14 August 1867 • Piraeus, Greece (MS, draft: CU-MARK, UCCL 11496)
First—There is nothing to see at Sebastopol but a bare & uninteresting battle-field where military fortifications have been but no longer exist1explanatory note—and
Secondly—Several among us have having Ⓐemendationstood am in the midst of such scenes of this character of infinitely greater importance in our own Country in the smoke & carnage of battle—and—
Thirdly—The remainder of our company have having Ⓐemendationseen a sufficiency of such things after the battles were over—and
Fourthly—Since, by leaving Sebastopol out of the excursion we can gain a precious addition of time for travel in Palestine,—
Therefore, Satisfied that the minority if a short trip be taken through the Bosphorus & into the Black Sea, all parties will be willing to forego the extension of it to desolate Sebastopol with its notable pyr pile of porter bottles, we respectfully request that you will altar Ⓐemendationyour programme in accordance with the suggestion contained in this last paragraph.
Before the Crimean War (1853–56), the fortified port of Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula, had a population of 43,000 and was Russia’s chief Black Sea naval installation. Beginning in late September 1854, the combined armies of France, Britain, Turkey, and Sardinia laid siege to the city, subjecting it to fearsome bombardments. An estimated 173,000 men on both sides were killed in the year-long battle, and thousands more succumbed to disease. When the Russians evacuated in September 1855, only fourteen buildings in the entire city were relatively undamaged. The occupying allies immediately razed the remaining dockyards and fortifications, and the Paris treaty of 1856 forbade their reconstruction. In the early 1860s, only about 6,000 people lived in Sevastopol’s ruins.
It is not known who or what prompted Clemens to draft this petition in his notebook, nor whether any version of it was ever presented to Captain Duncan. The captain did, however, record in his log on 18 August, while in Constantinople, that “most of them the passengers had intended remaining here while the ship went to Russia but now all but six decide to remain by the ship” (in fact, eight stayed behind: Slote, the Beaches, Bullard, Foster, Severance, Van Nostrand, and the Honorable Jacob Samils Haldeman). The trip prospectus, which stated that any change in itinerary required a “unanimous vote of the passengers,” stipulated a two-day stay at Sevastopol and nearby Balaklava, but the ship actually spent only one day, 21 August—an apparent compromise (Charles C. Duncan 1867; Charles C. Duncan 1867, entries for 18 Aug and 30 Aug; N&J1 , 402 n. 41). Julia Newell, who was corresponding for her hometown newspaper in Janesville, Wisconsin, probably expressed the feelings of many others when she wrote about Sevastopol:
Some of our party were greatly interested and pleased with the sight-seeing of the day, but as for myself, I don’t like battle fields and camping grounds with all the sickening traces of hardships, conflict and bloodshed, nor yet the sad sight of battered walls and beautiful mansions shattered and in ruins. (Newell 1867)
MS, draft, Notebook 9, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK). This unsigned draft is written in pencil, upside down on the eleventh and twelfth lined pages from the back of Notebook 9. This notebook is one of three that survive from the period of the Quaker City voyage. The signatories of this petition, if there were any, have not been identified. It is not known if any version of it was ever delivered to Duncan.
L2 , 79–80; N&J1 , 386–87.
see Mark Twain Papers, pp. 514–15.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.