BOOK REVIEWS
The Territorial
Papers of the United States. Compiled
and edited
by Clarence Edwin
Carter. Vol. X, The Territory of Michi-
gan, 1805-1820. Vol. XI. The
Territory of Michigan, 1820-
1829. (Washington,
Government Printing Office, 1942.
1943. Vol.
X, xii??948p., $2.00. Vol. XI, viii??1372p.
$3.25.)
Here are two more
volumes in the splendid Territorial Series.
Volume I is still to be
printed; Volumes II and III embodied
the official records of
the Northwest Territory; Volume IV con-
tained the papers of
the Territory Southwest of Ohio, now Ten-
nessee; Volumes V and
VI were on the Mississippi Territory;
Volumes VII and VIII
dealt with the Indiana Territory; while
Volume IX concerned the
Orleans Territory, the present
Louisiana. These two
volumes, X and XI, are the first of three
containing the official
letters and papers concerning the Michigan
Territory.
The material for these
documents has been taken from the
archives in Washington;
most of these documents have never
before been printed.
These two volumes take the story down to
1829 and discuss the
founding of the territory; the three terms
of administration by
the first governor, William Hull, and
his
acting successor,
Reuben Attwater; the period of British occupa-
tion; and the five
terms of Governor Lewis Cass.
Anyone familiar with
the tedious labor of arranging, organ-
izing and editing
documentary material will marvel at the meticu-
lous and attractive
appearance of these volumes. The arrange-
ment is logical as well
as chronological; the headings are descrip-
tive yet concise; the
index is very complete and the typography
is a model for clarity.
Dr. Carter is to be
congratulated for having completed two
more excellent volumes
in this very important series. It is to be
hoped that
appropriations will continue until the entire series is
complete. B. E.
J.
(64)
BOOK REVIEWS 65
One Hundred and Fifty Years of
Presbyterianism in the Ohio
Valley, 1790-1940 (Cincinnati,
Committee on History, 150th
Anniversary, Presbyterian Church,
1941. xvi??303p.)
This is a joint work issued by the
Church's Committee on
History, of which Rev. Earl R. North was
chairman, and Mrs.
Edward C. Marshall, secretary. The
Committee decided that no
names of persons would appear in
connection with the articles
included.
The book is divided into nine parts, the
first takes the story
of the Presbyterians through 1799; the
second carries the tale to
1838; next comes the period from
1838-1870; then that from
1870-1915; and finally from 1915-1940.
Part VI is devoted to
"Activities of the Presbytery"
and Part VII gives an over-all
picture of the history of the churches
in the Presbytery for the
past century and a half. The
organization of the Presbytery for
1940-1941 is given in the appendix and
Part IX is a Bibliography.
B. E. J.
The First Michigan Frontier. By Calvin Goodrich. (Ann Arbor,
University of Michigan Press, 1940.
X??344P.)
This volume should have been reviewed
long ago but the
upheaval of war brought many unreviewed
volumes back to the
editorial office and this was among the
unfinished jobs left by a
reviewer who was called to the aid of
Uncle Sam.
The story of the earliest years of the
white man's occupation
of Michigan, Ohio's northwestern
neighbor, is a fascinating one,
though, as the author explains, he had
to wade through a be-
wildering variety of accounts and resort
to much guess work. He
complains that "statistics of trade
and of population are fre-
quently in conflict," and that
"legends and fantasy are in the
records in the habiliments of
fact," while, on the other hand, "a
tantalizing reticence also is met
with."
The book deals with such subjects as the
early years of
Detroit, the fur trade, manners of
living, communication, garrison
accounts, the stories of Pontiac and of
Major Henry Gladwin
66
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
and the history of Michillimackinac. All
these are arranged by
chapters which bear colorful headings.
The typography is good
and the index is adequate. The end
covers are a plan of Detroit
in 1749, adapted from an original
manuscript map in the William
L. Clements Library.
B. E. J.
The Life of Jonathan M. Bennett: A
Study of the Virginias in
Transition. By Harvey Mitchell Rice. (Chapel Hill, The
University of North Carolina Press, 1943
xi??300p. Frontis-
piece. $3.50.)
This biography by a former member of the
Department of
History of Ohio State University (now in
war service) tells the
story of Jonathan McCauley Bennett,
lawyer, landowner, business-
man, politician and legislator. Bennett
was a contemporary of
Francis H. Pierpont and Johnson N.
Camden and played an im-
portant role during the transition
period, when western Virginia
(later West Virginia) changed from an
agricultural community
to an industrial one.
The author follows his career from the
exciting 40's, through
the Civil War and twenty years
thereafter. During the Civil War,
Bennett served as state auditor at
Richmond and in that office
was greatly responsible for the state's
sound finances during such
a critical period.
The story is well told, in a lively
style and is adequately docu-
mented by footnote references (at the
end) and a bibliography.
There is a detailed index.
B. E. J.
Lincoln and the Radicals. By T. Harry Williams. (Madison,
The University of Wisconsin Press, 1941.
viii??413p. $3.00.)
Of books about Lincoln there are no end
and it seems that
the interest in the subject will never
diminish. This author has
chosen the dramatic theme of the bitter struggle
between the
BOOK REVIEWS 67
president and the radicals in his own
party--the faction whose
extremeness would have turned the war
into a crusade of aboli-
tionist vengeance and violence.
The Washington of the Civil War period
is recreated on the
author's pages in all the vehemence and
excitement of its political
intrigue. Overshadowing all the turmoil,
however, is the lonely,
patient figure of the man who fought to
save the Union.
The story is well told, factual, yet far
from dull. It contains
a mixture of the already known plus some
new facts and its
bibliography indicates careful
scholarship as well as good litera-
ture.
B. E. J.
Records of the Columbia Historical
Society of Washington, D. C.,
1940-1941. Vols. 42-43. Edited by
Newman F. McGirr.
(Washington, D. C., Columbia Historical
Society, 1942.
viii??309p. Illus. Appendix.)
This volume contains papers on the
following: "Captain
James Barry," by Allen C. Clark;
"Hawaii, an Address," by
Samuel Wilder King; "The Activities
of Peter Force," by New-
man F. McGirr; "Suter's
Tavern," by Allen C. Clark; "Down
through the Years Stories," by
Randolph Blinn; "Zalmon Rich-
ards, Educator," by Allen C. Clark;
"April, A Battle Month in
History," by Fred A. Emery;
"The History of Ninian Beall's
Burial Place Remains Unsolved," by
George Magruder Battey;
"Material in the National Archives
Relating to the Early History
of the District of Columbia," by
Elizabeth Bethel; "Commodore
James Barron; Commodore Stephen Decatur;
the Barron-Decatur
Duel," by Allen C. Clark;
"Virginia's Glebe near Washington,"
by Charles O. Paullin; and "George
Gordon of the Two Original
Proprietors of George Town, D. C.,"
by Allen C. Clark. Society
reports and minutes are in the appendix
and the entire volume is
indexed.
B. E. J.
68 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
The Civil War Veteran in Minnesota
Life and Politics. By Frank
H. Heck. Annals of America, III. Edited by Philip D.
Jordan and Charles M. Thomas. (Oxford,
Ohio, The Mis-
sissippi Valley Press, 1941. X??295p.
Frontispiece and 2
maps. $3.50.)
This volume attempts to examine the part
played by the
Grand Army of the Republic as a pressure
group in the politics of
the state of Minnesota. In so far as it was typical of other
G. A. R. organizations in this country
it may be said to give a
picture of the influence of this
organization throughout the coun-
try. As the editors point out in their
preface, there were over a
million soldiers in the Union army at
the end of the war in 1865
and these veterans, if they cooperated,
could control the political
machinery of the North and of the entire
nation. Though suc-
cessful in passing such laws as they
wanted, these former soldiers
did not wield as powerful an influence
as they might have.
Why this was so, especially in the case
of Minnesota, is ably
told by the author in his analysis. He
tells the tale of the organi-
zation's growth, activities and decline
and also gives consideration
to lesser veterans' organizations, and
especially does he dwell
on the political aspects from the
veteran's point of view. Chapter
headings cover such subjects as
"The Veteran as a Party Worker,"
"The Politician Seeks the Soldier
Vote," "The Veteran Point
of View," "The Veteran and the
Pension Issue," and "The
Veteran's Legislative Program."
There is a map giving the location of
important G. A. R.
Posts in Minnesota and another
indicating political dissent in
Minnesota from 1864-1912. The appendices
list the membership
totals of the G. A. R. for the country
and for Minnesota, and
give the names of Minnesota veterans in
Congress. There is a
copious bibliography and an adequate
index.
The author, who teaches at Miami
University, began this
study under the tutelage of the late
Lester B. Shippee. The
volume is interesting when one considers
the possible future role
the G. I. Joes and Janes of today will
play after the war is over.
B. E. J.
BOOK REVIEWS 69
The College Graduate. By F. Laurence Babcock. (New York,
Macmillan Company, 1941. 112p.
Statistical supplement.
$1.50.)
In view of post-war planning it might be
well for college
administrators and those interested in
education generally to study
this little book, which is a statistical
report on the status of living
U. S. College Alumni (and Alumnae). The
author calls the study
"an economic approach to measuring
the social dividends yielded
by liberal arts."
Information for these statistics were
derived from 90 per-
cent of the 1,164 institutions of higher
learning in this country.
The idea was conceived by Charles L.
Stillman of Time and man-
aged by Wendell Ward and Edward Rhett of
the Time staff. This
work was compiled in the belief that
education is the hope of
democracy, and that the existence of a
group of 2,700,000 college
graduates is one of the most important
factors in the preservation
of the American way of life. It should
be a Roman holiday for
statisticians.
What it cannot give, however, is whether
college training
has better fitted men and women for the
art of living as well as
that of earning a living; whether it has
taught them how to get
along with their fellow-men both at home
and elsewhere; whether
it has made them more understanding of
each other and others;
whether it has broadened their outlook
and enabled them to be
less easily swayed by mob reactions, yet
has sharpened their
sensibilities to grasp new problems and
meet new issues. When
higher education will achieve this goal
it will have accomplished
much more than it has done in the past.
B. E. J.
A Treasury of American Folklore. Edited by B. A. Botkin, with
a Foreword by Carl Sandburg. (New York,
Crown Pub-
lishers, 1944. 932p.)
This Treasury is one of the first
important publications to
result from the great sifting over of
regional history, literature
70
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
and folklore that America experienced
during the 1930's. It
is an attempt to sample in orderly
fashion certain characteristic
patterns of creative folk-thought as
they have been preserved on
both written and spoken levels, literary
and sub-literary, in va-
rious parts of the American scene. The
product is, on one hand,
a highly entertaining anthology of folk
stuff, and on the other, the
first important reference book of
country-wide significance, that
scholarship has yet produced for
American folklore. The reader
will enjoy, for example, the
reappearance here of the Casey Jones
ballad, the Arkansas Traveler lingo, the
Little Audrey gags, or
various mongrel sidewalk rhymes (he may
even know other more
colorful variants of each), but he can
also get here, from Professor
Botkin's careful classifications,
commentaries, and annotations, a
definite feeling for the role these
homely materials have long
played in developing a popular
expression as native as the specific
points of geography or the events of
local history. The book is far
from complete, in the encyclopedic
sense, but it is an important and
remarkably comprehensive beginning.
The Treasury is not, therefore,
just another collection of
American wit and humor, although it is
true that the hundreds of
items Mr. Botkin has brought together in
these 932 pages are
largely humorous. Folk expression of
this sort usually tends to
meet life's major problems with chuckles
rather than with tears.
The materials are of all sorts--yarns,
gags, popular tales, verse,
songs, newspaper items, autobiography,
whoppers, magazine ar-
ticles, sermons, advertising blurbs,
slang, proverbs, child-rhymes,
party-games, riddles, and speeches from
the Congressional Record.
The opening item is an 1826 ballad,
"The Hunters of Ken-
tucky"; the closing footnote, a
discussion of the boll weevil, from
a 1931
speech of Governor William Henry Murray of
Oklahoma.
Six main classifications and numerous
minor ones line up the as-
semblage in accordance with modern
folklore systematization. Part
One on "Heroes and Boasters,"
for example, sets forth the great-
est of the backwoods roarers, the
pseudo-bad men, the killers, the
free-lances, the miracle men, and the
beloved saints of popular
story-telling for the past hundred
years. Historical personages
BOOK REVIEWS 71
such as Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed,
and Abe Lincoln rub
elbows democratically, as they are
transformed by popular imagi-
nation, with the purely mythical Paul
Bunyan, Bowleg Bill, and
Popeye. Succeeding sections give, in order, "Boosters and
Knockers," "Jesters,"
"Liars," "Folk Tales and Legends," "Songs
and Rhymes." The sources may be
anything--Mark Twain's Life
on the Mississippi, Irving's "Tom Walker and the Devil," Sand-
burg's The People, Yes, Mike Fink
yarns recorded in the St.
Louis Weekly Reveille, of 1847,
an article on Casey Jones in
the Erie Railroad Magazine, jokes
from Joe Miller's famous
book, tales from the folklore journals,
or tall stories from un-
published manuscripts of the Federal
Writer's Project. The
nature and not the source is the
criterion.
To all these, the editor has added a
7-page introduction and
six sectional prefaces that amount to 83
pages of analysis. There
is an abundance of readable, often
highly entertaining, footnotes
that give full sources and much
supplementary data.
Professor Botkin has shown here the
value of his excellent
background for such a task. While with
the English Department
of the University of Oklahoma,
1921-1940, he was editor of
Folk-Say, A Regional Miscellany, 1929-1932. In 1937 he went to
Washington as a research fellow; in 1938
was made folklore
editor of the Federal Writer's Project;
and in 1942 was placed
in charge of the folksong archives in
the Library of Congress.
In 1944 he was elected president of the
American Folklore
Society.
Criticisms of his work in the Treasury
will be few. Most
readers close to popular story-telling
will, of course, immediately
miss personal favorites. From Mark
Twain, for instance, why has
he not chosen the superior "Jim
Baker's Blue Jay Yarn" rather
than the notorious "Jumping
Frog"? The book must be accepted,
however, for only what it honestly is,
an illustrative selection.
The encyclopedic round-up of American
folklore still awaits the
efforts of American scholarship.
An actual flaw, though a small one,
exists in the present
inadequate index. It is both confusing
in its classifications and
72
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
occasionally incomplete in coverage.
Revision will improve its
reference value in the book.
Another seeming lack is the inadequate
sampling of the folk
materials representative of the Old
Northwest area--the Great
Lakes, the old cornbelt line from Ohio
west to the Mississippi
River, and the new industrial
culture that edges the rivers and
lakes throughout this region.
The omission is probably not due so
much to Mr. Botkin's oversight as to the
fact that adequate basic
studies in this complex, now highly cosmopolitan area, still
await
the doing.
English Department,
Ohio State University. ROBERT PRICE.
The Great Lakes. By Harlan Hatcher. (New York, Oxford
University Press. 1944. 284p.
$3.50.)
The author has brought within the
compass of one volume
the story of the Great Lakes. In his
foreword, he says, "The
name is apt. No other adjective
describes the expanse of the
region, or the activity on this greatest
body of fresh water in the
world. The Lakes are great in size,
great in commerce, great in
engineering, great in history and
romance, great in cities and in-
dustry along the shores, great in their
interest and their beauty."
The author also tells of the discovery
of this region and the con-
test for possession by three great
nations. He divides the book
into four parts: discovery, conflict,
possession and development.
The average reader will be surprised to
learn how important this
region has been in the development of
the United States and what
a great bearing it has had on world
progress.
Dr. Hatcher is a member of the English
Department of Ohio
State University and Dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences.
He is the author of a number of books,
among them being The
Buckeye Country, and he is now writing a book on Lake. Erie as
one of the series of five volumes
published under the general title
of The Great Lakes Scries. He
also was editor of the Ohio Guide
in the American Guide Series published
by the Oxford University
Press. H. L.
BOOK REVIEWS 73
Lake Michigan. By Milo M. Quaife. 384p. Lake Superior.
By Grace Lee Nute.
376p. Lake Huron. By Fred Landon.
398P. The American Lakes Series. Edited by Milo M.
Quaife. (Indianapolis, The Bobbs-Merrill
Company, 1944.
Illus. $3.50 each.)
The romantic tale of
America's great inland waterways was
begun with the Rivers of
America books and is now expanded
and continued under the
able editorship of Dr. Milo M. Quaife
in the American
Lakes Series. Well
qualified authors have writ-
ten authoritative
studies of each of the Great Lakes and the results
make very entertaining
and informative reading. The stories of
the development of the
lakes are necessarily much the same, but
each author has so
skilfully explained the characteristics of his
own subject that the
reader sees each of these lakes with its own
distinctive flavor and
personality.
Dr. Quaife divides his hook on Lake
Michigan into three
sections. In the first
of these, "From Bark Canoe to Steel Le-
viathan," is the
record of the early explorers and missionaries--
Nicolet, who discovered
the lake in 1634 on his way to China,
Jolliet and Father
Marquette, La Salle and Hennepin--who not
only brought to light
the farthest reaches of the back country,
but also made the
settlements and missions which grew into the
great cities of the
present day. Dr. Quaife takes care to point
out the relationship to
the broad picture of American history of
the struggles between
the British and French for possession of
Lake Michigan. The
chapters entitled "Talk of Many Things"
and "All Around
the Coast" contain entertaining stories about
the fur trade, the
Indians, the animals (it is surprising to learn
that there were buffalo
as far east as Illinois and southern Michi-
gan), and travel in the
early eighteenth century. The shores of
Lake Michigan attracted
many groups who were trying to estab-
lish utopias; there
were Fournier, Father Ochswald's Catholic
Community and a Mormon
Settlement at Voree. The discussion
of "King Ben"
and the House of David at Benton Harbor makes
highly diverting
reading. One of the most interesting chapters is
that on the city of
Chicago and its quick comeback after the
74
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
disastrous fire of 1871. Dr. Quaife, as
well as the authors of
the other books in this series, tells
many exciting and terrifying
stories of the hazards of shipping on
the Great Lakes. He has
written with freshness of style and has
presented his facts and
even his footnotes in a highly
entertaining manner.
Miss Nute tells how French fur traders
and Jesuit mission-
aries established themselves around Lake
Superior in the seven-
teenth century, following its discovery
by Etienne Brule, and how
they in turn gave way to British traders
and Protestant mis-
sionaries, and how John Jacob Astor and
the American Fur Com-
pany took over in the early eighteenth
century. She makes good
use of interesting quotations from the
diaries of early travelers.
The author has marshalled a commanding
array of facts and fig-
ures concerning industry and commerce on
Lake Superior. She
describes thoroughly the fishing
industry, with methods of catch-
ing and marketing the whitefish, herring
and trout for which the
lake is noted, the lumber business, the
geological background for
the huge ore deposits, the locks at
Sault Ste. Marie and the de-
velopment of the grain and ore shipping
industry. The final por-
tion of Lake Superior deals with
the folklore, crafts and literature
of the region. It was the Chippewa
legends of this section that
gave Longfellow the inspiration for Hiawatha.
Grace Lee Nute
writes in a logical and informative way
and has been particularly
successful in presenting the largest of
the Great Lakes as a very
unique and forceful factor.
Fred Landon, formerly a lake sailor and
now Associate Pro-
fessor of History and Librarian at the
University of Western
Ontario, writes about Lake Huron, the
first of the Great Lakes
to be discovered. After Champlain first
entered the lake in 1615,
it became a kind of training ground for
explorers on their way
westward. The settlement of the lake
shores followed the usual
pattern with fur traders and
missionaries being alternately ac-
cepted and then destroyed by the
Indians. Lake Huron, like
Lake Erie, played an important part in
the War of 1812 and
Mackinac Island was one of the focal
points in the struggle be-
tween the British and American forces.
Mr. Landon describes
Mackinac as well as Georgian Bay, the
St. Clair River and other
BOOK REVIEWS 75
points of interest all around the lake.
He reports, in a most
entertaining style, the stories of the
traveler, Mrs. Anna Jameson,
and the physiologist, Dr. William
Beaumont. Lake Huron, like
the other Great Lakes, has been the
scene of tragic shipwrecks.
The author devotes several chapters to
these stories and to other
well-known and less ill-fated ships and
pays particular attention
to the significance of shipping on the
Lakes.
The series is well illustrated with a
large number of excellent
and well-chosen photographs and the
decorative maps which serve
as end papers in each of the books are
very helpful and inform-
ative. Each volume has biographical
notes and an adequate index.
The skill of the writers in presenting
the history of these im-
portant waterways, combined with the
attractive format of the
books, make this series one to be
enjoyed and referred to many
times. Studies of Lake Ontario, by
Arthur Pound, and of Lake
Erie, by Harlan Hatcher, are in
preparation.
M. S.
Arthur St. Clair; Rugged Ruler of the
Old Northwest. An Epic
of the Frontier. By Frazer E. Wilson. (Richmond, Va.,
Garrett and Massie, 1944. 253p. Illus. $3.00.)
This year, the one hundred fiftieth
anniversary of the Treaty
of Greene Ville will be celebrated. It
was the negotiation of this
treaty in 1795 which brought to
conclusion the Indian Wars which
delayed settlement in the Ohio region
after 1787. Before General
Wayne's successful conquest of the
Indians of the Maumee Valley
in 1794, two United States armies, under
General Josiah Harmar
and General Arthur St. Clair, had met
disastrous defeat.
The volume being reviewed is a biography
of the Governor
of the Northwest Territory, who was
assigned the task of fighting
the Indians in 1791. The destruction of
a large part of his army,
and the utter rout of the remainder of
it, has left his military
reputation in somewhat of a cloud. Mr.
Wilson does what he
can to present Governor St. Clair in a
proper light, pointing out
not only his failures and weaknesses but
the strength of his admin-
istrative talents at the beginnings of
government in the Northwest
Territory.
76 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The story is one of a rugged Scotsman
who began his mili-
tary career in the French and Indian
Wars. His ability as a
warrior brought him the rank of
Brigadier-General at the opening
of the American Revolution, and in 1777
he was raised to the
rank of Major-General.
In 1787, he was appointed Governor of
the Northwest Ter-
ritory, holding that position until his
removal in 1802. Under
his administration, the new settlers of
the West were given terri-
torial and local government, and the
population increased from
a few scattered handfuls to many
thousands.
St. Clair's conservatism and his
adherence to the principles
of the Federalist party brought him into
conflict with Jeffersonian
Republicans, especially those of the
Scioto Valley. Edward Tiffin,
Ohio's first Governor, and Thomas
Worthington led the opposi-
tion to St. Clair.
By 1796, a movement for statehood
was started, a movement
which threatened St. Clair's position.
This movement would also
give further democratic privileges to
the people, a concession not
looked upon with favor by St. Clair. The
struggle for statehood
resulted in great bitterness between St.
Clair and the Jeffersonians.
Ohio's first Constitution, in its
limitations upon the executive, re-
flected the popular opposition to the
arbitrary acts of the Terri-
torial Governor.
Mr. Wilson's book will be an interesting
one to all readers of
the history of the Old Northwest. There
are criticisms that might
be
made of it: the use of extensive quotations detracts from its
readability; there are some errors of
fact and some of interpre-
tation; there are some typographical
errors; in some cases the
illustrations are not particularly
effective. The book, however,
will have immediate value to students of
early Ohio and the Old
Northwest, especially in this
anniversary year.
J. H. R.
NOTES
Contributors to This Issue
August C. Mahr is a professor of German
at Ohio State
University.
Harlow Lindley is
Secretary-Editor-Librarian of this Society.
Robert Price is an instructor in the
Department of English
at Ohio State University.
James H. Rodabaugh is Research Associate
of this Society.
Bertha E. Josephson is Chief of
Department of Documents
and Editorial Associate of this Society.
(77)