From The Twainian Volume 5 no.5 (September-October 1946), Editor George Hiram Brownell
MAYBE THIS EXPLAINS WHY MARK LEFT NEVADA
Several persons have recently requested that something be said in these columns on the subject of Mark Twain's Civil War career. For their information and that of others the statement is here made that this subject is one of several concerning which, thus far, insufficient definite data has been obtained. There is, however, an interesting bit of collateral information available on the subject which we will set forth at this time. It is contained in the dozen lines of a paragraph of a “Letter” written by Twain for the San Francisco Morning Call, issue of November 19, 1863. The letter is one of a series he wrote to the Call from Carson City while on the staff of the Territorial Enterprise engaged in reporting the proceedings of the Nevada Constitutional Convention at Carson City. The paragraph, with original subhead, is as follows:
RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE
The second Article on the list is the Right of Suffrage. The question of whether it were right and proper to disfranchise quondam Rebel soldiers or not, was the subject of many a long and weary debate during the past week. It was finally determined, however, that disloyal persons—persons convicted of treason, and persons of lawful age who have voluntarily borne arms, or held civil or military office under the Confederacy—should be deprived of the privilege of voting in the State of Nevada.
To get the full significance of the paragraph one should be familiar with Twain's light-opera effort to become a Confederate soldier as first set forth in his “Private History of a Campaign That Failed,” published in the Century Magazine, December, 1885, and first book-published in his “Merry Tales,” (1892). One should also be informed as to the contents of the newly-published series of “Snodgrass Letters” (discovered by Ernest E. Leisy) in a New Orleans newspaper of early 1861.
In the “Snodgrass Letters,” Sam Clemens describes his experiences at a recruiting camp at Baton Rouge where he had gone in the dual capacity of reporter and recruit. It was a Louisiana state military organization which Sam joined, probably to get free meals and transportation—then not provided by newspapers to their war correspondents. He left New Orleans in early April for the North— several months before the state organization became a part of the Confederate army.
During his stay of more than five years on the Pacific Coast, Mark wisely posed as a Unionist—which, if anything, he was at heart. The foregoing paragraph must have given Mark some concern as to what would happen to him in Virginia City following the adoption of the Constitution, containing the paragraph, by the Convention. If he failed to declare himself as having “borne arms” against the Union, he might be “turned in” by a vengeful enemy from back home who knew of the “Campaign That Failed” or his state militia recruitment at New Orleans. If he came forward and declared himself he would also be branded as a traitor, an outcast despised of all men. The outlook was bad, whichever way he turned.
The obvious way out was to get beyond the borders of Nevada and into California, an older state in which the constitution contained no provision outlawing Confederate soldiers. Twain students who have pondered the reasons for his giving up a well-paid and agreeable job on the Territorial Enterprise must consider the contents of this paragraph as supplying a reason of far greater urgency than that of the provision which outlawed dueling in Nevada. His near-duel with a rival newspaper editor might have furnished the occasion for his departure in early May of 1864, but the actual cause could well have been that of his fear of disfranchisement and consequent disgrace in Virginia City.
In none of his known writings during the period of his stay in Nevada and California is there to be found a single reference by Twain to his military record previous to his arrival in Carson City in mid-1861. By 1885, when his tale of the “Campaign That Failed” appeared, the bitterness of Civil War prejudices had greatly abated. Also, Twain’s stature had grown to the point where he could safely make fun of that episode.
But the Louisiana military affair was more complicated. In none of his writings is there to be found a single reference to it or to his “Snodgrass Letters.” The reason for this silence was that, even at the time of his death there were men still alive who knew that he had professed to be a staunch Unionist in Nevada and California. Mark never could bring himself to the point of admitting that, during those days, he had been a hypocrite, a former Confederate (if somewhat Chocolate) Soldier in disguise.
Also, from 1869 onward, Mark was a citizen of Connecticut and New York, the inner strongholds of Unionism. He had become an author with books to sell in this Union market. He thought it good strategy in 1885 to spike the guns of any muck-raker who might dig up his border-line “Campaign That Failed,” but he chose to keep silent concerning his military record in the deep south. Two confessions as to his connection with Rebel military forces would have been too much for prospective Union readers of his books. They would have arrived at the erroneous conclusion that Mark, in early 1861, and 1863, was suffering from a Rebel army recruiting habit that had become a disease.
The issue of just how significant the proposed law was may be exaggerated in the above article. Sam departed Virginia City May, 29, 1864, Nevada was declared a state October 31 but the proposed law as not enacted until March 11, 1865. Consequently, Sam had plenty of time to exit the region before he might have been declare disfranchised. The duel remains as his primary reason for departing. As for the Snodgrass Letters, doubts remain as to their author.