Chapter 3 of civilwarscholars.com delves into the lives of Henry Bedinger and Alec Boteler, two congressmen who were also great friends and artists. Before Bedinger became the first US ambassador to Denmark in 1850, he lived in his ancestral home in Bedford, where he wrote a limerick to invite Boteler to a night of drinking and singing. Boteler was a self-professed artist at heart, but his father discouraged him from pursuing art as a career. He attended Princeton, where he met and fell in love with Helen Stockton. They married and had children, but Boteler’s business mishap in 1852 forced him to seek a steady income by running for Congress. Boteler served in Bedinger’s old Congressional seat from early 1859 until just before the Civil War broke out. During this time, Boteler often visited Bedinger in Denmark and even created a cartoon of Charles Harper’s home with a caption referring to Shakespeare’s Henry VI. Bedinger’s stint in Denmark was well-received, as he was a favorite of King Frederick VII and even played chess with famed children’s writer Hans Christian Anderson. Bedinger brought back the Christmas tree tradition from Europe, which later caught on in the US after Prince Albert and Queen Victoria had one.
Posted by Jim Surkamp on 2015-03-26 12:49:21