Ohio History Journal

BOOK REVIEWS

 

Civilization of the Old Northwest 1788-1812. By Beverley

W. Bond, Jr. (The Macmillan Company, New York, 1934.

543p. $3.50.)

Dr. Bond, Professor of History in the University of Cincin-

nati, has made a real contribution to the history of Ohio and the

Old Northwest in this book in which he presents a careful study

of the political, social and economic history of this region between

1788 and 1812. The book is divided into fourteen chapters deal-

ing with the basis for civilization, the lure of western lands, gov-

ernment in the wilderness, the beginnings of government in Ohio,

Indiana and Michigan, the conquest of the Indians, pioneer agri-

culture, beginnings of communication, the rise of trade and in-

dustry, cultural and social foundations, religion and order, and

the vindication of the American Colonial policy.

In his preface, Bond states that his aim "has been to present

a composite view of the civilization that arose in the formation of

the Old Northwest between the first settlement at Marietta in

1788 and the outbreak of the War of 1812." Covering this pe-

riod the book shows the remarkable rate at which American in-

stitutions were implanted in the wilderness and traces the develop-

ment of a society that was learning for the first time to think of

itself as American rather than sectional. The author has drawn

extensively for his source material from the early newspapers of

the Ohio Valley.

One critic writes that "it is sound, it is authentic, it is tre-

mendously worthwhile."

Bond has delved heavily into the early history of Ohio both

in America and in the Public Records Office and the British Mu-

seum in England, and is recognized as an authority in this field of

American history. This book is a valuable contribution and a

distinct addition to the historical literature of this region, and it

is expected that the author will make further contributions to the

literature of this particular field.

(156)                 H. L.

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BOOK REVIEWS                     157

 

Ohio Poets; an Anthology of 90 Contemporaries. (Henry

Harrison, New York, 1934. ²⁸⁸p. $2.00.)

In this anthology of contemporary Ohio poets, the publisher

has made possible the presentation of the work of ninety contrib-

utors. Not all poets of distinction are represented but three pages

were permitted each poet so that all contributors might have an

equal opportunity to reveal their respective talents. Among those

represented are Frederick Herbert Adler, Ronald Walker Barr,

Beulah Allyne Bell, Katherine Hunter Coe, Jack Conroy, The-

ressa M. DeFosset, George Elliston, Preston Paine Foster, Marie

Gilchrist, Halley W. Groesbeck, Clara Keck Heflebower, Ruth

Peiter, Dorothy E. Reid, Blanche Waltrip Rose, Royall Snow,

Tessa Sweazy Webb, Florence Ralston Werum and B. Y. Wil-

liams.

The Foreword, written by George Elliston of Cincinnati,

gives a brief history of poetry in Ohio and of the societies and

periodicals in the State. The material is presented under the name

of the author arranged alphabetically. The publisher expresses

the hope that readers will be encouraged to discover for them-

selves other poems of the poets mentioned by reading their books

and looking for their work in contemporary periodicals. And we

might add that it is hoped a reading of their poems will inspire

others to make similar contributions to Ohio's literature.

H. L.

The Pawnee Ghost Dance Hand Game. By Alexander Les-

ser. (Columbia University Press, New York, 1933. 337p.

$4.00.)

The uprising of the Sioux of Dakota in 1890-91, resulting in

the death of Sitting Bull and the massacre at Wounded Knee, was

a result of the Ghost Dance, which was a ceremonial religious

dance connected with a messianic doctrine originated by a young

Paiute Indian named Wovoka. The Ghost Dance of the Pawnee

(of Indian Territory) was different in some respects from that

of other Plains tribes, and the present work by Lesser is the most

complete description of the movement among the Pawnee that

has been published to date. The hand game itself was a guessing

game with a wide distribution in the United States, but used by

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158    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the Pawnee with some modification as a part of the Ghost Dance

ritual.

The first chapter in this book, entitled "The Pawnee in the

Nineteenth Century," should be read by everyone interested in

that great tragedy of American history, the displacement of the

Indian, for Lesser here describes the Pawnee, a civilized and

intelligent people, at their wits end in 1892 before the onrush

of a different culture. To quote: "In 1892, after the best efforts

of the Pawnee for over three generations to adjust themselves

to living alongside the white man, the tribe had come to a cultural

impasse, with nothing to look forward to and nothing to live by."

This was fertile ground for the messianic doctrines of the Ghost

Dance.

There is a bibliography, but no index.

E. F. G.

 

History of Virginia's Navy of the Revolution. By Robert

Armistead Stewart. (Privately published at Richmond, Virginia,

1933. 279p.)

Virginia's Navy of the Revolution was the largest of all the

state navies and it never has received due recognition for the

important part it played in the contest.

This history devotes sixteen chapters covering one hundred

and thirty-six pages to a history of the navy, followed by a

Roster of the Virginia Navy of the Revolution covering one hun-

dred thirty-four pages, and an index of seven pages.

The material has been gathered largely from original sources,

official records and articles published in the Virginia Gazette,

Virginia Historical Register and the Southern Literary Messenger

of 1857.

The author's aim has been to present the story of Virginia's

Navy, its achievements and its failures, as fully as extant records

would admit, and he has made a really worth while contribution

to the history of the American Revolution.

H. L.

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BOOK REVIEWS                          159

 

The Ohio State University College of Medicine: A Collec-

tion of Source Material Covering a Century of Medical Progress,

1834-1934.    (Brown Publishing Company, Blanchester, Ohio,

1934. 572p. $10.00.)

Dedicated to the late Dr. Ernest Scott, who for thirty years was pro-

fessor of pathology in the College of Medicine, Ohio State University,

and one of its predecessors, comes a handsomely printed and bound volume

of 572 pages, entitled "The Ohio State University College of Medicine."

It is published appropriately in the centennial year of the founding of the

Willoughby Medical College, the first of the factors in the making of the

present institution.

The Willoughby Medical College was moved to Columbus in 1847

and was merged with the Starling Medical College in 1848, which main-

tained a separate existence till 1914, when it, together with the Columbus

Medical College and the Ohio Medical University, the Pulte Medical Col-

lege and the Cleveland College of Homeopathy, became the College of

Medicine of the Ohio State University.

This volume, which is the first of a set comprising the history, is

essentially documentary, the narrative and interpretive phases being left

to those that are to follow. The important records of the several institu-

tions that entered into the making of the present college were gathered

by Dr. Jonathan Forman and Iowa D. Smith and were logically arranged

by Forman, Professor Carl Wittke and Dr. Harlow Lindley, the actual work

of compiling, editing and authenticating having been done by the last-

named.

The collection of material includes the records of the founding of the

several institutions, the officers and members of the faculties from the first

to the present, the full roster of graduates, biographies of Lyne Starling,

William S. Sullivant, Dr. Starling Loving and Joseph Sullivant; addresses

and reminiscences by Dr. Francis Carter, Dr. Starling Loving, Dr. D. Tod

Gilliam and Dr. E. C. Mills, as well as a number of addresses on medical

subjects marking the progress of the science in the century covered. Dr.

George W. Rightmire, president of Ohio State University, has an article

on "The Place of Medical Education in a State University," and Dr.

Henry S. Houghton, one on "The Challenge of the Future to Medical

Education."

Scattered through the pages are the portraits of men prominent in

the development of medical instruction, from the first till now. The book

is a credit to its makers and must be of great interest to members of the

profession.

OSMAN C. HOOPER,

in Columbus Sunday Dispatch,

November 18, 1934.

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160    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The Irrepressible Conflict, 1850-65. By Arthur Charles Cole.

A History of American Life, Vol. VII. (The Macmillan Com-

pany, New York, 1934. 468p. $4.00.)

The editors of the series called A History of American Life

propose to trace the development of civilization in the United

States from the age of discovery to the present, giving a con-

tinuous picture of the activities and interests of the American

people. The writers of the various volumes have proportioned

their treatment of the political, constitutional and military his-

tory, which bulks so large in the older histories, and they devote

a larger space to the social, economic and institutional character-

istics of their respective periods.

Cole's book, which is the seventh volume in the series, will

have unusual interest for readers who have thought of the period

in terms of the slavery controversy and the armed conflict. He

departs from the usual account of the period and paints a picture

of life, North and South, in the 'fifties and reminds us that

"people courted and married, went about their business, read and

wrote books, laughed, played and prayed, unaware of the ap-

proach of the 'irrepressible conflict.'"

In a chapter, "The Growing Pains of Society," the author

informs us that "the well-to-do abodes ordinarily possessed hot

and cold running water, bathrooms, cook-stoves and perhaps even

hot-air furnaces." In a chapter on "Health and Happiness" we

read, "personal habits failed to reflect an adequate readjustment

to the somewhat leisurely life that appeared with the recession

of the frontier and of frontier conditions . . . 'young America

was a pale pasty-faced, narrow chested, spindle-shanked, dwarfed

race. A mere walking manikin to advertise the last cut of the

fashionable tailor.' "

As for the war itself, Cole leaves strategy to the expert and

devotes his attention largely to life in war-time. There is a

critical essay on authorities covering forty-two pages and an ade-

quate index.

W. D. O.

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