On April 17, 1864, while stationed at Annapolis during the Civil War, John Lapham Bullis wrote a letter to his mother in which he stated that he was reading "Victor Hugo's sketches of Napoleon." This reference caused us to wonder if the book Mr. Bullis referred to might possibly be a part of the current collection, so we searched our data base for all things Napoleon.
We did not find any book about Napoleon that Mr. Bullis could have been reading in 1864, but there are several in the collection that he might have read at a later time, such as:
The Destroyer of the Second Republic; Being Napoleon the Little
by Victor Hugo
published in 1870
Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon
by Louis Constant Wairy
published in 1900
Napoleon, the Last Phase
by Archibald Philip Primrose, Earl of
published in 1900
Memoirs of the Emperor Napoleon, from Ajaccio to Waterloo, as
Soldier, Emperor, Husband
by Laure Junot Abrantes, duchesse d'
published in 1901
The Life of the Empress Josephine, First Wife of Napoleon
by P. C. Headley (Phineas Camp)
published in 1850
Mr. Bullis's reference to Napoleon also caused us to wonder why he was interested in that particular military and political leader. Perhaps he wanted to learn from Napoleon's successes and mistakes? Or was it simply to distract himself from the realities of the war he was involved in at that time? Putting aside the reason for his choice of reading material, we find it characteristic that a member of the Bullis family would have in his possession a book that he was reading at any opportunity. Obviously, like all the Bullises, John Lapham Bullis was a true book lover and avid reader as well as a military genius.
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