1846: Van Amburgh

Van Amburgh.jpg

Van Amburgh's Triumphal Car

Cotton Chronology 

Van Amburgh returned from Europe in 1845.  In 1846 he toured his Menagerie throughout the northeast.  Cotton repeated many times that his first performances were with a sideshow associated with that circus.  George H. Coes (1828-1897) also worked in this sideshow and taught Cotton how to play a few tunes on the banjo.