Ohio History Journal

Book Reviews

 

 

 

The Adena People No. 2. By William S. Webb and Raymond S. Baby,

with chapters by Charles E. Snow and Robert M. Goslin. (Columbus:

Ohio State University Press for the Ohio Historical Society, 1957.

xi~¹23p.; illustrations, map, chart, tables, bibliography, and index.

Paper, $3.00.)

This attractive, well organized, and well executed volume summarizes

the current views of the authors concerning the Adena people and their

culture in the Ohio Valley. Data from forty-nine new Adena sites, for

the most part unpublished, have been integrated with data previously pub-

lished by Webb and Snow in The Adena People (University of Kentucky,

1945). In addition to twenty-five new traits there is a reevaluation of a

number of the earlier recognized ones.

Important new information is given on the perishable content of the

Adena culture, such as moccasins, textiles, and the use of the cradleboard,

long suspected as the instrument responsible for the major deformation

seen on Adena skulls. Recently it has been concluded that the material

from the lower level of a number of dry rock shelters in eastern Kentucky,

which included these organic remains, was of Adena provenance, as in-

dicated by "direct association with known Adena artifacts" (p. 34).

Mr. Goslin's instructive chapter on Adena foods is based upon an

analysis of animal and vegetable residues from twenty-three mound sites in

Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia, and from ten Kentucky rock

shelters. Evidence of agricultural foods is very limited, both in quantity

and kind, consisting of rind fragments of squash or pumpkin from the

Florence and Cowan Creek mounds in Ohio, and of squash and sunflower

vestiges found in the Newt Kash Hollow shelter in Kentucky. The two

mound sites, which produced datable features directly associated with the

plant remains, are of the late horizon of the culture. The dates are

1425 ± 250 and 1509 ± 250 years ago, respectively. Mr. Goslin, however,

believes it probable "that the Adena People engaged in agriculture in

• 1
 

BOOK REVIEWS         159

 

earlier times" (p. 42). On page 110, an older radiocarbon date, 2600± 300

years, is listed on grass and plant materials from the Newt Kash Hollow

rock shelter.

Professor Snow's chapter, entitled "Adena Portraiture," reiterates his

earlier description of the Adena physical type, and continues to look to the

south for the source of this type, termed "Walcolid" by Neumann. He

summarily dismisses an alternate possibility which would derive the

physical type, and certain elements of the Adena culture, from areas lying

north of the Ohio Valley, although some evidence for both, on a pre-

Adena level, has been made available since his 1945 publication, as is

in part indicated on page 103 of the work under review.

Some novel aspects of the Adena culture dealing with supernaturalism

are adroitly considered in Chapters VI, VII, and IX. A good case seems

to have been made for the shamanistic impersonation of such mammals as

the wolf, puma, and bear, while evidence for the use of medicine bundles

is admittedly weaker.

There is an intriguing and skillful analysis of the designs on the twelve

known Adena stone or clay tablets, followed by a series of what seem to

be reasonable assumptions regarding the significance of the "raptorial bird"

designs, the possible role in the mortuary ritualism of the culture of the

"raptorial bird," and the use to which the tablets may have been put.

Those portions of the monograph which attempt the interpretation of

ideological concepts of the culture seem to this reviewer the most stimu-

lating.

The volume closes with a concise consideration of the age and broad

temporal and cultural subdivisions of Adena. As currently determined by

radiocarbon analysis, the Adena cultural span extended from about 1200

B. C. to about 900 A. D. Thus on present evidence it partially antedated

Hopewell, which also survived it. This temporal relationship is shown

graphically in the chart at the back of the volume.

Webb, Baby, and their collaborators have contributed significantly to

knowledge of the Adena complex in this fine publication. This reviewer

hopes that a fuller consideration will, in a subsequent study, be given

such problems as the relationship of Adena to Archaic cultures, of Adena

to Hopewell, and of both the latter to certain Early Woodland cultures

which seem to have affected their formation.

New York State Museum and                      WILLLAM A. RITCHIE

Science Service

• 2
 

160     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

The Fishes of Ohio, with Illustrated Keys. By Milton B. Trautman. (Co-

lumbus: Ohio State University Press in collaboration with the Ohio

Division of Wildlife and the Ohio State University Development Fund,

1957. xviii~683p.; maps, figures, outline drawings, color plates, biblio-

graphy, and index. $6.50.)

This ambitious study, condensed into one volume after more than a

quarter century of diligent and intensive field and laboratory work, is the

most comprehensive treatment of the fresh-water fishes ever completed of

a state fauna in our country. One finds evidence throughout the volume

of the great effort, persistence, and energetic attitude of the author in his

quest for data, seeking it in early, little-known historical accounts, museum

records, libraries, or from the examination of more than several hundred

thousand specimens of fishes captured in the waters draining the state of

Ohio.

The subject matter is clearly presented, precisely organized, thoroughly

illustrated (more than 800 illustrations) and treated in a broad manner.

The study extends far beyond the boundaries of the state of Ohio for it

serves as a valuable reference to the fishes of the central United States.

It will ably serve individuals in many fields of endeavor: the layman,

fisherman, and teacher curious about the identity of a specimen; the con-

servationist and fishery biologist on factors affecting the distribution or

depletion of this aquatic resource; and the zoogeographer and ichthyologist

in the many accounts of the distribution of various species correlated with

the physical or biological environment.

The volume is divided into six parts. Part I (12p.) is a discussion of

the geography, historical geology, glaciation, topography, and climate of the

state of Ohio. Part II (17p.) is a treatment mainly of the environment

correlated with fish-life in Ohio and the changes in life brought about by

natural causes and man-made devices and activities. It describes conditions

from 1750 to 1950, divided into periods of fifty years. Part III (15p.) is

primarily a list of species erroneously recorded for Ohio, a list of introduced

species, and a long alphabetical list (13p.) of synonyms with references

to the currently recognized species. Part IV (3p.) includes a brief dis-

cussion of the scientific and common names of fishes and gives the author's

concepts of the genus, species, and subspecies and his reasons for adopting

the nomenclature used in the text. Part V (66p.) concerns the artificial

keys to Ohio fishes. It treats the use of keys, includes a good glossary of

technical terms, lists the necessary materials for the identification of fishes,

and gives detailed methods of counting and measuring the various anatom-

• 3
 

BOOK REVIEWS           161

 

ical parts of fishes that are necessary in the use of the keys. The keys are

the dichotomous type. There is a key to twenty-five families of Ohio fishes,

with good outline drawings of a characteristic member of each family in-

serted in the appropriate portion of the key. A separate key to the species

and subspecies of Ohio fishes, segregated by families, identifies a total of

172 forms. It is a multi-character key, often containing more discriminating

characters for the separation of a species than in the various descriptive

accounts of the species in the main body of the work. This section closes

with a short account of the natural hybrid fishes found in Ohio's waters.

Part VI (printed as IV) comprises the main body of the book (501p.).

The areas of the state that were investigated, the collections examined,

the methods of presenting distributional data, the method of construction

of maps and illustrations, and the factors influencing distribution are briefly

discussed. The bulk of this part concerns the identification, distribution,

and habitat of 160 species and 12 additional subspecies found in the

drainages of Ohio. A two or three page account of each species gives

the common and scientific name, characters for identification, and the

distribution and habitat. A black and white illustration of the species is

included with the account; sometimes two or more drawings are given

with each species to illustrate sexual dimorphism or ontogenetic changes in

growth. Numerous outline drawings are included of the whole body or a

part of it showing diagnostic characters extremely useful in the identifica-

tion of the species. The accounts also include an enlarged, detailed map

of the state of Ohio showing the precise distribution of the species and a

small insert map of North America giving the general distribution. The

latter is a highly desirable addition to this study, for it quickly enlightens

one's perspective of the distributional pattern, especially in the case of

rare species or those highly localized. The paragraphs on distribution and

habitat in the accounts of the species often contain interesting aspects of

their life history and biology. The twenty pages of "literature cited" are

useful to all students of North American ichthyology.

Also noteworthy is the overall high quality of the printing, the easy

reading of the two-column format, and the bookshelf size of 8 x 11

inches of this edition.

The reviewer finds a few negative criticisms, some of which may be

personal interpretations: The lengthy list of synonyms (pp. 32-44) would

have been more useful and more appropriately placed in the accounts of

the respective species. Although references to these synonyms are given,

the original reference pertaining to the recognized name in the accounts

in Part VI is not given.

• 4
 

162     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Although the author gave exceptional time and study to the execution

of the detailed drawings of the species, the reviewer failed to identify

some on spot identification involving species he presumes to know very well.

This raises the question of their ultimate value to the fisherman or biologist

entirely unfamiliar with the species.

A more generalized interpretation of the definition of a subspecies

may be preferred rather than the seventy-five percent rule of thumb (p. 45).

Readers may misconstrue the meaning of "common name" on page 46,

paragraph two. The common name is often composed of two English

words, as Green Sunfish, but may have one or three or more. A definite

effort is underway among the ichthyologists and fishery biologists of North

America to standardize the common names of fishes and have but one

name (as Green Sunfish) to represent a species.

United States National Museum                 ERNEST A. LACHNER

 

From the Depths: The Discovery of Poverty in the United States. By Robert

H. Bremner. (New York: New York University Press, 1956. xiii~364p.;

illustrations, bibliography, and index. $5.50.)

Let it be said at once that this is a valuable work which historians con-

cerned with reform, social service, and related themes in American history,

from about 1850 through the 1920's, will wish to own and use. Readers

will appreciate not only its broad chronicle of major organizations and

leaders who advanced philanthropy during this relatively long period; they

will attend to lesser figures and events and appreciate that they help fill

out understanding of the subject.

Professor Bremner has found more than enough to do with available

printed works by and about what he has concluded to term "humanitarian

reformers," and with annual reports and other materials dealing with such or-

ganizations as the National Child Labor Committee, the Consumers' League,

and the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.

He has profited from such a special collection as that which J. G. Phelps

Stokes enabled him to use. Nevertheless, it may be evident that poverty

is not a topic which any monograph, however excellent, can aspire to

settle. Poverty accompanies society and requires not only multiple investiga-

tion, for a progressively more integrated society, but progressively more

integrated approaches as well. The findings of investigators will thus,

hopefully, be built into a system of examinations which increase their use-

fulness and the light they throw. The several questions which have occurred

• 5
 

BOOK REVIEWS           163

 

to me to ask may not be the best or most strategic questions, but may

suggest the kind of question which might attract related investigators,

from different viewpoints.

Did the "humanitarian reform   movements" of the roughly pre-World

War I period derive "in large measure from the new view of poverty"

which philanthropic spirits of the late ninetenth century had formulated?

Professor Bremner believes that their generation had come to realize the

need for social rather than individual reform, and that factualism in the

social sciences and realism in the arts had taught society's leaders the

road to take in order more adequately to ameliorate social conditions.

The question is, whether social change is merely a matter of knowledge.

 

I tell thee thou foolish philanthropist [said Emerson] that I grudge the

dollar, the dime, the cent I give such men as do not belong to me and to

whom I do not belong. There is a class of persons to whom by all spiritual

affinity I am bought and sold; for them I will go to prison if need be; but

your miscellaneous popular charities; the education at college of fools; the

building of meeting-houses to the vain end to which many now stand; alms

to sots, and the thousand-fold Relief Societies; though I confess with shame

I sometimes succumb and give the dollar, it is a wicked dollar, which by

and by I shall have the manhood to withhold.

 

Emerson was, of course, not hard-hearted. He was, if anything, a reformer.

But what he was reforming is less quickly stated. Professor Bremner is

aware that the individualism Emerson was essentially preaching was radical

in its inception, though it helped shield greed and selfishness under post-

Civil War industrial conditions. Emerson had a fairly clear view of poverty

and deprivation, including that afflicting the Negro--a key subject, by the

way, which requires a more direct treatment than it often receives in non-

Negro-oriented monographs. Emerson's social status and relationships re-

quired him to subordinate his knowledge of poverty to other perceptions

which enabled him to make his social and cultural contribution. The same

is substantially true of other socio-cultural figures who followed him.

Professor Bremner's list of notable philanthropists is meager at the be-

ginning of his book; it grows to formidable proportions as one approaches

the end. What accounts for this? Are we a more benevolent people than we

have been? Are we wiser or better informed than Americans of a hundred

years past? I suggest that one is wise to approach these questions with

caution, and be grateful for all aid and hypotheses.

It appears to me that there might be some value in distinguishing more

precisely between philanthropy and reform. They present little confusion

• 6
 

164     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

in the 1850's. Reformers raised banners demanding unequivocal change.

By and large their targets were not poverty. They attacked intemperance,

land policy, slavery, ignorance, imprisonment for debt, capital punishment--

all worthy causes, and calculated to change social rules and keep society

fluid. The philanthropists were the meliorists. They offered charity, not

change.

The remarkable fact is that charity itself was, to a considerable degree,

a new social fact. Like "poverty" in the catastrophic sense, it was a

product of democracy. Slaves did not need charity, neither did indentured

servants. They were often miserable enough, certainly, but they were not

nameless and forgotten people; if anything, they were all too known and con-

trolled. Reforms aimed to improve their status and character, sometimes even

at the expense of their immediate needs. Charity, at its best, was kind, con-

siderate, even loving, but whether it was or was not, it was firm in its

defense of the status quo. In its first phase it was weak on "fact finding,"

but it needs to be recalled that it needed fewer "facts." The community,

in the 1850's, still maintained a homogeneity which the post-Civil War

period--with its polylingual immigrants and massive cities--lacked. Sym-

bolic figures expressing the difference between the miserable beings of

1837 and 1893 would be, for example, the town ne'er-do-well as con-

trasted with the tramp. The latter was a truly anonymous creature, who

could only be reached, if at all, with statistics. But the reformer aimed to

do away with the tramp. Charity was content to feed him.

Let me hasten to express my regard for numerous do-gooders: Henry

Bergh, who seems to me most picturesque and useful in his high-hat and

tails, arresting cruel draymen who might be lashing horses or whipping

children; Richard Welling, who fought for civics in the public schools; E. L.

Godkin, unappetizing in his public personality, but opposed to skullduggery

at the polls, probably for the wrong reasons; and of course, Jane Addams,

Mary Richmond, and many others who were more directly concerned for

poverty at its most painful and demoralizing points. It seems to me, never-

theless, helpful to continue to attempt to distinguish them from certain

categories of reformers proper, not because they are in any way lesser

people, but because they are serving a different purpose. One is holding

the society together; the other is attempting to make its necessary transitions

less painful and more certain. It can never be overemphasized that these

individuals and their causes had to fight, sometimes desperately, to achieve

fulfillment; I see nothing whatever "inevitable" about their accomplishments,

and, indeed, too many of their co-workers have been, sadly, forgotten even

• 7
 

BOOK REVIEWS           165

 

by the scholars of a pushing and egotistical civilization. They deserve to

be recaptured, not merely in the name of "justice," but for the strength

they can impart to us.

A word about Professor Bremner's chapters on humanitarian and realistic

art and literature. Man simply does not live by bread alone; and the author

was well-advised to consider the writings of Stephen Crane and Dreiser,

among many others, and of the realistic artists, including Eugene Higgins,

who died only the other day. They merit such attention for the understanding

they offer of social attitudes, and their value in having helped teach Ameri-

cans the human facts of poverty and trouble. One may differ on many

points with Professor Bremner's choice of authors, and interpretations of

works, and, nevertheless, applaud heartily the effort and interest which

went into his analyses. Moreover, in a time which has seen so much aimless

"explication" of literary artifacts--literally, the most about the least--there

is something essentially healthy, useful, and tangible about Professor

Bremner's work. In an unhappy time which has academically applauded

a work which sees Dreiser--of all people--as a "Man of Ice," Professor

Bremner's warm and appreciative studies in method, purpose, and social

relevance help us recapture something of a sense of reality, and offer hope

that we may abandon escapist fantasies, and permit the arts to rejoin the

human race.

Muckrakers were not social workers, and here the question of the differ-

ence between reformers and meliorists becomes acute, and demands the

most careful exchanges of preconceptions, if we are to build up communicat-

ing vocabularies. Muckrakers met with social workers. They cooperated in

varied types of projects. But they ministered to different needs. Distinguish-

ing between those needs can help us, in part, to trace both the victories

and cataclysms in which they became involved. Measuring rods for human

victories and defeats are not easily forged. It is possible to develop a

chronicle of "humanitarian reform" which runs increasingly upward,

through the social triumphs of progressivism, through World War I (which

can, in this way, be viewed as a continuation of the democratic crusade),

and on through the twenties, a period notable for prosperity, developing

social work techniques, mass production innovations, world relief measures,

and other achievements. Professor Bremner, I think properly, qualifies these

achievements. He points to lags in housing, child-labor legislation, factory

and mine regulation, and economic security aids. It does appear--and

certainly as compared with the 1850's--that philanthropic agencies had

never been more active. But it needs to be recalled that American society

had never been more atomized. In short, the problem has been, not how

• 8
 

166     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

many social and philanthropic agents and agencies we have had, but how

adequate they have been to our social needs.

"In our own country the discovery of poverty brought with it a redis-

covery of the brotherhood of man." And here I must beg leave to be less

categorical than Professor Bremner. Have our increased social services neces-

sarily meant an increase in our sense of interdependence? It would be good

if this were so. But a person can be a social worker and hate his clients. He

can be a perfunctory dispenser of old age assistance, social security funds,

unemployment insurance. I was recently depressed by a person who claimed

that many individuals he knew who work with retarded children do not

do so to satisfy their human and humane instincts, but because they enjoy

a feeling of superiority and omnipotence. It seems realistic to face the fact

that our services, though quantitatively larger than in previous decades,

employing many more "workers," may be no more than the minimum

necessary to keep our social wheels rolling, and that the "brotherhood of

man" may still be a goal to achieve. It would be wise, I think, not to

underrate the meliorists of an earlier time, not to be over-impressed by

mere numbers in the present, and to continue our labors in helping to

clarify the functions and forms of our society, the roles of our reform and

philanthropic elements.

Antioch College                                        Louis FILLER

 

Ohio State Ballads. By Anne Grimes. (Folkways Records and Service Corp-

oration. FH 5217, accompanied with dulcimer. 12" LP, 33 1/3 rpm.

$5.95.)

Anne Grimes is a native Ohioan who has made folksinging a profitable

hobby. She is known nationally for her extensive collection of Ohio songs,

for her rare dulcimers, and for her knowledge of Ohioana. Since last April

she has been president of the Ohio Folklore Society, and stands with Harry

Ridenour and Mary Eddy as a leading authority on Buckeye song tradition.

Folkways has just recorded her on an LP disc called Ohio State Ballads

(the name is Ballads of Ohio on the record itself). The songs included

are ones that have been popular here for generations, that are still carried

in oral tradition, and that reflect events and attitudes that Ohioans have

cherished over the last one hundred and fifty years. Historians and sociolo-

gists should know of this disc, and many of them will want to purchase

it for classroom and library use.

Exactly why they "will want to purchase it" may not be self-evident.

• 9
 

BOOK REVIEWS           167

 

Most historians and sociologists don't really know how to use folklore in

their classes and studies--providing of course they consider using it at all.

Folklore is an incomplete and inaccurate reservoir of historical fact, and

it is scarcely reliable in presenting the contemporary attitude toward the

events it treats. As a result, many people think of it only as a means of

lending color. However, its significance is more subtle and far deeper

than that.

Folklore records the accepted cultural attitude toward an event and

toward the memory of that event--not at the time the event occurred, but

at the time the lore is in circulation. For example, one can learn more about

the debacle of Governor Arthur St. Clair through diaries, news accounts, and

early histories than he can ever learn through a song like "Sinclair's Defeat."

Nevertheless, if he wants to know what an event like St. Clair's defeat

meant to the Ohioan at the time of the Spanish-American War, the Second

World War, or at any particular period, then he will do well to examine

the nature of the ballad and the elements that have been preserved by its

popularity. The Davy Crockett revival told us little about Davy, but in it

lay the basic reasons that Eisenhower was able to defeat Stevenson with

such ease.

There are twenty songs that contain the emotions, prejudices, and ideals

of the Ohioan today on Anne Grimes's record. They range from old

British ballads such as "The Farmer's Curst Wife," through school ditties

like "The Alphabet Song," to occupational and topical songs like "The

Boatman's Dance," "Pleasant Ohio," "The Underground Railroad," and

"Logan's Lament." Along the way, spirituals ("My Station's Gonna Be

Changed"), minstrel songs (Dan Emmett's "Old Dan Tucker"), senti-

mental ballads ("The Dying Volunteer"), and even the well-known Christ-

mas jingle "Up on the House-Top" are included. The recording is of

highest quality, Mrs. Grimes's diction is extremely clear, and the material

is as varied in temper as it is in subject matter. With the disc comes an

informative, nicely illustrated booklet, which gives the historical informa-

tion pertinent to each song, includes the lyrics, and closes with a brief,

but sound, bibliography of Ohioana and folksong in general.

It probably should be mentioned here that all the "ballads of Ohio" are

not really ballads at all. Nearly fifty percent of the songs are lyric in

nature. Also, the so-called "Lass of Roch Royal" on Band 4 of Side 1 is

not really the traditional British ballad, but a typical American setting

of the "shoe-my-foot" cliche that, even though frequently found as a part

of the "Lass of Roch Royal" can scarcely be called the "Lass of Roch Royal"

• 10
 

168     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

itself. However, these are small matters. The important thing for Ohioans

is that there is now available a recording of native folksongs suitable for

home or class use.

This is Mrs. Grimes's first commercial recording. Riverside will release

another very soon, and more will follow. It will be no small accomplish-

ment to maintain the standard of excellence set by Ohio State Ballads.

Denison University                               TRISTRAM P. COFFIN

 

The Frontier Mind: A Cultural Analysis of the Kentucky Frontiersman. By

Arthur K. Moore. (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1957.

xi~264p.; notes and index. $5.00.)

Kentucky, according to Arthur K. Moore, was transformed, not by its

pioneers but by writers, into something rich and strange, a Garden of

Eden, an earthly paradise, a vision which wrought harmful results in the

character of its people and of its society.

The group to suffer most was the frontiersmen, who are described as

"licentious, exuberant, [and] violent" (p. 40). "Transappalachia attracted

not only the congenitally restless backwoodsmen of the Valley of Virginia

but also assorted incorrigibles, for whom the older settlements held out

the prospect of a life behind bars" (p. 39). They were "men who carried

independence to the verge of anarchism, who were so . . . fearless and

mischievous as to constitute a permanent menace to society" (p. 69). "Ken-

tuckians seem to have been unusually refractory heathen well into the

nineteenth century despite the frenzied exhortations of the evangelists"

(p. 40). "Backwoods families . . . , standing one to three generations

from a unified cultural frame, had regressed perceptibly under the impact

of the frontier" (p. 239). The "unrestrained existence" (p. 67) and "law-

less profligacy" (p. 66) of the frontier as well as the distance from civiliza-

tion produced these unfortunate conditions. The author does not say

directly that Kentucky is the place where the westward movement went

wrong (p. 7), but such does not seem to be an unfair interpretation of his

meaning. The pioneer's "progress westward from Kentucky was accompanied

by a further loss of traditional references and by an increased distortion of

vision" (p. 239). The author cannot hope to describe this further west-

ward distortion because he has already exhausted the English language on

Kentuckians and lacks further derogatory terms for their children who

advanced the frontier to the Rocky Mountains and beyond. He does, how-

ever, offer a generalization: "The American frontier, while creating nothing,

• 11
 

BOOK REVIEWS          169

 

functioned as a catalyst to precipitate such barbaric modes of behavior

as highly developed societies suppress" (p. 93). Perhaps the large role

played by the frontier in the nation's history was partly responsible for

the author's suggestion that "the growth of America may today be described

in cynical terms as a rape of nature, a contest among rogues for wealth

and fame, or a struggle between classes for domination" (p. 143).

The reviewer would like to assert that his own understanding of Ken-

tucky history, frontier history, and United States history is very different

from that expressed in this volume.

One may ask whether the westward movement (p. 7) or the author

went wrong. He uses extensively literary sources such as travel accounts,

romantic novels and biographies, and tall tales, in most of which exaggera-

tion plays a more or less prominent part. Some of the better accounts, for

instance the writings of Judge James Hall and Timothy Flint, appeared

too late to have a formative effect upon Kentucky's frontier. Professor

Moore has concerned himself particularly with the lowest groups of people

without realizing that there were thousands of substantial persons between

the lowest of the pioneers whom he values so lowly and the gentry whom

he mentions with approval. His prejudices are so deep that one might raise

the question whether he seeks to destroy the pride which Kentuckians have

in their pioneer history.

A few questions may be raised about the depth and breadth of his

knowledge of the frontier. After citing the census of population for

Kentucky from 1790 to 1820, he writes, "Never had there been a compar-

able assault on nature" (p. 42). During these very years a larger movement

of population was taking place in Ohio, while Indiana, 1810-40, and

Nebraska, 1860-90, surpassed the population growth of Kentucky. No doubt

the face of nature was changed in comparable ways, but other words could

be used to describe the change. He also writes, "The emigrants [poorer

settlers] seldom listened to wise and educated counsel in vital matters"

(p. 6). The author does refer to the constitutional convention of 1792

but not to the influence of George Nicholas, nor does he mention the

convention of 1799 and the somewhat comparable part played by Robert

Breckinridge. Again he omits the patience displayed by Kentucky frontiers-

men in the ten conventions from 1784 to 1792. Perhaps, to him, these

were not instances of listening to wise and educated counsel in vital matters.

The French empire in America was erected without vast clearing of forests

and without driving the Indians into the West; in these respects it con-

trasted with the English colonies and the American states where trees and

Indians were replaced by farms and homes. One might ask if the founding

• 12
 

170     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

of states, counties, towns, farms, homes, churches, and schools are evidence

of deterioration on the frontier? Admittedly the frontiersmen were not

cultured and formally educated, but is it desirable that they be insulted,

their faults exaggerated, and their characters misrepresented.

Indiana University                              JOHN D. BARNHART

 

A Short History of New York State. By David M. Ellis, James A. Frost,

Harold C. Syrett, and Harry J. Carman. (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell Uni-

versity Press in cooperation with the New York State Historical Associa-

tion, 1957. xiii~705p.; illustrations, maps and charts, bibliographical

essay, and index. $7.75.)

The writing of state history poses special and difficult problems. On the

one hand, the historian is faced with a complex story and vast quantities

of source material; on the other, he faces the realization that viewed on

the spectrum of world or even national history, the story of a state is

almost microcosmic. To do justice to the story and the materials and yet

maintain the proper perspective requires craftsmanship of a high order.

The authors of this history, all professional historians, have succeeded

admirably in solving the problems posed by their assignment. They have

packed into 705 pages (including a bibliographical essay and an index) a

wealth of detail about the Empire State. At the same time, they have

kept in mind that New York is but one of forty-eight states--albeit a

very important one--and that its history, no matter how interesting and

important in and of itself, can be understood only in relation to the

history of the rest of the United States.

Another problem which the authors of A Short History of New York

State have solved most successfully is that of chronological balance. The

colonial period in the history of states which were once one of the original

colonies is of such obvious interest and importance that there is a very

real temptation to concentrate on that period to the exclusion of almost

all else. Only about one-seventh of this book is devoted to the colonial

period. In contrast, half of it deals with the years from 1856 to 1956,

and there is a satisfying account of the political, economic, and cultural

developments which have made New York the colossus it is today.

The authors could have been forgiven if their effort to pack so much

information into so few pages had resulted at times in a mere catalog of

people, places, and events. The book, however, is remarkably free of this

shortcoming, and in almost every chapter there is a wealth of meaningful

• 13
 

BOOK REVIEWS           171

 

and interesting interpretation. Moreover, the authors have humanized their

history with interesting sketches of leading New Yorkers--those of Alfred

E. Smith and Herbert Lehman being particularly good. Indeed, for the

reader who is not a New Yorker, and perhaps for the New Yorkers too,

one of the book's major contributions is the effective way in which it

relates the local activities of nationally notable New Yorkers to their

wider careers. Particularly noteworthy in this respect is the chapter which

traces the New York antecedents of the New Deal.

The writing is remarkably even--no little achievement in a cooperative

venture--and almost uniformly of good quality. Although the volume

apparently was intended primarily for New Yorkers, it can be read with

profit and pleasure by anyone who seeks to understand America. It rep-

resents state history at its best.

University of Nebraska                               JAMES C. OLSON

 

Albert Gallatin: Jeffersonian Financier and Diplomat. By Raymond Walters,

Jr. (New York: Macmillan Company, 1957. ix~461p.; bibliography and

index. $7.00.)

Raymond Walters has resurrected America's least known major statesman

in this thoroughly documented and eminently readable biography. Its style

is temperate and judicious. Gallatin's great services to his adopted country

over sixty years are enumerated with brilliance and accuracy. His failures,

minor to be sure, are noted and explained in the light of difficulties faced.

Gallatin's evolution as a statesman from the time he acted as secretary

for the whisky rebels in western Pennsylvania until when, in the retire-

ment of his seventies and eighties, he had become the Bernard Baruch of

his day, is the measure of his greatness. Intelligent, well educated, and

patriotic, Gallatin loved history, literature, philosophy, the law, and nature

study but was shunted off into a life of politics, finance, and diplomacy

because his friends--notably Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and J. Q. Adams

--recognized his superior abilities and because he was willing to serve

where he was needed. He was a champion of frontier democracy in the

Pennsylvania assembly, fought the Hamiltonian fiscal schemes and the

alien and sedition acts in congress, sought to extinguish the national

debt in spite of a war which of necessity enlarged it, ably represented

the nation at St. Petersburg, Ghent, Paris, and London, and after his retire-

ment devoted himself so assiduously to the history of the American Indian

that he has been called "The Father of American Ethnology." Starting as a

• 14
 

172     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Jeffersonian Republican, he evolved into a Nationalist, with a better realiza-

tion of the desirability of certain Hamilton-Clay institutions, notably the

United States Bank, the national debt, a moderate protective tariff, federal

aid to internal improvements, and some measure of military and naval

strength. But he fought slavery, opposed the Florida cession except by

purchase, and bitterly criticized the annexation of Texas and the Mexican

War. His major achievements abroad saw him help secure the peace of

1814, settle the Canadian boundary and fisheries disputes, extend joint

occupation of Oregon, and establish better commercial relations with our

European neighbors.

Walters' biography is the first to fully exploit the Gallatin correspondence

in the New York Historical Society, cataloged and opened to the public in

1946. He has used every other collection of Gallatin papers and made

intelligent use of newspapers, writings of Gallatin's contemporaries, con-

temporary accounts of every sort, and of course, Gallatin's own addresses,

essays, memoranda, and writings. This reviewer knows of no Gallatiniana he

has not utilized except some twenty letters in the Thomas Worthington

Papers at the Ohio Historical Society and these would not have changed

his story. It definitely supersedes the political biography of Henry Adams

(1879) and that by John A. Stevens for the American Statesmen Series

(1884).

This is the definitive one-volume life of Gallatin as a public figure, but

this reader is curious to know if Walters does not have sufficient material

for another on him as teacher, land speculator, farmer, glass and arms

manufacturer, lawyer, banker, commercial agent, political economist, and

intimate of the world's leaders for over half a century. These are briefly

considered in the present volume, but it would take another to give us the

intimate picture of Gallatin's inner self and his more domestic activities.

I hope Walters writes it.

University of Oklahoma                             ALFRED B. SEARS

 

Orville H. Browning, Lincoln's Friend and Critic. By Maurice G. Baxter.

(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1957. vii~351p.; bibliography

and index. $4.50.)

Orville H. Browning is known to students of the Civil War era chiefly

as the author of a detailed, sometimes tedious, but highly informative diary.

Since its publication in the early 1930's, the Browning diary, which covers

the years 1850 to 1881, has been frequently consulted and cited by writers

• 15
 

BOOK REVIEWS          173

 

on the sectional controversy, early Republican politics, and the Civil War

and reconstruction. Until the publication of the volume under review,

however, there has been no full-length biography of the man who was

Lincoln's friend and critic.

Browning's career in many ways paralleled that of Lincoln. Both were

born in Kentucky and migrated to Illinois; both practiced law in the same

courts and served in the Illinois legislature as Whigs; both emerged from

political obscurity after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act to become

prominent Republicans. Soon after Lincoln became president, Browning was

appointed United States Senator from Illinois and there was a close collab-

oration between the two men, particularly during the early months of the

war. Browning, however, was a man of extremely independent and con-

servative views, and as the war progressed, the two differed on many

policies. So much did they differ that by 1864, though they remained

friends, Browning gave Lincoln at best only lukewarm support for reelec-

tion. But on the question of reconstruction Lincoln and Browning were in

substantial agreement, and after Lincoln's assassination Johnson made Brown-

ing secretary of the interior. Had Johnson relied more heavily on the advice

of his secretary, who had imbibed much of Lincoln's political sublety and

moderation, it is possible that some of the difficulties with the Radicals

might have been avoided.

If the political careers of Browning and Lincoln presented many points

of similarity, their personalities stand in stark contrast. Where Lincoln

deliberately played up his humble origins and displayed a demeanor utterly

lacking in pretension, Browning lived in a fine house, wore fine clothes,

and assumed aristocratic airs. Where Lincoln often pursued a devious and

subtle course, Browning was forthright and outspoken. Where Lincoln

followed public opinion, Browning tried to mold it. Where Lincoln achieved

greatness, Browning accomplished only a modest degree of prominence.

The author of this biography has not only examined a vast amount of

literature in print but has delved deeply into the manuscript sources. So

far as this reviewer is aware, he has produced no startingly new information

or interpretations but he has added a balanced and readable monograph to

a field of American history that is still, after a hundred years, often charged

with prejudice and emotion. In short, this biography is an excellent piece

of research and writing.

Ohio State University                               HARRY L. COLES

• 16
 

174     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

La Verendrye: Fur Trader and Explorer. By Nellis M. Crouse. (Ithaca,

N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1956. ix~247p.; illustrations, maps,

appendices, bibliography, and index. $4.00.)

Mr. Crouse has long evinced interest in the age of exploration. His

doctoral dissertation entitled Contributions of the Canadian Jesuits to the

Geographical Knowledge of New France, 1632-1675 (Cornell, 1924) was

the focal point from which his numerous later works emanated. The

volume under consideration endeavors to narrate and interpret the journeys

of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de la Verendrye, one of the greatest of the

French Canadian explorers of the lands west of the Great Lakes.

In 1731 La Verendrye set out from Montreal to find the Great River of

the West which flowed into the Western Sea. The refusal of the French

court to appropriate funds for his explorations led La Verendrye to engage

in the fur trade to pay for supplies advanced to him by private individuals.

His enterprises therefore became primarily commercial ones, with discovery

relegated to the background until he could meet the obligations incurred

in fitting out his ventures. He and his sons erected a series of posts from

Fort St. Pierre on Rainy Lake to Fort Paskoiac on the Saskatchewan River.

It was to these forts that the Indians brought the furs which they had

previously taken to the Hudson Bay Company, thereby sparing themselves

the miseries of a long and gruelling journey of two months.

La Verendrye's farthest expedition, in 1738, was southwest from Fort

La Reine on the Assiniboine River into North Dakota in search of the

Mantanne Indians, who supposedly knew the route to the Western Sea. His

sons, Louis-Joseph and Francois, probably in 1743, sighted the Big Horn

Range in Wyoming. As the years went by and La Verendrye failed to

cross the supposedly short gap between his westernmost post and the sea,

the French government concluded, not unnaturally under the circumstances,

that he was using the proposed discovery as a blind to cover his commercial

activities. What the government failed to realize and what La V~rendrye

himself did not completely understand was that the Western Sea did not

exist and the Pacific was far away.

In this straightforward and factual biography the author has relied mainly

on printed source materials. The Champlain Society has brought together

in one volume a translation of the journals of La V~rendrye as well as the

letters concerning his explorations. The former consists mostly of progress

reports to Maurepas, minister of marine in Paris. The latter includes letters

from the minister showing his impatience at the explorer's failure to

• 17
 

BOOK REVIEWS          175

 

reach his goal and letters from Beauharnois, the governor at Quebec,

attempting to put the situation in as favorable a light as possible. Because

of the author's reliance on these sources, much of the glamour of La Veren-

drye's expeditions is omitted, and frequently the book is given over to an

explanation of routes and an identification of names. All in all, Mr.

Crouse has done a workmanlike job in illuminating the problems involved

in La Verendrye's explorations and has made a contribution to the history

of discovery.

 

Columbus, Ohio                               GENEVIEVE BROWN GIST

 

The South in the Revolution, 1763-1789. By John Richard Alden. A History

of the South, Vol. III. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press,

1957. xv~442p.; illustrations, maps, critical essay on authorities, and

index. $7.50.)

This latest work in the History of the South series is a useful and

balanced summary of existing research. Its contribution is to bring together

into one volume information scattered through many volumes, although

Professor Alden has not relied wholly on secondary materials. He has used

a number of manuscript collections and other original sources, but mainly

to illuminate a point here and there. There is nothing startlingly new, nor

should one expect it. However, the focus on the southern states and their

hinterland gives a clearer picture of their role in the Revolution than one

can get from separate monographs and state histories.

To use Professor Alden's own adjective, this is a conventional account.

There is no riding of hobby-horses here. In matters of controversy the

author tries to be fair to all points of view, good-humored common sense

being his guide. The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is handled

in a brief footnote; Edmund Fanning, detested by the North Carolina

Regulators as an arrant scoundrel, a judgment accepted by some historians,

is summed up as a young man "on the make," and "honest grafter." The

social changes wrought by the Revolution are analyzed as reasonably as

one could wish.

If the treatment of subject-matter is generally conventional, the manner

is not. The writing is smooth, even deft, lightened with occasional touches

of quiet humor. In his accounts of the war, Alden manages to capture some

of the excitement which participants must have felt as the strategy of battle

unfolded. The descriptions of the Carolina campaigns are especially good.

• 18
 

176     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Since military history takes up about one-fourth of the space, one wishes

that more adequate maps had been furnished.

One temptation faced by the authors of this series is to overemphasize

the South as a conscious section, especially for the early years. Professor Al-

den has recognized the problem in his introduction, where he notes that not

until the close of the Revolutionary era did the southern states begin to

emerge as a section. He describes sectional controversy over the proposed

large-scale use of Negroes in the Revolutionary army, over the counting of

Negroes in figuring representation both under the articles of confederation

and under the constitution, over the right to navigate the Mississippi and

to fish off the Newfoundland Banks, and over one or two other matters.

But for the most part the book merely details the part played by the

southern states and the Old Southwest in the Revolutionary period; section-

alism is not a main theme. Alden makes no excessive claims for the South,

but whenever southern leadership asserted itself, he gives it its due. The

three chapters devoted to the West are enlightening particularly for the

account of Indian relations, a complicated matter at best and one Professor

Alden by reason of his earlier work on John Stuart is well fitted to cover.

Here again, more detailed maps would have been an aid.

One final note on the merits of this book. It is remarkable that so

general an account as this must be, manages sharply to etch some of the

prominent men in southern politics and in the warring armies--Christopher

Gadsen, C. C. Pinckney, Patrick Henry, Lord Cornwallis, and Nathanael

Greene, just to pick a few at random. The author has appended a compre-

hensive bibliographic essay that will be helpful to others.

Marietta College                                    ROBERT J. TAYLOR

 

American Indian and White Relations to 1830: Needs & Opportunities for

Study. By William N. Fenton, L. H. Butterfield, and Wilcomb E. Wash-

burn. Needs and Opportunities for Study Series. (Chapel Hill: Uni-

versity of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American

History and Culture, 1957. x~138p.; foreword, bibliography, and index.

$3.00.)

In 1952-53 the Institute of Early American History and Culture held a

series of conferences at Williamsburg. The purpose of these conferences

was to encourage an extension of historical studies into fields where com-

paratively little original research has been done or where new approaches

• 19
 

BOOK REVIEWS         177

 

to old problems seem to challenge the efforts of investigators. This book

consists of a paper read at the conference on Early American Indian and

White Relations, held on February 19, 1953, plus a very comprehensive

bibliography on that subject.

The paper was revised before publication and occupies less than one-

fourth of the book. It is devoted primarily to a discussion of the relation-

ships between history and ethnology and the overlapping of these fields of

study. The author makes a plea for the development of ethnohistory as a field

for study and suggests meetings of historians and ethnologists to explore

their common problems. He further suggests that summer seminars or

work conferences of mature scholars in the fields of history, ethnology,

and anthropology might be most helpful, especially if held at a spot

affording both adequate library facilities and opportunities for field work.

Such meetings of minds of researchers in these closely related disciplines

should prove of great value to all those participating in such conferences.

The essay is scholarly and well written, while the ideas expressed are

stimulating and will prove of interest to all scholars doing research on

the American Indian. The major part of it, however, is bibliographical in

nature, pointing out and evaluating some of the important materials avail-

able for the study of Indian history and ethnology. In consequence it

serves as an introduction to the formal bibliography that follows and

which forms some three-fourths of the entire book.

This bibliography was compiled by Lyman H. Butterfield, Wilcomb E.

Washburn, and William N. Fenton. It consists of ninety-one pages, with

some description and evaluation of each important item listed, and is

divided into seven parts. These are: reference and bibliographical aids,

ethnological literature, historical literature, serials, manuscript sources, docu-

mentary publications, and special topics. The bibliography shows every

evidence of long and careful work by these three master craftsmen. The

thirteen-page section on manuscript sources is probably the most important

part of it, although every section will prove of enormous value. The final

one, listed as special topics, is subdivided into seven parts: portraiture,

literature, songs and art, biography and autobiography, captivities, missions

and education, government policy, and the Indian in literature and thought.

This section will also be very useful to many persons. This bibliography

as a whole makes the book invaluable to any serious student of the

American Indian and the part he has played in our nation's history.

University of Oklahoma                      EDWARD EVERETT DALE

• 20
 

178    THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

The Culture of Contemporary Canada. Edited by Julian Park. (Ithaca, N.

Y.: Cornell University Press, 1957. xiii+404p.; selective bibliographies,

illustrations, and index. $5.75.)

I am inclined to think that one could not go far wrong in saying that

most educated men and women in the United States are better acquainted

with the history and culture of the major European countries than with our

neighboring countries of the Western Hemisphere. This seems to be

most regrettably true in the case of Canada, to which we are linked by so

many ties and with which we have so much in common. This gap in our

knowledge is doubtless due to our education and in some measure also to

the fact that since we speak the same language, have the same monetary

system, the same weights and measures, an undefended frontier, et cetera,

we have just not bothered--nor have we had the means--to become well

acquainted with the culture of our northern neighbor. Mr. Park's excellent

work should certainly go a long way in providing us with a means for

doing so, both in the textual portions of the book and in the excellent

selective bibliographies that accompany each chapter, as well in the general

bibliography at the end of the book.

This large and impressive volume was prepared under the general editor-

ship of Julian Park of the University of Buffalo, who, some time ago,

published his The Culture of France, which was well received. He was

responsible for the preface and the general editorial apparatus, such as

general bibliographies, index, and so forth. The book was made possible by a

grant from the Ford Foundation. There can be no doubt that Mr. Park

has done his job thoroughly and well.

The book proper consists of eleven chapters, all written by men well

prepared by training, interests, and background to speak with authority on

the fields about which they write. All but two occupy positions of standing

and influence in Canadian institutions; one is connected with an outstanding

Canadian newspaper; and Mason Wade has an important position in a

university in the United States. It seems to me that there can be no doubt

that this book is at present and may well be for a long time to come the

best source of information about Canadian culture available in a single

volume anywhere.

A listing of the titles of the eleven chapters that make up the body of

this book will give the best idea possible of its range and scope. They

are: "Literature" (divided into "Poetry and the Novel" and "The Press"),

"Growth in Canadian Art," "Music," "The Theatre," "The Social Sciences,"

"Literary Scholarship," "Philosophy," "French-Canadian Philosophers,"

• 21
 

BOOK REVIEWS          179

 

"Education," "Science," and "The Culture of French Canada." To be sure,

no one of these chapters can possibly do more than present the field in

very broad outline, but the reader can, if he wishes, fill in the gaps in

his own knowledge by readings from the references listed in the excellent

specific bibliographies that follow each chapter. In some of the chapters

and especially in ones dealing with literature, there are many listings

of names and titles with little accompanying material about the works and

authors mentioned, but that must be expected in a work of this type. The

materials and sources for a much broader and deeper knowledge of each

field are at hand for the person who wants or needs it. In addition, the

fine "Selective Bibliography" at the end of the book contains many addi-

tional titles not mentioned in the individual chapter bibliographies and

is a good source for broad background studies.

I regret that more space could not be given to a detailed study of the

culture of French Canada, a region vastly different from the remainder

of the country in many vital ways. However, Mr. Park realizes this and

gives most excellent reasons for what some might assume to be neglect

on his part. The whole matter of bilingualism, social and religious differ-

ences, racial background, and so forth, all deeply rooted in the past,

simply cannot be adequately treated in a book of this type. Even a casual

examination of the book will reveal that the French-Canadian side of life

in Canada has not been neglected nor brushed aside. I am impressed by

the good sense of proportion and excellent judgment used in bringing the

book together in a way that gives so excellent a view of Canada's whole

cultural life in so little space.

I have no hesitancy whatsoever in recommending this book to anyone

desiring to increase his knowledge of Canadian culture. Without being

exhaustive on any given aspect, it gives, so far as I can judge, a good and

impartial picture of the most important aspects of the subjects treated and

at the same time provides the means of securing a much larger one if the

reader so desires. It is a book that should be in every library.

Mr. Park and his associates deserve our thanks for making available in

convenient and very readable form an excellent view of the cultural life of

present-day Canada. The book fills a definite lacuna in the materials avail-

able for such a study and will probably be a standard volume for many

years to come.

Miami University                               WM. MARION MILLER

• 22
 

180     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Mr. Lincoln's Navy. By Richard S. West, Jr. (New York: Longmans, Green

and Company, 1957. xiii~328p.; maps, illustrations, bibliographical

references, and index. $6.50.)

When bearded Gideon Welles, a Hartford, Connecticut, newspaper editor

and postmaster, went to Washington in the spring of 1861 to become

President Lincoln's secretary of the navy, he was faced with the responsi-

bility of waging a war, including the blockading of the entire southern

coast, with a naval force of twenty-three ships. "Old Neptune," a nick-

name that he grew to wear with dignity, took to the job like a fish to

water, although his only previous experience with things naval was a

couple of years as chief of the navy's bureau of provisions and clothing,

back in 1846 and 47.

He was extremely fortunate to have as his right-hand man dynamic and

resourceful Gustavus Vasa Fox, a former navy officer, brother-in-law of

Lincoln's fiery postmaster general, Montgomery Blair.

But it was more fortunate for Welles that the president of the United

States, whose only nautical experience was as a deck hand on a Mississippi

flatboat, was as enthusiastic over the navy as a child with a toy, and

quickly adopted the idea of dealing a blow at secession on the water as

well as on land.

Told here in prose that wastes few words but is often stilted, are the

deeds of Farragut, Porter, Du Pont, Foote, Dahlgren, and others. There is

a clear accounting of the sometimes confused Mason-Slidell affair, when

Captain Wilkes seized the British steamer Trent, carrying the southern

emissaries to England and France. We especially enjoyed the description

of the momentous battle between the Monitor, the Union's cheese box on

a raft, and the Merrimack (Virginia), the converted ironclad ram devised

by the rebels.

The New Orleans campaign, operations on the "inland sea," and Vicks-

burg and Port Hudson phases are covered, as are the Red River campaign

and Mobile Bay.

The story of the Civil War as fought on the water draws to its own

natural climax--the capture of the Confederate commerce raiders or, as

Welles called them, "the Rebel-pirates." These sail-and-steam commerce

raiders, two of them built for the Confederacy in English yards, sank

scores of ships and destroyed a fantastic amount of rich cargo.

As the author points out, the South had no navy to dispute the Union's

command of the sea. Consequently the Confederacy employed what he calls

• 23
 

BOOK REVIEWS         181

 

"shock" in the form of ruthless blows to the pride and pocketbook of the

Union, performed by these skillfully sailed and bravely fought raiders.

The most famous raider of them all was the Alabama, skippered by

Captain Raphael Semmes of Baltimore. At sea twenty-three months, she

burned fifty-three merchantmen, released nine on ransom, sold one, and

sank a man-of-war, the Hatteras. Captain John A. Winslow and the Kear-

sarge found the Alabama at Cherbourg for repairs and waited outside the

three-mile limit. Semmes challenged the Kearsage to a duel and one of the

most famous sea fights of all time ensued, the raider going to the bottom

but her brave captain escaping on the friendly English yacht Deerhound.

An interesting sidelight is the fact that Lincoln asked for the unexploded

shell that buried itself in the Kearsage's sternpost, and it was cut out,

together with a sizeable chunk of the sternpost itself, and shipped to the

White House.

One is apt to be carried away by this book to the point where it will

be well to remind one's self that some fair-sized battles were fought on

land as well. This is just a reminder, lest the tail wag the dog. One more

note: Welles ended up with 640 ships!

Ohio Historical Society                         ROBERT S. HARPER

 

The Log-Cabin Campaign. By Robert Gray Gunderson. (Lexington: Uni-

versity of Kentucky Press, 1957. xii~292p.; illustrations, bibliographical

note, and index. $7.50.)

This book is a lively and scholarly account of a campaign that is familiar

to every American with a limited exposure to American history, but which

has not until now received the careful, intensive treatment accorded most

elections.

The author begins with a colorful account of the great Whig celebration

at Baltimore in May 1840 to provide the atmosphere of the campaign, then

backtracks to deal with resurgent Whiggery in the hard times of the late

1830's, with Thurlow Weed in New York and Thaddeus Stevens in

Pennsylvania the key figures. At the Whig national convention they man-

euvered Henry Clay out of the nomination and threw it to William Henry

Harrison, although Weed seems to have been in earnest in backing Win-

field Scott as his first choice but was outgeneraled by Stevens working

for Old Tip.

The Democratic convention favored Van Buren's renomination unani-

mously but was troubled by the problem of shelving colorful, unconventional

but popular Vice President Richard M. Johnson, whose amorous inclinations

• 24
 

182     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

offended southerners by an open disregard of the color line. The solution

of the convention--to leave the matter to the state organizations--resulted

in the later acceptance of Johnson. He was needed on the stump.

A half-dozen chapters are given to campaign methods, followed by

analyses of types of campaign oratory as exemplified by leading spellbinders.

Here, because of the problem of recapturing past eloquence, the book loses

some of its momentum. The historian, dependent on the written reactions

of sympathetic or hostile listeners, themselves often hampered by a limited

fund of descriptive adjectives, has difficulty in setting off for the reader

the distinctive appeal of so many outstanding stump speakers. Extracts

from speeches help very little, for political arguments, particularly in a

campaign of ballyhoo and little else, are endlessly repetitive. Daniel

Webster's log cabin cant was only a notch above the forensic levels of

Abraham Lincoln and John W. Bear, the Buckeye Blacksmith.

Two final chapters deal with the outcome of the election and the inaugu-

ration and death of Harrison. A bibliographical note discusses briefly signifi-

cant printed sources and lists manuscript collections and newspapers con-

sulted. Ten contemporary illustrations from the collection of the Historical

and Philosophical Society of Ohio bring out well the character of the

campaign.

The book is disappointing in one respect. It pays too little attention to

state politics except where the national nominations are affected. The fac-

tional and personal rivalries, past political predilections, and special local

situations and issues in the separate states need consideration to explain

the degree of effectiveness of the national propaganda barrage. If the

Whigs lacked a national platform in 1840, they had state platforms which

gave local versions of national issues, and both parties were aided or

hampered by the character of their nominations for state offices and their

records on state problems.

In the case of the plantation South, even the national campaign is

slighted, although southern orators who spoke from northern rostrums

receive some attention. A few scattered references, usually confined to a

sentence or two, dispose of the battle in the states south of Tennessee and

Virginia. One newspaper from this area is listed in the bibliography, al-

though a few extracts from others are quoted at second hand. Other

materials available in print have not been exploited. The author's interest

in public address and platform personalities may explain his concentration

on campaign methods as used so effectively in the more populous centers,

but it has produced a somewhat unbalanced treatment.

This reviewer would qualify to a degree the book's emphasis on the

• 25
 

BOOK REVIEWS          183

 

revolutionary character of the canvass of 1840. It did popularize democratic

practices but they were already coming into general use, and it was not

quite "the model for succeeding canvasses." Songs, parades, and stump

speeches of course were used in later campaigns but never with the unre-

strained absurdity of 1840. Indeed, the log cabin frenzy provided the Demo-

crats with gibes for many years, and more than one Whig participant later

reminisced shamefacedly about its excesses. No candidate has been elected

since by such unadulterated hokum. Nor did "an intimate relationship to

log cabins" become "a requisite for the Presidency" any more than a

military career, though both were politically useful. Availability is a

matter of providing a candidate to fit a particular set of circumstances.

Harrison's brief stumping tour hardly set a precedent for later candidates,

as seclusion remained the rule and public appearances the exception for

many years. The log cabin campaign was more unique than revolutionary,

which is why it is so well remembered.

Nevertheless, this is a useful and most readable book, containing much

that is familiar, many things that had been so long forgotten that they

needed fresh treatment, and a great deal that is new.

Ohio State University                         EUGENE H. ROSEBOOM

 

Trolley Car Treasury. By Frank Rowsome, Jr.; technical editor, Stephen D.

Maguire. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1956. 200p.; illus-

trations. $5.95.)

Pictorial History of the American Circus. By John and Alice Durant. (New

York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1957. viii~328p.; illustrations, list of

circuses, and index. $10.00.)

Nostalgia runs rampant through the profusely illustrated pages of these

two volumes. A devotee of either trolley cars or circuses will find much

to warm the cockles of his heart in the book dealing with his special interest,

and together they offer sheer ecstasy to anyone for whom the supreme

thrill would be once again to escape from the monotony of small-town

life by riding an interurban car to a neighboring community to marvel at

the wonders of the greatest show on earth.

Certain interesting parallels stand out in the stories of trolleys and

circuses. Both trace their American beginnings to the early years of the

Republic; they reached their zeniths in the decades immediately before and

after 1900; and their steady decline since 1920 has resulted in their virtual

extinction. Just as they differ radically in nature, however, so do the

details of their development follow different patterns. Throughout most of

• 26
 

184     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

the nineteenth century, the faithful horse provided the motive power for

streetcars and other local public transportation, while numerous attempts

to replace him with steam, naphtha, electricity, and various mechanical

devices failed ignominiously. To Frank Sprague, a brilliant but largely

unheralded onetime associate of Thomas Edison, belongs the credit for

the first successful and practical electric trolley. His inventions fathered not

only the electric street railway, which won quick acceptance in the 1890's,

but also that phenomenon of transportation history, the interurban line.

Almost overnight the interurban became a vital facet of American life, only

to be sidetracked to oblivion within twenty years by the equally phenomenal

automobile. Today the interurban is, for all practical purposes, non-existent,

and the local electric trolley has been superseded by a scarcely recognizable

and usually rubber-tired descendant.

The circus, on the other hand, began to assume some of its traditional

characteristics at the end of the eighteenth century, when John Bill Ricketts

presented a show featuring his own equestrian feats, a clown, and a rope-

walker, and when the first elephant since the days of the mastodon arrived

in the United States. The idea of merging hitherto separate menageries and

equestrian circuses into single attractions in the 1830's gave birth to the

typical American circus. By mid-century Barnum had appeared on the

scene, and in the early 1870's his partner, W. C. Coup, revolutionized the

circus business by putting the show on rails. From that time on, farflung

hamlets could also enjoy the spectacular sights that before had been limited

largely to the east coast. The heyday of the circus--1880 to 1920--saw the

emergence of many new outfits, frequent consolidations, and a struggle for

power culminating in the formation of that behemoth, Ringling Brothers

and Barnum and Bailey, with the Ringlings in control. The subsequent

eclipse of the circus was hastened by the Great Depression, by incompetent

management, and by the introduction of innovations more in character with

a Broadway or Hollywood night club than with the sawdust arena. "The

Big One's" announcement in 1956 that it would never again play under

canvas eliminated another traditional aspect of the oldtime circus, except

for a number of much smaller shows. To this reviewer the most penetrating

commentary on the circus of today, divested as it is of its menagerie,

parade, "spectacular," and other once-familiar features, came from a four-

year-old, whose disillusionment was apparent in her verdict, "I've seen

all this on television!"

Trolley Car Treasury is far too modest a title for Frank Rowsome's

splendid book. Whereas one might expect it to be merely a collection of

photographs, it is in reality a comprehensive, well-rounded history of the

• 27
 

BOOK REVIEWS           185

 

Mr. Rowsome's engaging style vividly recaptures the flavor of any given era,

and his entertaining account is well fortified with pertinent facts. Even

the technical descriptions, on which Stephen D. Maguire served as consult-

ant, are as interesting as they are enlightening. The three hundred photo-

graphs, in which Ohio is well represented, reflect long and careful considera-

tion. The absence of an index is a small handicap, and the Ohio Railway

Museum at Worthington deserves more than the passing reference it

receives for its praiseworthy achievements in preserving, restoring, and

operating a growing number of obsolete examples of rail transportation.

These minor deficiencies, however, do not detract materially from a

thoroughly commendable volume.

Pictorial History of the American Circus is the fourth book of this type

produced by John and Alice Durant. Its predecessors were devoted to

American presidents, ships, and sports. In these cooperative efforts Mr.

Durant prepares the text, while his wife designs and lays out the entire

volume and uses her camera to supplement the illustrative material turned

up in their research. Including reproductions of broadsides, prints, and

the like, the illustrations exceed five hundred in number. The author's

writing is careful and straightforward, and the book as a whole is attractive

and interesting. Following fifty pages devoted to the early American

development of the American streetcar and its social and economic impact.

circus and its Old World roots, the meat of the story is to be found in

the two chapters on Barnum and the heyday of the circus, 135 pages in all.

In what would seem to the historian a regrettable lack of balance, approxi-

mately the same space is accorded in three chapters to the circuses of our own

time, to Sarasota, "the circus city," and to the modern show "on the road."

A major shortcoming of the book stems from the fact that it is primarily

pictorial. Since the text is tailored to fit the available illustrations, certain

aspects of the story are virtually ignored, depriving it of the status of a

full-fledged history. For example, except for the Ringlings there is no

indication of Wisconsin's importance as a birthplace of circuses; and Ohio,

also a leader in this respect, suffers comparable neglect. More serious is

the absence of more than a token interpretive analysis of the significance

of the circus in American life. The enchantment of the circus, especially

when viewed in its contemporary setting, is exemplified to this reviewer by

a prominent small-town Ohioan who, although he labeled Barnum's show at

Lima in 1878 "a perfect humbug--no show at all," nevertheless was an

eager patron whenever another circus--any circus--came along; and who,

in addition, often paid admission for thirty or forty children. One of the

best features of the book is a brief (eleven-page) but informative list of

• 28
 

186     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

about 100 circuses compiled by Tom Parkinson, circus editor of The Bill-

board. The history and highlights of each are given, providing an excellent

thumbnail coverage and a useful reference.

Ohio Historical Society                                JOHN S. STILL

 

Early American Decorated Tinware. By Beatrice Farnsworth Powers and

Olive Floyd. (New York: Hastings House, 1957. ²⁶⁷p.; illustrations,

appendix, bibliography, and index. $16.50.)

Antique Tin & Tole Ware: Its History and Romance. By Mary Earle Gould.

(Rutland, Vt.: Charles Tuttle Company, 1958. xvi~¹³⁶p.; illustrations

and index. $8.75.)

The amazing number of new specialized publications in the field of arts

and crafts is truly gratifying both to the amateur and to the professional

collector. In recent years more and more aficionados have been turning to

what might be called the less glamorous areas of collecting, such as tin-

ware, wooden ware, lighting devices, tools, and the like, and the lack of

authoritative reference works has been sorely felt. These two volumes on

tinware will help, in part, to fill that need.

In Early American Decorated Tinware Mrs. Powers has drawn on her

knowledge of designs and the decorative process, as well as the pieces in

her own collection, to present seventy-nine full-page plates which illustrate

over one hundred magnificant pieces. The accompanying sixty-three-page

text, written by Miss Floyd, is divided into twenty-three short chapters,

each of which examines a single feature of the history of tinware. A short

section on the restoration and decoration of tin is also included for the

benefit of those more courageous do-it-yourself fans.

Miss Gould's Antique Tin & Tole Ware, although it includes material

on decorated tin, concentrates on somewhat more utilitarian items and

extends its coverage well into the nineteenth century. However, it is less

a history of the tin craft than a narrative of the author's experiences in

collecting various pieces and is drawn largely from Miss Gould's own

private museum. Illustrations are plentiful and are nominally integrated

with the text.

Despite the obvious care evidenced in the selection of illustrations and

preparation of the texts, this reviewer was unable to view these two volumes

with complete equanimity. Like several other current publications in the

general field of antiques, they seem to have a limited objective; not, of

course, a necessarily bad feature in itself, but certainly one that restricts

their value as reference works. Both studies are confined largely to the

• 29
 

BOOK REVIEWS           187

 

collections of the authors and hardly merit the inclusive titles which have

been chosen. Neither begins to compare in scope with the wide and meticul-

ous range of McKearin's examination of American glass or the efforts of

Downs, Miller, Nutting, and others in the area of furniture. The inclusion

and discussion of a few examples from the several fine collections of tin-

ware in the South and Midwest would have immensely broadened the

importance and the appeal of both volumes.

Perhaps the most serious limitation of these studies is the rather apparent

lack of thorough research. Granted that the amount of time and effort

required to produce meaningful information on a subject such as this is

almost prohibitive, and really puts it in the catagory of a lifelong labor of

love, nonetheless, this is precisely the type of information that collectors

are most desirous of obtaining. If, indeed, a book in the field of the decora-

tive arts is to have any lasting value, it must be based on a meticulous

search of newspapers, manuscripts, and other pertinent primary source

materials; and the scope of the research must be broad enough to enable

the author to present a thorough consideration of the material suggested by

the title of his work. In short, what is required is an organized concept

of the particular area of study, which is, in turn, buttressed by an inclusive

body of research information. It might be described as a responsibility, not

unlike that of an historian dealing with a problem in his field, to prepare

the most complete study that the subject allows.

Both of the volumes under consideration fall rather short of these stand-

ards. Miss Gould indicates that she has a fairly broad knowledge of tinware,

but it is largely obscured by anecdotes and a quaint style, while Mrs. Powers

and Miss Floyd offer little information that is not already available in

other sources. It would appear that neither volume was prepared with any

real concept of the scholarship that is so essential, nor an understanding of

the collector's needs. Even for the casual reader these two books provide

only a sketchy (and expensive) introduction; for the serious collector they

will have to be supplemented by other yet unpublished studies.

Ohio Historical Society                          WILLIAM G. KEENER

• 30