Henry injured while extinguishing a fire, which prevents active service in the Civil War (1861–5). Wilky and Robertson enlist as officers in black Massachusetts regiments; Wilky, wounded at Gettysburg, recuperates at home.

1862–4 Term at Harvard Law School; drops law in favour of a literary career. Family moves to Boston. Henry hears spiritualist lecturer, Cora L. V. Hatch, at New York, November 1863. First published tale, ‘A Tragedy of Error’, appears anonymously, February 1864. Begins to write book reviews for North American Review.

1865 ‘The Story of a Year’ appears under his name. Writes reviews for Nation. Wilky and Robertson start a cotton plantation in Florida, employing freed slaves.

1866 Family moves to Cambridge, the Harvard University suburb.

1869–70 Travels in Europe: England, France, Switzerland and Italy. Meets George Eliot. Death of Minny Temple (b. 1845), his much-loved cousin.

1871 Returns to Cambridge. First novel, Watch and Ward, serialized in Atlantic Monthly.

1872–4 Travelling in Europe, at first with his aunt and sister. Writing travel sketches, tales and reviews in preparation for his first ‘big’ novel. Begins to become self-supporting as a writer.

1875–6 First consolidation: Transatlantic Sketches (travel). A Passionate Pilgrim (tales) and first important novel Roderick Hudson all published in USA. In Paris writing correspondence for New York Tribune. Mingles in the Parisian literary scene and meets Turgenev, Flaubert, Daudet, Zola and Maupassant. Resigns from Tribune, moves to England and settles in Piccadilly, London.

1877 *‘Four Meetings’. The American. Again travelling in France and Italy.

1878 First English publication: French Poets and Novelists. *‘Daisy Miller’ published in Cornhill Magazine, earning real fame in England and USA. ‘An International Episode’ and The Europeans also reflect this ‘international theme’. Elected to the Reform Club, London, and begins punishing schedule of social engagements and country-house visits.

1879 *‘The Pension Beaurepas’. Hawthorne, which disparages American literary culture.

1881 ‘Middle phase’ inaugurated by successful novels Washington Square and The Portrait of a Lady.

1881–2 Travels to USA. Much fêted in New York; visits Washington (and President Chester A. Arthur). Recalled to Cambridge by his mother’s death, January.

1882. Alice and father move back to Boston.