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“…the balls he had thrown in France…”

King served in France from approximately 1844 to 1848. At the time, as will be described later in The Anarcha Quest, it was common for American diplomats—particularly Southern diplomats—to throw balls and to attend those thrown by French officials.

Curtis, G. T. (1883). Life of James Buchanan. New York: Harper Bro., p. 564.

Handwritten timeline, anonymous and undated, held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“…a dozen war steamers…”

Letter from William Rufus King to James Buchanan, March 28, 1846, printed in Curtis, G. T. (1883). Life of James Buchanan. New York: Harper Bro., p. 566.

“…a shipwreck on the way home.”

Letter from William Rufus King to James Buchanan, Oct. 1, 1847, printed in Curtis, G. T. (1883). Life of James Buchanan. New York: Harper Bro., p. 571.

“…considered for the Supreme Court.”

Letter from William Rufus King to James Buchanan, February 28, 1846, printed in Curtis, G. T. (1883). Life of James Buchanan. New York: Harper Bro., p. 564.

“…most anxious to see…”

Letter from William Rufus King to James Buchanan, July 15, 1845, printed in Curtis, G. T. (1883). Life of James Buchanan. New York: Harper Bro., p. 570.

“…pleasure and pain…”

Letter from William Rufus King to James Buchanan, January 25, 1846, printed in Curtis, G. T. (1883). Life of James Buchanan. New York: Harper Bro., p. 563.

“…remembered hickory oil.”

This is old slang for a beating or flogging, delivered with a hickory stick.

Letter from James Buchanan to Mrs. Roosevelt, May 13, 1844, printed in Curtis, G. T. (1883). Life of James Buchanan. New York: Harper Bro., p. 519.

“…burn his letters…”

Letter from William Rufus King to James Buchanan, February 28, 1846, printed in Curtis, G. T. (1883). Life of James Buchanan. New York: Harper Bro., p. 564.

“Mr. King had often acted as a nurse…”

I think this is implied, as Buchanan is speaking of what he needs now that King is in Paris.

Letter from James Buchanan to Mrs. Roosevelt, May 13, 1844, printed in Curtis, G. T. (1883). Life of James Buchanan. New York: Harper Bro., p. 519.

“For camp itch…”

Materials relating to King family cures are part of the King family papers, held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“…rhubarb for diarrhea.”

Materials relating to King family cures are part of the King family papers, held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“…sugar for infant cholera.”

Materials relating to King family cures are part of the King family papers, held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“…bay rum for your hair…”

Materials relating to King family cures are part of the King family papers, held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“…lemon to clean the blood.”

Materials relating to King family cures are part of the King family papers, held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“…held onto his cotton too long…”

Letter from William Rufus King to “Cate,” June 6, 1847.

The King family papers are held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“…he had so many of them.”

A transcript of William Rufus King’s last will and testament is held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“…they could go to Liberia…”

King’s tone here is gobsmacking.

A transcript of William Rufus King’s last will and testament is held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“Mr. King wasn’t fully healthy…”

See “…a terrible cough…,” above.

“…could have done it themselves…”

Sims does not specify any activity that the enslaved women participated in, but he does indicate that he had no other assistants for more than a year leading up to his first success (one that was far less complete than he claimed, as is revealed later). I would find it hard to believe that Anarcha, Lucy, Betsey, and the others did not acquire a comprehensive understanding of the procedure.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, pp. 242-43.

“Anarcha gave birth again…”

See “Anarcha learned she had been sold…,” above.

“…at least one of her two holes…”

“Little fistula” is a far cry from how Sims originally described her condition (see “…the smell of gas and waste…,” above). In addition, he does not adequately explain whether he “cured” one fistula, or two..

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 246.

“…some of them were cured…”

Sims acknowledged that further experiments were needed after his initial success, but he never explicitly acknowledged that any enslaved woman who was part of his earliest experiments went uncured. The truth was quite the opposite. I find Nathan Bozeman’s account to be more realistic. As will be described later, Bozeman claimed that Sims’s procedure worked about half the time.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, pp. 246, 248.

“…all of them were sent away…”

“Anacha,” “Betsey,” and “Lucy Ann” all appear on the same document, an inventory from Nathan Harris’s plantation in Autauga County. These inventory materials are the only time Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy all appear on the same piece of paper (front and back).

I was able to find very little about either Lucy or Betsey. Although Nathan Bozeman writes about enslaved women that Sims operated on after 1849, he never attests to having seen any woman who was part of Sims’s earliest experiments. As is suggested later, Sims would likely have recognized at this point that he was less likely to achieve cures in women who had suffered failed experiments in the past. What seems most likely is that he would have sent all of the earliest subjects away—and certainly some of them would have been sold—and this is what is in keeping with what is in the record.

The Harris estate materials are held at the Montgomery County Archives in Montgomery, Alabama.