research by Charlie London
between Grand Route Saint John and Ponce de Leon.
Henry Vignaud (1830-1922)
Henry Vignaud was a journalist, diplomat, and historian. He was born and educated in New Orleans. His career as a journalist commenced with articles for the newspapers of New Orleans. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he became a captain in the 6th Louisiana Regiment but was imprisoned in 1862, when New Orleans was captured by the Union Army. He escaped, went to Paris, and never returned to the United States.
In Paris, Vignaud entered the service of the Confederate mission under John Slidell. In 1869, he was appointed to a secretaryship in the Roumanian legation at Paris. On December 14, 1875, he was appointed second secretary of the United States legation in Paris, and on April 11, 1885, was promoted to be first secretary. For thirty-four years, he was an indensable member of the Paris mission, frequently acting as chargé d’affaires, and serving always with distinction.
Vignaud’s distinction was achieved after the age of seventy. His special interest in Columbus grew out of his close association with Henry Harrisse and with the Peruvian scholar Manuel Gonzalez de la Rosa, and the publications of the Columbian anniversary in 1892. He published several works on Columbus and European exploration during the 15th and 16th centuries, including: La Lettre et la Carte de Toscanelli (1901), Toscanelli and Columbus (1902), Études critiques sur la vie de Colomb avant ses découvertes (1905), Histoire critique de la grande entreprise de Christophe Colomb (2 vols., 1911), Améric Vespuce, 1451-1512 (1917), and Christophe Colomb et la Légende (1921).
Vignaud also displayed a broad interest in the whole range of studies of aboriginal America and of the earliest European contacts with the new world. His work was recognized by the award of numerous honors and prizes, and by election as a foreign corresponding member of the Institut de France.
Vignaud’s library of many thousand books, pamphlets, and maps now resides at the University of Michigan.
Vignaud’s work also includes an unfinished history of cartography in approximately 650,000 words.
Biographical note has been excerpted from Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1936), s.v. “Vignaud, Henry”
Link to article above:
http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.vignaud
1876 vignaud1876feb20 Vignaud mentioned at the end of “Glimpses of Life in Paris” article.
1895 vignaud1895sep07 No Disagreement between U.S. and French Governments
1895 vignaud1895dec20 U.S would gain Canada in war with Britain
1895 vignaud1895dec20a
1895 vignaud1895dec21 “Our difficulties with France have always been easily settled.”
1899 vignaud1899july13
1901 vignaud1901jul28 “American Tourists Have Their Troubles in Paris”
1901 vignaud1901sep30 “Columbus Knew, says Henry Vignaud”
1903 vignaud1903apr20 “Henry Vignaud Has Ended Controversy”
1903 vignaud1903apr20a “Vignaud Closes Controversy”
1903 vignaud1903sep07 “Henry Vignaud Replies to Dr. Ruge”
1904 vignaud1904mar24 “Was Columbus a Boastful Liar?”
1905 vignaud1905feb28 “True Family of Columbus”
1905 vignaud1905apr09 “Columbus Was a Humbug”
1906 vignaud1906feb22-napoleon Napoleon’s Tomb
1906 vignaud1906oct24 “Try to Suppress White Slave Trade”
1906 vignaud1906oct24-whiteslaves Vignaud Represents U.S. Against White Slavery
1907 vignaud1907june23 “Bones of Columbus Found at Last”
1907 vignaud1907aug04 U.S. Gives Statue of Lafayette to France
1909 vignaud1909feb16a Resigns
1909 vignaud1909feb16b Resigns
1909 vignaud1909feb18 Will Spend Last Days in France
1909 vignaud1909feb26 20 Prominent Americans Fund Retirement
1909 vignaud1909mar06 “University to Honor Vignaud”
1909 vignaud1909mar16 “Honorary Degree Conferred by Tulane”
1909 vignaud1909may14 “Vignaud is Honored”
1909 vignaud1909may23 “Henry Vignaud, American”
1909 vignaud1909july18 “The Secret of Columbus, Has Vignaud Learned It?”
1909 vignaud1909nov06 “VIGNAUD CASE IS STRONG PLEA FOR FEDERAL PENSIONS”
1911 vignaud1911mar03
1911 vignaud1911mar21a
1911 vignaud1911mar21b
1911 vignaud1911apr02 “SAYS COLUMBUS WAS A FAKER LIKE DR. COOK”
1911 vignaud1911apr11 “CALLS COLUMBUS A FOURFLUSHER”
1912 vignaud1912feb07 “Madrazo Painting Vignaud”
1921 vignaud1921apr19 “Raps Columbus”
1922 vignaud1922feb09 “Henry Vignaud Praised” will write about Alcee Fortier
1922 vignaud1922sep19 Vignaud passes away
1922 vignaud1922sep19a “Henry Vignaud Dies”
1922 vignaud1922sep27 Letter to the editor about Henry Vignaud
1928 vignaud1928sep09 Henry Vignaud mentioned in “French City Dedicates Monument…” article
1948 vignaud1948oct10 “Experts See Double Over Columbus Ghost”
1948 vignaud1948oct10a “Experts Now Agree on Columbus Birthdate
1976 vignaud1976oct12 “Rare Columbus book visiting here”
Henry Vignaud
Jean-Héliodore Vignaud was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 27, 1830, the eldest of six children of Jean Lucien Vignaud and Clémence Godefroi. Jean- Héliodore later changed his name to Henry Vignaud. Vignaud taught school in New Orleans before founding two weekly journals, L’Union de la Fourche and La Renaissance Louisiannaise. During the Civil War, he served as captain of the Confederate Army’s 6th Louisiana Regiment until his capture during the fall of New Orleans in 1862. Vignaud fled to France after his imprisonment and remained there for the rest of his life.
In 1863, Vignaud became secretary of the Confederate Diplomatic Commission to Paris, and, after the war, Chancellor of the Romanian Diplomatic Agency. From 1875 to 1909, he served as secretary to the American legation in Paris. Vignaud developed an interest in early American history and frequently corresponded with the self-styled “Americanistes” Pierre Margry and Henry Harrisse. He became president of the Société des Americanistes de Paris (1908), and he published many works on American history. He married Louise Compte in 1879 and lived in the Parisian suburb of Bagneux. Henry Vignaud died in 1922.