Deerfield Academy teacher Edward Hitchcock wrote this play in 1814 after reading of the news of Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile to the island of Elba following his failed attack on Russia. Edward played the role of Russia’s Emperor (or Czar) Alexander, and he cast fellow teacher and love interest Orra White as Napoleon’s wife, Maria-Louisa. Although Hitchcock would later disparage the quality of this youthful work in his autobiography, the play was enthusiastically received at the time in the town of Deerfield and was even performed in other towns nearby.