GDG- Pettigrew's book in the movie and real life

[Margaret D. Blough]

Another spelling of the family name is Petigru.  The most famous holder of that name was that rarest of creatures, a South Carolina Unionist, James Louis Petigru. Petigru once described his state as “too small to be an (independent) republic and too large to be an insane asylum.” Sadly, James Louis Petigru died in March 1863 just before he turned 74. Despite his unpopular views, he was widely respected and his funeral was a major event in Charleston.

Regards,

Margaret

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "B. Ramsey" <ohauntieb at yahoo.com> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> I got a kick out of the thread about movie lines. The single scene in 
> Gettysburg, the movie, in which Pettigrew appears really sticks in my craw and 
> is soooo ridiculous if cries out for satire. The Fort Delaware Society just 
> printed my article about Pettigrew in it's yearly publication (if you want a 
> copy of the article in Word format email me--I hesitate to even say that to any 
> member of this group!) so I will take this opportunity to set the record 
> straight about Pettigrew's book. Pettigrew is a kinsman of mine and I have been 
> researching him and his family for more than ten years. Here's what my article 
> says: 
> 
> "Knowing changes were imminent, Pettigrew took time to publish a manuscript he 
> had written a year before. He called it Notes on Spain and the Spaniards in the 
> Summer of 1859, with a Glance at Sardinia. It was a pastiche of his 
> observations on history, architecture, agriculture and food, with Moorish tales, 
> tips on buying a Toledo sword and a description of hanging precariously over a 
> cliff in a runaway coach. He wrote of his love of hot chocolate for breakfast, 
> Seville, and beautiful women in mantillas and his loathing for Spanish bed bugs. 
> To modern sensibilities his heavy Victorian prose is less delightful than his 
> subject, but Pettigrew’s extraordinary powers of observation and his love for 
> Spain speak from every page. 
> Typically self-effacing about his book, he listed the author as “A 
> Charlestonian (J.J.P.)” Each of the few volumes, produced at his own expense, 
> was personalized identically-- to a friend or relative “from the author.” 
> Contrary to the portrayal in the 1993 movie Gettysburg, when Longstreet gave 
> last minute instructions before the Confederate charge on July 3, 1863, 
> Pettigrew’s saddlebags contained a bottle of cayenne pepper, not a copy of his 
> book. Having taken great effort to keep his book a modest gift for close 
> friends, Pettigrew would be mortified to find himself immortalized by Hollywood 
> as so egocentric that, at a crucial pre-battle moment, he wanted to hand his 
> commander a copy of his book about Spain--a book which Longstreet had probably 
> never heard of, let alone read." 
> 
> Ain't Hollywood great??!!! The man did not put his name in the book, never 
> signed an autograph in a single copy when he handed it out, and he will now be 
> thought of forever as the biggest ego of the Civil Way. Blecch for Hollywood. 
> Thanks for letting me set the record straight and sorry you set me off. :):) 
> Beverley Ramsey 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------- 
> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------- 
> You may unsubscribe by going to 
> http://mailman.arthes.com/mailman/listinfo/gettysburg 
> 
> You can add yourself to the GDG map at: 
> http://www.frappr.com/gettysburgdiscussiongroup 
> 
> View archived posts from May 2004 - present at 
> http://mailman.arthes.com/pipermail/gettysburg/