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BOOK REVIEWS |
JAMES HALL: SPOKESMAN OF THE NEW WEST. By Randolph C. Randall. (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1964. xvi??371p.; illustrations, bibliog- raphy, and index. $7.50.) Randolph Randall's account of the life of James Hall (1793-1868), to whom Her- man Melville acknowledged a literary debt in The Confidence-Man, provides an inter- esting panorama of the larger life of the eastern and Ohio Valley frontier during the years of explosive change and growth that came between the War of 1812 and the War between the States. Born in Philadelphia, where his mother was a contributor to Joseph Dennie's in- fluential Port Folio (later edited and pub- lished by his older brothers, Elihu and Harrison Hall), James Hall grew up in the East and saw active service on the Niagara frontier in the War of 1812. As a young artillery officer he accompanied an American fleet in Decatur's expedition against Algeria. After leaving the army, he read and practiced law in Pittsburgh before embarking in 1820 on a thousand mile keelboat journey to Shawneetown in the infant state of Illinois. Here Hall was active as a newspaper editor; as a circuit riding state prosecutor against horse thieves, counterfeiters, and a variety of petty malefactors; and, briefly, as a cir- cuit judge. Here also, under discouraging circumstances, he launched a literary jour- nal, the Illinois Monthly Magazine (1830- 33) and sent east for publication--in Cin- cinnati, in Philadelphia, and in London-- the first of a growing number of fictional |
and nonfictional accounts of life in the new West. Backtrailing to Cincinnati, Hall settled into the social and literary life of the com- munity that was already recognized as the "Athens of the West." While editing the flourishing Western Monthly Magazine (1833-37), he prepared a distinctive text- book, The Western Reader (1834), and completed his only novel, The Harpe's Head: A Legend of Kentucky (1833). After shifting to the successful banking career to which he devoted the remainder of his life, Hall continued, for a decade or so, to write and to re-collect his earlier pieces about the West. The most ambitious of his late efforts was his contribution as co-author to a three volume work entitled History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836-44). Apart from his edi- torial labors to foster a new western liter- ature, Hall's writings provide an invalu- able record of the life of a long-vanished frontier culture. Hall's contribution to American litera- ture rests as much upon his editing as upon his creative writing. The Western Souvenir, A Christmas and New Year's Gift for 1829, edited by Hall and pub- lished in Cincinnati by N. & G. Guilford in late 1828, represents a break from the oppressively genteel tradition of the gift book in its inclusion of fresh western sub- jects. Among examples of the vitality of the better selections are Hall's own essay "The Indian Hater," upon which Melville drew, and Morgan Neville's "The Last of |
BOOK REVIEWS 133 the Boatmen," in which Mike Fink makes his literary debut. Hall's Western Monthly Magazine, which
in its first years had be- tween two and three thousand subscribers, enjoyed an unusual success for a literary little magazine of its own or any period. Its influence might have been even greater, however, if, in promoting its regional in- terest and appeal, Hall had not neglected to seek out contributions from promising writers regardless of geography. Hall was truly a pioneer in sensing the literary promise of the new West and in attempting to help the region to find its voice. But despite his instinct for realism, his own fiction was limited by the con- ventionalities of the popular romance of the time. (He was after all a close con- temporary of James Fenimore Cooper.) He relished the pungent metaphor and nervous syntax of the frontiersman's speech, but he was not able to form a style based upon it partly, no doubt, be- cause of limitations of talent, but also be- cause it was necessary that the taste of a generation of readers be conditioned by an emerging tradition of humorous local color writing before the genius of a Twain could break the mold of artificial diction and bring in the age of modern fiction. Like other American writers of the early nineteenth century, Hall was conscious of a cultural isolation, intensified in his case by his identification with the frontier. As he acknowledged in writing to his mother, from Illinois, "I am like a man shooting in the dark--I know that I expend a vast deal of ammunition, and that my gun cracks most excellently in my own ears, but am ignorant whether any execution is done--even the echo is lost in the vast distance." Hall's viewpoint was shaped by his American heritage as well as his regional ties. Despite a religious conservatism and a position on slavery that was never made completely clear (he was a supporter of colonization rather than abolition), Hall held democratic equalitarian views on numerous important subjects: On Jeffer- sonian grounds he was a champion of pop- ular education and of coeducation on the college level; he strenuously opposed the extreme anti-Catholicism that the Know- nothing movement was to exploit; he also advocated equality of treatment for the |
Indians, recommending that the territories assigned them should eventually be admit- ted to statehood. But Hall's liberalism, combined with his truculent resistance to British cultural dominion, won him a hos- tile reception among conservative English and American reviewers. The circumstances of Hall's personal life and literary career are set forth with careful scholarship and judgment in Pro- fessor Randall's closely documented biog- raphy, the product of years of research. A valuable feature of its full bibliography of manuscript and printed sources is a de- tailed listing of Hall's contributions to newspapers and magazines including the Pittsburgh Gazette, the Illinois Gazette, the Port Folio, Timothy Flint's Western Monthly Review, and Hall's own Illinois Monthly Magazine and Western Monthly Magazine. But
it must strike any reader as strange that the author makes no ex- plicit reference in either the bibliography or his text to John T. Flanagan's James Hall: Literary Pioneer of the Ohio Valley (1941), the only earlier book treating the subject. Whatever the reason for it may be, the omission is a flaw in an otherwise admirable scholarly work. Flanagan's book with its focus on literary culture and Randall's more exhaustive and detailed biography stand together as complemen- tary studies of an important figure in the development of western (since midwest- ern) regional literature. In addition to the insight they provide, both also point to many possibilities for further exploration by the interested student of literary and cultural history. Within this field Ran- dolph Randall's book should stand as the definitive (if the term can ever be fully trusted) biography of James Hall. WALTER SUTTON Syracuse University OHIO: A STUDENTS' GUIDE TO LO- CALIZED HISTORY. By Francis P. Weisenburger. Localized History Series, Clifford L. Lord, editor. (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1965. x??36p.; notes, selected bibliogra- phies, notes for field trips. Paper, $.75.) This easily read paperback booklet is intended as a guide to study in Ohio his- tory. The introduction by Clifford L. Lord, |
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editor of the series, presents some general directions regarding sources of material, library and note taking techniques, and preparation of the resulting report. Professor Weisenburger, co-author of the best comparatively recent one-volume history of Ohio, is well qualified to prepare such a brief survey of the history of Ohio, as this is. At the end of each of the five chapters he has listed "Books to Read." He also has given "Objectives for Field Trips," in which he has listed historical sites, museums, and points of interest for each chapter. Such a handy booklet as this can be useful to the teacher and students in secondary school, or even in elementary courses in Ohio history in college or uni- versity. It could have been made even more valuable by references to maps of Ohio which could be obtained, and by ref- erences to audio-visual materials, such as films which are available for use in the classroom to better acquaint the students with the state. The author's survey of the political his- tory of Ohio is especially well done. By giving only one short chapter to the last one hundred years of Ohio history, how- ever, he has slighted to some extent the industrial growth of the area. While reference was made to the canals which were built in Ohio, and passing mention was made of the Ohio River, it seems as though water, as such, has played such an important part in the his- tory and development of Ohio that more emphasis should have been placed on the various phases of water. Professor Weisen- burger did mention the flood of 1913 in the Miami Valley and the development of the Miami Conservancy program. The periodic flooding of the Ohio Valley might well have been mentioned and the develop- ment of ways in which such flooding is being reduced, including the development of the Muskingum Conservancy District, which is nationally outstanding in the field of conservation. Professor Weisenburger is to be compli- mented on giving a whole chapter to the social history. In his survey of the various religious groups one might wish that he had mentioned the Shakers and their unique communities in the state. It should be noted by way of correction, under field |
trips, that the William H. McGuffey Mu- seum is housed in the McGuffey House in Oxford, not in the Miami University Li- brary, from which it was moved a number of years ago. One may find it a little hard to class any art museum in Oxford with those which are to be found in Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton, or Cincinnati. In recent years there has been a growth of local historical societies and the creation of county and community museums. It would have been well to have referred to such as worthwhile objects of field trips. In spite of the minor imperfections which have been noted, this booklet can be very helpful in arousing interest in Ohio his- tory and in guiding the student in further reading and study. PRESTON B. ALBRIGHT Miami University CLEVELAND: VILLAGE TO METROP- OLIS, A CASE STUDY OF PROB- LEMS OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN
NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA. By Edmund H. Chapman. (Cleveland: Western Reserve Historical Society and Press of Western Reserve University, 1964. xiv??166p.; illustra- tions, maps, bibliography, and index. $7.50.) Contemporary America is confronted with the difficult task of making its cities decent places in which to live. The prob- lems of the "exploding metropolis" are extraordinarily complex. Rapidly spread- ing slums, suburban sprawl, traffic control, ugliness, and congestion are only basic considerations, because superimposed upon these ecological and aesthetic problems are those of social disorder; juvenile delin- quency, crime, broken families, unemploy- ment, and poverty, for example, only complicate the dilemma of urbanized America. These problems, however, are not of recent origin, but are deeply rooted in the early stages of urban development. No scholar of urban history can deny that lack of planning contributed significantly to the current crisis. Disregard for beauty and functional relationships allowed the |
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seeds of today's disintegration to be deeply implanted in the very foundations of American cities. This tragedy is placed in sharp relief by Edwin Chapman's case study of the early development of Ohio's largest city. Similar to that of most American cities, Cleveland's basic plan was designed for a pre-industrial community of only a few thousand inhabitants. But when mercan- tile and industrial patterns were grafted upon this rural village, "dislocation was inevitable," Chapman concludes. This is not an urban biography, because the author has limited himself to an anal- ysis of planning and architecture. By drawing upon many heretofore unused sources, he traces Cleveland's development through the successive stages of "pioneer village" (1796-1815), "New England vil- lage" (1815-30), "mercantile town" (1830- 54), and "industrial city" (1854-75). Chapman stops at this rather arbitrary date because "the adolescence of Cleveland as an urban complex was now over." The history of the metropolitan period, he says, lies outside the scope of his study. The strategic location at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River determined Cleve- land's future as a regional metropolis. Richard Wade has clearly shown that the trans-Appalachian frontier was essenti- ally an "urban frontier," and Cleveland was no exception to this interpretation, because from its early existence it served as the hub for the concentric settlement of the Western Reserve. Beginning in the late 1820's the canals stimulated rapid growth, and by 1870 the railroads had created a city of over 93,000 persons. Cleveland grew so rapidly that no co- herent plan was developed. Powerful eco- nomic interests, in this the early "Gilded Age," prevented rational development. Railroads sliced through stable residential areas, warehouses and filth-spewing fac- tories clogged the previously lovely lake and river fronts, and tenement districts were thrown up at random. In an age per- vaded by the doctrine of laissez faire, sound planning was ignored, Chapman argues, and greedy businessmen, malleable politicians, and short-sighted citizens cre- ated an urban monstrosity that was "dis- astrous." |
This attractive volume contributes much to the historian's understanding of the process of urbanization. The ninety-seven illustrations add immeasurably to the nar- rative. Many readers, however, will be left with the feeling that the author has writ- ten only one-half of a book. Unless the reader is familiar with the history of twentieth-century Cleveland, he must ac- cept Chapman's unsupported assumption that serious problems did indeed exist in this century. Had the author carried his study to the present, its value would have been markedly increased. The reader also will detect incompleteness in another area. Although the business and political leaders are severely criticized for their failure to construct the City Beautiful, Chapman makes no effort to understand or to ex- plain the many cross-currents of pressure in which they were undoubtedly caught. Had the author used the relevant studies of urbanization by Constance Green and Blake McKelvey, for example, he would have realized that the problems of urban planning and growth were far more com- plex than he seems to believe. Within its narrowly prescribed limits, Chapman has written a superb book. The discussion of architecture is excellent, especially since it is closely related to the changes in the economic functions of the lakefront city. But the discussion of plan- ning suffers from a failure to understand the intellectual, political, and economic en- vironment in which Cleveland's leaders necessarily had to operate. RICHARD O. DAVIES Arizona State College MATTHEW ELLIOTT, BRITISH IN- DIAN AGENT. By Reginald Horsman. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1964. xiii??256p.; map, biblio- graphical note, and index. $9.95.) Ireland-born Matthew Elliott was a part of the Scotch-Irish movement to America. He arrived at the wilderness outpost of Fort Pitt in 1761. When the Bouquet ex- pedition was sent to relieve Fort Pitt from the danger of destruction in the Pontiac affair, Elliott volunteered for military service. Shortly thereafter he was counted |
136 OHIO HISTORY |
among the numerous Pitt-based Indian traders who roamed westward into the Ohio country. Elliott thus was established in the lines of endeavor that commanded his talents and energies for the rest of a long, arduous life on the American-Cana- dian frontier. In the spring of 1778 he joined a small party of loyalists which included such other infamous renegades as Alexander McKee and Simon Girty and left Fort Pitt to cast his lot with the Detroit-based Brit- ish. From the Vincennes expedition of 1778-79, when he served as a scout for Henry Hamilton, through the rest of the Revolution, the Indian wars of the 1790's and the uneasy decade which followed, and into the War of 1812, he figured promi- nently. Even though the flowing tide of American settlement into the Old North- west was seemingly inexorable, and al- though his political and economic posi- tions were at times badly battered, his allegiance was unswerving. Retreating be- fore the Harrison victory at the Thames, he was leading Indians in battle on the Niagara frontier in his mid-seventies shortly before his death in 1814. Horsman ably succeeds in rescuing Matthew
Elliott from negative oblivion. That his soul should be subjected to cease- less torment for betrayal of and the con- siderable disservice he rendered to the American cause is the traditional assess- ment of Elliott's worth. Horsman, how- ever, sees Elliott's career as positive. Despite the sometime lack of official titles and formal powers, Elliott probably did as much as anyone else to mold and to imple- ment British Indian policy in the Old Northwest in this period. As worthy of praise as Horsman's study is, the contrary must be pointed out for the format produced by the Wayne State University Press. Marring items are spread throughout the volume like a rash -- wavy lines, broken type, blurs, faded and heavy printing, unclosed parentheses, improper use of editorial brackets, in- consistent capitalization, an incomplete line, a line repeated and located in another place, and so on. One would not expect to find such a multitude of discrepancies and errors on a first galley let alone a final page proof. This can only be attrib- |
uted to extraordinarily inept editorial and sloppy press work. DWIGHT L. SMITH Miami University HOPEWELLIAN
STUDIES. Edited by Joseph R. Caldwell and Robert L. Hall. Illinois State Museum, Scientific Papers, Volume XII. (Springfield: Illinois State Museum, 1964. viii??156p.; plates, tables, and bibliography. Paper, $3.50.) This publication is based on a series of five papers presented at the American Anthropological Association meeting in Philadelphia in November 1963, and a sixth by James A. Brown on "The North- eastern Extension of the Havana Tradi- tion." In this Brown supports the idea that the Illinois Valley Hopewellian is tied to the prairie environment and its exten- sion into northern Indiana is a reflection of the prairie environment of that area. Donald Dragoo reviews older ideas of the relation of Adena to Hopewell with many provocative suggestions and reason- able corrections. It is to some degree a condensation from his recently published study Mounds for the Dead published by the Carnegie Museum. Dragoo rejects any substantial Mexican contribution to Adena and emphasizes its debt to a number of earlier groups in the Ohio Valley and Northeast. Hopewell in Ohio is seen as a physical and cultural merger of Adena and "Lenid peoples from the west and northwest." He believes that dispossessed Adena groups moved to the east coast and into the middle South. Olaf Prufer has contributed a chapter on "The Hopewell Complex of Ohio" which is based on his Ph.D. dissertation and ad- ditional ideas resulting from recent exca- vations, consultations, and revelations. Prufer believes that "the majority of the classic Ohio Hopewell traits that cannot be locally derived made their appearance from Illinois," and is thus in essential ac- cord with Dragoo on this point. Perhaps his most significant new postulation is that the hilltop "forts" are very Late Hopewell and were built to resist "the violent end of Ohio Hopewell," perhaps caused by "the arrival of the Fort Ancient people." |
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The paper by Stuart Struever empha- sizes the cultural differences in Illinois south and north of St. Louis during the Hopewellian occupations, and the impor- tance of the "manipulation" of native plant resources in the flood plain of the Illinois which provided an important food resource and led to increased cultural complexity. The paper by Edward V. McMichael on "Veracruz, the Crystal River Complex [of Florida], and the Hopewellian Cli- max" is an abbreviation of a longer pres- entation included in his Ph.D. thesis at Indiana University. He believes that ma- jor cultural influences moved from Vera- cruz to Crystal River and then "trans- formed an already dynamic culture into the spectacular one of Ohio Hopewell." The paper on "Interaction Spheres in Prehistory" by J. C. Caldwell presents the concept that "the interactions among sep- arate societies, providing both cultural differences and exchanges of experience, are here regarded as the primary oppor- tunities for those vast results of innova- tion we call civilization." The papers are by some of the more active archaeologists in the study and publication on Hopewellian problems. All of the papers have merit, and possible defects. They can be read with profit but are no more "final" than the works of Squire and Davis, Mills and Shetrone. In a field where the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society was pre-eminent for many years, the Ohio Historical Society has not kept pace. JAMES B. GRIFFIN University of Michigan PROTESTANTS AND PIONEERS: INDIVIDUALISM AND CONFORM- ITY ON THE AMERICAN FRON- TIER. By T. Scott Miyakawa. (Chica- go: University of Chicago Press, 1964. 306p.; bibliography and index. $7.50.) The western frontier and its resident backwoodsmen readily defy generaliza- tions. Indeed, a "typical" pioneer portrait probably exists only in the mind of an historian who attempts to fashion the daguerreotype from limited and selected incidents, personalities, and concepts. His |
sketch, incomplete and tentative at best, ever awaits the corrective and clarifying strokes of another observer with a differ- ent frame of reference. So, even Frederick Jackson Turner's celebrated frontier the- sis stirs perennial debate and suffers fre- quent attacks for its sins of omission and commission. In Protestants and Pioneers T. Scott Miyakawa, associate professor of soci- ology at Boston University, questions some of Turner's conclusions, particularly his concept of the extreme individuality of the frontiersman. Writing as a sociologist and anthropologist and concentrating on the Ohio River Valley folk between 1800 and 1836, Miyakawa adds new color tones to the pioneer's picture by focusing on the intense group consciousness of the strictly disciplined members of the major Protes- tant denominations. Rather than the lonely, rugged individualist Turner de- scribes, he reveals the frontiersman as a member, often a lay leader, of a closely knit, well organized ecclesiastical body to which he gave his allegiance and devotion, receiving in return, satisfaction for his gregarious as well as religious drives. Securing his illustrative materials largely from the Baptists and Methodists and to a lesser degree, the Presbyterians and Quakers, the author probes ministe- rial and lay attitudes toward theological and popular education, sectarian rivalries, missionary endeavors, and Jacksonian de- mocracy. From this spring there poured forth both sweet and bitter waters. The Protestant denominations helped the pio- neer develop those democratic character- istics of equalitarianism, idealism, trust in the common man, organizational skills, and devotion to duty--traits often con- sidered typically American. At the same time, ecclesiastical suspicion of clerical and public education, an unwholesome dis- dain for entertainment and the arts, a narrow sectarianism, and a failure to comprehend the plight of racial groups in their midst, furnished in part the motiva- tions for subsequent reactionary social and political bias. Church historians often lament the dearth of scholarly works describing the impact of religion on the frontier and on succeeding generations. Happily, this ex- |
138 OHIO HISTORY |
cellent, well-documented volume with its impressive references and selected bibliog- raphy supplements an increasing number of recent books and monographs. The por- trait may forever remain unfinished, but this and other works help bring its com- plex features into sharper focus. PAUL H. BOASE Ohio University THE GATHERING OF ZION: THE STORY OF THE MORMON TRAIL. By Wallace Stegner. The American Trails Series, edited by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. (New York: McGraw-Hill
Book Company, 1964. xv??312p.; map, illus- trations, bibliographical notes, and in- dex. $6.95.) The Mormon Trail began on the Iowa shore of the Mississippi River across from Nauvoo and stretched a thousand miles west to Salt Lake City. Brigham Young and the Saints set out to cross it in Feb- ruary of 1846, and it served as the route of the Gathering of Zion until 1868, the last year of overland emigration. In this volume, Wallace Stegner tells the story of that Gathering, of the leadership of the Mormon hierarchy as it directed the flow of humanity along the trail, and of the thousands who followed them in company after company. For Stegner, who is professor of Eng- lish at Stanford University and author of many books on western history, the trail is the "abiding symbol" of Mormonism. But his study also includes Mormon ori- gins in New York, Ohio, and Illinois, and the missionary work abroad that sent European converts to the Mormon Trail. Moreover, the climax of the narrative is reached only a little more than half-way through the volume, when in July of 1847 Brigham Young reached the mouth of Emigration Canyon, gazed upon Salt Lake Valley, and said what "Mormon myth" has recorded as "This is the place." The remainder of the book carries us back and forth on the trail with the Gathering, and the final chapter retraces the entire route as it can be followed by modern highway. The Mormons we accompany are de- scribed with sympathy and respect, fre- quently with awe. "Their women," writes Stegner, "were incredible." His account of |
the handcart companies of 1856 is vivid, personal, and chilling. Mormon organiza- tion, whether on shipboard, in towns such as Nauvoo, in the "villages in transit" moving westward, or in the church trains which marked the latter years of the trail, is described with admiration. The essen- tial cohesiveness of the Saints is never really diminished by all the bickering, pettiness, and conflict which he records. Sympathetic as he is with the testing of a driven people, Stegner's judgments of Mormon sources remain skeptical. Some of his uncertainties he ascribes to the limited access permitted him to the church library by the church historian. The more formal marks of scholarship are missing here, as there are no foot- notes, and only a brief listing of biblio- graphical sources by chapters is given at the end of the book. There is instead a free exercise of historical imagination. It is difficult always to distinguish what might have happened, probably happened, or must have happened. But these are perhaps unavoidable defects in a work of literary artistry. We have been given a moving tribute to those who walked or rode the long miles of the Mormon Trail. RONALD SHAW Miami University INDIANAPOLIS IN THE "GAY NINE- TIES": HIGH SCHOOL DIARIES OF CLAUDE G. BOWERS. Edited by Hol- man Hamilton and Gayle Thornbrough. (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical So- ciety, 1964. xi??241p.; frontispiece and index. Paper, $3.00.) These diaries of Claude Bowers offer an intriguing look into the formative years of the man who won later fame as an orator, historian, politician, and diplomat. They cover a year and a half of his high school career and his first year after graduation (July 1895 through August 1896, and September 1897 through Janu- ary 1899); the diary entries for the inter- vening months have been lost. Bowers worked hard and successfully in these years to develop his power and effective- ness as a speaker, mastering the style of his hero, Robert G. Ingersoll. When Bowers spoke at his own commencement in Jan- |
BOOK REVIEWS 139 |
uary 1898, he "was interrupted by vigor- ous applause three times," and that March he won the Indiana High School Oratori- cal Contest. His reputation as a speaker opened the doors of politics to him. Even more apparent in the diaries them- selves is the attention he gave to per- fecting his style of writing. He had a bad memory for spelling but a good ear for rhythms and cadences. The entries abound with striking vignettes of his high school friends, of actors and actresses whose per- formances he marveled at, and of the political orators he heard. It is interesting to note that Bowers was a Republican un- til 1896, when he fell in love with William Jennings Bryan and shifted to the Demo- cratic party, which remained his lifelong affiliation. It is also startling to read the frank, unflattering comments of the youth- ful Bowers about the man whose biog- raphy he was later to write--Albert J. Beveridge. The interest of the diaries extends be- yond Bowers' private life. They recreate an America which is long past: the homog- eneous world of high school students in Indianapolis in the 1890's--and it might have been Columbus or Cincinnati, Toledo or Cleveland. Bowers' circle of friends was bound together by common academic interests and talents; a student's family's wealth was irrelevant (Bowers own cir- cumstances were modest, for his widowed mother eked out a living as a seamstress); and so was a student's religion (two of his close friends were Jews). The opportuni- ties for the theater in that pre-movie, pre-TV era were incomparably richer than they are today. Bowers reports faithfully and lovingly on the Shakespearean actors whose performances at English's Opera House entranced him--the "greats" of the day: Sir Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, Hel- ena Modjeska, Thomas Keene, and Julia Marlowe. He was captivated by the "Di- vine Sarah" Bernhardt, devoting two pages of ecstatic prose to her performance as Camille. Bowers saw Robert B. Mantell, Maurice Barrymore, and Mary Hampton in contemporary plays. There are accounts of other evenings spent with friends read- ing together histories, novels, and poetry, talking about militarism and the war against Spain, or walking in the moon- light. He seldom missed an opportunity to |
hear the orators who came to town - Bryan, Beveridge, John Peter Altgeld, and Eugene V. Debs. He read avidly the speeches made at political conventions, confessing that their style interested him as much as their content. The life of high school students then seemed simpler than it does today, and these young people were more creative in developing their own pleasures. Bowers' glimpse into his own world of the nineteenth century is nostal- gic and unforgettable. The two editors have divided their task: Miss Thornbrough has prepared notes on the people and places in Indianapolis, Mr. Hamilton on the rest. They have done a thorough job of annotation. LANDON WARNER Kenyon College A HOUSE DIVIDED: STATEHOOD POLITICS AND THE COPPERHEAD MOVEMENT IN WEST VIRGINIA. By Richard Orr Curry. (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1964. (xii??203p.; appendices, maps, bibliog- raphy, and index. $5.00.) Professor Curry of the faculty of the University of Connecticut has produced a carefully documented study of the break- ing off of northwestern Virginia from the Confederate Old Dominion, the creation of the state of West Virginia, and the trou- bled period of the state's history to 1870. He emphasizes the traditional view of Charles H. Ambler, George E. Moore, and others that northwestern Virginia in 1861 was strongly pro-Union, but he marshals much evidence to clarify or refute pre- viously accepted concepts. He indicates that before 1830 the Shenandoah Valley and trans-Allegheny regions of Virginia joined hands for common objectives such as universal manhood suffrage, increased representation in the general assembly, and the removal of tax schedules which dis- criminated in favor of slave property. But, he maintains that the Valley counties broke off the political cooperation with the western section at the constitutional con- vention of 1829-30. Furthermore, he cites figures to show that in 1861 the north- western counties were strong for union, |
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but that the southwestern counties were overwhelmingly for secession. Constitut- ing forty percent of the population in what became the state of West Virginia these southwestern people voted "to ratify the Secession Ordinance. They did not participate in the Wheeling or Constitu- tional Conventions. They sent representa- tives to the General Assembly at Rich- mond during the War," and many of their men engaged in guerilla warfare in West Virginia or served in the Confederate army (p. 26). They constituted a majority of the inhabitants in about half of the fifty counties which became the state of West Virginia (p. 53). The author insists that without McClellan's campaigns in 1861 in western Virginia the statehood movement could not have succeeded. He explains the apparent inconsistencies and seeming vac- illations of John S. Carlile and others who had been ardent Union men in 1861 as due to the alarm which they experi- enced "when the war for the Union took on the added purpose of a crusade for the destruction of slavery and the subjugation of the South" (p. 109). Curry believes that the situation in West Virginia was different from that analyzed by Frank Klement and Wood Gray in northern states where fear of the competition of emancipated Negroes was one factor stim- ulating Copperhead sentiment. In West Virginia opposition to emancipation ap- pears to have been based upon deep-seated conservative opposition to steps toward social and political equality for the Negro. This sentiment, expressing itself after the war, led to desertions of the Republican party and to the sweeping of Democrats into office in 1870 and their remaining in power for twenty years. The author also holds that Professor Ambler's claim that the Methodists were primarily responsible for the setting up of the state of West Virginia "is un- sound," though these churchmen were in- fluential. A minor error in the volume is the persistent misspelling of the name of Vallandigham. But all students of West Virginia history will be indebted to the industrious researches and thoughtful ap- praisals of Professor Curry. FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER Ohio State University |
WEST VIRGINIA, THE CENTENNIAL OF STATEHOOD, 1863-1963: AN EX- HIBITION IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. (Washington: Library of Congress, 1964. 82p.; illustrations and index. Paper, $.60.) This volume, as described by the Li- brary of Congress' information and publi- cation office, is an "82-page illustrated catalog of its exhibit observing the 100th anniversary of the admission of the State of West Virginia to the Union." It con- tains annotated entries for nearly two hundred manuscripts, newspapers, broad- sides, drawings, photographs, and so forth which bear on such events as the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861, the First and Second Wheeling Conventions (1861), and the methods and procedures utilized in separating West Virginia from the Old Dominion. In addition, one section of the catalog is devoted to military events in West Virginia during the Civil War, while still another focuses attention on the ear- lier history of the region, that is, explora- tion, settlement, border wars, land specu- lation, the Burr-Blennerhassett affair, John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, the mineral springs of western Virginia (White Sulphur Springs for example), and the rise of industry in the mountain state. The catalog also contains an address de- livered by Professor Festus P. Summers of West Virginia University at the formal opening of the exhibition in the Library of Congress in December 1963. While this ad- dress contains some interpretations with which this reviewer disagrees--for ex- ample, the influences which prompted President Lincoln to sign the West Vir- ginia bill passed by congress--it is, on the whole, a comprehensive and urbane over- view of the forces and factors which paved the way for the admission of West Vir- ginia into the Union, and, it must be added, of the contributions which West Virginia and West Virginians (including Pearl Buck, William L. Wilson, John W. Davis, Walter Reuther, Dwight W. Mor- row, Newton D. Baker, Eleanor Steber, and Melville Davisson Post) have made to the political, economic, and cultural life of the nation. RICHARD O. CURRY University of Connecticut |
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AN AMERICAN FAMILY: THE TAFTS, 1678 TO 1964. By Ishbel Ross. (Cleveland: World Publishing Com- pany, 1964. vii??468p.; illustrations, bib- liography, and index. $6.50.) Anyone seeking to write a definitive his- tory of the Taft Family from 1678 to 1964 in slightly over four hundred pages would be attempting the impossible. The labors of Hercules would be child's play by comparison. There are too many his- torically significant Tafts to fit com- fortably into four-hundred-plus pages. Alphonso, William Howard, Charles Phelps I, Charles Phelps II, Robert A., Helen (Manning), Horace, Hulbert, Rob- ert A., Jr.--with the Adamses and Beechers, the Tafts represent a dynastic tradition. They rank as one of the "great" familial units in American history, a fact fully confirmed by the number of Taft studies listed in Miss Ross's bibliography. Miss Ross wisely avoided the "definitive" approach and took an "intimate life" tack; perhaps it was her publisher's decision. This is mainly a kaleidoscopic study of the personal lives of the Tafts. We learn about their wives, their children, their family reunions, their travels, their trag- edies, and even their food tastes. It is descriptive, rather than analytical, his- tory. Miss Ross has addressed herself to the question "what," rarely
"why." If you wish to know what President William Howard Taft enjoyed for breakfast, or what he saw when he traveled to London or Manila, or what his reaction was when the iconoclastic Alice Longworth defied convention and lighted a cigarette in the East Room of the White House during a diplomatic reception, or what Charles P. Taft, II, thought about living in the White House, or what Martha Taft's attitudes were with respect to ladies' sartorial fashions--this, then, is your book. The scholar in search of profound anal- yses will be disappointed unless he also happens to have a penchant for accurate, colorful, chiffon-like social history written in a graceful prose style. He will also be dismayed by the lack of footnotes and Miss Ross's technique of lumping sources in one massive end-note with each chapter. But he should not assume that an un- scholarly method of citation indicates an |
unscholarly approach to the use of source materials. Miss Ross is a disciple of the Catherine Drinker Bowen school. She not only utilizes primary sources, but she also visits the residential sites of her subjects, studies the physical surroundings, inspects their homes, and interviews friends and acquaintances. When Miss Ross describes Senator Robert A. Taft's home in the fashionable Indian Hill suburb of Cincin- nati, for example, you may rest assured that it is accurate, for "she was there." A consummate literary artist, she paints graphic background scenes for her sub- jects. I can personally attest to the author's use of primary sources, since I have seen her poring over documents in the Cincin- nati Historical Society. A prodigious re- searcher, as reflected by her end-notes, she scans her sources with the intensity of a Scrooge studying an account book. Catherine Bowen has written that the low point of a researcher's day is 3 P.M. -- "In Hell it will be three in the afternoon. . . . At three in the afternoon it requires a hero to sit and read manuscript." Miss Ross is a hero, and her work is the better for it. She has a keen eye for the telling phrase in a document, and she has the craftsman's knack of making an effective application of her evidence. It is apparent that Miss Ross designed this book for the general reader (princi- pally for women), not the scholar, and on this basis she should be judged on a different set of standards. Her purpose is to entertain her readers as much as to inform them. She does not seek to clog their minds with weighty theses. As- suredly, the ladies of literary clubs across the land, in particular, will find much to titillate them in this book (a fine example is Miss Ross's brilliant and compassionate treatment of the relationship of William Howard Taft with his wife, Nellie, and that of Robert A. Taft with his beloved Martha). It is only natural that William H. Taft and his son Robert A. should emerge as the book's main personalities, since they do have international reputations. With information culled from diaries, letters, and interviews, Miss Ross reveals a side of their characters which has hitherto not |
142 OHIO HISTORY |
appeared in print. Indeed, her character- izations of all the Tafts represent dis- tinguished literature. Her study comple- ments the profoundly analytical, but styl- istically stodgy, work of Henry F. Pringle on William Howard Taft, and William S. White's interpretive classic on Robert A. Taft (The Taft Story). It should be noted that her infrequent attempts at critical evaluation of significant public issues in which the Tafts were involved are not successful efforts. (Compare, for example, her glossy judgments of Robert A. Taft's position on "McCarthyism" with the pun- gent and more penetrating analysis by William S. White.) There are indeed times when the best- laid plans of mice and men--and pub- lishers--go awry. The last Taft to step |
before the spotlight is Robert A. Taft, Jr. This book "just happened" to be released during the election period of 1964, when it appeared that Robert A. Taft, Jr., was on the verge of winning a seat in the United States Senate. This victory would have projected him -- and the Taft Family -- into national political prominence. The son of "Mr. Republican" seemed destined to follow in the footsteps of his eminent father. What better time to release a book on "The Taft Family"? But alas, "young Bob" was defeated, and I would suspect that, as at Mudville, there was no joy at the World Publishing Company on the evening of November 3, 1964. LOUIS L. TUCKER Cincinnati Historical Society |
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BOOK REVIEWS |
JAMES HALL: SPOKESMAN OF THE NEW WEST. By Randolph C. Randall. (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1964. xvi??371p.; illustrations, bibliog- raphy, and index. $7.50.) Randolph Randall's account of the life of James Hall (1793-1868), to whom Her- man Melville acknowledged a literary debt in The Confidence-Man, provides an inter- esting panorama of the larger life of the eastern and Ohio Valley frontier during the years of explosive change and growth that came between the War of 1812 and the War between the States. Born in Philadelphia, where his mother was a contributor to Joseph Dennie's in- fluential Port Folio (later edited and pub- lished by his older brothers, Elihu and Harrison Hall), James Hall grew up in the East and saw active service on the Niagara frontier in the War of 1812. As a young artillery officer he accompanied an American fleet in Decatur's expedition against Algeria. After leaving the army, he read and practiced law in Pittsburgh before embarking in 1820 on a thousand mile keelboat journey to Shawneetown in the infant state of Illinois. Here Hall was active as a newspaper editor; as a circuit riding state prosecutor against horse thieves, counterfeiters, and a variety of petty malefactors; and, briefly, as a cir- cuit judge. Here also, under discouraging circumstances, he launched a literary jour- nal, the Illinois Monthly Magazine (1830- 33) and sent east for publication--in Cin- cinnati, in Philadelphia, and in London-- the first of a growing number of fictional |
and nonfictional accounts of life in the new West. Backtrailing to Cincinnati, Hall settled into the social and literary life of the com- munity that was already recognized as the "Athens of the West." While editing the flourishing Western Monthly Magazine (1833-37), he prepared a distinctive text- book, The Western Reader (1834), and completed his only novel, The Harpe's Head: A Legend of Kentucky (1833). After shifting to the successful banking career to which he devoted the remainder of his life, Hall continued, for a decade or so, to write and to re-collect his earlier pieces about the West. The most ambitious of his late efforts was his contribution as co-author to a three volume work entitled History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836-44). Apart from his edi- torial labors to foster a new western liter- ature, Hall's writings provide an invalu- able record of the life of a long-vanished frontier culture. Hall's contribution to American litera- ture rests as much upon his editing as upon his creative writing. The Western Souvenir, A Christmas and New Year's Gift for 1829, edited by Hall and pub- lished in Cincinnati by N. & G. Guilford in late 1828, represents a break from the oppressively genteel tradition of the gift book in its inclusion of fresh western sub- jects. Among examples of the vitality of the better selections are Hall's own essay "The Indian Hater," upon which Melville drew, and Morgan Neville's "The Last of |