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“…an Old World journey…”

In a suspicious and typically evasive ploy, Sims omits the fact that the Civil War had started two months earlier.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, pp. 305-06. 

“…tipping into war…”

https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-glass-negatives/articles-and-essays/time-line-of-the-civil-war/1861/

“A message arrived…”

See “….Pratts, Hilliards…Milburn,” above.

It isn’t clear how the Pratt and Sims families became intermingled, but Thomas Pratt had by now already become a physician at Woman’s Hospital, and as will be documented later he would marry Sims’s daughter, befriend Sims’s son, and eventually take over Sims’s practice in Paris. As Sims and Thomas Pratt would soon be traveling to Europe together, it follows that there would have been contact about Thomas Pratt’s father’s mission in Europe, on behalf of the Confederacy. Indeed, as will be documented, it was the conclusion of the State Department that Sims too was acting as an agent on behalf of the South.

“…W.H. Pratt, had been dispatched to Europe…”

This is a State Department transcription of a letter from W.H. Pratt at the start of the war. The letter was intercepted at the Post Office’s Dead Letter Office, and forwarded to Secretary of State Seward, who immediately sounded an alarm about Pratt’s doings in Europe. The letter never reached its recipient, and it is likely that this letter raised concerns about Sims’s travel abroad, as well, as it would be noted that Sims was traveling with W.H. Pratt’s son.

From W.H. Pratt to unknown person, May 30, 1861, written on board the steamship Europa, after Pratt had left the United States, six weeks after the start of the Civil War. This transcription is held in the State Department archives at the Archives II facility in Washington D.C.

“In 1859, Sims had arranged…”

Accounts differ on Pratt’s position at Woman’s Hospital, and the exact role—but it’s not a stretch to say that Sims had a hand in the hiring of his future son-in-law.

Harris, S. (1950). Woman's surgeon: The life story of J. Marion Sims. New York: Macmillan, p. 208.

Marr, J. P. (1957). Pioneer surgeons of the Woman's Hospital: The lives of Sims, Emmet, Peaslee, and Thomas. Philadelphia: Davis. p. 345.

“…now courting Sims’s daughter Eliza…”

What is notable here is that Sims’s biographer—at other points in his study—appears to be familiar with the State Department records that reveal their interest in Sims, and their concern about his connection to W.H. Pratt through his son, Thomas Pratt. Hence, in identifying Thomas Pratt as a Virginian, Harris (also an Alabaman) would seem to be deliberately covering Sims’s tracks. (See “…Sims and Thomas Pratt to travel to Europe together,” below, for proof that Thomas Pratt was the son of W.H. Pratt of Mobile, Alabama.)

Harris, S. (1950). Woman's surgeon: The life story of J. Marion Sims. New York: Macmillan, p. 208.

“…Sims and Thomas Pratt to travel to Europe together.”

See “A message arrived…,” above.

There is no direct evidence of this message, but there must have been something like it. This letter, from James Bowen to William Seward, triggered another letter from Seward, sent abroad, warning diplomats that Sims was likely “hostile to the government.” It also establishes that Thomas Pratt was W.H. Pratt’s son (see “…now courting Sims’s daughter, Eliza…,” above).

From New York Chief of Police, James Bowen, to Secretary of State William Seward, July 20, 1861. The letter is held in the Seward Family Archives at the University of Rochester, River Campus Library, and is available through the Seward Family Digital Archive.

From Secretary of State William Seward to Henry Shelton Sanford, July 25, 1861. (Sanford was Lincoln’s “spymaster” in Europe at the time—stationed in Brussels. As will be seen in a later chapter, Sanford will play a role in Sims’s time in Europe.) This transcription is held in the State Department archives at the Archives II facility in Washington D.C.

“Pratt was to coordinate efforts…”

Although Sims briefly mentioned Pratt in letters to his wife in the earliest part of his journey abroad, Thomas Pratt is not mentioned in later letters, and is not mentioned at all, in connection to Sims’s time abroad, in Sims’s autobiography. As Thomas Pratt was a fervent secessionist—as will be documented later, he would eventually leave Paris in an effort to enlist in the war, along with Sims’s son Granville—it’s highly likely that he would have been tasked with somehow assisting his father’s efforts.

“…his life’s martial duty.”

The fascination with wearing medals awarded for medical accomplishment as though they were military honors speaks for itself.

“…serve in a covert capacity.”

See “Sims’s grandfather…,” above.