I have been researching the battle of Little Big Horn. I have found the man about whom I am going to write my paper. Major Marcus Albert Reno was a part of General George Custer’s army at the Battle of Little of Little Big Horn. He was born in Carollton, IL in November 13, 1834.
Before Storyville
My primary interest is in deviant behavior in New Orleans in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, so I intend to look further into prostitution. In preparation, I have reread Al Rose’s Storyville and Alicia Long’s The Great Southern Babylon. My next step will be to take a half step or so back in time, to the time before Storyville with Judith Schafer’s Brothels, Depravity, and Abandoned Women: Illegal Sex in Antebellum New Orleans and Emily Landau’s Spectacular Wickedness: Sex, Race, and Memory in Storyville, New Orleans, which covers about thirty years prior to the founding of Storyville as well as the history of the district itself. I am hoping to find a particular woman, or girl, to follow more closely in the archives, either through court documents, a journal or diary, or letters, possibly even mentioned in some doctor or charity hospital records, since these women were frequent visitors to the free clinics and emergency room in many cases, as a professional hazard.
James Longstreet in New Orleans
My microhistory will be on Confederate General James Longstreet’s life in New Orleans after the Civil War. More specifically, I want to look at Longstreet’s role at the Battle of Liberty Place and how he was viewed by both sides of the conflict. I find Longstreet very interesting because he became a Republican after the war and lost a lot of respect from his fellow Confederates. I am anxious to find out how Longstreet’s political views changed after his conversion to the Republican Party.
As for my sources, I have a three biographies on Longstreet that were all written within the past 26 years, and Longstreet’s autobiography he wrote several years after the war. I also found a book at the UNO library on the Battle of Liberty Place which should contain a lot of crucial information. Tulane’s special collections have some letters that Longstreet wrote to local newspapers and magazines of the time and will hopefully prove to be a fantastic primary source.
19th-Century Sports
Louisiana Women
Yesterday I visited the Historic New Orleans Collection. I was able to get the names of a few books which I hope can be obtained through an inter-library loan with UNO. I went through a few books about women in the 1800s in Louisiana. Wow, they sure had it tough.
I did come upon the name of one woman I may write on. She is not famous. Her name is Caroline Merrick. There is book maybe of her letters called Old Times in Dixie Land with writings about everyday life. Another book which I may find very helpful is by Carmen Lindig called The Path from the Parlor 1879-1920.
It is a beginning.
Cayetano Mariotini
I am interested in writing about a 19th-century circus performer, Caetano Mariontono. These are preliminary articles I have found:
http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/louisiana_anthology/encyclopedia/m/mariotini.html
http://www.neworleanspubliclibrary.org/~nopl/exhibits/french/cayetano.htm
19thcenturylives 