Ohio History Journal

BOOK REVIEWS 441

tional Republican convention in Cincinnati in 1876 he participated

as a delegate, supporting Oliver P. Morton of Indiana.

When President Rutherford B. Hayes was inaugurated, he

appointed Thompson to serve in his cabinet as secretary of the

navy. A lack of naval training at that time was not a serious han-

dicap to the cabinet officer, because the navy was small and not

particularly active. Nonetheless, the secretary took his duties

seriously and filled the post with greater success than his past

experiences as an administrator would have indicated. On the

whole he was an active and loyal supporter of the administration's

policies.

After serving three years and nine months as secretary of the

navy, Thompson was tempted by an offer tendered by Ferdinand

de Lesseps to become chairman of the American committee of the

proposed Panama Canal, at a salary of $25,000 yearly. Somehow

Thompson could not quite resist the offer and accepted while still

in his cabinet post, but he resigned immediately thereafter.

As an orator of the old school, Colonel Dick Thompson pos-

sessed extraordinary ability. He could hold the attention of au-

diences for hours. As a lawyer, he was able, faithful, and suc-

cessful; as a business man he was inefficient; as a politician he was

severely partisan; as a man he was likeable and friendly; and as

an author he showed a diversity of interests, publishing four books

on widely different subjects: The Papacy and the Civil Power

(1876), History of the Protective Tariff Laws (1888), Footprints

of the Jesuits (1894), and Recollections of Sixteen Presidents from

Washington to Lincoln (1894).

Professor Roll's book indicates extensive research in original

source materials, and the style is factual rather than artistic. The

smallest accomplishment of his subject is recorded, but no attempt

was made to capture the subject's spirit and personality.

In one or two instances the study might have been developed

more satisfactorily for the reader. One wonders what may have

been the circumstances surrounding some of the changes in Thomp-

son's political attitudes; in one particular, why did Thompson sup-

port Lincoln's mild plan for the reconstruction of the South

442 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

(p. 177) and then, later, strongly endorsed the severe congres-

sional plan (p. 201)?

Students of nineteenth century politics and politicians will be

grateful to Professor Roll for bringing together so many facts for

ready reference about one of the lesser statesmen of that century.

WATT P. MARCHMAN

Director of Research

Hayes Memorial Library

and Museum

William Trent and The West. By Sewell E. Slick. (Harrisburg,

Pa., Archives Publishing Company of Pennsylvania, Inc., 1947.

vii + ¹⁸⁸p. $3.50.)

For about forty years William Trent was associated in some

way with the Ohio Valley frontier. From the time of King George's

War until his death in 1787, he was at various times soldier, Indian

agent, trader, public official, land speculator, and lobbyist for land

companies, sometimes playing more than one role at the same time.

Public business and private interests were mutually compatible.

Trent's career to 1763 was devoted to Indian diplomacy on

behalf of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Crown along with some

intermittent military service and a good deal of trading activity

whenever there was a lull in the fighting. His monetary losses due

to the French and Indian War and Pontiac's uprising caused him

to associate with other "suffering traders" in working for compen-

sation in the form of a land cession from the Indians which re-

quired Crown approval. Thereafter, his primary interest was the

promotion of the ill-fated Indiana and Vandalia projects which

absorbed the "suffering traders," though he found time for minor

speculations more productive of ready cash.

The book devotes nine chapters to Trent's western career to

1763 and the remaining three to his efforts as promoter and lobby-

ist for the Indiana-Vandalia interests on both sides of the Atlantic,

for he spent six years in London. Apparently the voluminous

manuscript and printed sources have been carefully explored, but

they seem to have revealed more about Indian activities, frontier

defense, trader difficulties, and speculator intrigues than about Trent

BOOK REVIEWS 443

BOOK REVIEWS 443

himself. Often the author has had to surmise about his subject's

role, and at time even as to his whereabouts. Many of the personal

details which would have added interest to the narrative are lacking.

For example, Thomas Wharton called Trent the "One Ey'd Major,"

but the reason may only be surmised.

His character apparently had its unlovely side. His sharp

business practices, his difficulties with George Morgan and the

Whartons, the suspicions of double-dealing felt by some of his asso-

ciates, his callous neglect of his family during his London years,

and the rumors of his Toryism are not wholly offset by his un-

doubted skill in Indian diplomacy, his long friendship with George

Croghan, and his moderately successful military career, though

Colonel Washington dissented on this score in 1754.

The lack of footnote citations will annoy the research student,

but an ample bibliography atones for this heresy. The book is a

revealing study of Anglo-French rivalries and frontier problems,

and of the devious ways of the land speculators, even if the central

figure fails to measure up to expectations.

EUGENE H. ROSEBOOM

Professor of History

Ohio State University

Pioneer Life in Kentucky, 1785-1800. By Daniel Drake.

Edited, from the original manuscript, with introductory comments

and a biographical sketch by Emmet Field Horine, M.D. (New

York, Henry Schuman, c1948. xxix + ²⁵⁷p. $4.00.)

The first edition of this book was arranged by Dr. Drake's son,

Charles Daniel Drake, and published in 1870. It has now been

edited by Emmet Field Horine who made use of the original manu-

scripts. In some cases he has corrected the emendations made in

the 1870 edition.

Daniel Drake has long been recognized as a leader in medical

education in the Ohio Valley. He was also one of the first syste-

matic botanical students in the region. In the fields both of

medicine and of botany his publications rank high for their day.

Born in New Jersey in 1785 he was brought to Kentucky by

his parents in 1788. In 1847 he began a series of letters to his

444 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

children and others which are here printed. They were written as

the recollections of an old man and are not based on a journal or

contemporary notes. They contain much factual information of

which the reliability is above that of the usual recollections of

childhood. All of the varied experiences of a pioneer in Kentucky

are described in a style that is graphic and attractive though simple

and quaint. Much of it is material well known to students of the

frontier. It may be recommended to those who wish to begin such

a study as well as to older persons some of whom will recall

experiences not unlike those he relates. At times, for example in

his descriptions of nature, he rises to the height of poetic prose.

As a devout believer, Dr. Drake was given to moralizing and phi-

losophizing on life and its meaning. This leads to the characteri-

zation of him as "The Benjamin Franklin of the West" on the

jacket. Though overdrawn, this is not without validity. His ability

to see and enjoy, at least in retrospect, the humor in the midst of

the hardships of the pioneer, adds a piquant note to the narrative.

The editor has given prominence to certain errors in spelling that

Drake was wont to follow.

Factual errors are corrected by the editor in his notes, which

are brief. Most of the notes give details of persons who are men-

tioned in the text. The value of the edition would be enhanced if

the meaning of some terms which were familiar to the pioneer but

are not included in the vocabulary of the average reader today were

defined. Examples of these are "round about" as wearing apparel,

"broke" as applied to the softening of water, "browse" as a noun,

"swingling" in flax culture, "rorom" as material for hats, and

"choirs" in the trade of the itinerant tinker. The trained historian

will wish to test the dependability of statements by a check with

other sources and not accept them as true because of the "impression

of absolute truthfulness" that the reader may receive.

Of interest are the comments of Dr. Drake on the low character

of the folk from Maryland as compared with those from New

Jersey, his views on slavery, and his theory of the motives for the

migration to Kentucky at the opening of the last century.

BOOK REVIEWS 445

The book deserves a high place among those in the literature

of the frontier.

BENJAMIN H. PERSHING

Professor of History

Wittenberg College

Education and Reform at New Harmony: Correspondence of

William Maclure and Marie Duclos Fretageot, 1820-1833 (Indiana

Historical Society, Publications, XV, No. 3). Edited by Arthur E.

Bestor, Jr. (Indianapolis, Indiana Historical Society, 1948. 285-

⁴¹⁷p. Paper, $1.00.)

Although partially utilized in recent biographies of Robert

Dale Owen and Thomas Day, the Maclure-Fretageot correspondence

herein presented gives an illuminating view of the brief but sig-

nificant history of New Harmony. Skilfully edited and annotated

by Professor Bestor of the University of Illinois, these letters por.

tray a biographical sketch of William Maclure as an educational

and social reformer and as an associate of Robert Owen. Little

light is cast upon William Maclure as the "Father of Modern

Geology."

Having acquired a fortune at an early age, Maclure, a Scots-

man by birth, turned his attention toward educational reform. Ig-

norance, he believed, caused "all the miseries and errors of man-

kind." About 1805 he became acquainted with the Pestalozzian

system of education and soon thereafter set up a school in Phila-

delphia under Joseph Neef and supported two Pestalozzian teachers

in Paris, Madame Marie Duclos Fretageot and William S. Phique-

pal. He himself conducted an agricultural school in Spain until

1823. Through his correspondence with Madame Fretageot, we

learn of his introduction to Robert Owen's scheme for a New World

social experiment and the gradual merger of his educational and

scientific enterprises with New Harmony. His reluctant conversion

to Owenism, it appears, was carried on by Madame Fretageot and

Phiquepal who had come to Philadelphia in 1824.

After several months at New Harmony, Maclure took a four

months' trip through Ohio and Kentucky which occasioned a new

446 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

series of letters to Madame Fretageot. This series records his

interest in dividing the community according to the occupations of

its members, his financing of the Education Society, his inspection

of the short-lived Owenite community at Yellow Springs, Ohio, and

the projected community at Nevilsville, Ohio, his dismay over

Owen's "Declaration of Mental Independence," and finally, his

break with Owen. His varied interests at the community cost him

at least $82,000. After Owen's departure from New Harmony,

Maclure continued his educational experiments and the publication

of scientific books at the Indiana town through moral and financial

support of his friends who remained there.

This collection of letters and the excellent background pro-

vided by Professor Bestor is essential material for all persons

interested in American social history, especially those examining

the Utopian communities of the 1820's and 1830's. The story told

here reveals the discord, the incompetent leadership, the great ex-

pense, and, above all, the untimeliness of the famous New Harmony

experiment. Indeed from reading of the kaleidoscopic changes at

this frontier community one is tempted to label the experiment

dis-Harmony.

EVERETT WALTERS

Assistant Professor of History

Ohio State University

The National Road. By Philip D. Jordan. (The American

Trails Series, edited by Jay Monaghan. Indianapolis and New

York, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1948. ⁴⁴²p. $4.00.)

This is an excellent historical study, written in a style that is

intimate, warm, and, hence, eminently readable. It is one of those

relatively rare volumes of history in which the historian has

achieved literary distinction. The author wrote this book for the

people, not just for the scholar, a goal he has reached with success.

Important to all students and readers of Ohio history, this

book reviews the story of the old traces that preceded the National

Road and the movement for internal improvements that resulted in

its construction. The beginnings of the National Road were tied

BOOK REVIEWS 447

BOOK REVIEWS 447

up with the beginnings of Ohio's statehood. "Good roads were

necessary if Ohio really was to cement itself into the expanding

Union." The enabling act of 1802, which permitted the organi-

zation of Ohio's first government, provided that five per cent of the

proceeds from the sale of public roads in Ohio should be set aside

for the construction of federal roads. Ohio's first constitutional

convention reserved three per cent for roads within the state; the

other two per cent was applied to building a road to Ohio. It was

the two-per cent fund that enabled congress to authorize the

National Road in 1806.

Dr. Jordan has followed in detail the construction of the road

from Cumberland, Maryland, where surveys began in 1806 and

building began in 1811, to Vandalia, Illinois, where the road ended

some 25 years later. It reached Wheeling by 1818 and crossed

the Ohio River to St. Clairsville in 1825. For many miles it fol-

lowed Zane's Trace to Zanesville, and in 1833 it entered Columbus.

With the road came immigration and economic development

for central Ohio and the other states through which it passed. Men

and animals were transported to the East over the road, and goods

from the Atlantic states were carried back to western consumers.

Along the route new towns sprang up and older ones grew fat upon

the commerce it brought them. Fleets of Conestogas ran its mac-

adam, rough stone, gravel, or mud roadbeds then as great trucks

rumble over its paved surfaces today, and hundreds of taverns lined

the route to serve the travelers. It served as a post road, across

which Amos Kendall, Jackson's postmaster general, developed a

fast mail express, and it was a lucrative route for the operations

of mail and stage robbers.

Legends and traditions grew up along the road, the stories of

stage or wagon drivers, innkeepers, stock drovers, and the people

who traveled the road or lived along it. "The National Road,"

writes Dr. Jordan, "ran straight through a land of bunkum, where

a talent for exaggeration marked the broad wit of the storyteller

and tickled the fancy of the plain people."

After the Civil War the road was abandoned as a route for

interstate travel. The railroad took its place. For forty years or

more it served only local interests, and great stretches of it lay

BOOK REVIEWS

Colonel Dick Thompson, the Persistent Whig. By Charles Roll.

(Indiana Historical Collections, XXX. Indianapolis, Indiana His-

torical Bureau, 1948. xvi + 315p., illustrations and index.

$2.50.)

Richard Wigginton Thompson, the "grand old man" of Indiana

politics, was 22 years of age when he migrated to Bedford, Indiana,

from his birthplace in Culpeper County, Virginia, where he was

born June 9, 1809. In Bedford he taught school briefly, worked

in a store, studied law in his spare time, founded (with two asso-

ciates) the unsuccessful Whig newspaper Western Spy, and was

admitted to the practice of law in March 1834. A few months

later he was elected to the state's lower house, serving four years;

and in 1836 he was married to Harriet Eliza Gardiner, daughter

of newspaper publisher James B. Gardiner of Columbus, Ohio.

Seven years later the Thompsons made their permanent home in

Terre Haute, Indiana.

Colonel Dick Thompson was elected a Whig member of

congress during the turbulent and strenuous decade of the 1840's,

serving in both the 27th and 30th congresses. His associations and

friends were numerous. He was very friendly with Abraham Lin-

coin when both served as congressmen and later when Lincoln

was president, and he had contacts with most of the prominent

political leaders of his century: Henry Clay, his political ideal,

Webster, Polk, Tyler, Taylor, Fillmore, William Henry and Ben-

jamin Harrison, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, and many others.

Concluding his terms in congress, Thompson practiced law in

Terre Haute, became attorney for the Chiriqui Investment Company,

and was delegate to several of his party's national conventions.

During the Civil War he was provost marshal for the Terre Haute

district, and when the Republican party was reborn in 1868 as

the National Union Republican party, he was a delegate to the

convention in Chicago which nominated Grant. And in the na-

440