BOOK REVIEWS
Colonel Dick Thompson, the Persistent
Whig. By Charles Roll.
(Indiana Historical Collections, XXX. Indianapolis, Indiana His-
torical Bureau, 1948. xvi +
315p., illustrations and index.
$2.50.)
Richard Wigginton Thompson, the
"grand old man" of Indiana
politics, was 22 years of age when he
migrated to Bedford, Indiana,
from his birthplace in Culpeper County,
Virginia, where he was
born June 9, 1809. In Bedford he taught
school briefly, worked
in a store, studied law in his spare
time, founded (with two asso-
ciates) the unsuccessful Whig newspaper Western
Spy, and was
admitted to the practice of law in March
1834. A few months
later he was elected to the state's
lower house, serving four years;
and in 1836 he was married to Harriet
Eliza Gardiner, daughter
of newspaper publisher James B. Gardiner
of Columbus, Ohio.
Seven years later the Thompsons made
their permanent home in
Terre Haute, Indiana.
Colonel Dick Thompson was elected a Whig
member of
congress during the turbulent and
strenuous decade of the 1840's,
serving in both the 27th and 30th
congresses. His associations and
friends were numerous. He was very
friendly with Abraham Lin-
coin when both served as congressmen and
later when Lincoln
was president, and he had contacts with
most of the prominent
political leaders of his century: Henry
Clay, his political ideal,
Webster, Polk, Tyler, Taylor, Fillmore,
William Henry and Ben-
jamin Harrison, Johnson, Grant, Hayes,
and many others.
Concluding his terms in congress,
Thompson practiced law in
Terre Haute, became attorney for the
Chiriqui Investment Company,
and was delegate to several of his
party's national conventions.
During the Civil War he was provost
marshal for the Terre Haute
district, and when the Republican party
was reborn in 1868 as
the National Union Republican party, he
was a delegate to the
convention in Chicago which nominated
Grant. And in the na-
440
BOOK REVIEWS 441
tional Republican convention in
Cincinnati in 1876 he participated
as a delegate, supporting Oliver P.
Morton of Indiana.
When President Rutherford B. Hayes was
inaugurated, he
appointed Thompson to serve in his
cabinet as secretary of the
navy. A lack of naval training at that
time was not a serious han-
dicap to the cabinet officer, because
the navy was small and not
particularly active. Nonetheless, the
secretary took his duties
seriously and filled the post with
greater success than his past
experiences as an administrator would
have indicated. On the
whole he was an active and loyal
supporter of the administration's
policies.
After serving three years and nine
months as secretary of the
navy, Thompson was tempted by an offer
tendered by Ferdinand
de Lesseps to become chairman of the
American committee of the
proposed Panama Canal, at a salary of
$25,000 yearly. Somehow
Thompson could not quite resist the
offer and accepted while still
in his cabinet post, but he resigned
immediately thereafter.
As an orator of the old school, Colonel
Dick Thompson pos-
sessed extraordinary ability. He could
hold the attention of au-
diences for hours. As a lawyer, he was
able, faithful, and suc-
cessful; as a business man he was
inefficient; as a politician he was
severely partisan; as a man he was
likeable and friendly; and as
an author he showed a diversity of
interests, publishing four books
on widely different subjects: The
Papacy and the Civil Power
(1876), History of the Protective
Tariff Laws (1888), Footprints
of the Jesuits (1894), and Recollections of Sixteen Presidents from
Washington to Lincoln (1894).
Professor Roll's book indicates
extensive research in original
source materials, and the style is
factual rather than artistic. The
smallest accomplishment of his subject
is recorded, but no attempt
was made to capture the subject's spirit
and personality.
In one or two instances the study might
have been developed
more satisfactorily for the reader. One
wonders what may have
been the circumstances surrounding some
of the changes in Thomp-
son's political attitudes; in one
particular, why did Thompson sup-
port Lincoln's mild plan for the
reconstruction of the South
442
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
(p. 177) and then, later, strongly
endorsed the severe congres-
sional plan (p. 201)?
Students of nineteenth century politics
and politicians will be
grateful to Professor Roll for bringing
together so many facts for
ready reference about one of the lesser
statesmen of that century.
WATT P. MARCHMAN
Director of Research
Hayes Memorial Library
and Museum
William Trent and The West. By Sewell E. Slick. (Harrisburg,
Pa., Archives Publishing Company of
Pennsylvania, Inc., 1947.
vii + 188p. $3.50.)
For about forty years William Trent was
associated in some
way with the Ohio Valley frontier. From
the time of King George's
War until his death in 1787, he was at
various times soldier, Indian
agent, trader, public official, land
speculator, and lobbyist for land
companies, sometimes playing more than
one role at the same time.
Public business and private interests
were mutually compatible.
Trent's career to 1763 was devoted to
Indian diplomacy on
behalf of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and
the Crown along with some
intermittent military service and a good
deal of trading activity
whenever there was a lull in the
fighting. His monetary losses due
to the French and Indian War and
Pontiac's uprising caused him
to associate with other "suffering
traders" in working for compen-
sation in the form of a land cession
from the Indians which re-
quired Crown approval. Thereafter, his
primary interest was the
promotion of the ill-fated Indiana and
Vandalia projects which
absorbed the "suffering
traders," though he found time for minor
speculations more productive of ready
cash.
The book devotes nine chapters to
Trent's western career to
1763 and the remaining three to his
efforts as promoter and lobby-
ist for the Indiana-Vandalia interests
on both sides of the Atlantic,
for he spent six years in London.
Apparently the voluminous
manuscript and printed sources have been
carefully explored, but
they seem to have revealed more about
Indian activities, frontier
defense, trader difficulties, and
speculator intrigues than about Trent
BOOK REVIEWS 443
himself. Often the author has had to
surmise about his subject's
role, and at time even as to his
whereabouts. Many of the personal
details which would have added interest
to the narrative are lacking.
For example, Thomas Wharton called Trent
the "One Ey'd Major,"
but the reason may only be surmised.
His character apparently had its
unlovely side. His sharp
business practices, his difficulties
with George Morgan and the
Whartons, the suspicions of double-dealing
felt by some of his asso-
ciates, his callous neglect of his
family during his London years,
and the rumors of his Toryism are not
wholly offset by his un-
doubted skill in Indian diplomacy, his
long friendship with George
Croghan, and his moderately successful
military career, though
Colonel Washington dissented on this
score in 1754.
The lack of footnote citations will
annoy the research student,
but an ample bibliography atones for
this heresy. The book is a
revealing study of Anglo-French
rivalries and frontier problems,
and of the devious ways of the land
speculators, even if the central
figure fails to measure up to
expectations.
EUGENE H. ROSEBOOM
Professor of History
Ohio State University
Pioneer Life in Kentucky, 1785-1800. By Daniel Drake.
Edited, from the original manuscript,
with introductory comments
and a biographical sketch by Emmet Field
Horine, M.D. (New
York, Henry Schuman, c1948. xxix +
257p. $4.00.)
The first edition of this book was
arranged by Dr. Drake's son,
Charles Daniel Drake, and published in
1870. It has now been
edited by Emmet Field Horine who made
use of the original manu-
scripts. In some cases he has corrected
the emendations made in
the 1870 edition.
Daniel Drake has long been recognized as
a leader in medical
education in the Ohio Valley. He was
also one of the first syste-
matic botanical students in the
region. In the fields both of
medicine and of botany his publications
rank high for their day.
Born in New Jersey in 1785 he was
brought to Kentucky by
his parents in 1788. In 1847 he began a
series of letters to his
444
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
children and others which are here
printed. They were written as
the recollections of an old man and are
not based on a journal or
contemporary notes. They contain much
factual information of
which the reliability is above that of
the usual recollections of
childhood. All of the varied experiences
of a pioneer in Kentucky
are described in a style that is graphic
and attractive though simple
and quaint. Much of it is material well
known to students of the
frontier. It may be recommended to those
who wish to begin such
a study as well as to older persons some
of whom will recall
experiences not unlike those he relates.
At times, for example in
his descriptions of nature, he rises to
the height of poetic prose.
As a devout believer, Dr. Drake was
given to moralizing and phi-
losophizing on life and its meaning.
This leads to the characteri-
zation of him as "The Benjamin
Franklin of the West" on the
jacket. Though overdrawn, this is not
without validity. His ability
to see and enjoy, at least in
retrospect, the humor in the midst of
the hardships of the pioneer, adds a
piquant note to the narrative.
The editor has given prominence to
certain errors in spelling that
Drake was wont to follow.
Factual errors are corrected by the
editor in his notes, which
are brief. Most of the notes give
details of persons who are men-
tioned in the text. The value of the
edition would be enhanced if
the meaning of some terms which were
familiar to the pioneer but
are not included in the vocabulary of
the average reader today were
defined. Examples of these are
"round about" as wearing apparel,
"broke" as applied to the
softening of water, "browse" as a noun,
"swingling" in flax culture,
"rorom" as material for hats, and
"choirs" in the trade of the
itinerant tinker. The trained historian
will wish to test the dependability of
statements by a check with
other sources and not accept them as
true because of the "impression
of absolute truthfulness" that the
reader may receive.
Of interest are the comments of Dr.
Drake on the low character
of the folk from Maryland as compared
with those from New
Jersey, his views on slavery, and his
theory of the motives for the
migration to Kentucky at the opening of
the last century.
BOOK REVIEWS 445
The book deserves a high place among
those in the literature
of the frontier.
BENJAMIN H. PERSHING
Professor of History
Wittenberg College
Education and Reform at New Harmony:
Correspondence of
William Maclure and Marie Duclos
Fretageot, 1820-1833 (Indiana
Historical Society, Publications, XV,
No. 3). Edited by Arthur E.
Bestor, Jr. (Indianapolis, Indiana
Historical Society, 1948. 285-
417p. Paper, $1.00.)
Although partially utilized in recent biographies
of Robert
Dale Owen and Thomas Day, the
Maclure-Fretageot correspondence
herein presented gives an illuminating
view of the brief but sig-
nificant history of New Harmony.
Skilfully edited and annotated
by Professor Bestor of the University of
Illinois, these letters por.
tray a biographical sketch of William
Maclure as an educational
and social reformer and as an associate
of Robert Owen. Little
light is cast upon William Maclure as
the "Father of Modern
Geology."
Having acquired a fortune at an early
age, Maclure, a Scots-
man by birth, turned his attention
toward educational reform. Ig-
norance, he believed, caused "all
the miseries and errors of man-
kind." About 1805 he became
acquainted with the Pestalozzian
system of education and soon thereafter
set up a school in Phila-
delphia under Joseph Neef and supported
two Pestalozzian teachers
in Paris, Madame Marie Duclos Fretageot
and William S. Phique-
pal. He himself conducted an
agricultural school in Spain until
1823. Through his correspondence with
Madame Fretageot, we
learn of his introduction to Robert
Owen's scheme for a New World
social experiment and the gradual merger
of his educational and
scientific enterprises with New Harmony.
His reluctant conversion
to Owenism, it appears, was carried on
by Madame Fretageot and
Phiquepal who had come to Philadelphia
in 1824.
After several months at New Harmony,
Maclure took a four
months' trip through Ohio and Kentucky
which occasioned a new
446
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
series of letters to Madame Fretageot.
This series records his
interest in dividing the community
according to the occupations of
its members, his financing of the
Education Society, his inspection
of the short-lived Owenite community at
Yellow Springs, Ohio, and
the projected community at Nevilsville,
Ohio, his dismay over
Owen's "Declaration of Mental
Independence," and finally, his
break with Owen. His varied interests at
the community cost him
at least $82,000. After Owen's departure
from New Harmony,
Maclure continued his educational
experiments and the publication
of scientific books at the Indiana town
through moral and financial
support of his friends who remained
there.
This collection of letters and the
excellent background pro-
vided by Professor Bestor is essential
material for all persons
interested in American social history,
especially those examining
the Utopian communities of the 1820's
and 1830's. The story told
here reveals the discord, the
incompetent leadership, the great ex-
pense, and, above all, the untimeliness
of the famous New Harmony
experiment. Indeed from reading of the
kaleidoscopic changes at
this frontier community one is tempted
to label the experiment
dis-Harmony.
EVERETT WALTERS
Assistant Professor of History
Ohio State University
The National Road. By Philip D. Jordan. (The American
Trails Series, edited by Jay Monaghan. Indianapolis and New
York, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1948. 442p.
$4.00.)
This is an excellent historical study,
written in a style that is
intimate, warm, and, hence, eminently
readable. It is one of those
relatively rare volumes of history in
which the historian has
achieved literary distinction. The
author wrote this book for the
people, not just for the scholar, a goal
he has reached with success.
Important to all students and readers of
Ohio history, this
book reviews the story of the old traces
that preceded the National
Road and the movement for internal
improvements that resulted in
its construction. The beginnings of the
National Road were tied
BOOK REVIEWS 447
up with the beginnings of Ohio's
statehood. "Good roads were
necessary if Ohio really was to cement
itself into the expanding
Union." The enabling act of 1802,
which permitted the organi-
zation of Ohio's first government,
provided that five per cent of the
proceeds from the sale of public roads
in Ohio should be set aside
for the construction of federal roads.
Ohio's first constitutional
convention reserved three per cent for
roads within the state; the
other two per cent was applied to
building a road to Ohio. It was
the two-per cent fund that enabled
congress to authorize the
National Road in 1806.
Dr. Jordan has followed in detail the
construction of the road
from Cumberland, Maryland, where surveys
began in 1806 and
building began in 1811, to Vandalia,
Illinois, where the road ended
some 25 years later. It reached Wheeling
by 1818 and crossed
the Ohio River to St. Clairsville in
1825. For many miles it fol-
lowed Zane's Trace to Zanesville, and in
1833 it entered Columbus.
With the road came immigration and
economic development
for central Ohio and the other states
through which it passed. Men
and animals were transported to the East
over the road, and goods
from the Atlantic states were carried
back to western consumers.
Along the route new towns sprang up and
older ones grew fat upon
the commerce it brought them. Fleets of
Conestogas ran its mac-
adam, rough stone, gravel, or mud
roadbeds then as great trucks
rumble over its paved surfaces today,
and hundreds of taverns lined
the route to serve the travelers. It
served as a post road, across
which Amos Kendall, Jackson's postmaster
general, developed a
fast mail express, and it was a
lucrative route for the operations
of mail and stage robbers.
Legends and traditions grew up along the
road, the stories of
stage or wagon drivers, innkeepers,
stock drovers, and the people
who traveled the road or lived along it.
"The National Road,"
writes Dr. Jordan, "ran straight
through a land of bunkum, where
a talent for exaggeration marked the
broad wit of the storyteller
and tickled the fancy of the plain
people."
After the Civil War the road was
abandoned as a route for
interstate travel. The railroad took its
place. For forty years or
more it served only local interests, and
great stretches of it lay
448
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"dejected" and
"lifeless." The coming of the automobile and the
truck brought the National Road new
life. Today U. S. 40, the
modern name for the historic road, never
sleeps. "At no time in
the National Road's long life of more
than 140 years has it been
busier."
JAMES H. RODABAUGH
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society