Ohio History Journal

BOOK REVIEWS

PALAEO-INDIANS OF OHIO. By Olaf

H. Prufer and Raymond S. Baby. (Col-

umbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1963. v

??68p.; appendix and bibliography.

$3.00.)

Prufer and Baby's report is the result

of a two-year survey of Palaeo-Indian re-

mains in the state of Ohio, undertaken

with the financial support of the National

Science Foundation. All the material dealt

with is contained in public and private

collections. Although some of the tools

were recovered from what appear to have

been camp sites, all items are surface

finds. The majority of artifacts located

by the survey were collected by amateur

archaeologists and collectors and by farm-

ers who casually picked up stray speci-

mens in their fields. Only those specimens

with reliable provenience data were used

in the study.

The stray specimens were subjected

to a typological analysis and their lo-

cations according to point types were

plotted on county maps of Ohio which

contained pertinent geological features.

The resultant patterns of distribution

were then analyzed to discover their sig-

nificance. Tool assemblages from bona

fide Palaeo-Indian sites in Ohio were

analyzed and compared in relation to the

distribution patterns of the stray speci-

mens. The results of these investigations

were then compared with data from other

areas of eastern United States to discover

the position of Ohio remains in the overall

pattern of Palaeo-Indian occupation.

One of the major tasks of the study

was the establishment of a typological

scheme for the Palaeo-Indian points found

in Ohio. Two main criteria--morphology

and technology--were used to define the

types. Fluted points were divided into

six main categories: Type 1, Convex-

parallel-sided points (Clovis); Type 2,

Concavo-convex-sided points; Type 3, Ross

County Points; Type 4, Pentagonal, or

shouldered, points; Type 5, Triangular,

or convergent-sided, points; and Type 6,

Cumberland Points. In addition to the

fluted points, several non-fluted Palaeo-

Indian point forms were found in Ohio.

Among these were lanceolate and stemmed

Plano Complex forms similar to the Scotts-

bluff and Eden types in the Plains and

three Dalton - like points. Many points

conforming in general outline to the fluted

point types, but without flutes, also were

recorded. Drills, end scrapers, and knives

were also present, especially at sites at-

tributed to the Ohio Piano Complex.

Prufer and Baby found the pooled series

of all fluted point types to show two in-

terrelated patterns of distribution. The

maximum distribution of fluted points

seems to follow a diagonal line across

Ohio from southwest to northeast cor-

responding roughly to the maximum Wis-

consin glacial boundary. Secondary con-

centrations were found below the glacial

margin in the Great Miami and Scioto

rivers that flow southward to the Ohio.

Only a few specimens were found in the

rough, unglaciated areas of southeastern

Ohio and in the northwestern part of the

state. The authors suggest that the scar-

city of fluted points in the latter area was

due to the repeated covering of the area

by the predecessors of Lake Erie and

that the southeastern area was avoided

by Early Man because of the rough ter-

rain.

Fluted point types 1, 2, 3, and 5 were

found to be similar in distribution to the

pooled series. This group of types includes

the Clovis Point and the types most

closely related to it. The Type 4 pentag-

50 OHIO HISTORY

onal point and the Type 6 Cumberland

Point have specific patterns of occurrence

which may be significant. The Cumberland

type is centered primarily in southwest

Ohio, while the pentagonal type has a

northern center and a southern center of

distribution. The Cumberland Point is of

southern derivation, since it is a typical

late fluted type in the Tennessee Valley.

The origin of the pentagonal type is more

difficult to pinpoint, but its closest relative

appears at Ritchie's Reagan Site in Ver-

mont, a late Palaeo-Indian manifestation.

On the basis of geochronological evi-

dence and radiocarbon-14 dating the au-

thors believe that Early Man, bearing the

fluted point complex, entered Ohio from

the south and southwest prior to 17,000

years ago, the estimated age of the maxi-

mum Wisconsin glacial boundary. He could

not have penetrated north of central Ohio

until the retreat of the ice margin to the

Wabash Moraine about 14,500 years ago,

and effective penetration of the areas close

to Lake Erie could not have occurred until

after 12,500 years ago. In northwestern

Ohio this penetration was perhaps as late

as 8,500 years ago. Thus, the distribution

of fluted points when correlated with the

ice retreat suggests a gradual movement

northward. The relative scarcity of fluted

points in northwestern Ohio suggests that

by the time, 8,500 years ago, these areas

were free of ice and water, the fluted point

tradition was near its end.

In contrast to the distribution of fluted

points, Prufer and Baby found the lanceo-

late and stemmed points of the Piano Com-

plex to be centered in northwestern Ohio

in the areas of repeated lake transgres-

sions. They concluded that the Piano Com-

plex came into Ohio from the northwest

by way of northern Indiana and south-

ern Michigan. The presence of "unfluted

fluted" points, believed to be late, decadent

forms of the earlier fluted points, at some

Piano Complex sites in Ohio indicates the

arrival of the Plano Complex before the

Fluted Point Complex became extinct. The

absence of fluted point forms at other

Plano sites in the area suggests their occu-

pation after the Fluted Complex had dis-

appeared.

The presence in Ohio of the Piano Com-

plex in a chronological position between

the Palaeo-Indian Fluted Point Complex

and the later manifestations assigned to

the Archaic brought Prufer and Baby to

grips with the often debated problem of

whether Plano should be classified as

Palaeo or as Archaic. Their conclusion

that Plano seems more closely linked with

the fluted point configurations than with

any known later Archaic assemblages is

well founded. Prufer and Baby are to be

commended for their very valuable contri-

bution to our knowledge of the Palaeo-

Indian in the eastern United States. Their

report on the Ohio materials demonstrates

admirably what can be accomplished when

professional and non-professional arch-

aeologists pool their resources to tackle a

difficult problem. This report establishes

an excellent foundation for all future

work on Early Man in Ohio.

DON W. DRAGOO

Carnegie Museum

THE VIOLENT YEARS: SIMON KEN-

TON AND THE OHIO-KENTUCKY

FRONTIER. By Patricia Jahns. (New

York; Hastings House, 1962. ix??

309p.; end-paper maps, bibliography,

and index. $5.95.)

Simon Kenton lived an adventurous

life on the trans-Appalachian frontier,

and his restless wanderings carried him

from his native Virginia to Fort Pitt to

the canebreaks of Kentucky and the for-

ests of Ohio. During his long life he fought

Indians from 1774 in Lord Dunmore's War

to the War of 1812. He was spy, scout,

militia officer, and the leader of Kenton's

Boys, an informal band of rangers who

patrolled the Ohio River and protected

the northern approaches to Kentucky. He

saved Daniel Boone's life at Boonesboro,

accompanied George Rogers Clark to Kas-

kaskia, survived Indian captivity and tor-

ture, ran the gantlet several times, and

concluded his active career with William

Henry Harrison at the battle of the

Thames in 1813. Simon Kenton was re-

markable in character, physique, and

woodsman lore; he was one of the great-

est frontier scouts in the history of the

nation; and he was a man fitted to his

times and honed to his purposes.

This book tells his story in popular

BOOK REVIEWS 51

fashion. It is pleasant reading, it flows

with the plentiful action of his life, and

it is rich in description of persons and

places. Unfortunately it is marred with

minor errors of information, and it re-

veals hasty proofreading. There is a dis-

concerting interpolation of opinions, feel-

ings, and attitudes attributed to historical

figures. The author is biased against the

Indians and is anthropologically naive.

She recounts the tortures of the eastern

woodland tribes in relished details and

the atrocities of the whites in hasty words.

The absence of footnotes prevents any

checking of statements, and the biblio-

graphy is incomplete: volumes are cited

incorrectly, and many key works are omit-

ted. For example, although Miss Jahns

presents a balanced picture of Simon

Girty, the renegade who was a great and

good friend of Kenton's, she does not list

the germane work on him, Consul Will-

shire Butterfield's History of the Girtys.

Although Simon Kenton was only a

minor historical figure, he was a man who

came "at the proper season." As an auth-

entic frontier hero, his name has been

used repeatedly in our frontier literary

works. He has often been cast as the hero

in apposition to Simon Girty, but Miss

Jahns errs in her claim that he was the

model for James Fenimore Cooper's Lea-

therstocking Tales. There is ample pub-

lished research to prove that Cooper took

his prototype from a local frontiersman

around Otsego Lake, New York.

The Violent Years is a Look to be en-

joyed as an introduction to those decades

of frontier warfare which saved the Old

Northwest, but it is not to be cited as his-

tory. The definitive biography of Simon

Kenton is yet to be written.

ROY M. BOATMAN

Hagley Museum

MINNESOTA: A HISTORY OF THE

STATE. By Theodore C. Blegen. (Min-

neapolis: University of Minnesota Press,

1963. xiv??688p.; maps, illustrations,

bibliographical essay, and index. $8.50.)

Minnesota, the thirty-second state to

enter the Union, long has needed a one-

volume, substantial history which, with

depth and insight, would carry the story

of the beginnings of a "forgotten wilder-

ness" through decades of development--if

not progress--to the approximate present.

The North Star State lacked as sturdy a

book as E. H. Roseboom and F. P. Weisen-

burger's A History of Ohio and had noth-

ing to compare with the excellent multi-

volume history of Ohio edited by Carl

Wittke some twenty-odd years ago. Until

the publication of Mr. Blegen's Minnesota:

A History of the State, the most reliable

general source was William W. Folwell's

four-volume narrative. Folwell, for the

period which he surveyed, is still the best

reference, for a couple of his volumes

have been revised and republished.

Mr. Blegen writes in his preface that

he wanted to try his hand at writing the

Minnesota "story" for the general public,

for citizens of Minnesota, and for people

elsewhere who might be interested. His

story, written for a popular and lay audi-

ence, achieves its purpose. His twenty-

seven chapters sweep across the panorama

of the past, touching upon prehistoric geo-

logical influences, the coming of the white

man, the conflict between settler and In-

dian, the Civil War, and the era of re-

construction. There are discussions of

pioneer agriculture, early developments in

the lumber industry, and the frontier days

when iron ore was discovered.

Ohioans, interested in Minnesota's past

and present cultural patterns, will find

abundant material concerning the rise of

churches, the role of education, the part

played by musicians, artists, writers, and

architects. Although Minnesota is known

the world over for its cooperative market-

ing devices, the author seems to pay too

slight attention to the part played by huge

state cooperatives. Indeed, the story, as it

moves into the twilight zone of contempo-

rary current events, seems to deteriorate.

The author senses the frailness of his judg-

ment, for he writes: "Perspective is in-

evitably lacking in any review of con-

temporary history and appraisal must

await the passing of time." Perhaps judg-

ments would have been sounder and the

book stronger had it terminated with the

close, say, of World War II. It is some-

what curious that an entire chapter is

given to the Civil War and relatively scant

space to the men and women who served

52 OHIO HISTORY

during later conflicts. The discussion of

the rise, development, and present-day tac-

tics of organized labor seems sparse.

Yet, after all, this narrative of Minne-

sota was conceived as a general story

written for the general public, and most

certainly there is scarcely a citizen of the

state who will not find something of which

he knew little previously. If such readers

wish to read further, the author has ap-

pended suggestions for additional study.

PHILIP D. JORDAN

University of Minnesota

MESSAGES AND PAPERS RELATING

TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF

DAVID WALLACE, GOVERNOR OF

INDIANA, 1837-1840. Edited by Dor-

othy Riker. Indiana Historical Collec-

tions, Volume XLIII. (Indianapolis: In-

diana Historical Bureau, 1963. vii??

501p.; illustrations and index. $7.50.)

This volume marks another forward step

in making available to scholars and in-

formed citizens the official papers of the

governors of Indiana. Beginnings of the

project were made in 1922-24 by the In-

diana Historical Commission (forerunner

of the Indiana Historical Bureau of

today), when two volumes dealing with the

papers of the territorial governors and one

covering the state administrations before

1825 were issued. After a period of about

thirty years, further efforts resulted in

the publishing of the messages and papers

of James Brown Ray, governor from 1825

to 1831 (1954) and of those of Noah Noble,

governor from 1831 to 1837 (1958). The

present volume covers the administration

of David Wallace, who, unlike his imme-

diate predecessors, served only one three-

year term.

Wallace was born in Pennsylvania in

1799, but during his youth the family lived

in southwestern Ohio. General William

Henry Harrison secured the appointment

of the young man to the United States

Military Academy at West Point, from

which he was graduated in 1821. In the

meantime the family moved to Brookville,

Indiana, where Wallace settled down, mar-

ried, and became a successful lawyer.

Wallace was a National Republican and

then a Whig. Elected to the lower house

of the Indiana legislature in 1828, he later

served two terms (beginning in 1831) as

lieutenant governor until he resigned to

run for governor in 1837. Elected by a

comfortable margin, he faced severe prob-

lems, for the previous administration had

incurred heavy indebtedness for canals and

other internal improvements, and the panic

of 1837 had severely taxed the financial

stability of the nation and state. Wallace

pressed for a continuance of the various

projects rather than a concentration on

those of most importance, as seemed wise

to some conservative leaders. Accordingly,

he presented an unrealistic picture of the

state's financial situation. Another prob-

lem faced by his administration was as-

sistance to the federal government in the

final removal of the Potawatomi Indians.

Adequate taxes could not readily be col-

lected, and the difficulties encountered had

aroused so much opposition that Wallace

did not seek reelection. Later, he served

one term (1841-43) as a member of con-

gress from the Indianapolis district, took

part in the Indiana Constitutional Conven-

tion of 1850, and finally was a common

pleas judge from 1856 until his death in

1859. Wallace was not a strong executive

or an effective party leader but was a

man of integrity. The account of his ad-

ministration as governor when Indiana

spent more money on premiums for wolf

scalps than for the state library (p. 67),

is accurately presented. Much better known

to history is Wallace's son, Lewis (Lew),

of "Ben Hur" fame.

FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER

Ohio State University

THE CHOLERA YEARS: THE

UNITED STATES IN 1832, 1849,

AND 1866. By Charles E. Rosenberg.

(Chicago: University of Chicago Press,

1962. x??257p.; frontispiece, bibliog-

raphy, and index. $5.95.)

We of this relatively enlightened scien-

tific age may wonder what the reactions

were of the peoples of former times to the

great epidemics of their experience. With

their innate curiosity but limited scientific

knowledge, what were their expressed opin-

ions as to the causes of widespread disease

and on what were their attempts at con-

trol measures based?

BOOK REVIEWS 53

Answers to these very questions of

human reactions and social behavior were

sought by Rosenberg, and he chose as his

central issue the epidemics of cholera in

the United States in 1832, 1849, and 1866.

For his analysis of contemporary thinking

he went to the printed records of the re-

spective times, which he objectively pre-

sents in faithful quotations and para-

phrases. The monotony of listing the

printed evidence is fortunately relieved by

the author's effective literary style.

Rosenberg limits his study to the ex-

perience of New York City, which he ex-

plains is illustrative of that had by large

cities of the country. To the uninitiated,

this limitation gives a false impression of

the extent of the cholera epidemics in ques-

tion. This leads to the comment that the

book presents an entirely too restricted

view of the disease itself; a more complete

description of its character and of factors

involved in its migration across the coun-

try would have enhanced the non-medical

reader's concept of what was hidden from

the contemporary public and what was

available for speculation at those times.

The book concludes with a seven-page

chapter touching on some of these points,

but too briefly for full comprehension of

the text. There are no charts, tables of

incidence, or maps, and only relatively few

statistics.

It must be understood, however, that

The Cholera Years is not a medical his-

tory. It uses the printed record to describe

the social ecology of disease of the times,

and the reader can see for himself the in-

terpretations of epidemic visitations in the

four decades involved. Reactions and pro-

nouncements are presented in three cate-

gories: social, religious, and medical, with

considerable overlapping, especially in the

earlier epidemics, and public administra-

tion of health affairs playing a significant

role in later years.

The span of time represented by the epi-

demics is of interest because of the shift

in thinking in these years from almost

complete attribution of the epidemics to

God's punishment of the wicked (with men-

tal squirming and raised eyebrows when

citizens considered exemplary fell victim to

the disease) to a confession that perhaps

there was a combination of divine punish-

ment superimposed on a natural phenome-

non of some scientific merit. It should be

noted that, although the bacteriologic era

had not yet come to full bloom by 1866,

the current stirring of science and ad-

vances of medicine were being felt by and

influencing the public mind. Indeed, the

volume reflects the changing views of

American society in respect to religion,

disease, and civic responsibilities for the

public health.

Rosenberg has made this significant con-

tribution to social interpretation as a mem-

ber of the departments of history and

history of science at the University of Wis-

consin. The work is a scholarly exhibition

of historical writing, thoroughly docu-

mented by numerous footnotes and a ter-

minal "Annotated Bibliography" of exten-

sive proportions. The books ends with an

adequate index.

N. PAUL HUDSON

Ohio State University

BLACK UTOPIA: NEGRO COMMUNAL

EXPERIMENTS IN AMERICA. By

William H. Pease and Jane H. Pease.

(Madison: State Historical Society of

Wisconsin, 1963. xiv??204p.; bibliog-

raphy and index. $4.00.)

These conscientious authors provide a

well-documented monograph which ex-

amines experiments in Negro community

organization in pre-Civil War decades. It

is largely a story of failure, and, consider-

ing the good will which motivated some

leaders and the hope for social advance-

ment generated among many Negroes, a

tragic one. Social experiments in some

cases exemplified "white philanthropy,"

notably in Frances Wright's Nashoba

colony, which deteriorated into aimless

association and licentiousness. Wilberforce,

in Ontario, Canada, was designed to serve

refugees from Ohio's "Black Laws," but

inspired fund-raisers who more consist-

ently served themselves. Dawn, in Canada

West, engaged the famous Father Henson

and responsible patrons; nevertheless, it

became a tale of incompetence and dissen-

sion. Elgin, near Chatham, Ontario, was

the creation of William King, a Pres-

byterian minister, and earned the best

title to success. It was carefully organized,

54 OHIO HISTORY

and selected settlers purposefully. Self-

help and support kept the community

promising and respectable for some twenty

years, despite local resistance. The authors

conclude that "immediate triumph was

long-range failure." Elgin, being a self-

contained settlement, offered no program

for the great body of American Negroes.

Interesting for other reasons was the Port

Royal experiment in the Sea Islands of

South Carolina. Here came humanitarians

from the North to aid Negroes whom the

advent of Union forces had freed in 1861.

They gave form and substance to the

Negro community, and helped run the

cotton plantations. Casual cohabitation

was outlawed and education was under-

taken. The practical purposes of the fed-

eral officers kept utopianism at a mini-

mum. Port Royal experienced a brief per-

iod of less opportunistic life under the

energetic Edward Philbrick, but at the

war's end the government overthrew most

of its promising features. The authors'

judgment on these communities is largely

negative. Their leaders were in most cases

men of good hope, but "their vision was

unrealistic; their practice, at last, unfruit-

ful."

LOUIS FILLER

Antioch College

THE EDUCATION OF NEGROES IN

OHIO. By Frederick A. McGinnis.

(Wilberforce, Ohio: the author, 1962.

xii??104p.; appendix and index. $2.25.)

In a book of less than one hundred

pages Frederick A. McGinnis, a member

of the faculty of Wilberforce University,

has compressed the history of education

of Negroes in Ohio. The record of Ohio

in the treatment of its Negro minority

is typical of northern states. The pattern

with regard to education has been similar

to that in the neighboring states of

Indiana and Illinois, but Ohio repealed

her segregation law earlier than did her

sister states.

Briefly summarized, Mr. McGinnis' find-

ings are as follows. Before 1848 there

was no provision of any sort for the edu-

cation of Ohio Negroes at public expense.

Subsequent laws passed in 1849, 1853,

1854, and 1878 provided for separate

schools in districts where there were as

many as thirty Negro children and for

the consolidation of districts for the pur-

pose of establishing separate schools where

the number was smaller. By the 1880's

approximately half of the Negro children

enrolled in schools were in separate

schools, about half in schools with mixed

enrollments. Soon after the Civil War and

the adoption of the thirteenth and four-

teenth amendments a campaign was be-

gun to end the segregated schools. Both

governors Hoadly and Foraker, as well

as the Negro churches and Negro leaders,

gave their support to a movement which

resulted in the repeal of the separate

school law in 1886. The effect of the re-

peal was to stop the establishment of

additional segregated schools, but it did

not necessarily mean the end of those

already in operation.

During the early years of the twentieth

century, and especially as the result of

the northward migration of Negroes

during and after World War I, there was

a marked trend toward increased segrega-

tion in areas where there was a heavy

concentration of Negroes. Although state

law made no provision for segregation,

this separation of the races had a quasi-

legal status. Some Negroes acquiesced in

separate schools because they provided

opportunities for the employment of Negro

teachers. A series of doctoral dissertations

written at the University of Cincinnati

on the effects of segregation during the

1920's and 1930's purported to show that

separate schools better met the needs of

Negro children than did integrated schools.

This had the effect of strengthening and

perpetuating segregation.

In some communities of southern Ohio

segregated schools persist to this day. But

in recent years, especially since the United

States Supreme Court decision of 1954,

separate schools have been abolished in

several smaller communities. In some

places, especially the larger cities, there

has been marked progress in the integra-

tion of teaching staffs in recent years.

Mr. McGinnis deals briefly with the

history of opportunities--or lack of oppor-

tunities -- for the higher education of

Negroes. He found that as recently as

1949 Negro students were in attendance

at only forty-four of sixty-seven institu-