E. Gould Buffum's Six Months in the Goldmines: From a Journal of Three Years Residence in Upper and Lower California

The rare book is now on-line at the Library of Congress.

E. Gould Buffum was in Lower California (Baja California) as an officer in the U.S. Army during the U.S.-Mexican War. I quoted from his delightfully vivid memoir of his time in and around La Paz and Todos Santos in my own memoir, Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico. Some years later, Buffum ended up in Paris as the correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. I found several references to secret meetings with him in Paris circa 1865-1866 in the archives of John Bigelow, the U.S. minister to France. This brings me to the connection with my novel:

Because she did meet with Bigelow and she was looking to cause a scandal, it is entirely possible that Alice Green de Iturbide, mother of the prince in The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, my novel based on the true story, might have made Buffum's acquaintance while in Paris. Certainly she would have known who he was, for he was then considered one of the leading U.S. journalists in Europe. I took a small liberty in having her threaten Madame Almonte with his appearance in the scene in the chapter "In the Grand-Hotel."

Shortly after this time, Buffum, alas, committed suicide in Paris. He left a charming record of his travels in France, Switzerland and elsewhere on the continent. More about that book anon.

The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire: Bibliography

Pub date for The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire is May 5th. The list of selected books consulted is now on-line. I've added a few links to relevant blog posts and in the coming days will be adding more. Some of these works are now available on-line in their entirety.

Aguilar Ochoa, Arturo, ed., La fotografía durante el Imperio de Maximiliano.

Almonte, Juan Nepomuceno, Guía de forasteros y repertorio de conocimientos útiles.

Arróniz, Marcos, Manual del viajero en México, Paris: 1858.

Ávila, Lorenzo, ed., Testimonios artísticos de un episodio fugáz 1864-1867.

Basch, Dr. S., (translated by Hugh McAden Oechler), Memories of Mexico: A History of the Last Ten Months of the Empire.

Bigelow, John, Reminiscences of an Active Life. 3 volumes.

Blanchot, Col. Charles, Mémoires: L'Intervention Française au Mexique. 3 volumes.

Blasio, José Luis, Maximiliano íntimo: El Emperador Maximiliano y su corte.

Buffum, E. Gould, Sights and Sensations in France, Germany, and Switzerland; or, Experiences of an American Journalist in Europe.

Clay, Mrs., A Belle of the Fifties: Memoirs of Mrs Clay, of Alabama, Covering Social and Political Life in Washington and the South, 1853-66.

Conte Corti, Egon César, Maximiliano y Carlota.

Cortina del Valle, Elena, ed., De Miramar a México.

Evans, Henry Ridgely, Old Georgetown on the Potomac.
Evans, Dr. Thomas W., The Second French Empire: Napoleon the Third; The Empress Eugénie; The Prince Imperial.

Fabiani, Rossella, Miramare Castle: The Historic Museum.

Gooch, Fanny Chambers, Face to Face With the Mexicans. Original, unedited edition.

Hamann, Brigitte, Con Maximiliano en México: Del diario del príncipe Carl Khevenhüller, 1864-1867.

Haslip, Joan, The Crown of Mexico.

Kearny de Iturbide, Louise, My Story. Manuscript, Catholic University Archives.

Iturriaga de la Fuente, José N., Escritos mexicanos de Carlota de Bélgica.

Kolonitz, Paula, Un viaje a México en 1864. Translated by Neftali Beltrán.

Leech, Margaret, Reveille in Washington, 1860-1865.

Lombardo de Miramón, Concepción, Memorias.

Luca de Tena, Ciudad de México en tiempos de Maximiliano.

Magruder, Henry R., Sketches of the Last Year of the Mexican Empire.

Mann-Kenney, Louise, Rosedale: The Eighteenth Century Country Estate of General Uriah Forrest, Cleveland Park, Washington DC.

Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, Recollections of My Life. 3 volumes.

Michael, Prince of Greece, The Empress of Farewells: The Story of Charlotte, Empress of Mexico.

Meyer, Jean, ed., Yo, el francés: Biografías y crónicas.

Ortiz, Orlando, Diré adiós a los señores: Vida cotidiana en la época de Maximiliano y Carlota.

Pani, Erika, El Segundo Imperio.

Payno, Manuel, The Bandits from Río Frío. Translated by Alan Fluckey.

Ratz, Konrad, Tras las huellas de un desconocido.

Ratz, Konrad, Correspondencia inédita entre Maximiliano y Carlota.

Reglamento y ceremonial de la Corte, 1866. Second Edition.

Ridley, Jasper, Maximilian and Juárez.

Romero de Terreros, Manuel, La corte de Maximiliano: Cartas de don Ignacio Algara.

Robertson, William Spence, Iturbide de México.

Ruiz, Ramón Eduardo, ed., An American In Maximilian's Mexico, 1865-1866: The Diaries of William Marshall Anderson.

Salm-Salm, Felix, The Diary of Prince Salm-Salm.

Salm-Salm, Princess (Agnes), Ten Years of My Life.

Solares Robles, Laura, La obra política de Manuel Gómez Pedraza.

Stevenson, Sara Yorke, Maximilian in Mexico: A Woman's Reminiscences of the French Intervention 1862-1867.

Villalpando, José Manuel, Maximiliano.

Warner, William W., At Peace with All Their Neighbors: Catholics and Catholicism in the National Capital, 1787-1860.

Windle, Mary J., Life in Washington.