dingy pamphlets — “Fantine,” or “Cosette,” or “Marius,” or “St. Denis,” and the woes of “Jean Valjean,” the old galley-slave, found an echo in the hearts of these brave soldiers, immersed in the trenches and fettered by duty to their muskets or their cannon …. Thus, that history of ‘The Wretched,’ was the pabulum of the South in 1864; and as the French title had retained on the backs of the pamphlets, the soldiers, little familiar with the Gallic pronunciation, called the book “Lee’s Miserables!” Then another step was taken. It was no longer the book, but themselves whom they referred to by that name. The old veterans of the army henceforth laughed at their miseries, and dubbed themselves grimly, “Lee’s Miserables!”
The MoC currently has one of these original pamphlets on display in Richmond and you can download a free copy of the Richmond 1863 print of "Les Miserables" at: https://archive.org/details/lesmisrablesth01hugo.
I hope some take the time to read this classic as seen through the eyes of the men that we choose to try to portray. That being said, with such popularity in the later half of the war, I am surprised no vendor has attempted a quality period reproduction for sale. I know I would carry one of these at events. Anyone interested in taking on such a project?
As we take the time to better our impressions via correct clothing, uniforms, drill.... let us not forget the culture of the times as well. For the Confederate soldier, new literature was hard to come by due to paper shortages and import limitations caused by the blockade. One of the few works to circulate was Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables” which originally was published in 1862 with English translations of the five parts of the novel appearing in the South later that year. John Esten Cooke (aide to Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart) had the following to say about the Hugo's work:
The name had a somewhat curious origin. Victor Hugo’s work, “Les Miserables” had been translated and published by a house in Richmond; the soldiers, in the great dearth of reading matter, had seized upon it; and thus, by a strange chance th...e tragic story of the great French writer had become known to the soldiers in the trenches. Everywhere, you might see the gaunt figures in their tattered jackets bending over the dingy pamphlets — “Fantine,” or “Cosette,” or “Marius,” or “St. Denis,” and the woes of “Jean Valjean,” the old galley-slave, found an echo in the hearts of these brave soldiers, immersed in the trenches and fettered by duty to their muskets or their cannon …. Thus, that history of ‘The Wretched,’ was the pabulum of the South in 1864; and as the French title had retained on the backs of the pamphlets, the soldiers, little familiar with the Gallic pronunciation, called the book “Lee’s Miserables!” Then another step was taken. It was no longer the book, but themselves whom they referred to by that name. The old veterans of the army henceforth laughed at their miseries, and dubbed themselves grimly, “Lee’s Miserables!”
The MoC currently has one of these original pamphlets on display in Richmond and you can download a free copy of the Richmond 1863 print of "Les Miserables" at: https://archive.org/details/lesmisrablesth01hugo.
I hope some take the time to read this classic as seen through the eyes of the men that we choose to try to portray. That being said, with such popularity in the later half of the war, I am surprised no vendor has attempted a quality period reproduction for sale. I know I would carry one of these at events. Anyone interested in taking on such a project?
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