Border and Bastille

Published in 1863, English novelist George Alfred Lawrence's first foray into travel-writing recounts a failed attempt to join the Confederate Army of Virginia. Lawrence (1827-76), who abandoned a law career when his first novel (1853) sold, became known for books that celebrated the brash, violent, aristocratic hero. Lawrence had joined the militia in England, and one critic has suggested that Lawrence's American expedition was his attempt to live as his most famous character, Guy Livingstone, and his attempt to write himself into heroism. In novelistic fashion his work describes his voyage from England to New York, his journey as far as Maryland, his capture by farmers, and his weeks in a Washington gaol. Lawrence embraced the Confederate cause and his work, often racist and relativist, expresses total faith in it.