CARL W. ALBRECHT
Book Notes
The Papers of Henry Bouquet, Volume 5: September 1, 1760-October 31,
1761. Edited by Louis M. Waddell, John L. Tottenham, and
Donald H. Kent.
(Harrisburg: The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum
Commission, 1984. xxx
+ 875p.; illustrations, bibliography,
chronology, index.) Henry Bouquet, born
in Switzerland in 1719, passed his early
military training and experience in the
service of several European states. In
1756, he was recruited to serve as a
lieutenant colonel in the Royal American
Regiment, and was sent by the British
to the North American colonies following
the outbreak of war with France. He
served mainly on the western colonial
frontier, becoming involved in some of
the more important events of the day; he
continued with the British until his
death in 1765. During the period of this volume of his
papers, fourth in the
series, several events of historical
importance and interest took place: surren-
der of French Canada to the British Army
and subsequent surrender of Fort
Detroit and other western posts;
attempts to control illegal hunting and
settlement by eastern colonials of the
frontier area; various and many problems
with the western Indians; naturalist
John Bartram's tour of the upper Ohio
River area. Letters and other documents
(with translations of those in French)
give accounts of these events. The
annotations, chronology, and index make
this another very useful volume in a
very useful series.
Above and Beyond: A History of the
Medal of Honor from the Civil War to
Vietnam. Edited by Gordon Hardy. (Boston: Boston Publishing
Company,
1985. vi + 346p.; illustrations, maps,
register of recipients, bibliography,
index.) "America's history is
well-stocked with heroes ... 3,393 men-and
one woman-... have been awarded the
Medal of Honor for displaying
courage and sacrifice above and beyond
the call of duty." The Continental
Congress awarded the first United States
medals for individual gallantry in
military action during the Revolutionary
War. It was not until the Civil War,
however, that Congress established a
permanent system of recognition: first,
for the Navy in 1861, and then for the
Army in 1862. Since then, Congress has
awarded the Medal of Honor during every
major military conflict, and has
bestowed it nearly 200 times for
meritorious action of soldiers and sailors
during peacetime. This book is divided
into chapters, each relating to an
important period in the military history
of the United States down to the
Vietnam War. And, it concludes with a
very useful Register of Recipients.
The story of the Medal of Honor is
replete with fascinating accounts of
attention to duty, selfless heroism, and
derring-do; it begins with the Civil War.
The sole woman ever to receive the Medal
was Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, one
of the first woman physicians in the
United States. Although denied a
commission as an Army officer, she
served as field surgeon for the Union
Army. General George Armstrong Custer's
brother, Thomas, was the only
soldier to be awarded two Medals of
Honor during the Civil War, both for
capturing the battle flags of opposing
units during combat. Congress had
Book Notes 171
established the Medal of Honor to boost
morale and "improve the efficiency"
of federal troops. Perhaps the thought
of winning the coveted Medal was in the
minds of some. But, devotion to duty and
the will to survive under almost
impossible circumstances are more
evident in these accounts. While writing
about such motivation, essayist Drew
Middleton points out that "good officers
are good officers whatever the reward
... [and] Emerging from the battle is the
greatest award the fighting man can
imagine."
A Bibliography of American County
Histories. Compiled by P. William
Filby. (Baltimore: Genealogical
Publishing Co., 1985. xvi + 449p.) This work
is intended to become the new standard
in its field, replacing older bibliogra-
phies. The author has arranged the work
by state, and county within state,
omitting Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
For each county he lists the specific
publications that he has found during
his search of records in the Library of
Congress, New York Public Library, and
state bibliographies. For many states
he lists works covering many counties
under the heading of "Regional." He
has a total of approximately 5000
entries; December 1934 is his closing date.
The careful scholar will note some gaps
in this bibliography, since, as the
author notes, "Some degree of
selection was necessary, particularly where
four or five good histories exist, and
... some weeding out was essential." It
probably would be prudent, therefore, to
consider this work as a starting point
in this sort of bibliography, rather
than as definitive.
Ohio Source Records: From the Ohio
Genealogical Quarterly. Compiled by
the Genealogical Publishing Company from
the work of many authors.
(Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1986. xiv + 666p.; index.) The
Columbus Genealogical Society published The
Ohio Genealogical Quarterly
from January 1937 (Vol. 1, no. 1)
through April 1944 (Vol. 8, no 2). Although
the publication emphasized Franklin
County and central Ohio, much of interest
and importance from other parts of the
state is included, especially from early
records. Today, this important source
for genealogists is "so scarce that not
even the Library of Congress has a
complete set." (The Ohio Historical
Society has a complete run of the
original issues of this quarterly in the
reference room of its library.) This
compilation of articles, therefore, provides
a useful substitute for the original
publication. And, the index is a useful
addition, not found in the original.
This review notes, however, that the book
omits some material. The news, notes and
queries in the original issues have
been removed; "everything of a
genealogical nature is included." The really
serious student of Ohio genealogy may
still wish to consult the original.
Getting to Know Athens County. By Elizabeth Grover Beatty and Marjorie
S. Stone. (Athens, Ohio: The Stone House,
1984. xi + 298p.; illustrations,
notes, bibliography, index.) The authors
open with a "quick summary" of the
county and continue with background
information concerning the early human
history. They include some limited
natural history. Then, they divide their
subject into logical and meaningful
chapters including agriculture and indus-
tries, education, communications,
transportation and health services; each
chapter includes discussion of
historical and contemporary events. This, then,
is local history with discussion brought
forward to the present time. A useful,
six-page bibliography includes
references used in the research for this book
and additional reading beyond the scope
of the book (unfortunately, some
172 OHIO HISTORY
references mentioned in the text are
missing from the bibliography). The
well-constructed eight-page index
includes names of places and persons as well
as subject areas. Athens County was
formed from part of the Ohio Company's
land purchase of 1787, and as such is of particular
interest to those studying the
early history of the Northwest Territory
and its derived states.
Hallelujah Trombone! The Story of
Henry Fillmore. By Paul E. Bierley.
(Columbus, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1982.
xvi + 156p.; illustrations, appendices,
bibliography, index.) Henry Fillmore
(1881-1956) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio,
into a family with strong musical
interests, and became, in his own right, a
well-known band musician and composer.
The author of this detailed and
readable biography presents Fillmore to
the reader from many points of view:
his musical family, early associations
with band and circus, his many activities
with Freemasonry, education and
maturation, and, of course, his long years as
a performer and composer. The title of
this book comes from a paraphrase of
Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus"
that Fillmore composed for band. In a com-
panion book about Fillmore by the same author, The
Music of Henry Fillmore
and Will Huff (Columbus, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1982. x + 61p.;
bibliography
and index.), Fillmore is credited with
over 1000 compositions: 255 original
works and 775 arrangements of works by others. The
names of the composi-
tions, with pertinent annotations, are
arranged under the seven pseudonyms
used by Fillmore, and his own name. One
of the pseudonyms, coincidentally,
also was the real name of a band
composer: Will Huff. The author, therefore,
has included the music of the real Huff
in this catalogue in order to clarify what
he says has been a confusing matter for
"several generations of musicians."
Kentuckians in Ohio and Indiana. By Stuart Seely Sprague. (Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing, 1986. 302p.; list of sources,
index.) During the
pre-Civil War period most Kentucky families had members
who had emigrat-
ed, many going to the states newly
formed from the Northwest Territory. The
author, thinking mainly of the needs of
genealogists, has examined approxi-
mately 200 published sources from the
late 19th and early 20th centuries,
extracting the names and other data of
persons who had originated in Kentucky
and had moved to newer areas in the
Midwest. The entries are arranged in
tabular form under county of origin, if
known; when not known, the entries
appear together in their own section.
The index of surnames includes both
maiden and married names of women. All
entries are keyed to the published
sources from which they came.
Colonial American English: A
Glossary. By Richard M. Lederer, Jr.
(Essex,
Connecticut: Verbatim, 1985. 276p.;
bibliography, index.) The author de-
scribes his work as a "glossary
that lists and defines many words and phrases,
the meanings of which are now obscure."
His period in time is from 1608 to
1783, important historically to be sure,
and timely now with our stream of
national and regional celebrations. As a
glossary, a list of special words and
phrases from the Colonial period that
are carefully defined for the bicentennial
reader, this work succeeds very well.
And the index, with entries listed by
category (such as medicine and fabrics),
is most useful, indeed. There is more
to this list than its definitions,
however. The author hints at this when he
suggests that we read his book as well
as use it for reference. He has collected
these words and phrases with the
meticulous care of a numismatist or
Book Notes 173
philatelist, and gives us here a
catalogue of his cherished collection. Although
the book is limited to about 3000
entries, they are useful entries, and the gaps
are not annoying. "Snow" is
there, in the eighteenth century sense of "a
square-rigged ship similar to a
brig"-hard to find in today's abridged
dictionaries. The introduction and
bibliography suggest many ways in which
one can pursue his own area of special
interest in greater detail. And, one
easily can expand on this with a card
catalogue of his own favorite gleanings
from the Colonial literature.
Springfield and Clark County: An
Illustrated History. By William A.
Kinnison. (Northridge, California: Windsor
Publications, 1985. 152p.; illustra-
tions, bibliography, index.) Late in
1817, the Ohio Legislature formed Clark
County from parts of neighboring
Champaign, Madison and Greene Counties,
to be effective on March 1, 1818. The
town of Springfield, which had begun as
a fortified cluster of dwellings in
1799, became its county seat and grew to
become its principle city. Using
significant periods in the history of the United
States for much of his organizational
structure, the author, who is president of
Wittenberg University, describes the
chronological development of both city
and county in the second half of the
twentieth century. The narrative is
supported by reproductions of
photographs and other illustrations, many of
which are contemporary to the described
events. The final chapter comprises
narrative sketches of institutions and
businesses (that supported production of
the book) "to illustrate the
variety of ways in which individuals and their
businesses have contributed to the
area's growth and development."
A Field Guide to Flight: On the
Aviation Trail in Dayton, Ohio. By
Mary
Ann Johnson. (Dayton: Landfall Press,
1986. 143p.; chronology, illustrations,
lists of sources and references, index.)
The author has chosen 45 sites, in and
around Dayton, Ohio, for their
associations with the history of human flight.
She has grouped the sites geographically
into five segments, "as a self-guided
tour to be taken in person or from your
armchair": from Pinnacle Hill, south
of Dayton, scene of some of the early
research into wings undertaken by the
Wright brothers; to the site of McCook
Field, home of this country's first
research into military aviation. The
reader is guided through time, also, from
early research in the 1890s,
to the threshold of travel into space following
World War II. While not lavishly
illustrated, the book has adequate pictures to
support the story. The lists of sources
and references encourage the interested
person to read and look further into
both literature and museums.