BOOK REVIEWS
Missie: An Historical Biography of
Annie Oakley. By Annie
Fern Swartwout. (Blanchester, Ohio,
1947. 298p., illustrations.
Cloth, $3.50.)
This little volume, written by a niece
of "Annie Oakley," has
all the thrills but none of the fiction
of the paper-back success
stories which, for many years, have
fascinated the American reading
public. The author, against a background
of local environment,
traces the life and activities of
America's most famous marks-
woman, "Annie Oakley." Phoebe
Ann Moses, the sixth child of
Susan and Jacob Moses, was born in a log
cabin in Darke County,
Ohio, on August 13, 1860. When she was
six years old her father
died, and until her mother remarried
Annie experienced the story-
book trials and tribulations of an
orphaned child. At the age of
ten she began her hunting career in the
interest of increasing the
family income. The game she procured
found a ready market in
Cincinnati, and within a brief time
little Annie had gained a local
reputation as a sure shot.
Her initial success was achieved in 1875
when, at the sugges-
tion of her brother-in-law, the
fifteen-year-old girl journeyed to
Cincinnati to shoot a match with Frank
Butler, an Irish-born
vaudeville performer, and defeated him
by a single point. In due
time she and Butler were married, and at
a later date, when his
partner fell ill, Annie served as an
assistant in his act. Their
success as a team was immediate and
phenomenal.
While trooping with the Forepaugh and
Sells Brothers' Circus
they played New Orleans where
"Buffalo Bill" had an opportunity
to observe Annie's performance. In 1885
she and her husband
joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
where for seventeen years
"Missie" was the principal
attraction. When the show visited
England in 1887 she gave a command
performance for Queen
Victoria and other crowned celebrities.
Two years later the show
played to enthusiastic audiences in
France, Germany, Austria,
England, Spain, and Italy. Annie
Oakley's success was temporarily
323
324
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
retarded as the result of an American
railroad accident in the fall
of 1901. She recovered, howover, and
continued htr sensational
shooting record.
In addition to outlining the principal
events in the life of
Annie Oakley the author presents vivid
pen pictures of the compo-
nent parts of a typical American wild
west show, including brass
bands, street parades, cowboys roping
and branding steers, stage-
coaches, the overland mail, and special
exhibitions of shooting
skill. More exciting, however, is the
writer's description of Annie
shooting a cigarette from the lips of
her husband and perforating
the spots on playing cards at almost
unbelievable distances. Be-
cause of the popularity of the latter
trick, complimentary tickets to
theatres and ball games soon won the
sobriquet of "Annie Oakleys."
Mrs. Swartwout, having been a trooper
herself, makes an
equally interesting story of the
personalities with whom she asso-
ciated, including pressmen, publicity
agents, authors, members of
the troop, and city officials. She
explains the superstitions, the
jealousies, the joys, and the sorrows of
those who found success or
failure as performers under the
"Big Top." The volume concludes
with an interesting account of the
actual operation of a wild west
show.
It is only fair to say that the author
has made an interesting
rather than a major contribution to
historical literature. While it
is evident that Mrs. Swartwout has
examined some manuscript and
newspaper materials, she has neglected
to document her narrative
and provide the reader with a
bibliography. Then, too, there are
many lapses in grammar and proofreading.
The value of the work
lies, perhaps, in the telling of an
interesting story of an Ohio-born
girl who contributed her share in
perpetuating the memory of
America's youngest and most colorful
child, the American frontier.
The volume, well printed and
substantally bound, contains
twenty pictures. There is no index.
JOHN 0. MARSH
Curator of History and Librarian
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society
BOOK REVIEWS 325
Michigan: From Primitive Wilderness
to Industrial Common-
wealth. By M. M. Quaife and
Sidney Glazer. (New York,
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1948. viii + 374p.
Cloth, $5.35.)
This volume is the achievement of two
well-known, scholarly
historians of Michigan. The portion
dealing with the Indian,
colonial, and territorial periods
(before 1837) is fittingly from the
pen of Milo M. Quaife, whose previous
historical writings have
dealt principally with the region that
came to be known as the Old
Northwest and especially with the Indian
and French phases of the
history of that area. Dr. Quaife has
recently edited the deservedly
popular American Lake Series and
is the author of the volume
Lake Michigan in that series. For many years he served as editor
of the Burton Historical Collection of
the Detroit Public Library.
Part II of the volume deals with
"The Developing Common-
wealth," or the period of
statehood. The author, Dr. Sidney Glazer
of Wayne University, Detroit, has an
excellent reputation as an
historian, having written a number of
valuable articles on Michigan
state history.
This volume, according to the authors,
"provides a compre-
hensive history of Michigan suited to
the needs of classroom
students and of mature readers
generally." It is written in an inter-
esting manner and is so
"streamlined" in content that it can be
read fairly easily in a couple of
evenings. Accordingly, it does not
provide quite the wealth of information
that is found in some other
volumes of the Prentice-Hall state
history series. Yet, the principal
events, movements, and personalities of
Michigan's past are
presented with vividness and accuracy
and not without much signi-
ficant detail.
Many readers will learn for the first
time that Father Gabriel
Richard who served as delegate to
congress from 1825 to 1829 was
the "only Catholic priest ever
elected to Congress" (p. 145). Others
may find humor in such accounts as that
of the frugality of an early
governor who refused to have a private
secretary and is reputed to
have sold for three dollars the hay cut
from the capitol grounds
(p. 186). Many, moreover, will find much
of interest in those
chapters concerned with the great
lumbering era (especially from
326
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
1870 to 1890) and with the development
and modernization of
agriculture so that it "is
estimated that approximately eighty-five
per cent of Michigan's farms are
electrified" (p. 256). The emer-
gence of Detroit from the horse and
buggy age (when it ranked
second among American cities in the
carriage industry) to a
dominant position in the automobile
industry is a fascinating aspect
of the story. The various phases of
social, religious, and cultural
achievements also are not neglected.
One or two minor points in the volume
may be questioned.
Thus, the reader may wonder concerning
references (p. 79) to the
locality at the headwaters of the Maumee
as "Fort Wayne" in 1747,
a generation before the establishment of
that post. The Quebec
Act of 1774, moreover, while a marvel of
religious toleration for
that period, did not make
"Catholicism the State Church of
Canada" (p. 96). Actually
Anglicanism was to be the official church,
but Catholicism was given only slightly
inferior status.
The volume includes a large map of
present-day Michigan,
excellent bibliographical references at
the close of each chapter,
and a chronologically arranged list of
the governors of the state.
FRANCIS PHELPS WEISENBURGER
Department of History
Ohio State University
The Conquest: Lucas County Historical
Series, Vol. I. By Ran-
dolph C. Downes. (Toledo, the Historical
Society of Northwestern
Ohio, 1948. x + 95p.)
This little volume, written by the
author of Frontier Ohio and
Council Fires on the Upper Ohio, is the first in a series of a six-
volume history of Lucas County planned
by the Historical Society
of Northwestern Ohio. In nineteen short
chapters the author
reviews or more properly synthesizes the
history of the territory
now included within the present bounds
of Lucas County from the
age of "Rock" to the
successful conclusion of the War of 1812.
After discussing geological formations
and the emergence of the
land, the author turns his attention to
the appearance of the
BOOK REVIEWS 327
"rampart" building Indians,
the Indians of the historic period, and
the intertribal warfare occasioned by
the desire for possession of
the rich Maumee Valley. Then follows an
account of the explor-
ations of the French, the development of
the valley into a link in
the French Canadian Empire, and the
ensuing contest with the
English, who by the 1740's had
penetrated within fifty miles of
present day Piqua, Ohio.
The elimination of the French by the Treaty
of Paris (1763)
assured the English of possession not
only of Canada but also of the
Ohio country. It is shown that following
the conspiracy of Pontiac
the English adopted a successful Indian
policy, which, because of
its fairness, kept the western tribes
"true to the English until the end
of the War of 1812." Dr. Downes
concludes that the English were
the main force behind the Indian attack
on American outposts.
Following the American Revolution the
Indians, meeting in
council at Lower Sandusky in 1783,
accepted with mental reser-
vations the provisions of the Treaty of
Paris. On the other hand,
the author indicates that Sir William
Johnson of New York, the
English superintendent of Indian
affairs, intimated that the English
would support the Indian claims to lands
north of the Ohio River.
Then follows an account of the
settlement of the Northwest Terri-
tory. The appearance of swarms of
Americans in the territory, the
establishment of settlements at
Marietta, Columbia, and Cincinnati,
and the survey of the Seven Ranges were
conclusive evidence to
the Indians that a final day of
reckoning with the Americans was at
hand. Attempts at American-Indian
conciliation resulted in the un-
satisfactory treaties of Ft. Stanwix
(1784), Ft. McIntosh (1785),
and Ft. Harmar (1789).
Despite treaty provisions both Americans
and Indians engaged
in border raids. General St. Clair,
concluding that certain tribes were
"irredeemable," authorized
General Harmar to destroy the Miami
towns on the Maumee. The author relates
in detail the principal
events in the defeat of Harmar and St.
Clair and the ultimate victory
of "Mad Anthony" Wayne which
resulted in the Treaty of Greene
Ville.
The study ends with an excellent summary
of the immediate
and remote cause of the War of 1812, the
Indians' last stand in the
328
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Old Northwest under the leadership of
Tecumseh, and a clear and
vivid picture of the military and naval
operations. The Treaty of
Ghent was conclusive proof that the
Maumee Valley was to stay
American and the dangers of Indian
disturbances were at an end.
No task is more difficult for the
trained historian than at-
tempting to produce in brief compass a
scholarly synthesis of histor-
ical materials for the general reader.
Yet, Dr. Downes has performed
this task in an admirable manner. There
are, of course, some state-
ments which one may question. For
example the statement on page
43 that "the United States was not
ready to fight" in 1790 is a bit
misleading. In addition, there are a few
contradictory statements. On
page 23 the author concludes that the
Indians were favorably dis-
posed toward the provisions of the
Treaty of Paris (1763) for "to
them it meant that the country was now
safe for the Indians." Yet,
on the following page the author
reverses his opinion by stating that
"this bloody outbreak [Conspiracy
of Pontiac] resulted from a
genuine Indian fear that the change from
French to English sover-
eignty was not to be beneficial to the
Indians." Moreover, there are
a few slips in proofreading. The
misspelling of Genoa (p. 7) is
reproduced in the index.
The volume, well printed but
unsubstantially bound, contains
twelve maps, two diagrams, and forty
three illustrations which were
prepared by Cuthbert D. Ryan and his art
classes at Scott High
School, Toledo. There is a brief
bibliography and a satisfactory
index.
JOHN 0. MARSH
Curator of History and Librarian
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society