Antique Place Card for "Mr. Hopkinson" with manuscript note from Oliver Hopkinson (1812 - 1905) pertaining to the details of the meal. First, the card was printed in Spain and reads " Courses De Taureaux" (Bull Races) and shows male and female eating from either side of a massive dish labeled "Olla Podrilla" (Spanish Stew). The note on the reverse reads as follows: "Thanksgiving dinner 24 Nov 1870 during the seige in Paris, Minister Washburn presided. Consul General Read being at the other end of the table. O. Hopkinson." Elihu Benjamin Washburne (1816 - 1887) is the Minister mentioned, and he was a major player in American politics. As Minister to France, Washburne played a diplomatic and humanitarian role during the Franco-Prussian War. This was the first major war in which all belligerents appointed protecting powers to represent their interests in enemy capitals, and the United States agreed to be the protecting power for the North German Confederation and several of the German states. Washburne arranged for railroad transportation to evacuate 30,000 German civilians who had been living in France, and was responsible for feeding 3,000 Germans during the Siege of Paris. The Siege, lasting from 19 September 1870 to 28 January 1871, and the consequent capture of the city by Prussian forces, led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the German Empire as well as the Paris Commune. From the Francis Hopkinson Family Archives