Ohio History Journal

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HAYES: THE DIARY OF A PRESI- DENT, 1875-1881, COVERING THE DISPUTED ELECTION, THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION, AND THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL SERVICE. Edited by T. Harry Williams. (New York: David McKay Company, 1964. xliv??329p.; introduction, chronology, dramatis personae, and index. $6.50.) I approached the assignment to review this book not only with interest but also with some concern. As a member of the staff of the Rutherford B. Hayes Library and Museum some years ago, I had be- come acquainted with the president's en- tire diary, which he kept from his youth until his death, as well as with the ad- ditional fund of materials on Hayes's life and administration to be found in that re- markable depository. I feared that the ef- fort to reduce this documentation to one volume constructed for general sale, could be accomplished only at considerable sacri- fice of fact and documentation. My fear was groundless, for Professor Williams has succeeded admirably in presenting the meat of the presidential story, which con- sists essentially of three parts: Hayes the man and the president; the presidential administration; and the development (or restoration) of the power and authority of the office of president. The story is, to a considerable extent, one of conviction, quiet determination, and magnificent courage. Hayes came to the presidency with charges of election frauds ringing in his ears and the fear of insur- rection hanging over Washington. More than willing to accept honest defeat, which

would have released him and his beloved Lucy to enjoy the life they had just begun at Spiegel Grove, but convinced that what- ever voting frauds had been committed by members of his own party were over- balanced by Democratic misdeeds in the South, he accepted the charge of the elec- toral commission and the congress, re- solved to give effective leadership. The diary constitutes a rather sweep- ing record of the administration, but with extensive reflections by Hayes upon his aims, policies, programs, and problems, as well as upon politicians and other people, the parties, the country, the South, the Negro and his rights as a citizen, his fam- ily, and presidential life. Hayes used his diary frequently as a testing site for his thoughts. Here, for example, he jotted down notes for speeches and for messages to the congress, thought out his reactions and rebuttals to party and congressional actions or maneuverings, recorded the de- fenses to criticisms of himself and his administration, analyzed the successes and weaknesses or mistakes of his policies, and reported statements of persons and the press favorable to his efforts. A perusal of the diary reveals in Hayes a man of strength who believed his basic need in the presidency was to restore peace and the spirit of moderation to the nation and decency and humanity to the government. He was convinced too that these were desired by the people. In the effort to achieve his goals, how- ever, he met bitter resistance from his own party in the congress, from the Demo-

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cratic party, and from the south generally. The "Stalwarts," who dominated the Re- publicans in congress, viciously fought Hayes's efforts to restore the appointing power to the president and to eliminate congressional patronage, to create a gen- uine civil service system, and to pacify the South and develop it economically. The Democrats fought him and his policies as a matter of partisanship in their con- tinued effort to weaken the Republican party and seize the reins of power, and, joining the South, they also battled Hayes's demands for full citizenship for the Negro, attempted to undermine the constitutional authority for federal con- trol of congressional elections within the states, and tried to devitalize the veto power of the president. Hayes's term of office thus became an ominous struggle between the executive and legislative branches of the government with presi- dential authority and national power being the stakes. The significance of Hayes's victories to American constitutional gov- ernment has never been appraised. In one area he failed, namely, his effort to pacify the South, end sectionalism, and wipe out the color line. Hayes saw clearly the results of the renewed southern out- rages and intimidation. "It is on this hook that the bloody shirt now hangs," he re- corded in his diary eighty-five years ago. "This causes the immigrant to avoid the South. Only one city out of twenty which now have a population exceeding one hun- dred thousand is a Southern city." He suggested a solution to the situation per- haps as valid now as then, that is, to "re- fuse to seat Southern Representatives and Senators whose seats had been obtained by a violation of the Constitution." Through all of these difficulties Hayes appeared before the country as a calm and unperturbed president. His diary, however, reveals his deep concern and firm inten- tions. He grew tired of the strife, and looked forward to the time when he could return to Spiegel Grove to live the life that he loved with his wife and family and friends. He arrived home from Wash- ington in the evening of March 8, 1881, and the next morning, according to the last note in this presidential diary, he "rose

at sunrise . . . and stepped off the route of a new drive farther from the house than the present one, so as not to have people sitting on the verandah disturbed by people driving about the place." JAMES H. RODABAUGH Kent State University       THE WILD LIFE OF THE ARMY: CIVIL WAR LETTERS OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. Edited by Frederick D. Williams. (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1964. xx??325p.; frontispiece, end-paper maps, appen- dices, and index. $8.50.) In April 1861, thirty-year-old James A. Garfield, a member of the Ohio Senate, was torn between careers in education, law, or politics when the Confederate government decided for him. Garfield's appointment as lieutenant colonel of the Forty-Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry in August opened the door to fame and power: within two years he was a major general and something of a military hero, congressman-elect, and a rising hope of the radical Republicans. Professor Fred- erick D. Williams of Michigan State pre- sents a generous selection of Garfield's personal letters, the first dated April 13, 1861, when the fate of Fort Sumter was still in doubt; the last dated December 6, 1863, when Garfield resigned from the army to enter the United States House of Representatives. Most of the letters are addressed to relatives and friends in Hiram, Ohio, where Garfield had been principal of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute when war came. These letters illustrate the complex battle in Garfield between piety and self- ishness, idealism and opportunism. For four months in late 1862 and early 1863 Garfield was in Washington on orders from Secretary of War Stanton, who wanted to find the right military post for the young Republican radical. While a house guest of Stanton's ally, Secre- tary of the Treasury Chase, Garfield sup- ported Chase's intrigues without reflection. He was much impressed, for example, with Chase's pet, General Irvin McDowell,

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and transcribed a long interview in which McDowell gave his version of recent mili- tary history, but then he was willing to sit on the McDowell court of review and the Fitz John Porter court-martial, in which McDowell gave crucial testimony. The Garfield letters show the role played in his rapid advancement by his personal magnetism and gift for friendship. His letters to his former associates in Hiram often show as much affection as those to his wife, and about one he wrote: "I can- not but feel a certain sense of bereave- ment and loss when any dear friend is married." On his thirty-first birthday he gave way to self-pity. "I lament sorely that I was born to poverty and allowed to catch up any or no chance habits of mind, body, morals and manners . . . Precious 17 years in which a boy with a father and some wealth have become fixed in manly ways." Garfield's letters are presented with brief introductions and a minimum of footnotes, since there are enough letters covering a relatively brief period to make the details of his experiences clear. Even though his interests were broad and his reading extensive, Garfield tended to think in cliches and with considerable self-ab- sorption. Most of these letters were avail- able to Theodore Clarke Smith and are quoted extensively in his two-volume bio- graphy of Garfield; yet they are of suffi- cient interest to warrant a documentary presentation which furnishes clues, if not answers, to the Garfield enigma. JOHN Y. SIMON Southern Illinois University       MOUNDS FOR THE DEAD: AN AN- ALYSIS OF THE ADENA CULTURE. By Don W. Dragoo. Annals of the Car- negie Museum, Volume 37. (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum, 1963. 315p.; illustra- tions, maps, bibliography, and index. $6.25.) In this latest study of the frequently discussed Adena culture of the middle and upper Ohio Valley, Dragoo does two things: he gives an excellent, detailed re- port of his 1958 excavation of the Cresap

Mound and an exhaustive review of Adena culture data which could be aptly called "The Adena People No. 3." The Adena culture was first named by Mills about 1900, after he excavated the original Adena Mound on Governor Worthington's estate in Ross County, Ohio. Greenman defined the culture in 1932, and Webb and Snow, in The Adena People (1945), and Webb and Baby in The Adena People No. 2 (1957) have further refined our knowledge of these people of the first millenium before Christ. From the results of the excavation of the Cresap Mound, Dragoo is now able to provide even greater detail about the Adena people, particularly changes within the culture. The mound proved very fruit- ful, with fifty-four burials found, evidence of a submound structure, and several phases of construction which appear to have spanned the entire Adena period. Many artifacts were recovered, including an unusual effigy turtle "tablet," copper artifacts, and many flint and shell arti- facts. Burials were found throughout the mound, demonstrating the need to excavate such mounds manually if at all possible. On the basis of the Cresap Mound strati- graphy, and extended discussion of other Adena mounds in the upper and middle Ohio Valley, Dragoo redefines what con- stitutes Early-Middle Adena as opposed to Late Adena. Early-Middle Adena is characterized by simple conical mounds us- ually lacking tomb construction, with many cremations. Houses are circular with single wall posts. Projectile points are a newly defined Cresap type and the typical Adena point; pipes are tubular of clay or stone; quadriconcave gorgets occur as do crude stone "tablets," copper gorgets, and crude Fayette Thick pottery. In Late Adena, earthworks appear, mounds are more often in groups and are frequently placed over house sites. Trophy skulls now occur and houses have paired wall posts. The point most typical of this period is another newly defined type, the Rob- bins point, which is broader, has better shoulder definition, and shows better flint working than the earlier points. Zoom- orphic tubular pipes are now present, as are expanded center gorgets and more

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formal tablets, especially engraved ones; and copper bracelets and rings appear along with mica cutout designs. Pottery is now the better made Adena Plain, and rare decoration appears. The explanation of these new traits given by Dragoo is that Hopewell and Adena were in part contemporaneous and these traits in the main are due to Hope- wellian influence; that while Adena was a critical source in the development of Hope- well (though certainly not the sole con- tributor), there was a later feedback into Adena which created the Late Adena per- iod. In discussing the origin of the Adena culture, Dragoo effectively disposes of the idea of some manner of Middle American source and concludes that the culture de- veloped indigenously in the Ohio Valley. Most traits of the Adena culture are seen to occur in the Ohio Valley prior to the de- velopment of the culture. The robust, round-headed, physical type of the Adena people -- one reason cited for the supposed Mexican origin -- poses the most problems, but this is due to the small sample avail- able and is further complicated by arti- ficial head deformation. Again, though, Dragoo argues convincingly that this pop- ulation could derive from local Archaic ones. In comparing Adena to its neighbors and speculating on the ultimate fate of the Adena people, the study is perhaps at its weakest. There is too much reliance upon migration, in this reviewer's opinion, to explain certain events about 1 A. D., when the Hopewellian culture was coming into dominance and Adena breathing its last. In most cases it is felt that diffusion would be a simpler, and therefore better, explanation for the facts available. For instance, the wholesale removal of Adena people southward and their turning into Copena of Tennessee and northern Ala- bama, seems rather unlikely. If village sites now suspected to be Copena can be demonstrated to associate with the Copena burial mounds, then there is good local continuity for Copena. A scattering of Adena artifacts in New York, which thins out further east, seems more likely diffu- sion and trade. The only very strong case

for migration is the finding of typical Adena cult goods made of Ohio materials around the head of Chesapeake Bay, and even here there are alternative explan- ations. Finally, an analysis is made of avail- able pertinent radiocarbon dates, and, after cautioning against uncritical accep- tance of such dates, it is suggested that the Adena culture would date from 1000 B. C. to I A. D. In format, Mounds for the Dead is very attractive and abounds with excellent drawings, photographs, and maps. Typo- graphical errors, while inevitable, are at a minimum. In general, Dragoo, in this long-awaited report, has made a most significant contri- bution to our knowledge of the Adena culture and people. While professional archaeologists will certainly debate some of his statements regarding the culture as a whole -- its rise, changes, and fall -- no one can quibble with his well-reported work on the Cresap Mound. For the seri- ous student of archaeology this book is a must; and while somewhat technical for the interested layman, it would be well worth his while to read this study of one of eastern United States' most interesting prehistoric occupations. EDWARD V. McMICHAEL West Virginia Geological Survey         VOICES ON THE RIVER: THE STORY OF THE MISSISSIPPI WATER- WAYS. By Walter Havighurst. (New York: Macmillan Company, 1964. vii??310p.; illustrations, bibliography, and index. $6.95.) How do you write a history of a river -- a long river, at that? There is no in- herent drama in the flowing of water, un- less, of course, one wishes to adopt poetic values. An obvious course of action is to collect a bushel of stories associated with that river and place them between hard covers. This is precisely what Mr. Havig- hurst has done. Voices on the River is a kaleidoscopic grab bag of river lore, some of it familiar, some not so well-known.

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Flowing through these 283 pages are many of the significant historical person- ages, events, and river craft we have come to associate with the Mississippi and its main tributaries during the past three centuries. The French voyageurs, Mike Fink, Mark Twain, John Banvard, the Moselle disaster, the Robert E. Lee-Nat- chez race, showboat families -- these and many more are included in the "cast of thousands." Since he intended his book for a non- academic audience, Mr. Havighurst does not cite sources, although he has included a bibliography of pertinent works (by chapter); virtually all of these are books rather than manuscripts. Nor does he con- cern himself with profound analyses or trace out "historical problems" in meti- culous detail. For Mr. Havighurst, the story's the thing. What must be empha- sized is that Mr. Havighurst is a profes- sor of English, not a professor of History. His "angle of vision" is literary, not pedantic. Once again he demonstrates his talents as a supreme literary craftsman. Wherever one opens the book, and it can be "read" in just this manner, he en- counters the prose offerings of an accom- plished story teller. If some historians feel that Mr. Havighurst has much to learn about the methodology of historical exposition, it might well be argued, con- versely, that he has much to teach them in the art of literary expression. The vir- tue that pervades all of Mr. Havighurst's earlier works -- a sparkling, sprightly prose style -- is present in Voices on the River. River buffs will devour this book, and even the professional historian will find it palatable. LOUIS LEONARD TUCKER Cincinnati Historical Society         THE REPUBLIC IN PERIL: 1812. By Roger H. Brown. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964. viii??238p.; bib- liographical note and index. $7.50.) In a significant historiographical article of 1941 Warren H. Goodman urged his colleagues to turn their attention to the

fascinating but complicated origins of the War of 1812. Many young historians have in recent years followed his admonition, and a spate of articles and monographs have enriched our understanding of the complex factors leading to its declara- tion. It might even be assumed that little else remains to be said on the subject. Roger H. Brown's The Republic in Peril: 1812 proves otherwise. He has produced a book that is not only thoroughly grounded on extensive research into origi- nal materials but scholarly, well-written, and interesting. Professor Brown clearly fixes the source of the conflict in Britain's Orders in Council and impressment practices, but he is little occupied with the diplomatic background to the declaration of war. Rather, what concerns him are the reac- tions of members of the American execu- tive and congress to the international crisis. Because submission to British dis- regard of neutral rights had resulted in economic privation, infringement of na- tional sovereignty, and loss of national honor, Americans by 1812, he feels, had come to doubt the efficacy of their re- publican form of government. He believes that failure to fight would have brought disgrace to the Republican party and re- turned the Federalists to power. Far worse perhaps, inaction would have led to autocratic Hamiltonian changes in the constitution or to a separation of the federal Union into individual republics. Therefore, he is convinced that President Madison and his party were forced into a war for the preservation of republican institutions. For Republicans, on whose shoulders rested the destiny of republi- canism in America and the world, war was regrettable, but there was no other option. In the major thesis lies the major weaknesses of the book. First, not all advocates of war accepted the idea that the survival of the republic was at stake. While some congressmen expressed this fear, they spoke at the same time of the dubious fate of national sovereignty and honor and seldom isolated one from the other. And certainly the most persistent theme was not the preservation of repub- lican institutions but the protection of

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neutral rights. Others, although voting for war, did so with forebodings that the government would not stand the test and that republicanism would indeed be jeopar- dized by war. Second, concerned Ameri- cans did not specify what grave dangers awaited the country if war failed to come; Professor Brown himself admits that "pre- cisely how the Republic would fall is rarely discussed in available source ma- terial." Subversion from abroad was not seriously expected, and domestically, the Federalists, a few extremists excepted, did not have drastic action in mind. The most dangerous challenge, the Hartford Con- vention, to which only three sentences are devoted, met near the end of the war and was a rather moderate affair. The strength of the book is found in secondary but significant aspects of the larger story. The decision for war was not sectional but political, reflecting the bitter partisan struggle between the two parties. If President Madison was an early convert to war, most Republicans, including the supposedly bellicose War Hawks, failed to realize its inevitability until late in 1811. The most perceptive part of the book deals with the anti-war minority. Although Federalists opposed war, they did so for a variety of reasons. On the other hand, almost all Republicans were convinced of its legitimacy; even many who voted no, believed the war to be justified but were opposed on grounds of timing and strategy. Only the Clinton- ians and "Old Republicans" assumed that war could still be avoided without dire consequences. Although not entirely unique in its in- terpretation, the book is a definite con-

tribution to the lingering debate over the causes of the War of 1812. WILLIAM BARLOW Hope College   A GUIDE TO THE MILITARY POSTS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1789-1895. By Francis Paul Prucha. (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1964. xiii??178p.; maps, illustrations, appendices, and bibliography. $7.50.) This handsomely bound and beautifully illustrated volume will be a useful refer- ence tool both for the general reader and the specialist interested in American fron- tier and military history. The first part of the book consists of a series of maps designed to show the concentration of troops in the continental United States at selected dates. The second part lists alphabetically all regular army establish- ments from 1789 to 1895 and gives a very brief history of each post. The third part consists of seven sectional maps of the United States showing the precise loca- tions of the posts listed in the catalog in relation to the physiographic features of the region. A fourth part consists of three appendices on the forts of the Semi- nole wars, annual strength of the regular army, and army territorial commands. Finally, there is a bibliography listing manuscript and secondary sources. Both the author and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin are to be congratu- lated on a volume that combines scholar- ship, imagination, and artistry in book making. HARRY L. COLES Ohio State University

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