At the centennial of the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1961, the Kossuth Foundation resolved to commemorate the participation of Hungarians in the War Between the States and published a booklet titled Béla Estván: Hungarian Cavalry Colonel in the Confederate Army written by András H. Pogány. This book was entirely based upon Estván's own War Pictures from the South and the author hardly added anything to the facts in the Hungarian officer's book. Although the volume is rather slim, it is riddled with errors.¹ However, Pogány's gravest mistake was taking for granted everything that Estván had stated, in spite of the fact that even his contemporaries doubted the validity of most of Estván's statements. Merton E. Coulter voiced his own opinion of the Hungarian as follows: "There is some reason to believe that Estvan was a fraud, and was never in the Confederate army. His account is of little value since most of it is not about personal experiences, but is an attempted history of the Confederate military campaigns."²

Edmund Vasváry, an ardent researcher of the history of the Hungarian-American community and author of Lincoln's Hungarian Heroes, also mentioned Estván among the Hungarians who supported the South in the War between the States in his articles published serially in the monthly of the William Penn Fraternal Association between 1961 and 1964. Yet, he himself called for further research, which, he indicated, "would be able to discover some favorable testimony about the life of this mysterious and elusive individual."³

Little is known about Estván's early life. According to Pogány, he was born in 1827, although in the Census of 1860 the date of birth he gave was 1815.⁴ Pogány managed to identify a family of lesser nobility in Hungary named Estván, but could not give proof of the fact that the person under our scrutiny had been indeed the descendant of that particular family.⁵ Béla became an officer of the Imperial Army of Austria-Hungary and later he wrote that he had "served the king of Hungary for fourteen years."⁶ He served in Italy under Radetzky as a captain of cavalry and participated in the Italian campaign of 1848. Having heard of the outbreak of the Hungarian revolution, he returned to Hungary and Governor Kossuth appointed him colonel of cavalry.

After the Hungarian forces laid down their arms at Világos in 1849, Estván had to leave the country in order to escape Habsburg persecution and, like many of his comrades, sought refuge in England. The exact date of when he left for the United States is not known, but it is highly probable that he sailed for the "Land of the Free" in 1850-51 right before or during former Hungarian Governor Lajos Kossuth's tour of the country. None of the sources mentions him as a member of Kossuth's retinue and the reasons why he wound up in Richmond, Virginia, are not clear either. That notwithstanding, in his letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis in 1861 he wrote that he had been the citizen of the city for eight years, i.e., since 1853.⁷

These are the details concerning Estvan's early life as reconstructed by András Pogány and Ella Lonn. Considering all these details, it came as a real shock when I came across sources which left no doubt that Estvan was actually lying about his past and he was indeed an adventurer, a real Munchausen figure. It turned out that Béla Estván was only an assumed name and his real name was Peter Heinrich. He was born in Vienna on July 12, 1827. And, most importantly, he was Austrian by birth! It seems likely that later he only claimed to be Hungarian to win the sympathy and support of the Americans who were enthusiastic about the Hungarian freedom fight of 1848/49. According to Károly Rácz-Rónay, he followed the footsteps of his father, and learned the trade of a painter.⁸

The most mysterious part of Estván's adventurous career was yet to come. In his book he boasted of having participated in the Crimean War and called himself the Hero of Sebastopol. No sources support the validity of these statements. As a matter of fact, Hungarian refugees in the United States were organizing an expeditionary force which was to sail over to Europe and help the Turks against the Russians.⁹ There is no evidence to prove that organized Hungarian units participated in the Crimean war, although there were some individuals who did. None of them, however, sided with the Russians, except for Col. Estván, provided his claims can be trusted. Nevertheless, one clue shows that at least some credit could be given to Estván's words. The would-be Union Commander-in-Chief, Gen. George B. McClellan was present in the Crimean War as a military observer and it is possible that he met the Hungarian adventurer there. It is known that McClellan had shown great interest in the Hungarian fight for freedom against the Hapsburgs back in 1849 and he asked to be sent to Hungary as a military observer. However, because of the victory of the joint Austrian and Russian forces his plan came to nothing. He may have met Estván in the Crimea and this might provide an explanation to the surprising fact that, when his War Pictures was first published in Britain in 1863, Estván dedicated it to McClellan, in spite of the fact that the Hungarian colonel had served in the Conferederate Army. (The 1864 edition was dedicated to the soldiers of both armies.)

After the Crimean War Estván returned to the United States and settled down in Richmond. There is only sporadic reference to his pre-Civil War years. Hermann Schuricht in his significant book on the Germans living in Virginia writes the following, not too flattering lines about Estván: "He (the so-called Count) lived there (in Richmond) upon the earnings of his two ladies, his wife and his sister-in-law, who gave lessons. [...] He himself was a very good-looking jovial man and knew how to play the part of an upright Austrian country nobleman to perfection."¹⁰ The census of 1860 indeed supports Schuricht's claims. One can find two ladies living in Estván's household: Marie Estván, 25, and Laura Lacey, 22, both of whom made their living as teachers of French. Béla and Marie had a two-year-old daughter, Mary.¹¹

However, we can just guess what sort of enterprise he was involved in. Ella Lonn, one of the foremost scholars of the field, states that Estván reached prominence in the Virginia militia and, mainly due to his experience gained in European battlefields, obtained a colonelcy by the time of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859.¹² According to Pogány, Estván took part in the suppression of the rebellion as well.¹³

There is a 5-page sheet music titled Chicora, the original name of Carolina; Chicora, the Indian name of Carolina from 1861 in the possession of the Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library of the Duke University in Durham, South Carolina, on which the name of C. B. Estvan is specified as the publisher. It is dedicated to the patriotic ladies of the Southern Confederated States of North America, so we have every reason to believe that Estván was a rather enthusiastic supporter of the Confederate cause.¹⁴ The outbreak of the Civil War found the Hungarian in Richmond, the would-be capital of the newly-born Confederate States of America. Estván states in his book that he served as a commander of cavalry in the Confederate Army, and participated in a number of engagements including the first battle at Bull Run and Fair Oaks. He belonged to Longstreet's staff in the battle of Seven Pines and Gaines' Mill and claimed that he was the one who changed the outcome of the latter engagement. A glorious military career. The only problem is that no evidence of any sort can be found which validates his statements. No Confederate commander mentioned his name in their memoirs and letters, and there is no trace of him in the Official Records of the Civil War either. Considering this fact, no words will be wasted here upon the military deeds of which he boasts in his book. Instead, I suggest that we take a look at the documents which can be found in the archives and try to "take the measure" of Estván on the basis of these.

In his War Pictures Estván writes the following about his alleged enlistment: "circumstances led me to take service in the confederate army - my long residence in the Southern States being, however, the main inducement thereto."¹⁵ His reluctance is emphasized elsewhere too: "It was now 13 years that I had been away from my native home and now, drawn into the whirlpool of events, I found myself, almost against my will, serving in the ranks of a foreign army, and fighting for a cause, with which neither my head nor my heart could thoroughly sympathize."¹⁶

However difficult Estván found it to identify with the Confederate cause, on June 22, 1861, he wrote the following letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis:

To His Excellency

The undersigned most respectfully begs have to [sic] offer his services to his Excellency the President of the Southern Confederated States.
I served the king of Hungary for fourteen years as a captain of cavalry and fought the victories in Italy under Radetzki.
Governor Kossuth of Hungary appointed me afterwards to Colonel of cavalry and served him in that capacity for two years. For the last eight years I have been a citizen of Richmond Virginia.
Being widely known amongst my countrymen and hoping to meet with ultimate success, I should be highly flattered if his Excellency would give me the permission to furnish me with the necessary means to establish a foreign Legion.
I refer to Hon. Porcher Miles of Charleston.
I have the honor to remain Your Excellency's most obedient servant: C. B. Estván¹⁷

Upon reading these lines one hardly has the impression that Estván was not more than willing to offer his services to the Confederate cause. But even so, barely a fortnight after the first letter Estván wrote another one to Davis:

His Excellency, President Jefferson Davis.

I, the undersigned most respectfully submit to your Excellency the following plan which if it should meet your approbation will be carried into execution as soon as I am furnished with the necessary permission.
I propose to raise in the states of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky recruits for two foreign regiments: one of cavalry and one of infantry which if formed will be subject to the command of Brigadier General Wise.
The two regiments would be mustered in for the duration of the war; - the soldiers to be allowed to elect their officers captains included.
In [illegible] you will please allow me to give some details of my military life:
I have served fourteen years as captain of cavalry in the Austrian army and afterwards as colonel under Gov. Kossuth in Hungary.
For the last eight years I have been a citizen of Richmond Virginia.
I have the honor to remain
Your Excellency's most obedient servant: B. Estván¹⁸

Davis passed both letters on to Confederate Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker, who inquired of opinions of Robert E. Lee and other military leaders in Richmond.

These two letters are the only documents which reveal some direct connection between Estván and the military apparatus of the Confederate States. It cannot be confirmed whether or not Estván had been commissioned as his name cannot be found in any of the rosters of regiments. Therefore, one cannot escape approaching all his statements in War Pictures with extreme caution, especially the parts about his own role. Even his contemporaries could not agree on how much his analyses of the events of the Civil War can be taken for granted. The New York Herald, for example, wrote that Estván had started a military school in Richmond, consequently, he undisputedly was a military expert.¹⁹ Contrarywise, his reviewer in The New York Times wrote that Estván was "unimportant as a historian and probably insignificant as a commander" and "his claims as a military critic are not likely to be accepted by either side." In conclusion, he maliciously remarks that "[Estván] gazes on the battlefield with the calm indifference of the woman who witnessed the conflict between her husband and a bear," which is the "correct temperament of a soldier, but it is also the characteristics [sic] of a mercenary."²⁰

There is, however, yet another documented aspect to Estván's career: together with Louis Froehlich, Estván embarked on making cavalry sabers and bayonets in Wilmington, North Carolina.²¹ As early as January 20, 1861, their firm (Froehlich&Estvan or C.S. Arms Factory) had a contract with the state of North Carolina and made 61 cavalry sabers and 133 saber bayonets, and this was followed three days later was followed by an order for another 35 cavalry sabers and 97 saber bayonets; the two orders combined were worth $5,267. Between January 20, 1861 and March 1, 1862 the firm produced 479 cavalry sabers, 1054 saber bayonets and a couple of artillery bayonets. In 1862 cavalry sabers cost $24.50 apiece, whereas for the saber bayonets the Ordnance Office of North Carolina at Raleigh paid $10.50 apiece. Confederate Secretary of War J. P. Benjamin received a letter dated March 11, 1862, from Henry T. Clark on behalf of the Nineteenth North Carolina Cavalry Volunteer Regiment from Raleigh, N.C., in which he complains that the regiment is just partly armed and is "yet without sabers, although we spared neither effort nor money. We engaged from the Eastvan & Froelich [sic] sword factory at Wilmington, and paid high prices, but three-fourths of the swords proved worthless."²² It was around then when the firm started to face grave financial difficulties. So much so that on April 23, 1862, The Weekly Standard of Raleigh published an ad seeking people who had claims against Froehlich&Estvan or C.S. Arms Factory were sought.²³ It seems very probable that Estván quit very soon thereafter.²⁴ Ella Lonn also confirmed this by stating that Louis Froehlich continued making swords alone at Kenansville, N.C., after his unsuccessful venture with Estván. He employed about 15-20 hands in his manufactory which was closed down in 1864.²⁵

No other details of Estván's Civil War career can be supported with documents. In War Pictures he states that after 18 months of campaigning with the Confederate Army he got yellow fever and resigned his commission.²⁶ In the eyes of Ella Lonn his resignation was rather due to the fact that promotion for the foreign-born was not easy at all in the Confederate Army. She wrote that "probably this slowness of recognition had much to do with Estván's disgruntled attitude toward the Confederacy and ultimate departure in the midst of the war."²⁷ Confederate President Jefferson Davis said to a visitor in Richmond: "Our service offers but little inducement to the soldiers of fortune, but a great deal to the men of principle."²⁸ Hermann Schuricht, however, offered an entirely different explanation for Estván's leaving the Southern states: "When the Civil War commenced, he pretended to have recruited in North Carolina a regiment of Lancers and was authorized to draw from the Ordnance Department the necessary equipage" which he took to North Carolina and sold there. He also said that Estván tried to gain popularity in the North by claiming that he had deserted, went to Washington, D.C. in full Confederate uniform and, according to him, Estván was even received by President Lincoln.²⁹ No records support any of these claims. Whatever Estván's real reasons for leaving the Confederate States might have been, on September 13, 1862 he applied for a passport to the authorities in Washington and left America for Britain soon after.³⁰

Once in England, Estván wrote his War Pictures from the South, which saw three editions within slightly more than a year.³¹ This shows relative success, although even the contemporary American press was divided over the book - Northern and Southern alike. Of course, the Confederate press treated him as a deserter and a foreign mercenary. The Daily Richmond Examiner described him in these words: "In these war times, they [the deserters] are plentiful under the uniform of military officers. Estván, the soi-disant count, who ran to the North after playing out his calls here, was one of a particular class."³² The New York Times reviewer of his book was hardly less critical, claiming that Col. Estvan belongs to the large class of warriors who can "be sharked up for any enterprise that hath a stomach in't. [...] We should prefer that he stood up more manfully either for the North or the South."³³ It was Estván's impartiality that was particularly emphasized by The North American Review. His reviewer concludes, "His book seems to us eminently wise in its judgements and opinions, is in its tone friendly to the people of the North."³⁴

This is the point where most sources finish Estván's story. Schuricht suggests that he revisited his old fatherland, Austria, and he was arrested and prosecuted as a criminal in Vienna.³⁵ Again, no sources support these claims. There are, however, other details concerning the Hungarian's career which have been revealed only recently.

In the summer of 1864 the Emperor Maximilian arrived in Mexico, intending to create a new imperial order in the country. He enjoyed the military and financial support of Napoleon III, but he soon had to face grave financial difficulties as the French emperor lost interest and gradually withdrew his support. He also found an avowed enemy in the person of President Andrew Johnson, who wanted to get rid of the French as soon as the Civil War in the United States was over. The Monroe Doctrine became a subject for public discussion and the American public demanded its enforcement.

Maximilian decided to meet this challenge by counter-propaganda. He sought recognition and he did not think that he was playing a losing game. He established an agency in New York, which served as the center for imperial intrigue and propaganda. In 1865 the emperor appointed Luis de Arroyo consul general for the Mexican empire. His primary task was to secure recognition by the United States.³⁶

It was in his New York office that Arroyo was visited a number of times by Béla Estván. Arroyo recalled that "he gave the impression that he was a man of some consequence, and spoke encouragingly of the imperial prospects of recognition."³⁷ He was told by Estván that he had been the special correspondent for the New York Herald, and was sent to Mexico by James Gordon Bennett in October 1865. He managed to secure an audience with the emperor and later he summed up his motivations: "[...] despite my seventeen years of absence from my homeland I still preserved a deep affection for the imperial Family of the House of Habsburg, I took the opportunity with vivid interest to indirectly serve an imperial Prince, thus redeeming the political debt which I still had to pay to the Austrian House from previous years."³⁸ Upon reading these lines we are tempted to agree with historian Robert W. Frazer, who remarked that "it was doubtful that he desired to serve an imperial prince as much as he wished to serve Béla Estván."³⁹

Nevertheless, Estván's plan of subsidizing the American press was backed both by Maximilian and Arroyo. The emperor retained Estván for two years at $5,000 a year. In addition, the Hungarian was provided a whopping $40,000 a year for expenses, which was still only half of what Estván had hoped for.⁴⁰ Estván returned to New York and his task was to prepare the material furnished by others for publication. He had to account for his expenditures at the end of each month, which displeased him very much. Whatever his feelings about these restrictions, he got down to opening offices in Washington and New York at once and employed several assistants. He spent only on this more than $40,000 during the first year. In addition, his budget called for an additional $35,000, well above the sum provided for that year.⁴¹

Both Louis Borg, head of the Mexican consulate, and Maximilian's agent, Mariano Degollado, were amazed at Estván's budget. They hesitated to provide the Hungarian with the additional sum he requested. Finally they agreed to give him $7,500, but refused to give him a cent more.

Estván made extensive use of propaganda in New York, whereas in Washington he was more interested in developing personal contacts and planning petty intrigues. According to his own account, he managed to bribe - among others - three New York newspapers and paid $750 each to the Herald, Tribune and Times. However, none of the three dailies published articles favorable to the empire, save some sporadic ones in the Tribune which was probably rather due to Horace Greeley's opposition to the administration.⁴² Therefore, it is not at all unlikely that Estván pocketed the subsidies himself.

The Hungarian spent most of his time in the capital trying to form acquaintanceships. For example, he became acquainted with the leaders of the Fenian movement and soon boasted that he had won almost a million voters for the empire.⁴³

Estván fought vigorously for a free hand as far as the expenditure of money was concerned, but his pleas were rejected. When one of his installments failed to arrive, he turned to George Francis Train, one of his Fenian acquaintances, and a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Nebraska, for aid and was lent $15,000; in return he gave Train a bill of exchange on the imperial government. Estván's drafts, however, returned unpaid and he could not turn Maximilian's order into cash either.⁴⁴

Arroyo was not satisfied with the output of Estván's bureau. A number of articles treating the Mexican question appeared in the press, but most of them were partisan in nature (the Republicans were for the peaceful settlement of the question, whereas the Democratic press favored measures against the empire), and not the product of the Hungarian and his assistants. In April, 1866, Arroyo finally decided not to provide Estván with additional funds. Estván was forbidden to call himself an employee of the imperial government and he could not make offers and concessions concerning Mexico. The documents regarding his activities were sent to the imperial foreign office, and the press campaign was terminated. He followed Castillo, who was in Europe with the Empress Charlotte, to Paris and Rome, but he could not achieve anything. He returned to New York, but his part in Maximilian's propaganda activities had ended.⁴⁵ Meanwhile, the emperor's days in Mexico were numbered. In May 1867 he was captured by the soldiers of Juarez and - despite the objections of European diplomacy - he was executed on June 19.

Soon thereafter, on July 6, The New York Times published an open letter to the editor written by Béla Estván, who titled himself as director of the Imperial Bureau of Mexico in the United States. In this letter, Estván accused the United States Government of a "reprehensible and self-dishonoring hesitation" and questioned why the United States failed to defend the life of Maximilian. He remarked that it was the United States that forced France and other European powers to leave Mexico referring to the Monroe Doctrine and should have had "the moral power, supported by an invincible military force, to protect, in the interest of our modern civilization, the life of a Christian Prince, from whom it had taken the means of self-protection and even of escape." The Hungarian called it the last act of his official duty to the murdered Emperor to give this solemn protest to the American people.⁴⁶

Not much is known about his life thereafter. At the end of 1867 he wrote a letter to Cassius Marcellus Clay, the American ambassador to Russia, from London.⁴⁷ This indicates that soon after the tragic end of Maximilian he returned to Europe. It is not clear how well Clay and Estván knew each other, but the informal parts of the letter show that they had been acquainted with each other for some time. It is not clear either what Estván was doing in St. Petersburg, Berlin and London.

No documents have been found so far which would reveal any more details of Estván's life. There is a trace, however, which may serve as a starting point for further research. In the database of WorldCat one can find a book written by - according the catalogue - B(éla) Estván. The work titled Der badische Entwurf einer Wertzuwachsteuer; eine kritische Studie [The Draft of a Value Added Tax in Baden; A Criticial Study] was published in Mannheim, Germany around 1911.⁴⁸ It is highly probable that there is some confusion about the author as - according to the catalogue of the Central Library of Mönchengladbach, Germany - the author of the work is a Dr. Heinrich Peter. This name is included in WorldCat as well, labeled as the person responsible for the publication. If it is taken into consideration that Estván would have been well over 80 by 1911, and no detail in the book refers to the writer, we have no reason to suspect that the author was Estván himself, especially as the book is of highly theoretical nature and to our knowledge the Hungarian had no economic qualification whatsoever.

Basically that is all we know about Béla Estván. There is one more thing, however, which would be interesting to track down. In 1872 a book titled Harry Delaware; or, An American in Germany was published in New York, which was written by a Mathilde Estvan.⁴⁹ It would be necessary to confirm whether she was in any kind of relationship with Béla or not. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any further detail about her life so far.⁵⁰

All we know for sure is that Estvan returned to his homeland, Austria in 1872. He published a memorandum to Kaiser Franz Joseph in which he demanded that he is paid 80,000 dollars the deceased Maximillian had owed him. According to Vasvary, he elicited a considerable amount of money when he founded a mining company. Finally he was arrested and during his trial his own brother, who was living in Vienna, gave him up. Peter Heinrich, the Austrian swindler, was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment on April 6, 1872. One of the contemporary papers descibed him as, "Tall, dry man, with short neck, big head, high forehead, thinning hair and grey beard.[...] Very pleasant, engaging personality." We do not have any further information concerning the later stage of his life.

As one can see, there are still a number of uncertainties concerning the life and career of Béla Estván. Although several so far unknown documents have been revealed which shed light on many aspects of the Hungarian's personality, and, in my opinion, prove that Béla Estván was indeed a soldier-of-fortune, an adventurer whose primary aim was to make personal profit of every possible situation. Nevertheless, Estván was the only Hungarian participant of the American Civil War who wrote a book about what he experienced (if he did), and it became a real bestseller of the day. Every now and then, excerpts from his book are re-published in books and magazines and his War Pictures is really a thrilling experience to read - even if its credibility is highly questionable.⁵¹

1 For instance, Pogány claims that George B. McClellan became the commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army! András H. Pogány, Béla Estván: Hungarian Cavalry Colonel in the Confederate Army. (New York: Kossuth Foundation Inc., 1961) Hereafter cited as Pogány, Béla Estván; Béla Estván, War Pictures from the South (New York: Appleton and Co., 1863); Pogány, Béla Estván, p. 6.

2 Merton E. Coulter, Travels in the Confederate States. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1948), pp.90-91.

3 Edmund Vasváry, "Lincoln and the Hungarians" in William Penn Fraternal Association: Pittsburgh, PA. 1961-64. p. 30.

4 Pogány, Béla Estván, p. 5. Pogány possibly gained this information from the Catalogue of the Library of Congress; The Census of 1860. Richmond, VA. National Archives, Washington, D.C., m-653.

5 Pogány, Béla Estván, p. 4. He refers to the following book: Béla Kempelen, Magyar nemes családok [Hungarian Noble Families]. (Budapest, 1911)

6 Béla Estván to Jefferson Davis. June 10, 1861. National Archives, Washington, D.C., Letters Received by the Confederate Secretary of War. RG 109. M-437, Reel 3, f1378.

7 Béla Estván to Jefferson Davis. June 10, 1861. National Archives, Washington, D.C., Letters Received by the Confederate Secretary of War. RG 109. M-437, Reel 3, f1378.

8 Vasváry Collection., Somogyi Library, Szeged., R1/E, p. 22.

9 The reason for this was the fact that Turkey had afforded asylum to the Hungarian political refugees who left Hungary after the defeat of the War of Independence by Austria and Russia. The New York Times (November 17, 1853.), p.4.

10 Hermann Schuricht, History of the German Element in Virginia. (Baltimore, 1898-1900). pp. 88-89. Hereafter cited as Schuricht, History

11 The Census of 1860. Richmond, VA. National Archives, Washington, D.C., M-653.

12 Ella Lonn, Foreigners in the Confederacy. (The University of North Carolina Press, 1940), p.175. Hereafter cited as Lonn, Foreigners

13 Pogány, Béla Estván, p. 7.

14 Chicora, the Original Name of Carolina; Chicora, the Indian name of Carolina. Barhamville, South Carolina, 1861. Conf. Music #132, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

15 Estván, War Pictures, iii.

16 Quoted in Lonn, Foreigners, p. 58.

17 National Archives. M-437. Letters Received by the Confederate Secretary of War. RG 109. Reel 3, f1378.

18 National Archives. M-437. Letters Received by the Confederate Secretary of War. RG 109., Reel 4, f475.

19 The New York Herald. (July 29, 1863).

20 The New York Times. (July 19, 1863.), p. 3.

21 For the firm see, L. Froehlich & B. Estvan. National Archives. M-346. Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms. Roll #287.

22 War of the Rebellion. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 128 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1880-1901.) Series IV. Vol. 1., p. 987.

23 The Weekly Standard (April 23, 1862.), p. 3.

24 For the firm's contracts with the Ordnance Office at Raleigh, see, National Archives. M-346. Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens and Business Firms. RG109, Roll #327.

25 Lonn, Foreigners, p. 333.

26 Estván, War Pictures, p. 175.

27 Lonn, Foreigners, p. 166.

28 Quoted in ibid. p. 33.

29 Schuricht, History. 2:88-89.

30 National Archives. M-1371: Registers and Indexes for Passport Applications. Roll #03, No. 8325.

31 War Pictures from the South was first published in Britain by Warner and Routledge in 1863. Under the same title in the United States it was published by D. Appleton in 1863, which was soon followed by the German translation under the title Kriegsbilder aus Amerika. Von B. Estvan, oberst der cavalerie der Conföderirten armee published in Leipzig by F.A. Brockhaus in 1864.

32 Daily Richmond Examiner, February 5, 1864., p. 6.

33 The New York Times, July 19, 1863, p. 3.

34 The North American Review Vol.97, Issue 201, (October 1863), pp. 583-584.

35 Schuricht, History. 2:89.

36 Robert W. Frazer, "Maximilian's Propaganda Activities in the United States, 1865-1866," Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 24, No.1 (Feb., 1944), pp. 4-5. Hereafter cited as Frazer, "Maximilian."

37 Arroyo to Castillo, October 24, 1865. Hausarchiv, Archiv Kaiser Maximilians von Mexiko, Karton 146, Arroyo, fol. 76. Library of Congress facsimiles from Austrian archives. Hereafter cited as Arroyo, Hausarchiv.

38 Quoted in Frazer, "Maximilian," p. 19.

39 Ibid.

40 Estván to Fischer, January 12, 1867, Hausarchiv, Archiv Kaiser Maximilians von Mexiko, Karton 144, Berichte von B. Estvan aus New-York, fols. 685-687. Hereafter cited as Estvan, Hausarchiv.

41 Frazer, "Maximilian," pp. 20-21.

42 Frazer, "Maximilian," p. 22.

43 Estván to Castillo, February 23, 1866. Estvan, Hausarchiv, Karton 144, fols. 629-631.

44 Frazer, "Maximilian," pp. 24-25.

45 Frazer, "Maximilian," p. 27.

46 The New York Times (July 6, 1867), p. 4.

47 Estván to Cassius Marcellus Clay, Dec. 13, 1867. Cassius Marcellus Papers Special Collection, Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum of the Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee.

48 Estván, B., Der badische Entwurf einer Wertzuwachsteuer; eine kritische Studie (Mannheim: J. Bensheimer, ca. 1911). I wish to express my gratitude to the Interlibrary Loan staff of the Bloomington Library of IU for securing the only existing copy for me from Mönchengladbach, Germany.

49 Mathilde Estvan, Harry Delaware, or, An American in Germany (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1872)

50 For basic information on Mathilde Estvan see, John Foster Kirk, A Supplement to Allibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature, Vol. I. (Philadelphia: Lippincott & Co., 1891.), p.562. Unfortunately, no details of her family background are given.

51 Béla Estván, "The Yankee Wounded," in The Romance of the Civil War. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1903). The same article has been just recently re-published in Skedaddle, Vol. I, Issue 2 (March 3, 2004), pp.1-3.