BOOK REVIEWS
Amphibians of Ohio, Part I. The Frogs
and Toads (Order
Salientia). By Charles F. Walker. Ohio State Museum Science
Bulletin, Vol. I, No. 3 Columbus, Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society, 1946. 109p. $1.00.)
Teachers, students, naturalists, and
herpetologists will be
glad to know that this much needed paper
on the frogs and toads
of Ohio has at last made its appearance.
Although the numbers
of kinds of this Order of tailless
amphibians (Salientia) native
to Ohio are very limited, the numbers of
individuals seem to be
almost limitless and from sheer weight
of numbers, if for no
other reason, they are the best known of
the amphibians. They
are far more familiar to the average
layman than the more elusive
salamanders, for who has not heard the
singing of thousands of
frogs and toads when these interesting
animals congregate at the
ponds, lakes, and streams during the
late winter and early spring?
The Frogs and Toads of Ohio is a
model state report. It is
informative and the format is excellent,
and it will appeal to both
the scientist and the layman. Everyone
who reads this fine work
will undoubtedly look forward to the
publication of Part Two.
The Salamanders of Ohio.
The introduction considers the classification
of the amphib-
ians as an Order, gives an historical
account of Ohio papers and
authors, acknowledgements, and
explanations of the arrange-
ments of the information as given for
each species. The excellent
keys for identification of adult frogs
and toads will be welcomed
by teacher and student alike. There is
also a key for the identi-
fication of tadpoles, with illustrations
of many of the species in
the larval stages. Each species is
listed separately, and under the
subheading the following information is
given: identification
(short diagnosis): description of
tadpole: habitat and life-his-
tories; distribution in Ohio; range in
North America; Ohio lo-
cality records and where to find the
specimen that forms the basis
for the records; general and Ohio
literature references. The
413
414
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
known distribution in Ohio of each of
the fourteen species of
frogs and toads listed (with the
exception of the Spadefoot) is
clearly shown on outline maps.
From the foregoing information about
this publication, the
reader might conclude that this Ohio
State Museum Science
Bulletin, is intended for specialists only, but such is not the
case.
Although this is a scientific
publication and technical terminology
is, of necessity, used, the paper also
contains a wealth of popular
information. Also pictures of the
fourteen species listed are
included in the work.
Ralph Dury, Director
Cincinnati Museum of Natural History
Cultural Story of an American City:
Cleveland, Part I,
During the Log Cabin Phases,
1796-1825, Part II, During the
Canal Days, 1825-1850; Part III,
Under the Shadow of a Civil
War and Reconstruction, 1850-1877. By Elbert Jay Benton.
(Cleveland, Western Reserve Historical
Society, 1943, 1944,
1946. 3 v.)
In recent years much scholarly interest
has been shown in
the writing of the history of American
cities, as is evidenced, for
example, by Professor Bessie L. Pierce's
History of Chicago
[1673-1871], 2 vols. (New York,
1937-40), which is a careful,
documented study based upon great
numbers of newspapers and
other contemporary sources.
If a similarly ambitious effort had been
attempted for the
largest city in Ohio, no one would have
been better qualified for
the task than the late Elbert Jay
Benton. Practically all of his
professional life as an historian was
spent in the city of Cleve-
land. There, as professor of history and
dean of the Graduate
School of Western Reserve University,
and then as acting head
of the Western Reserve Historical
Society, he was intimately
connected with the educational life of
the city. There too he
was personally acquainted with many who
had helped and were
helping to shape the destiny of the
city. He, moreover, had per-
sonally witnessed tremendous changes in
its life and growth.
BOOK REVIEWS 415
In venturing to produce the volumes here
reviewed, Dr. Ben-
ton, however, did not attempt a
monumental history of the me-
tropolis of Ohio on Lake Erie. He,
moreover, did not endeavor
to re-evaluate much of the material
found in the older histories,
such as Charles Whittlesey, The Early
History of Cleveland
(Cleveland, 1867). He, furthermore, did
not seek to tell the story
of its rich and varied political past.
Rather, Dr. Benton confined this project
to the "cultural
story," basing his account in part
upon numerous original docu-
ments (with many maps and illustrations)
preserved in the Wes-
tern Reserve Historical Society Library.
Part I, dealing with "the Log Cabin
Phases, 1796-1825,"
traces the passing of the early Indian
camps in the vicinity, the
beginnings of settlement by pioneers
from Connecticut, and the
founding of such cultural agencies as
the church, the academy,
and the newspaper. By 1825, however,
Cleveland was yet one of
the smaller towns on the Western
Reserve, being surpassed in
population by a dozen or more
communities which, having "pro-
gressed farther from the frontier state,
enjoyed a higher cultural
life, conditions more nearly like the
old home towns of Connecti-
cut." (p. 46)
Part II, dealing with "the Canal
Days, 1825-1850," includes
an account of the building of the Ohio
Canal which was to give
Cleveland a decided advantage, during a
crucial period, over many
neighboring towns. By 1850 its population had come to be al-
most three times that of the next
largest city on the Reserve.
Brooklyn (Ohio City), which was later to
be absorbed into the
larger community. By the middle of the
century some beginnings
had been made in a development of
interest in music, science, and
the arts, including the drama. Yet the
chief cultural agencies
were the churches, especially those of
the Episcopal and Presby-
terian denominations.
Part III is concerned with the period of
slavery controversy,
war, and reconstruction, 1850-1877. By this
time the railroads
had ushered in a new era and iron ore
carriers were contributing
416 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
to the development of trade and
manufacturing in the city. With
greater economic activity there came of
course greater wealth
and the manifestations of it in more
costly homes and churches
and in more sophisticated cultural
interests. A picture (facing
p. 8) of homes on Superior Street (near
the present Hollenden
Hotel) indicates the classical taste of
the Greek Revival Period,
and other pictures give ample evidence
of the famed reputation
of Euclid Street (Avenue) as one of the
stately residential thor-
oughfares of the nation. But by the
early 1870's business was
beginning to invade the section adjacent
to the Public Square. and
soon the first removals of prominent
citizens to outlying areas
began to take place.
With its influential leadership of New
England background,
Cleveland did not escape the tensions of
the abolition movement
or of the Civil War Period. The war,
however, brought the
intensification of an economic
revolution by which Cleveland
profited greatly. Business expansion,
stimulated by the activities
of John D. Rockefeller and others,
furnished the economic basis
for greater interest in music and the
drama. These cultural activ-
ities in turn owed much to the energetic
efforts of John Ellsler,
manager of the Academy of Music and, for
a time, of the Euclid
Avenue Opera House which was termed
(1876) by Edward A.
Sothern "the most perfect theatre
in America or England."
Already by 1850 large numbers of Irish
and Germans were
residing in the city, and by 1876 the
majority of the population
was of foreign birth or parentage. As
yet, however, immigrants
from southern and eastern Europe were
few in numbers. and
families of old Connecticut stock still
dominated the professional
and business life.
As a whole the story told in these
volumes is an interesting
one both for the scholar and layman. It
is to be regretted that
the sudden death of the author prevented
his completion of the
account of more recent decades.
Francis Phelps Weisenburger
Department of History
Ohio State University
BOOK REVIEWS 417
The Ancient Ohioans and Their
Neighbors, By Raymond C.
Vietzen (Wahoo, Nebraska, Ludi Printing
Co., 1946. 439p-
$7.00.)
It is always difficult for professionals
to judge the work of
amateurs, since the former are likely to
demand a high standard
of interpretation and scientific acumen
which the latter are not in
a position to adopt. In the eastern
United States, however, sev-
eral "amateur"
archaeologists--notably Langford of
Illinois,
Webb of Louisiana, and Lilly of
Indiana--have made an effort
to secure scientific outlooks and
training, and while these men
have no academic connections, their work
can stand with the best
of the "professional"
productions.
The present volume unfortunately cannot
be placed in this
class. In conception and execution it is
muddled, uncertain, and
inaccurate. In an expensive book which purports to tell the
story of Ohio archaeology there is not a
single reference to the
informative exhibits and charts in the
Ohio State Museum; no
reference to any archaeological work
later than Mills' and Fowke's
(Not one of the seven archaeologists
listed on page 27 as having
influence on the author is living). The
general chapters display
a fairly accurate view of the Asiatic
origin of the Indian, the
American Indian identity of the
"mound builders," and similar
established facts, but the points are
confused and vitiated by
grossly inaccurate detail and repeated
mention of "Mound
Builders," the use of
"Mongols" for Mongoloid, and similar-
malapropisms. In the discussions of the
Fort Ancient culture
there is no mention of Griffin's
monumental study. The Fort
Ancient Aspect, one of the most detailed and exhaustive archaeo-
logical monographs in print. On pages 20-22 the author pur-
ports to give a brief description of all
Ohio archaeology, but this
merely simmers down to a recital of the
numbers of mounds in
various localities. There is neither the
slightest recognition of
the distinctive Ohio cultural horizons
nor of the basic cultural
patterns for Eastern archaeology as a
whole. Again, a single visit
to the State Museum could have provided
Mr. Vietzen with all
the needed information.
The objectives of the book are mixed. On
the one hand
418
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
(p. 17) the author seems to be
addressing the work to his fellow
collectors, and on the whole the volume
is merely a discoursive,
chatty potpourri of unrelated items of
information. On the other
hand (pp. 166-170), the author seems to
feel he is a professional
among professionals, writing a
definitive work on the affiliations
of Ohio prehistoric Indians. Whatever
the book may be, it is
certainly not that.
About half the volume consists of a
series of chapters on
random subjects. Most of these are shot
through with inaccur-
acies and inadequate information. The
only ones that might be
of some possible use in scientific
archaeology are those written by
Arthur Altick on his explorations of
small Hopewellian mounds,
but the illustrations are too crude for
careful comparative use.
The other half of the book consists of
photographs of collectors'
items, garnered from Ohio and
practically everywhere else.
Strange bed-fellows abound: On page 92 a
Woodland burial from
Fulton County, Illinois, faces an Erie
burial (p. 93) from
northern Ohio. In the pottery section
one finds pictures of
Peruvian vessels, Hopewellian jars,
Middle Mississippi pots, Cad-
doan bottles, and generalized Woodland
pottery.
Among the rich store of misleading
information in the first
half of the book the following may be
mentioned: In several
places (e.g., pp. 25, 167) the author
suggests that the Cherokee
are the "remnants of the Mound Builders."
Here Vietzen seems
to think of the "mound
builders" as some special race, apart from
the historic tribes, when actually all
Southeastern Indians passed
through a mound-building phase. The
Cherokees undoubtedly
built mounds, as did all their
neighbors. The historic tribes were
simply the survivors of a previous stage
of cultural development
which had as one feature the practice of
constructing mounds
for various purposes.
We also find statements like the
following: "The Mound
Builders may have been driven from their
homes in the Ohio
valley and thence wandered south into
Mexico. . . . This theory
has been advanced by several
authorities. . . ." (p. 25).
BOOK REVIEWS 419
This "theory" is patently
absurb and no "authority" ever recom-
mended it. The influence went in
precisely the opposite direction.
On pages 64-66 the myth concerning the
Hopewell and Fort
Ancient people engaging in war is once
more revived, in spite
of the author's recognition of the fact
that the Fort was con-
structed by Hopewellians and is distinct
from the village site cul-
ture. If Vietzen had merely inspected
Morgan's excellent chrono-
logical culture sequence chart on the
second floor of the State
Museum he could have eliminated this
misleading and confused
interpretation. The best analyses of the
relative dates of the two
cultures place them about 300 years
apart.
The author also insists on telling the
reader at length about
his delightful experiences while digging
a Middle Mississippi site
in Kentucky--a site of a culture
unrelated in time and cultural
affiliation to Hopewellian. Again he
succeeds in thoroughly con-
fusing the picture by merging the
discussion of Hopewell burial
mounds into Middle Mississippi
domiciliary mounds (p. 34).
Here again a little reading in recent
issues of Amercan Antiquity
(which often prints the work of
"amateurs") and an elementary
perusal of recent monographic studies
might have cleared up the
muddled viewpoint.
Everyone knows that a good, concise,
well-illustrated, and
simply-written manual of all Ohio
archaeology is needed. If an
"amateur" can beat the State
Museum to the gun so much the
better for the amateur. The reviewer
holds no particular brief for
professional archaeology as such--he
merely requests that whether
the work is done by professionals or
amateurs it be accurate, in-
formed, and show some familiarity with
the relevant literature.
Mr. Vietzen had an excellent opportunity
to write a much needed
book, but his present effort can have no
conceivable importance
save within the ranks of his fellow
collectors in the State. The
author's real point of view is pretty
clear from his Introduction.
where he claims that Ohio collectors,
because they have "lived
in their respective sections since their
childhood and have observed
the types of artifacts found, over a
period of years . . ." should
420
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
be heard and their opinions respected. A
thousand years of
contemplation of artifacts will not
contribute one whit to the
major goal of scientific archaeology,
the reconstruction of history.
John W. Bennett
Department of Sociology
Ohio State University
Proving Ground: A Novel of Civil War
Days in the West.
By Leone Lowden. (New York, Robert M.
McBride & Company,
c1946. Cloth. $3.00.)
The War between the States has furnished
the theme for
countless books, both factual and
fictitious. The present novel, as
the sub-title indicates, deals with the
war in the West, an aspect
of the conflict which has received
little attention from historical
novelists. This fact induced the author
to write a story concern-
ing a period in which she has had a
lifelong interest. Mrs.
Lowden is an Indiana woman, who, to use
her own phrase, "grew
up on the Civil War," and has
steeped herself in its history. Her
first-hand knowledge of local tradition,
thorough-going research.
and keen imagination have combined to
produce a dramatic novel
of the times.
As in historical novels, generally, fact
and fiction are intri-
cately interwoven, and chronology is
sometimes altered to suit the
needs of the narrative. In the main,
however, the background
material is authentic. Sylvan Grove, the
scene of most of the
action, is an imaginary town, but Ripley
County in which it was
supposed to be situated, is an actual
county in southern Indiana
where the Confederacy had many
sympathizers and active sup-
porters. A great deal of attention is
focused on the activities of
certain pro-Southern organizations as
the Knights of the Golden
Circle, Butternuts, and Copperheads. The
close cooperation of
Vallandigham and other conspirators in
Ohio, Indiana, and Illi-
nois with the leaders of the Confederacy
is emphasized. The
author shows the importance of this
movement in the West in dis-
couraging enlistment, encouraging
desertion from the Union
army, and in sending food and other
supplies across the Ohio
BOOK REVIEWS 421
River to aid the rebellion. The movement
was climaxed by an
almost successful plot to seize the
Indiana capital and assassinate
the governor, Oliver P. Morton.
The Copperheads had their
representatives in Sylvan Grove
in the persons of Brant Taylor, William
Neal, Carrie Overturf,
and Ben Platt. Arrayed against them were
the loyal Unionists
typified by Ezra Overturf, Nathaniel
Hull, his son Arne, and the
younger Neal boys. Will Neal represented
conscientious objectors.
Union defeats on the battlefield
strengthened the peace-
without-victory movement. Then the tide
turned with victories
of the Union forces at Shiloh,
Missionary Ridge, and Lookout
Mountain. These names become for the
reader more than mere
names on a list of battles or dots on a
campaign map because Will
Neal and his brothers, Rod and Thad,
lived through the sights,
sounds, and smells of battle and
witnessed the sufferings of man
and beast in the deadly conflict. Their
father led the difficult and
triumphant charge up Missionary Ridge.
General John Hunt Morgan and his rebel
raiders brought the
war home to Sylvan Grove and to the very
door of the Neal cabin
when they crossed the Ohio River and
sped unchecked across
southern Indiana and Ohio in July
1863. Their coming was
heralded by wild rumors which terrorized
the inhabitants along
the route, and they plundered and
pillaged as they went. This
episode is the most dramatic of the war.
Mrs. Lowden's principal characters are
well drawn, and some
of them are fairly complex. This is true
especially of William
Neal and Carrie Overturf. Neal, brilliant and charming but
swayed by revenge and personal
opportunism, played his various
roles with equal ease. His conscience
troubled him only occas-
ionally, and even then he soon stifled
it and went on with his play-
acting undisturbed. In the end he
performed two unselfish deeds,
which served in a degree to redeem an
otherwise despicable
character, and thus escaped all too
lightly the consequences of his
crimes. The arrogant Mrs. Overturf
betrayed her better im-
pulses and yielded to pride and passion
which made her the tool
of Confederate
agents and brought her to a remorseful end. The
422
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
moral conflict is less apparent in Arne
Hull, but he too had some
admirable traits to offset his vices. On
the other hand, Brant
Taylor and Ben Platt are unmitigated
scoundrels while Ezra
Overturf and Nathaniel Hull are without
a flaw.
Other characters are discriminatingly
portrayed. Among
them are Mammy Sue, a typical southern
mammy, and her
mulatto son, Solly, who longed for
actual freedom; Willy Nelson,
the dashing young rebel cavalryman; and
Jules Neal, who at last
"got his Johnny Reb." Finally,
there are the women of the Neal
family to whom the war brought suffering
and grief: the invalid
mother, Elizabeth, crude and
domineering, with a grudge against
life; Molly, who grew up too rapidly;
and Nancy Anne, vivacious,
courageous, resourceful, and
independent, who dominate the
pages of the story.
Two features of the book are, in the
opinion of the reviewer,
to be regretted. The vernacular is
unbelievably crude, and some
of the incidents are unnecessarily
sordid. With these two limita-
tions, Mrs. Lowden has produced an
excellent novel which makes
a significant contribution to the
literature of the War between
the States.
S. Winifred Smith
Ohio State Museum