Ohio History Journal

Editorialana.                       289

Second Vice-president, Judge Simeon Eben Baldwin, New Haven, Con-

necticut; Secretary, A. Howard Clark, Esq., Smithsonian Institute,

Washington; Corresponding Secretary, Professor Charles H. Haskins, 15

Prescott Hall, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Treasurer, Clarence Winthrop

Bowen, Esq., 130 Fulton St., New York. Chicago was chosen as the next

place of meeting, December, 1904.

The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society was repre-

sented at the American Historical Association meeting by Secretary

E. O. Randall, who was elected a member of the Association in the year

1894. Prof. A. B. Hart, of Harvard University, and Mr. Randall de-

livered addresses before the students of Leland University, one of the

leading colored colleges of Louisiana, located at New Orleans.

AFFAIRS OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL

SOCIETY.

On February 29, 1904, in the Columbus Public Library, there was

held a meeting of the executive committee. The members present were,

George F. Bareis, Canal Winchester; G. Frederick Wright, Oberlin;

John W. Harper, Cincinnati; B. F. Prince, Springfield; D. J. Ryan,

E. O. Randall and E. F. Wood, Columbus. The meeting was mainly

occupied with consideration of the requests which the Society had made

to the legislature for appropriations for the continuation of the work of

the Society. The propriety of asking the legislature for an appropria-

tion for a building to be located upon the university grounds was also

considered, and after a careful discussion and survey of the situation it

was decided that it would not be wise, at this time, to press this mat-

ter before the members of the legislature, but defer it until a later

and more promising date. It was decided to hold the annual meeting

of the Society in latter part of May or the early part of June, and

to have at that time, if possible, an excursion to Fort Ancient. After

the disposal of the usual routine business brought before the committee,

adjournment was made to the office of the Governor, where the members

of the committee were presented to him. The Governor received the

trustees most cordially and spoke of the interest he took in the work

they were doing in behalf of the Society and the history and archaeology

of the state; he particularly complimented the character of the publi-

cations which the Society was issuing, and stated it would be his

pleasure to co-operate in the furtherance of the purposes of the Society

so far as might lie in his power. He particularly desired to visit Fort

Ancient and Serpent Mound and inspect the interesting and famous

property of which the Society is the custodian.

19 Vol. XIII.

Editorialana.                        291

Club, the University Club, and the Country Club, of Cleveland, and a

vestryman in Trinity church of that city. He enters upon his duties as

trustee of the Ohio State Archaeological Society with much enthusiasm

and without doubt will be a most valuable counsellor and participant in the

purposes and work of the Society.

THE Society received, through the courtesy of Mr. George T. Craw-

ford, of Columbus, a box of relics, presumably hand clay articles by a

prehistoric race, found upon the property of The Tuxtepec Development

Company, situated in the municipality of Chiltepec, state of Oaxaca,

Mexico. The relics comprise some beautiful and perfectly preserved

specimens of pottery and a hardened clay seal upon which are hieroglyphic

figures. These articles are doubtless the productions of the early Mexican

race and are interesting studies in comparison with relics of a similar

character found in mounds of Ohio.

THE citizens of New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county, propose to

celebrate in September, 1904, the founding of their town in 1804 by Mr.

John Knisely. This purpose meets the approval of the trustees of the

State Archaeological and Historical Society which is invited to partici-

pate in the ceremonies of the celebration.

SINCE the issuing of the January Quarterly the State Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society has met with severe losses by death, in

the decease of Governor Charles Foster, who died at the residence of

General J. Warren Keifer, in Springfield, on January 9, Governor Fos-

ter then being enroute to Columbus to attend the inauguration of Gov-

ernor Herrick; Governor Asa S. Bushnell, who died at Grant Hospital,

Columbus, on January 15, he being stricken with apoplexy on the day

of the inauguration while in a carriage on the way to the depot to take

his departure for home; and Senator Marcus A. Hanna, who died at the

Arlington Hotel, Washington, D. C., on February 15. All three of these

distinguished gentlemen were life members of the Society and took an

active and personal interest in its progress and welfare. A fitting sketch

of Governor Bushnell, by his friend Rev. Julius Atwood, appears else-

where in this Quarterly. Tributes to the life and memory of Governor

Foster and Senator Hanna will appear in the July Quarterly. Another

life member of the Society, Mr. Augustus Newton Whiting, died at his

home in Columbus, December 22, 1903. An extended notice of his life

and character will appear in a later number of this Quarterly.

292        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

IN ACCORDANCE with the resolutions passed by the audience at the

Centennial celebration at Chillicothe, on May 21, asking Governor Nash

to request in his next annual message to the legislature an appropriation

for the erection of a monument to Governor Saint Clair, the Governor,

in his address to the Seventy-sixth General Assembly, which met on the

first Monday of last January, made such a request, in fitting terms;

but the legislature, in view of the great demand made upon it for ap-

propriations in what it regarded more important directions, failed to

comply with Governor Nash's recommendation.

THE Society acknowledges the gift to it from Mr. B. F. Smith, of

Nevada, Ohio, of an unique cane made out of native and historic woods

from every state and territory of the Union and the far off islands of

the sea. This, with the donations from Oaxaca, Mexico, have been

properly placed in the museum of the Society.

ON JUNE 2, next, the Richland County Historical Society will hold

its sixth annual meeting at Mansfield, for which occasion Mr. A. J.

Baughman, the secretary, has arranged an interesting program of speeches

and music. The Crawford County Pioneer Association will participate

in the event.

History of Lieutenant-Colonel George Rogers Clark's Conquest of

the Illinois and of the Wabash Towns from    the British in 1778 and

1779, with Sketches of the Earlier and Later Career of the Conquerer, by

CONSUL WILLSHIRE BUTTERFIELD, author of the "History of the Discov-

ery of the Northwest by John Nicolet, in 1634"; "History of the Girtys";

"History of Brule's Discoveries and Explorations, 1610-1626"; and other

works.

This volume, comprising nearly 850 pages, is the last and most

authentic account of the famous conquest of the Illinois by George Rogers

Clark. It was the last work from the pen of Consul Willshire Butterfield,

who was one of the most profound scholars on the subjects of Western

history of the present generation. He spent the best part of his time

for some years in gathering the materials for this work, and in putting

his information into most interesting and delightful literary form. His

recital of the events of the narrative is supported by extensive addendum

notes giving his authority and excerpts from letters, previous publica-

tions, and personal reminiscences of relatives, and those who came in

personal contact with George Rogers Clark or his immediate followers.

No work could have been more carefully prepared, and Mr. Butterfield

had that indefatigable industry for the seeking of details upon which a

Editorialana.                        293

reliable history only can be produced. This book is especially interesting

at this time owing to the revival of interest in the achievements of

George Rogers Clark in the Northwest Territory and the voyages of

research and exploration by William Clark, a younger brother of George

Rogers, who, with Meriwether Lewis, led the expedition across the

continent from 1803 to 1806, by which the extent and resources of the

Louisiana Purchase were first made known to the American people.

The account of the conquest of the Illinois by George Rogers Clark

as it is told by Mr. Butterfield has all the fascination and intense interest

of a romance while it portrays the exploits of a fearless and patriotic

leader who saved the great Northwest Territory to the American Republic.

George Rogers Clark was known as "The Washington of the West." He

was a huntsman of the trackless forest interior of Kentucky, who with the

soul of a patriot, the bravery of an American soldier and the mind of a

statesman, hastened on foot, through six hundred miles of wilderness,

to Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia. There he obtained audience

with Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia. Clark proposed to strike

the vast power of Great Britain in the Northwest and save that magnifi-

cent territory to American independence. His plans were appreciated and

approved, but troops could not be spared him from the Continental army;

they were needed to a man in the East. Clark gathered two hundred

Virginia and Pennsylvania backwoodsmen and while the sun of spring

was melting the snows of Valley Forge and hope and courage were

again animating the heart of Washington, Clark set out on that famous

expedition for the capture of the interior northwest posts of Great Britain.

It was the campaign of the 'Rough Riders' of the Revolution. It was

the dash of Sheridan in the Shenandoah. It was Sherman's 'march to

the sea,' through the interior of the enemy's country. That campaign

of Clark broke the backbone of British strength in the West. The British

posts of Illinois and Indiana were all taken save Detroit. The North-

west was secured and preserved to the United States.

The book has a scholarly introduction by Mr. W. H. Hunter, trus-

tee of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.

Price, post-paid $1.50. Address all orders to F. J. Heer, Printer

and Publisher, Columbus, Ohio.

JUDGE THOMAS J. ANDERSON             AND WIFE.

"Life and Letters of Judge Thomas J. Anderson and Wife." in-

cluding a few letters from children and others; mostly written during

the Civil War; a history; carefully edited and copiously annotated by

James H. Anderson, LL. B., life member and trustee of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, and president of the Old Northwest

Genealogical Society.