BOOK REVIEWS
Better Known as Johnny Appleseed. By Mabel Leigh Hunt. (Phila-
delphia and New York, J. B. Lippincott
Co., 1950. 212p. $2.50.)
History is a mixture of legend and fact.
And, of the two, legend is
the more important. For it is what
people think happened or say happened,
not what actually did happen, that
becomes significant over a period of time.
Truly, no matter how close to an
historical fact the research scholar may
come, the mass of people do not pay heed
to him. They believe the fiction
that has been created by and for them.
And this fiction is what influences
and is perpetuated by future generations
and what one is eventually com-
pelled to recognize as the important
impact of history as a cultural force.
The stories of Abraham Lincoln,
Christopher Columbus, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, and, to a lesser extent, of
Paul Revere and Miles Standish are
cases in point. So might I say is the
story of John Chapman.
Mabel Leigh Hunt in her recent study Better
Known as Johnny
Appleseed attempts to explore the intermingling of fact and
legend that
has survived from the times of this
nineteenth century planter and mystic.
Her purpose and method, as stated on the
flyleaf and in the Preface, is "to
answer, as truthfully as possible, that
oft-asked query, 'Was Johnny Apple-
seed a real man?'" by means of
"the contrivance of both fiction and
biographical narrative." The book,
to the publisher, is "the result of a con-
scientious student's long research and a
creator's art." The book, to me, is
not fully satisfactory from the point of
view of either the scholar or the
amateur reader.
From the scholar's point of view, I have
two major objections to
the work. First, the book adds little or
nothing to the work already done in
Appleseed lore. The two most rewarding
areas left to the Appleseed scholar
are the study of Chapman's relation to
the Swedenborgian faith and the
study of what might be called Johnny Dog
Fennel lore (anti-Chapman
material). Neither of these areas is
given more than a passing glance.
Second, the material that is covered is
covered in the most subjective and
abstract of ways. For even though Mabel
Leigh Hunt says that in the
book she is trying to present the real
man as he has appeared to her, the
manner in which the narrative is
continually built on speculation results
in a view of Chapman almost without
meaning. For example (p. 17),
"Although there is no actual record
of the captain's motherless children
97
98 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
coming from Leominster, to call the tiny
house 'home,' it is highly probable.
Johnny Chapman's first steps
westward!" Or (p. 48), "Young Mistress
Stadden, wife of Isaac, had a mind of
her own. Fancy her, now, roundly
scolding Appleseed John. 'I speak wot I
tink, Chon Chapmans.'" Such
omission and conjecture eliminates the
work from the serious consideration
of the scholar.
From the amateur reader's point of view
the book is markedly more
satisfactory. Many adults and many
"older boys and girls" (the latter are
definitely included among the book's
prospective readers) will find this
romanticized picture of the midwest
frontier and its ragged hero charming
and readable. Mabel Leigh Hunt writes
well and has an enthusiasm and
energy for her story that binds the
reader to the book. Certainly the
device of telling much of Chapman's life
in nine stories, each named for
a variety of apple, is arresting and not
without appeal. However, even
among this audience, there will be those
who will find the style too
"sugary," the presentation too
emotional, and the picture of Appleseed
and the backwoods idealized too much.
For although many readers, like
Mabel Leigh Hunt, will see the Appleseed
story as only "rich and humorous
and lovely, and . . . could never be
anything but American"; others, like
me, will remember that it is also poor
and humorous and ludicrous, and
can and does happen the world over.
Finally, and nevertheless, let me say
that even though I object to
the fact that the book does not
investigate the areas that I believe should
be investigated by a new work in
Appleseed lore and even though I am
not fully in sympathy with the author's
romantic approach to the back-
woods, I realize that Better Known as
Johnny Appleseed recreates for its
reader the process by which the frontier
and the Chapman legends have
developed into a cultural force for the
American people. And, after all,
in the mixture of fact and fiction that
is history, this process, romantic and
distorted as it may appear to the
historian or folklorist, ever counts for most.
TRISTRAM P. COFFIN
Denison University
Street of Knives. By Cyril Harris. (Boston, Little Brown & Co., 1950.
370p. $3.00.)
In this historical novel Mr. Harris
retells the romantic story of
Aaron Burr's voyage down the Ohio and
the Mississippi toward the con-
quest of Mexico. The tale of the
Burr-Blennerhassett expedition has in-
terested historical students for many
years, and at least four earlier novels
Book Reviews 99
have been based on the fascinating
events in the lives of its leaders. The
plans and motives of these leaders are
obscure; it is impossible to say,
for example, whether Burr was an
unconvicted traitor or a misunderstood
patriot. The known events leave much
room for conjecture, and there
has been no lack of effort to fill the
gaps. The book under review is the
latest attempt and a successful one.
The historical novel is a difficult
form; it is a mixture of history,
biography, and fiction; it tends to
become one or the other of these-
usually the latter. Mr. Harris has
combined the three elements with con-
siderable success. Keeping an objective
approach, he has used the available
research in the period and recreated the
time, the place, and the people.
Aaron Burr, his daughter Theodosia, her
husband Joseph Alston, and
Margaret and Harman Blennerhassett are
the principal historical characters.
Minor figures are Jonathan Meigs, his
son Return Jonathan Meigs, Rufus
Putnam, Joseph Buell, Andrew Jackson,
James Wilkinson, and many
others. All are treated fairly, and the
actions and motives assigned to them
seem to this reviewer to be plausible
and in accord with the known facts.
Specialists in the biography of the
historical persons may doubt the
validity of some of Mr. Harris'
invention of the emotional and intellectual
background for events, but in general
the author treats his historical
characters with intelligence and
restraint.
The central character of the book is
Hugh Shadwell, Burr's illegitimate
son (Mr. Harris has found evidence to
suggest that such a son was with
Burr on this voyage). Hugh is a well-realized,
complex, solid person;
but Chrissie, his beloved, who goes on
the expedition as a servant of the
Blennerhassetts, is a stock
figure--pert, knowing, but pure. Hugh's relation
to Chrissie follows a familiar pattern;
but his relation to his father,
although the situation is the usual
conflict between generations, becomes a
symbol which carries the meaning of the
book. Hugh, who comes to the
West in 1806, is a representative of the
new America which was then
growing on the frontier. His conflict
with his father is a part of the
democratic revolt against the
aristocratic, authoritarian tradition represented
by Burr and his plan to conquer Mexico
for his own glory and power.
Despite certain elements of the movie
scenario in the love story, this
is a good historical novel. It is a tale
of interesting people living in in-
teresting times. There is nothing new
here for the specialist in the history
of the middlewestern frontier, but this
book was not written for him.
This is a book for the general reader
who wants to know more about
frontier life on the rivers, and in the
forests, towns, and taverns, who
100 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
wants to refresh his memory of Burr and
the Blennerhassetts, who wants
to think of the origins of the America
we know.
N. C. DAVIS
Ohio State University
The Army Air Forces in World War II. Edited by Wesley F. Craven
and James L. Cate. Vol. IV, The
Pacific--Guadalcanal to Saipan, August
1942 to July 1944. (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1950. xxxii +
825p., foreword, illustrations, maps and
charts, notes, glossary, and index.
$6.00.)
This volume, fourth in a projected
series of seven, is actually the third
to appear. It carries the air force
story in the Pacific from the first offensive
air assaults against the enemy to the
point in the war where the Japanese
homeland was brought within range of
heavy bombers.
The main weakness of this volume is the
lack of a unifying theme.
Pacific geography, the many theaters of
war, and the separate commands
divide the story into fragments. For
this the editors are not to blame;
in fact, they disarm the critic by
referring to this weakness in their fore-
word. A more legitimate criticism is the
heavy use of alphabet designations
for the many commands, units of the
army, and various allied services,
a device which saves wordage but tends
to impede the smooth flow of the
text. While a glossary is provided, it
is only a partial one and the forgetful
reader must refer to Volume I to find
the meaning of some of the letter
combinations. It would have been better
to extend the practice, sometimes
followed by the editors, of repeating
every page or so the full name of
the organization after the identifying
letters.
The major portion of the book is devoted to air force activities under
General MacArthur in the Southwest
Pacific. To this reviewer, who served
in that theater, much of the information
was new and some confirmed his
own impression, namely, that MacArthur
is seldom if ever willing to
accept any decision but his own. Thus,
according to MacArthur's chief
of staff, General Sutherland, if Admiral
Nimitz were given the over-all
command of the Pacific area, MacArthur
"would retire one day, resign
the next, return to the United States as
a civilian and undertake an active
newspaper and radio program to educate
the public" (note 14, p. 766).
Even the historical office responsible
for this series received on one occasion
the hostile attention of General
MacArthur. When its study of enemy losses
in the battle of Bismarck Sea reduced
the claims of the original communique,
"GHQSWPA on being apprised of the
conclusions of this study in
Book Reviews 101
Washington, elected to stand on the
original figures; indeed, one message
forwarded over MacArthur's signature
even contained the remarkable
suggestion that some action might be
taken against those responsible for
calling the claim into question"
(p. 148).
The material on the China-Burma-India
theater is more concerned
with problems of manpower, supplies, and
command than with air attacks
on the enemy. The command arrangements
were never satisfactorily solved,
and the review of this problem in
Chapter 13, while not introducing any
materials not covered in state papers,
memoirs, and journalistic reports, is
a salutary reminder that there has never
been any one simple solution to
the China matter.
The editorial supervision of this volume
is of the same excellence
as of the first two. The choice of
illustrations deserves a special com-
mendation, for there is a preponderance
of ground photographs and very
few of those tiresome aerial shots of
damaged enemy airstrips.
HOWARD D. KRAMER
Cleveland College,
Western Reserve University
And the War Came: The North and the
Secession Crisis, 1860-1861.
By Kenneth M. Stampp. (Baton Rouge,
Louisiana State University Press,
1950. viii + 331p. $4.50.)
This volume, covering the five critical
months from Lincoln's election
to the attack on Fort Sumter, presents a
scholarly and meticulous study
of the North and the secession crisis.
When a disruption of American
democracy seemed imminent, northern
politicians, neglecting a serious con-
sideration of the basic issues which had
made for sectional discord, sub-
stituted political and constitutional
abstractions for logical discussion of the
possible threat offered to the
political, social, and economic institutions of
the planting states by the ascendancy of
the Republican party. The author,
in discussing the exercises in logic
which pervaded the halls of congress, the
press, and the pulpit, points out the
rather paradoxical position of the
champion of southern rights in
advocating the legality of peaceful secession
and the establishment of an independent
southern confederacy and at the
same time interpreting the decision of
the central government to enforce
federal laws as unprovoked aggression.
It is shown that northern editors, along
with leaders of the Republican
party, doubted the seriousness of the
secession threat and looked hopefully
for the enactment of legislative
measures, which, as in 1850, would stem
102 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
the secession tide. While politicians
and self-appointed mediators became
hopelessly enmeshed in a web of
constitutional abstractions, northern mer-
chants began to feel the impact of
evaporating southern markets. As a
result the most ardent advocates of
sectional adjustment were recruited
from those who most keenly felt the
economic force of threatened secession.
In discussing the unsuccessful plans for
compromise, as presented to the
congressional committees of thirteen and
thirty-three, the author concludes
that the "champions of appeasement
were always breaking their lances on
the tough realities of the
'Irrepressible Conflict' " and that they could not
devise "constitutional amendments
which would obliterate the chronic
antagonism between the agrarian and
industrial economies." Indeed, the
"fraud of the conciliators" is
clearly shown by the fact that during the
discussion of proposed remedies, southern
representatives were absent from
congress and northerners refused to
surrender any "law which brought
especial benefit to their
constituents."
Of especial interest is Lincoln's
attitude toward the secession crisis.
The president-elect, believing that the
economic panic was artificial and
overestimating the Union sentiment in
the South, faced the future with
"philosophical calmness." The
events of December, however, convinced
the Illinoisan that the possibilities of
effecting a reconciliation between
the sections were remote indeed. In
viewing the situation, Lincoln, ignoring
the meaningless suggestions of Horace
Greeley and the inconsistencies of
southern radicals and northern
abolitionists, refused to subscribe to the
theory of peaceable secession, opposed
any territorial adjustment which
might reflect unfavorably upon his
administration and offer a threat to the
solidarity of the Republican party by
abandoning the cardinal principle
of the Chicago platform. At no time,
however, did Lincoln hint that the
government would abstain from collecting
its revenues or holding or
recapturing federal property.
Lincoln's basic ideas concerning the
crisis, although somewhat modified
by his official family, were brilliantly
reiterated in his inaugural address.
When compromises had failed, as they had
by the time of the inauguration,
northern business interests, champions
of appeasement, endorsed the use
of force against the secessionists in
the interest of protecting their invest-
ments and restoring the prestige of the
national government. Some northern
businessmen, in abandoning their earlier
support of reconciliation, were
not unaware of the economic
opportunities offered by an appeal to arms.
It was readily perceived that the
economic possibilities offered by army
contracts, an eventual monopoly of the
rich western carrying trade once
the Mississippi River was closed to
northern commerce, and the elimination
Book Reviews 103
of unemployment problems as mobilization
became a reality, would more
than compensate for the temporary
recession occasioned by southern debt
repudiation and the temporary loss of
southern markets. Since the average
northern citizen was not especially
interested in the plight of the in-
dustrialists, the economic motives were
soon rationalized and translated
into such patriotic objectives as national
security and manifest destiny.
Other northern groups, including the
nonpolitical abolitionists and certain
religious groups, animated by the high
ideals of the nineteenth century
middle classes and believing that
southern society was essentially degenerate,
sought to convert Lincoln's attempt to
preserve the Union, with or without
slavery, into a holy crusade to abolish
Negro slavery, punish the South,
and place the stamp of traitor upon
those who sought to establish and
maintain southern independence.
The closing section of the study treats
of Lincoln's crisis strategy. It is
shown that the Sumter expedition was
designed to relieve the president
of responsibility for initiating
hostilities and to force the Confederacy to
assume the role of the aggressor. The
bombardment of Sumter by con-
federate batteries crystallized public
opinion in both North and South,
and an attempt was made to settle the
issues of the "Irrepressible Conflict"
on the field of battle. It is significant,
however, that after four years of
civil conflict the immediate products of
the crusade were the "shoddy
aristocracy of the North and the ragged
children of the South." The Union
had been preserved, but among "the
masses of Americans there were no
victors, only the vanquished."
The author has admirably presented his
thesis, as stated in his preface,
namely, that "there was no basis
for sectional harmony as long as Negro
slavery survived and as long as
Northerners used their overwhelming
political power in Congress to advance
their special interests at the
expense of the South."
It should be clear at this point that
Dr. Stampp has made a
substantial contribution to the field of
sectional history and to an under-
standing of the secession crisis. The
author, in his painstaking and indus-
trious investigation, has examined a
wide variety of sources for his subject,
including manuscript collections, public
documents, periodicals, newspapers,
and secondary works. The volume, well
written and attractively bound,
contains a classified bibliography and
an excellent index.
JOHN O. MARSH
Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society
104 Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Backwoods Utopias: The Sectarian and
Owenite Phases of Communi-
tarian Socialism in America:
1663-1829. By Arthur Eugene Bestor,
Jr.
(Philadelphia, University of
Pennsylvania, 1950. xi + 288p., appendix,
bibliographical essay, and index.
$3.50.)
Many Ohioans will be interested in this
fine study of the attempts to
establish forty-five utopian communities
in early Ohio and fourteen other
states. The volume not only discusses
the establishment of the cooperative
and communistic settlements between 1663
and 1829, but also examines
the philosophies and social ideas behind
them. The author chooses to
revive the word communitarianism to mean
the institution of the socialistic
communities.
"Communitarian socialism," a
term which actually may be a redundancy,
was a pattern of ideas of social reform
in small experimental religious and
sectarian communities. It represented an
attempt to produce a better life
through collective efforts.
Communitarianism was voluntary, was based upon
planning and experimentation, and sought
strength in group isolation.
The seeds of the communitarian idea came
from "a restricted zone of
religious radicalism that stretched from
central Europe to the British Isles."
The first communitarian colony in the
United States was established on
the Delaware River in 1663 by a group of
Dutch Mennonites, led by Pieter
Corneliszoon Plockhoy. Later came better
known groups, such as the fol-
lowers of Johann Conrad Beissel who
founded the Ephrata community in
1817 by a religious group which had
emigrated from Wurttemberg.
The Shakers arrived in Ohio in 1805,
their first settlements being
Union Village, near Lebanon, and
Watervliet, near Dayton. The third
communitarian colony in Ohio was that of
the Society of the Separatists
of Zoar, founded on the Tuscarawas River
near New Philadelphia in
1817 by a religious group which had
emigrated from Wurttemberg.
This community, in which all property
was held in common, lasted
till 1898. Owenite communities, the
first nonsectarian communitarian
efforts in Ohio, were begun in the state
in 1825, a few months after the
first Owen experiment was begun at New
Harmony, Indiana.
The bulk of Dr. Bestor's book is an
analysis of Robert Owen's ideas
and their application and influence in
the founding of communitarian
colonies in the United States. The
author examines in great detail the
efforts to make the Owenite projects
operate and the causes of their
failures. Robert himself stumbles from
idea to idea, scheme to scheme,
with an "enormous capacity for
self-deception." His sons were less easily
duped. The history of the Owenite
communities is written after exhaustive
Book Reviews 105
research among
collections throughout the country, many of them never
before examined. The
result is an exceptional study of Owen's intellectual
history, of the
abortive effort at New Harmony, of the enthusiasm and
disillusionment of a
number of American reformers who joined Owen in
his communitarian
projects, of the influence of Owen in the founding of
imitative colonies, and
of the influence of Owenite communitarianism upon
the life of the period.
This reviewer feels
that the volume leaves something to be desired
in its discussion of
the sectarian communities. Undoubtedly it was the
author's intention to
discuss the sectarian phase merely as an introduction
to his discussion of
the Owenite projects. At any rate, that's what he does,
and the "Holy
Commonwealths" rate only eighteen pages, plus part of
another chapter, out of
the entire book. Unfortunately, the subtitle of the
book leads the reader
to expect a larger discussion of the Shakers, Rappites,
Zoarites, and other
religious communitarian colonies, which preceded the
Owenite efforts,
"kept communitarianism alive," and "were untouched
by what Owen did,"
to quote the author.
Dr. Bestor concludes
his volume with a "Checklist of Communitarian
Experiments" from
1663 to 1860, the most complete list available; a
"Statistical
Summary"; an excellent "Bibliographical Essay"; and an index.
The following
communitarian experiments located in Ohio are listed
in Dr. Bestor's book:
A. Foreign-Language
Sectarian Communities
1817 SOCIETY OF THE
SEPARATISTS OF ZOAR. Zoar, Tuscarawas
County.
B. Shaker Villages
1805 UNION VILLAGE. Union Village
(four miles west of Lebanon),
Warren County.
1806 WATERVLIET. Shakertown (on Little
Beaver Creek, six miles south-
east of Dayton),
Montgomery County.
1822 NORTH UNION. Now Shaker
Heights, Cuyahoga County.
1825 WHITEWATER. Shaker Village (twelve
miles southwest of Hamilton),
Hamilton County.
C. Owenite
Communities
1825 YELLOW SPRINGS COMMUNITY. Yellow
Springs.
1826 KENDAL
COMMUNITY, or FRIENDLY ASSOCIATION FOR MUTUAL IN-
TERESTS AT KENDAL. Kendal, now part of Massillon.
106 Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly
D. Other
English-Language Communities
1830 KIRTLAND
(communistic family established by Sidney
Rigdon before
his conversion to
Mormonism). Kirtland.
1835 EQUITY. Tuscarawas County.
1836 COMMUNITY
OF UNITED CHRISTIANS. Berea.
1843 MARLBORO ASSOCIATION. Marlboro, Stark County.
1843 DR. ABRAM BROOKE'S
EXPERIMENT. Oakland, Clinton County.
1844 PRAIRIE
HOME COMMUNITY. Near West Liberty, Logan County.
1845 FRUIT HILLS. Warren
County.
1847 THE BROTHERHOOD. Clermont
County.
1847 UTOPIA. Utopia, Clermont County.
1853 RISING STAR ASSOCIATION. Near
Greenville, Darke County.
1856 MEMNONIA INSTITUTE. Yellow Springs.
E. Fourierist
Phalanxes
1844 OHIO PHALANX (originally named the AMERICAN
PHALANX). Bell-
aire, Belmont County.
1844 CLERMONT
PHALANX (originally called the CINCINNATI PHALANX).
Villages of Rural and
Utopia, Clermont County.
1844 TRUMBULL
PHALANX. Phalanx Mills, Trumbull County.
1845 COLUMBIAN PHALANX, or
COLUMBIAN ASSOCIATION. On the Mus-
kingum River, seven
miles above Zanesville, Muskingum County.
JAMES H. RODABAUGH
Ohio State
Archaeological
and Historical
Society
Diplomacy and Indian
Gifts: Anglo-French Rivalry Along the Ohio
and Northwest
Frontiers, 1748-1763. By Wilbur R.
Jacobs. (Stanford, Stan-
ford University Press,
1950. 208p., illustrations, annotated bibliography,
index, and end maps.
$5.00.)
The conflict between
the French and English for empire in the new
world was not to
terminate until control of the vital Ohio Valley region
had been secured by one
of these contestants. The struggle for this control
occurred in the
fifteen-year period after the indecisive Treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle of 1748.
France and England each realized the important role
that the Indians could
play towards its success or failure. Competition for
Book Reviews 107
Indian friendship and alliance became
extremely keen. The story of the
efforts and methods employed by both
parties in this international rivalry
is portrayed in this volume.
The concomitant of successful diplomacy
with the Indians, indeed
the sine qua non, was, according
to Jacobs, the gift. The general history of
this period is already known to
students. The very important role of presents,
given by the French and the English to
the Indians, is the contribution
to the knowledge of the period that is
herein set forth.
Gifts ran the alphabetical gamut from
awls to wines; they ranged in
size from beads to horses; and they took
care of about every conceivable
need of the Indian from the cradle to
the grave, and, it was believed by
some, even into the hereafter. Presents
were used as threats, as bribes, as
favors, as rewards, as donations, as
subsidies, and as charities. Politicians,
explorers, diplomats, churchmen,
philanthropists, traders, individuals, com-
panies, colonies, and empires
distributed them.
Presents, Jacobs asserts, were "the
civilizing influence . . . of Western
culture [which] reached ahead of the fur
trade far into the wilderness
to the Mississippi Valley" (p. 5).
The so-called conspiracy of Pontiac
was "to a surprising degree, a
direct result of the lack of presents after
1763" (pp. 12, 183-184). Presents
were successfully used by Jesuit priests
"to pacify savage tribes who practiced
cannibalism" (p. 32). These and
many other things are indicated in
support of the author's general thesis
of the importance of presents in
relations between the Indian and the
white man.
Diplomacy and Indian Gifts, a revision of Jacobs' doctoral dissertation,
is the result of much conscientious and
painstaking research. The author's
style of writing, however, is labored,
and does not lend itself to ease in
reading and comprehension. It is
necessary to refer back to chapter titles
repeatedly to determine the direction in
which the remarks are leading.
The reader is overwhelmed by the
numberless kinds of presents and their
uses, but he is not given a clear
picture of their role in diplomacy on the
mid-eighteenth century frontiers of the
Ohio and Northwest. Further,
"Ohio" in the subtitle is
misleading. "Upper Ohio" or "western Penn-
sylvania" might more correctly have
been used. Aside from "White River"
instead of "Great Miami River"
(p. 108), errors of fact are virtually nil.
"Ethnology" would have been
more nearly correct than "anthropology"
(p. 16). Some of the customs and mores
of the Indians used as illustrations
were not as universal among all the
tribes as one is led to conclude. The
annotated bibliography is valuable. It
is not understood, however, after
the Preface had mentioned published
articles based upon materials in this
108 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
work which appeared in certain
historical journals, why only part of them
were subsequently listed in the
Bibliography.
Geography is such an important part of
this volume and place names
are so frequently mentioned, that maps
would have materially aided in
understanding the text. While of
interest, the end map is of little use in
the geographic orientation that is
needed. Abbreviations are employed so
repeatedly in footnotes that a table of
these would have greatly facilitated
their understanding. Such citations as
"P. R. O., C. 0., 5/1328, L. C. 43-
72, C. 0. 47-72 (film)" (note 80,
p. 128) are of little value, because it is
necessary to comb through pages of notes
to discover the explanation of
these complicated abbreviations. The
reader remains hopeful to the end
for a summary and general conclusions
that might be offered. This hope
is unrewarded, however, by the
concluding sentence: "The old conflict
went on" (p. 185).
There are a number of things that might
have been corrected by more
careful editing and proofreading by the
Stanford University Press. For
example, the use of "ibid."
is not at all consistent in many places throughout
the volume. Whether or not it is used in
similar circumstances would
appear to depend on the whim of the
author. The virtue of consistency in
such matters seems to have been ignored
or overlooked. Reduced type for
certain length quotations has been
arbitrarily employed. Typographical errors
and punctuation discrepancies occur
frequently. In several instances, repetition
of identical information is given
without need or justification. Acknowl-
edgment of the source of Sir Jeffery
Amherst's picture is omitted, while
all others are indicated. A cursory
check revealed a number of mistakes in
bibliographical information. These
things detract from the scholarly con-
struction of the book and should have
been corrected.
Jacobs' book brings to a focus a phase
of Indian history that has
long been neglected and overlooked. The
Indian was more than a mere
pawn in frontier diplomacy.
DWIGHT L. SMITH
Ohio State University
Two Captains West: An Historical Tour
of the Louis and Clark Trail.
By Albert and Jane Salisbury. (Seattle,
Superior Publishing Company, 1950.
xix + 235p., illustrations. $7.50.)
This is a book with many facets. It is,
most significantly, a photo-
graphic record of the route of Lewis and
Clark's "Corps of Discovery."
More than one hundred and fifty well
selected pictures depict the camp
Book Reviews 109
sites, landscapes identifiable from the
journals of the expedition, animals
frequently encountered, and so on.
Interesting entries from Clark's and
Floyd's records are reproduced in
half-tone. These pictures are thoroughly
satisfying, since the press work, paper
stock, and size of the cuts, are all
designed for that end.
The greater part of the text of the
volume is a condensed account
of the expedition, cleverly combining
impressions and quotations from the
diarists of the Corps. Quotations are
usually identified in the text, but
there is no other documentation, since
the authors believe that laymen do
not care from what sources quotations
are taken, so long as they are
authentic, and that students would be
satisfied only with the original
records. Despite the limitations of
space, Mr. Salisbury achieves satisfactory
dramatic effect and gives reality to the
leading personalities: Lewis and
Clark, Floyd, Gass, Ordway, Sacajawea,
and Clark's servant, the giant York.
Eight maps on a present-day base cover
the route from St. Louis to the
Pacific. Principal camp sites on both
outward and return trips are identified
and dated. These maps, together with the
informal instructions on "how
to get there now" will certainly
prove useful to the many tourists who
have a fondness for historical
side-excursions.
The accurate location of historic sites
is often a matter of real
difficulty. There is abundant reason to
believe that the Salisburys were
intent on accuracy. On many occasions
they enlisted the aid of local en-
thusiasts, to whom they give proper
acknowledgment. Great dependence
is placed on descriptive passages in the
original journals, and these are
quoted frequently. There is no evidence
that astronomical observations of
the original party were used for
verification. The rivers, so accurately
described by the first travelers, are in
their old courses, for the most part,
and the authors mention all evidence of
older stream beds when that seems
important.
This book is the cooperative work of a
family of enthusiasts. The
parents did the writing, prepared the
maps and photographs, to be sure,
but the book is doubtless the better
because three young Americans,
Bert, Lil, and Joe Salisbury went along
on the "historical tour." Their
mother's "Travelogues" which
appear at the end of each section are
delightfully informal. "When we
neared St. Joseph, OUR Joseph (no
relation) got the measles. Lewis and
Clark had plenty of problems but
they didn't ever have to approach a
motel operator and ask if they could
spend a quarantine period in one of the
cabins. Mr. and Mrs. Zoettl, of
Faucett, Missouri, didn't hesitate.
'Why, when folks are in trouble,' Mrs.
Zoettl said, 'you have to help them
out.'"
110
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly
The book deserves to be widely read. One
can think of no better
introduction to this highly important
episode in the expansion of the
United States. To have it at hand while
reading the brilliant Bakeless
biography of the two captains would
guarantee a most worthwhile week
of reading. The scholar, however
familiar with the story, will find profit
in the photographs. Many readers will
take special delight in the well
executed woodcuts which Carter Lucas
prepared as decorations for end
papers and chapter headings.
WILLIAM T. UTTER
Denison University