Thread by @AmericanGwyn

Some Notes on the Composition of Blood Meridian and Cormac McCarthy's Sources for the Novel:

Will write a proper Substa*k about this at some point, but have decided to give away some information to anyone interested.

Here goes: https://t.co/HMlTZtQIj5twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

1.

--How Came the Learned Man--

Most fans know that Cormac relied heavily on Samuel Chamberlain's memoir, My Confession. Chamberlain was a US Army soldier who went AWOL during the Mexican-American War & ended up with Glanton's scalp-hunters.

[S.C's depictions of the Judge] https://t.co/kAwjbwTY6Utwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

2. We only know about "Judge Holden of Texas" because of Chamberlain. And this is how Cormac knows about the Judge.

However, I believe Cormac's point of entry into the project that became Blood Meridian was Rip Ford's memoirs (published as Rip Ford's Texas).

Ford knew Glanton. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

3. Ford rode with Glanton, served with him in the Mexican-American War, and hated his guts. Both had been Texas Rangers, but Glanton brought shame on the organization (according to Ford).

[LEFT: photo of Ford; RIGHT: artist depiction of John Joel Glanton]

4. Here is a footnote from Rip Ford's Texas (p. 64):

"Only 26 when he joined the US Army in January, 1847, John Joel Glanton got into trouble for shooting a Mexican civilian--Glanton said he did it in self-defense, eyewitnesses said he did it in cold blood... twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

5. "When army police sought to put him in irons, [Glanton] borrowed food and ammunition from his friend and rode for Texas.

Later, he reenlisted in Jack Hays' second regiment and saw action throughout the Mexico City Expedition. In 1849, Glanton, attracted by the stories...

6. "...of gold in California, left his wife and two children in San Antonio and headed for the Pacific Coast. he paid his way by killing Apaches and selling the scalps at fifty dollars apiece to Mexican authorities. Some said the scalps were not always Apache...

7. "He was killed in an Indian fight at Yuma, Arizona, early in 1850."

That footnote is the plot of Blood Meridian. There are drafts of BM in the archives at San Marcos that go back to the early 1970s.

Yes, madam. That is what I said. 70s. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

8. I believe this footnote was Cormac's starting point.

He moved to El Paso in 1976 and began doing firsthand research. Somewhere about this time, he read My Confession and encountered the vast abhorrence of the Judge. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

9. Along this time, novelist William Gay wrote Cormac and asked what he was working on (they kept up a correspondence for several years).

Cormac wrote back: "I'm working on this thing where a bunch of ole boys ride south of the border and it keeps getting darker & darker."

10. That is the last time William Gay ever heard from Cormac (late 70s).

That particular letter is now in the possession of Tom Franklin. Tommy was Gay's best friend and is his literary executor, I believe.

11.

They Saw One Day a Pack of Viciouslooking Humans:

For a long time, I assumed that with the exception of Glanton and Judge Holden, Cormac made up the other members of the Glanton Gang.

After all, what kind of person is named Toadvine? Or Bathcat? Or Grannyrat? https://t.co/Mkdug8Zs4Utwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

12. Then I read J. Frank Dobie's Apache Gold & Yaqui Silver. He writes of the Glanton Gang and all the characters are there: Tobin, Webster, Grannyrat, Bathcat, Doc Irving, John Jackson.

Every named character in Blood Meridian is based on an historical figure.

Even Toadvine. https://t.co/y1nEod6qPBtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

13. Now I'm going to sit down and play my Telecaster for 6-8 hours.

More TK.