Louis Billing Travel Diary

This diary documents the 1865 journey of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, resident Louis Billing to England, where he visited relatives. He stayed with the family of his cousin William Mansell and other Billing relatives. Short trips were taken to other destinations in the United Kingdom and two months were spent in France. Billing commented on his relatives and ancestral history, described architecture and cathedrals, and made strongly patriotic comparisons between England and America. Billing served in the Union Army and mentioned English interest in the politics of abolition.