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Title: The magazine of history with notes and queries (Vol. I, No. 2)
Author: Various
Release date: July 24, 2024 [eBook #74112]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: William Abbatt, 1905
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WITH NOTES AND QUERIES (VOL. I, NO. 2) ***
VOL. I NO. 2
THE
MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
WITH
NOTES AND QUERIES
FEBRUARY 1905
WILLIAM ABBATT
281 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
Published Monthly $5.00 a Year 50 Cents a Number
THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
WITH NOTES AND QUERIES
VOL. I FEBRUARY NO. 2
CONTENTS
PORTRAITS—Lorenzo Dow Thompson, Jonathan
Moore _Frontispiece_
SOME POPULAR MYTHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, M.D. 61
ILLUSTRATIONS:
Account of Negro School-House Cost—Boston Committee of
Correspondence Notice—Delaware Pilot’s “Broadside”
EARLY MENTION OF EVENTS IN THE CHAMPLAIN
VALLEY DAVID S. KELLOGG, M.D. 77
LINCOLN (_Poem_) MARY ISABELLA FORSYTH 85
CAPTAIN LINCOLN _vs._ PRIVATE THOMPSON FRANK E. STEVENS 86
(Author of “The Black Hawk War”)
SIDE-LIGHTS ON CAROLINA HISTORY H. E. BELIN 91
INDIAN AGRICULTURE IN WISCONSIN BENJ. H. HIBBARD 97
THE AUTHENTICITY OF CARVER’S “TRAVELS” 105
OLD FORT GEORGE, NEW YORK CITY EDW. HAGAMAN HALL 107
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
(Sec’y Am. Scenic and Hist. Pres. Soc’y)
A War Letter of Walt Whitman 113
Letter of Lincoln Declining an Office 114
SOCIETIES—New York—Rhode Island 115
NOTES AND QUERIES 116
MINOR TOPICS 116
GENEALOGY 117
BOOK NOTICE 121
Copyright, 1905, by William Abbatt.
[Illustration:
PRIVATE LORENZO DOW THOMPSON.
_The wrestler who threw Captain Abraham Lincoln._
_From original owned by Henry Cadle, Esq., Bethany, Mo._
]
[Illustration:
JONATHAN MOORE.
_The referee of the match._
_From photo owned by his son, Col. R. M. Moore. San Antonio, Texas._
]
THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
WITH NOTES AND QUERIES
VOL. I FEBRUARY, 1905 NO. 2
SOME POPULAR MYTHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Voltaire, the cynic, maintained that “history did not _always_ lie,”
which statement, though somewhat exaggerated, contains the proverbial
exception which often proves the rule. The collector who adds to his
store such autographs as are held for their historical value, soon
realizes that writers of history often fail in their work, through
ignorance of their subject, or from prejudice against giving the truth
and nothing but the truth. History repeats itself, and at all times
truth has been so warped, to serve one purpose or another, that the
historical student, especially, rarely fails to become the confirmed
skeptic in his branch of knowledge. But the subject of historical
accuracy, even in relation to American history, is too extensive a one
to be treated of by a single individual or encompassed within the space
which could be allotted to an article of this character. The author,
therefore, proposes to confine himself to the presentation of some of
the historical material which is or has been in his own collection.
The people of New England have, from their earliest settlement, been as
noted for the care with which they have preserved their records as the
people of the other Colonies for their indifference in this regard. It
should not be a matter of surprise, therefore, that in consequence of
the great wealth of this material in New England, the greater portion of
our writers on American history and the compilers of our school books
have been, until within a comparatively recent period, of New England
birth or residence. The presence herein of a great temptation and of a
great danger to historical accuracy are immediately seen, and the author
believes that a just criticism of the works on Colonial and
Revolutionary history, especially those written prior to five-and-twenty
years ago, would involve the accusation of a general lack of fairness
toward the other Colonies. This unfairness consisted in giving undue
prominence to the acts of the New England people, both individually and
collectively, at the expense of the full credit due to others, and this
has been done, not infrequently, when this recognition might have been
given without in any degree lessening that justly due to their own
people. But apart from this want of fairness, or at least indifference,
in the treatment of the deeds of others, foreign to their own territory,
the manuscript material itself was sometimes falsified, as for example,
it is believed Sparks did in the matter of Washington’s letters. General
Washington was a man of very strong passions and was undoubtedly
prejudiced against many of the peculiarities of the New Englanders of
his day. And although few men held themselves in better restraint than
he, he would nevertheless, at times, express himself very freely in
regard to the men and measures of New England.
It is said that Sparks manipulated Washington’s correspondence by
striking out every reflection made against the New England people and by
suppressing many letters. Both of these charges the author believes to
be true from his own observation. It has also been charged that in other
instances, Sparks made such interpolations of his own as entirely to
change the original meaning, but of this the writer has no personal
knowledge.
That the full significance and effect of the spirit of unfairness
pervading these writers of history, may be fully appreciated by the
reader, it must be borne in mind that they had access at one time to an
immense mass of material which was not available outside of New England.
Moreover, the New England authorities were in such frequent
communication with all other portions of the country, that the mass of
correspondence, thus gained and preserved, offered the means of doing
fullest justice to the other Colonies, which were afterwards found to be
themselves often without proof necessary to establish their just claims.
The following examples are now offered as evidences of one-sided history
making:
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL
One of the first claims made to the credit of New England was the early
attention paid to public education. It is strictly true that, next to
building a meeting house in a new settlement, a school was put up. But
thorough investigation of this subject furnishes evidence that the chief
purpose, at least, of these schools was to fit young men for the
ministry and that they were not based, either in scope or object, upon
the plan of the public school of the present day. The evidence of this
lies in the fact that Latin, Greek and Hebrew were chiefly taught, as
though to aid the study of the Scriptures in the original texts, and
although boys and girls were doubtless also taught at these schools, to
a limited number, previous to the Revolution, the salary of the
schoolmaster was as a rule, if indeed the rule were not without
exception, paid by division among the pupils themselves and not by the
town. The famous Latin School of Boston, which is often held up to our
admiration as the beginning of the public school system, was chiefly
noted for its Latin course, and each scholar paid about five dollars a
term.
Granting, however, full measure of praise to New England and with no
desire to minimize the credit due her for her work in this cause, it is
still in order for us to ask when has credit ever been given by any
writer to South Carolina for the establishment in Charleston, about
twenty years before the founding of the Latin School in Boston, of the
first school approaching in character the public schools of to-day? The
accompanying illustration is taken from a volume of the _Charleston
Gazette_ for the year 1743, once owned by the author but now in the
possession of the Lenox Library of this city, showing the fac-simile of
an account for building a negro free school house. Some years ago the
author had in his possession a memorandum which stated that this school
house, built in 1742–3, was the second which had been erected by the
city of Charleston for the education of negro children, whose parents
indeed represented the only portion of the community unable to educate
itself. In these schools the pupils received gratuitous instruction and
were obliged to attend regularly until the age of twelve years. If the
difference in money value, then and now, be considered, it will be found
that the cost of this building could not have fallen much below five
thousand dollars.
It is evident, therefore, that the first public school, in the accepted
sense, existed in Charleston, at least as early as 1743, and not in New
England.
THE BOSTON MASSACRE
The impartial student is fully impressed with the fact that, as his
investigations approach the period just preceding the American
Revolution, the claims of the New England people become more prominent.
Here again, if the writers of our histories and especially of our school
books have not given undue credit to those who were the chief actors in
New England at this period, they have at least uniformly failed to do
full justice to those who were quite as active in the cause in other
colonies.
[Illustration:
Account of Negro School-House Cost
]
Resistance to the Stamp Act had been quite general throughout the
country and the Sons of Liberty in New York were particularly vigilant
in seeing that the Non-importation Act was fully observed, although many
of the merchants did not sympathize with the move. British soldiers were
stationed in all the larger towns and they, taking their cue from those
in authority, showed their enmity towards the people on all occasions.
Particularly marked was this condition of affairs in the city of New
York.
On the night of January 16th, 1770, the soldiers succeeded in destroying
the Liberty pole in this city after having failed in several previous
attempts, in which they had been driven off by the people. On the
following day a public meeting was called, which at least three thousand
sympathizing citizens attended. Resolutions were passed condemning the
hiring of soldiers for divers purposes by the people, since this custom
worked to the disadvantage of the laboring classes who were thus
deprived of steady employment. A protest was also entered against
allowing armed soldiers to wander freely about the city when off duty.
The soldiers promptly resented this action of the people and a number of
brawls took place in various parts of the town. At length the people
concentrated their strength and, after disarming a number of the
soldiers, drove them into barracks. The encounter in which the largest
number on both sides was engaged, took place on what was called Golden
Hill, a place situated on John Street between William and Cliff Streets.
Miss Mary L. Booth, who wrote a most painstaking and reliable history of
the city of New York, previous to the beginning of the Civil War, refers
to this matter as follows: “Thus ended the battle of Golden Hill, a
conflict of two days duration, which, originating as it did in the
defense of a principle, was an affair of which New Yorkers have just
reason to be proud, and which is worthy of far more prominence than has
usually been given it by standard historians. It was not until nearly
two months after that the “Boston Massacre” occurred, a contest which
has been glorified and perpetuated in history; yet this was second both
in date and in significance to the New York Battle of Golden Hill.”
It would be difficult to find a better illustration than this of the
subject under consideration. The “Boston Massacre” was at best nothing
more than a street brawl, in which five unarmed spectators were shot
down without the slightest resistance having been made on their part; an
affair with which at the time the people at large of Boston had nothing
whatever to do. It was simply a brutal and dastardly act on the part of
the soldiers, in retaliation for the annoyance offered by one or two
irresponsible boys who had been throwing snow balls. Yet this affair has
been magnified to such a degree of importance that if the Battle of
Bunker Hill had not been fought in the same neighborhood, this
occurrence would doubtless have been placed in history as the most
important event in the Revolution. On the other hand, the conflict in
New York, which lasted for over two days, was the first stand, and a
successful one, made by the people against the British soldiers. It was
an event of very great importance indeed, for not only was blood first
shed but in it was life first lost for the Cause. Yet how little
importance has any New England writer in the past ever attached to it!
It has certainly never been pointed out that the “Battle of Golden
Hill,” in contra-distinction to the “Boston Massacre,” was the beginning
of the struggle.
In _Parker’s New York Gazette or Weekly Post-Boy_ for Monday, February
5th, 1770, a full and detailed account of the Battle of Golden Hill can
be found. The file of this paper is now in the Lenox Library and this
special issue has been reproduced in fac-simile for the author; but it
is so voluminous that it can not be given here as an illustration.[1]
If the quartering of troops in one section of the Colonies, rather than
in another, may be accepted as evidence of disaffection among the people
and of organized resistance to the acts of the British Government, then
again full justice has not been done to New York. According to Bancroft
British troops had already been quartered in this city as early as
December, 1766, and were not sent to Boston until at least two years
later.
COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE
It would not be difficult to prove that the initiative step in the final
struggle was first taken by the Carolinas and by Virginia and that the
people of Boston and of other cities in New England moved rather in
response to pressure from without than at their own suggestion. The men
who became the leaders in the general movement afterwards were beyond
question both sincere and patriotic from the beginning, but the people
of New England were not, at that time, so near a unit in sentiment as
were those of Virginia and of North and South Carolina.
The history of those times has yet to be written in which due credit
must be given to Virginia. Instead of that Colony appearing simply as a
supporter and abettor of the acts of Massachusetts, the position
hitherto allotted her, she should be accredited, as she deserves, with
the leadership. No one more fully appreciated this fact than Bancroft
who, notwithstanding his changes of opinion on many other points with
each edition of his book, both mentions and accredits nearly every
circumstance. But this is done often with faint praise and with the
context not always fairly placed, while the deeds of the Bostonian are
invariably made most prominent. It is therefore impossible, for the most
part, for any one but an expert to arrive at any other impression than
that suggested by the bias of the author.
A committee was proposed and organized in Boston, November 3rd, 1772, by
Samuel Adams, for the purpose of communicating with the people in the
neighboring towns. In March, 1773, Dabney Carr, a young man of great
promise, offered certain resolutions in the Legislature of Virginia
embodying a plan of Intercolonial Committees of Correspondence, by means
of which all portions of the country could be brought into closer
relation. This organization was perfected by Richard Henry Lee, who soon
became its chief organizer owing to the untimely death of Mr. Carr. The
existence of this organization was of incalculable benefit to the cause
of the Colonies, and it alone, moreover, made possible a favorable
termination to the Revolution. Bancroft, in one portion of his history,
pays full tribute to Dabney Carr and writes, regarding the organization,
that “In this manner, Virginia laid the foundation of our Union;
Massachusetts organized a province, Virginia promoted a confederacy.”
And yet, from other portions of Bancroft’s work the only inference
suggested is, that to Samuel Adams alone is due the credit for this
work; and indeed this is the general impression held, to a great extent
to-day, by those who are familiar with our history, as it is written.
The “broadside” here reproduced was issued by the Boston Committee and
is signed with the autograph signature of the secretary. The mere fact
of this issue, in Boston, of the Virginia Resolutions, urging that the
other Colonies should communicate directly with the Virginia Committee,
proves that the one in Boston had been simply a local affair up to that
date and that the proposed general organization did not originate there.
“THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY”
So soon as the British Government determined upon the shipment of tea to
the American Colonies, it was arranged that these ships should arrive at
each port very nearly on the same date; thus the people in the different
Colonies would be unable to unite together in their resistance. Through
the organization of the Committees of Correspondence, however, the
people had already become fully united in their determination to prevent
the landing of the tea.
[Illustration:
Boston Committee of Correspondence Notice
]
On November 5th, 1773, an alarm was raised in the city of New York to
the effect that a tea-ship had entered the harbor. A large assembly of
the people at once occurred, among whom those in charge of the movement
were disguised as Mohawk Indians. This alarm proved a false one, but at
a meeting then organized a series of resolutions were adopted which were
received by the other Colonies as the initiative step in the plan of
resistence already determined upon throughout the country. Our school
books are chiefly responsible for the almost universal impression that
the destruction of tea, which occurred in Boston Harbor, was an episode
confined to that city; while the fact is, that the tea sent to this
country was either destroyed or sent back to England from every sea-port
in the Colonies. The first tea-ship happened to arrive in Boston and the
tea was first destroyed there; for this circumstance full credit should
be given the Bostonians. But the fact that the actors in this affair
were disguised as Mohawk Indians shows that they were but following the
lead of New York, where that particular disguise had been adopted
forty-one days before, for the same purpose.
Previous to the arrival of the ships in Boston, concerted action had
been agreed upon, as has been already shown, in regard to the
destruction of the tea from Charleston, South Carolina, to Portsmouth,
New Hampshire. The people of Philadelphia had been far more active and
outspoken at the outset than they of Boston, and it was this
decisiveness which caused the people of Boston to act, after they had
freely sought beforehand the advice and moral support of the other
Colonies.
The first tea-ship arrived in Boston on November 28th, 1773, and two
others shortly after, but it was not until the evening of December 16th,
that their contents were thrown overboard at the so-called “Boston
Teaparty.” The “broadside” here presented is one of a number in the
collection of the author, which show fully the feeling of the people of
Philadelphia. The other sheets were issued prior to this one but are
without date; hence this is selected to prove that Philadelphia was
actively engaged in the same purpose, previous to the destruction of tea
in Boston.
THE MINUTE MEN
Doubtless the earliest and most pleasing recollections of our youth, in
connection with American history, are associated with the “Minute Men,”
as they were termed, of New England. These men are pictured to us as
ever ready to turn out in force to repel the advance of British troops,
at any personal sacrifice, and to serve without pay. It is sad indeed to
be instrumental in dispelling so fair a delusion, but there seems to be
sufficient evidence to prove that this whole story is but a romance. The
New England men did turn out when it was necessary and they made a
sturdy fight when called upon to do so, but they did no more than did
the people of all the other Colonies under like circumstances.
The proof of this is found in a document giving “the names of those Men
that did March on the 19th of April last in consequence of the Alarm
made on that Day, who belonged to Ipswich (Mass:) and was commanded by
Jonathan Cogswell, Jun^{r.}” Then is given the rank of each person, the
number of miles marched, the number of days out, in service, and the
number of miles marched in returning, &c. At the bottom of this document
is Captain Cogswell’s deposition, made December 18, 1775, before John
Baker, Justice of the Peace, of Ipswich, as to the correctness of the
Roll. On the back of this document we find the following: “Ipswich, May
22nd, 1776. * * * We the subscribers have Rec’d of Capt Cogswell, Jun^r
the full of our Wages that was Due to Us for our Marching on the Alarm
the nineteenth of April 1775, as Satt down in the within Roll.” Then
follow the signatures of fifty-six men who were paid for their services.
With this before us the evidence seems almost conclusive that not only
were the men of Ipswich paid, but that few if any of those who fought at
the battle of Lexington or of Concord did so without the previous
assurance of pay for their services. It is proven that no one went out
from the town of Ipswich, at least, without compensation, and in so
circumscribed a neighborhood it is scarcely possible that the men of
other towns would have been willing to render service gratuitously,
knowing, as they must, that the men of Ipswich were to be paid. There is
no doubt of the fact that at Lexington, and in the neighboring towns, it
was known beforehand that the British troops were to make an incursion
for the purpose of destroying the military stores. The American
authorities, under these circumstances, naturally made every preparation
to repel the attack. It was necessary to engage men for this public
service, and it was proper and just that they should be paid. No fault
can be found with the matter of remuneration, but this contrast of fact
and fiction is here offered as another evidence of the false and heroic
coloring given to the services rendered by the New England people,
during the Revolution, and presented to us as authentic history.
THE EFFICIENCY OF THE NEW ENGLAND TROOPS
We will present a copy of a letter, in the author’s possession, written
by General Washington to his business agent, Lund Washington, who had
charge of Mount Vernon. This letter was written from Cambridge, Mass.,
shortly after the General had taken command of the army. It is dated
August 20th, 1775. The greater part is devoted to detailed directions in
regard to the management of the estate and has no bearing on our
subject. But the letter is of so much interest that it is reproduced as
a whole. It was Washington’s custom, as a very methodical man, to
preserve a copy of all his letters, especially of those relating to
business, and it is very unlikely that no draft was preserved by him of
this particular letter to Lund Washington, as well as other letters
which are known to exist in private hands.
Mr. Sparks had the private papers of Washington in his possession for
years, for the purpose of writing the former’s life and of editing his
correspondence. Both of these things he did and the latter were
published in twelve volumes.
This letter, however, does not appear in Sparks’ work, who states in a
foot-note that very few of the letters to Lund Washington existed. If
this statement is true, it is possible that Washington did not preserve
a copy of this particular letter; but the circumstance is a very
remarkable one and not at all in keeping with his custom in regard to
all his other business letters. If Washington did indeed fail to
preserve copies of these letters it was also a very unfortunate
circumstance, for he always wrote to Lund Washington, without reserve,
upon the people and events of his day. That his habit in this regard was
well known needs no stronger confirmation than the fact that the
“Spurious Letters of Washington,” as they are called—which were first
published as original drafts of letters said to have been found in part
of Washington’s baggage and claimed to have been captured by the
British—were all addressed to Lund Washington. The letter here presented
shows that Washington did not always write in so guarded a manner as the
Sparks version of his correspondence would lead us to believe. With this
and other evidence we cannot escape the conclusion, either that Mr.
Sparks was, notwithstanding his unique opportunities, very unfairly
dealt with by Fate, in the scope and completeness of the correspondence
entrusted to his care, or that he himself suppressed those letters which
were not to his own individual taste.
Washington wrote as follows:
Camp at Cambridge,
_Aug 20 1775_
_Dear Lund_,
Your letter by Capt. Prince came to my hands last Night—I was glad to
learn by it that all are well.—the account given of the behaviour of
the Scotchmen at Port Tobacco & Piscataway surpriz’d & vexed me—Why
did they Imbark in the cause?—what do they say for themselves?—what
does others say of them?—are they admitted into Company?—or kicked out
of it?—what does their Countrymen urge in justification of them?—They
are fertile in invention, and will offer excuses where excuses can be
made.—I cannot say but I am curious to learn the reasons why men who
had subscribed & bound themselves to each other & their Country, to
stand forth in defence of it, should lay down their arms the first
moment they were called upon.
Although I never hear of the mill under the direction of Simpson
without a degree of warmth & vexation at his extreme stupidity, yet,
if you can spare money from other Purposes, I could wish to have it
sent to him, that it may, if possible, be set a-going before the works
get mixed and spoilt & my whole money perhaps totally lost—If I am
really to loose Barron’s debt to me, it will be a pretty severe stroke
upon the back of Adams, & the expence I am led into by that confounded
fellow Simpson, and necessarily so in putting my Lands under the
management of Cleveland.—
Spinning should go forward with all possible despatch, as we shall
have nothing else to depend upon if these disputes continue another
year—I can hardly think that Lord Dunmore can act so low, & unmanly a
part, as to think of siezing Mrs. Washington by way of revenge upon
me; however, as I suppose she is, before this time gone over to Mr.
Calvert’s, & will soon after returning go down to New Kent, she will
be out of his reach for 2 or 3 Months to come, in which time matters
may, & probably will take such a turn as to render her removal either
absolutely necessary, or quite useless—I am nevertheless exceedingly
thankful to the Gentlemen of Alexandria for their friendly attention
to this point & desire you will if there is any sort of reason to
suspect a thing of this kind, provide a kitchen for her in Alexandria,
or some other place of safety for her and my Papers.—
The People of this Government have obtained a character which they by
no means deserved—their officers generally speaking are the most
indifferent kind of People I ever saw.—I have already broke one Col^o
and five Captains for cowardice, and for drawing more Pay & Provisions
than they had Men in their companies.—there is two more Colonels now
under arrest, & to be tried for the same offences—in short they are by
no means such Troops, in any respect, as you are lead to believe of
them from the acts which are published, but I need not make myself
Enemies among them, by this declaration, although it is consistent
with truth.—I dare say the Men would fight very well (if properly
officered) although they are an exceedingly dirty & nasty
people.[2]—had they been properly conducted at Bunker’s Hill (on the
17th of June) or those that were there properly supported, the
regulars would have met with a shameful defeat; & a much more
considerable loss than they did, which is now known to be exactly 1057
killed & wounded—it was for their behaviour on that occasion that the
above officers were broke, for I never spared one that was accused of
Cowardice but bro’t ’em to immediate Tryal.
Our Lines of Defence are now compleated as near so at least as can
be—we now wish them to come out, as soon as they please, but they
(that is the enemy) discover no Inclination to quit their own works of
Defence; & as it is almost impossible for us to get to them, we do
nothing but watch each other’s motions all day at the distance of
about a mile; every now and then picking of a stragler when we can
catch them without their Intrenchments; in return, they often attempt
to cannonade our Lines to no other purpose than the waste of a
considerable quantity of Powder to themselves which we should be very
glad to get.—
What does Dr. Craik say to the behaviour of his countrymen, &
Townspeople?—remember me kindly to him, & tell him that I should be
very glad to see him here if there was anything worth his acceptance;
but the Massachusetts people suffer nothing to go by them that they
can lay hands upon.—
I wish the money could be had from Hill, or the Bills of Exchange
(except Col. Fairfax’s, which ought to be sent to him immediately)
turn’d into cash; you might then, I should think, be able to furnish
Simpson with about £300; but you are to recollect that I have got
Cleveland & the hired People with him to pay also.—I would not have
you buy a single bushel of wheat till you can see with some kind of
certainty what market the Flour is to go to—and if you cannot find
sufficient Imployment in repairing the Mill works, and other things of
this kind for Mr. Robers and Thomas Alferd, they must be closely
Imployed in making cask or working at the Carpenter’s or other
business—otherwise they must be discharged, for it is not reasonable,
as all Mill business will probably be at an end for a while, that I am
to pay them £100 a year to be Idle.—I should think Roberts himself
must see, and be sensible of the reasonableness of this request, as I
believe few Millers will find Imployment of our Ports are shut up, &
the wheat kept in the straw, or otherwise for greater security.—
[Illustration:
Delaware Pilot’s “Broadside”
]
I will write to Mr. Milnor to forward you a good Country Boalting
Cloth for Simpson—which endeavour to have contrived to him by the
first conveyance.—I wish you would quicken Lanphire & Sears about the
Dining Room Chimney Piece (to be executed as mentioned in one of my
last Letters) as I could wish to have that end of the House compleatly
finished before I return.—I wish you had done the end of the New
Kitchen with rusticated Boards, however, as it is not, I would have
the corners done so in the manner of our new Church, those two
especially which Fronts the Quarter—What have you done with the
Well?—is that walled up?—have you any acc^{ts} of the Painter?—how
does he behave at Fredericksburg?—
I much approve of your Sowing Wheat in clear ground, although you
should be late in doing it, & if for no other purpose than a Tryal—It
is a growing I find, as well as a new practice, that of overseers
keeping Horses, & for what purpose, unless it be to make fat Horses at
my expence, I know not, as it is no saving of my own Horses—I do not
like the custom, & wish you would break it—but do as you wish, as I
cannot pretend to interfere at this distance;—
Remember me kindly to all the Neighbours who enquire after
Y^r affection^t—friend & Serv^t
G^o Washington
WEEMS’ “LIFE OF WASHINGTON.”
Weems, the book peddler, who was not a New England man, wrote for his
own ends, one of the most popular books in his so-called “Life of
Washington.” It is said to have gone through some forty editions,
Washington declined, and very naturally, to give him access to his
papers; hence Weems was thrown entirely upon the resources of his
imagination for the material which he needed. It was natural, therefore,
and not difficult with so free a hand, to make up a good story. Hence
the origin of the incident of the Cherry Tree and little hatchet, and
other like truthful and popular anecdotes, which have become almost
_historical_ in our day.
Excuse may be found for Weems on the score of his commercial instinct,
the inaccessibility of facts and of his irresponsibility; but what can
be said in mitigation of the offence of those New England historians,
who have distorted facts, although they had access to all the material
necessary to have enabled them to do full justice to others as well as
to their own people? These men assumed, and upon them rested, the solemn
responsibility of teachers and defenders of historical Truth!
The author here disclaims all prejudice and has no other motive than an
earnest desire to establish the truth. This issue is made with the
writers of the past and not with the country nor with the people of the
present day.
The _true_ history of New England is sufficiently great to enable her to
look fearlessly into the mirror of Truth, and she can well afford to
cast off the meretricious glamour which has been thrown about her by
those sons who “loved her not not wisely, but too well.”
NEW YORK CITY THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, M. D.
❧
EARLY MENTION OF EVENTS AND PLACES IN THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY.
I
The origin of place-names, and the reason for them, are always matters
of interest. Sometimes we may know both, often only one, and sometimes
neither. Frequently a dead and forgotten old resident survives in the
name of the hill he built his house on, or of the pond or brook by the
side of which he lived, or in the property he once owned, or even in
some event in which he was a prominent actor. Thus, the Brighams of
Essex, in Brigham Hill; the Burlings, in Burlington; Count Fredenburgh,
in Fredenburgh Falls and M. Chasy, nephew of Tracy, in Chazy, have a
kind of immortality. The name of Samuel Champlain is preserved not only
in the Lake which is called after him, but in the River Champlain, the
Town Champlain, the Village Champlain; and who can give the number of
Champlain hotels and streets, in the cities and towns and villages of
the United States and of the British Provinces north of us? Also it is
interesting that many localities in our very midst have had names in
common use for a time, which, later, are lost in oblivion.
For years I have noted place-names and their reputed origin, both
curious and suggestive, in our locality; and am constantly adding to
them. Quite recently a man in our city spoke of Happy Hill, and another,
in a neighboring town, of Pirate’s Hollow. Thus I added two to my list,
and inquiry revealed their origin. I can give, approximately, the
beginning of, and reason for, Providence Island, Gougeville, Molasses
Corner, North and South Hero, Johnnycake Street and North Africa. Even
The Devil’s Half Acre has quite a known history. But I greatly desire
information concerning Whig Hollow, Cumberland Head, Beartown, Valcour,
Suckertown, The Lost Nation, and many others.
On the western border of Lake Champlain, scarce five miles from its
outlet into the Richelieu river, in the town of Champlain, opposite the
lower end of Isle La Motte, is a famous headland called Point au Fer,
freely rendered into English Point of Iron—Iron Point. But its common
and only name now is the French Point au Fer. No iron is found there,
and there is nothing suggestive of the hardness of iron in its shape, or
in the ruggedness of its shores. Hadden, Riedesel, Phillips and many
others called it Point au Fer only, and I think it proper to consider
this to be its real name, in spite of the fact that on a map issued
about 1748, from surveys made in 1732, it is called Point au Feu, or, in
English, Point of Fire—Fire Point. It may be that the transcribers
mistook the final r for u, an easy mistake when we consider the
similarity between r and u as often found in old manuscripts.
I think I have chanced on the origin of and reason for this place-name.
I will present my evidence to you and hope you will agree with me, or
disagree, if you have reason to the contrary.
This evidence is found in and based upon, an account in volume 48, pages
99–107, of “The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents,” edited by Reuben
G. Thwaites, secretary of the Wisconsin Historical Society. This volume,
48, came out in July, 1899. The original was the Relation of 1662–63,
written by Father Jerome Lalemant, and contains a graphic account of a
fierce fight between some Algonquins and a band of Iroquois returning
from a raid on Montreal.
Father Lalemant says:
“The Algonquins living at Sillery, after passing the winter in innocence
and piety, resolved, towards spring, to go and wage a petty warfare.
They were only forty, but their courage exceeded their number. Arriving
at the Richelieu Islands without discovering any foe, they entered the
river of the same name and directed their course to Lake Champlain,
where they lay in ambush. Scarcely had they arrived there when those
victors who had dealt their blow at Montreal, and were conducting their
poor Frenchmen in triumph, were discovered by our Algonquins, who
followed them with their eyes and noted their camping spot. Our
Christian soldiers, under cover of the night, stealthily advanced and
surrounded the place where the enemy were sleeping, in readiness to
attack them at the first dawn of day. But as it is very difficult to
walk in the night time without making a noise, or by hitting some
branch, one of the Iroquois chiefs was awakened in some way or other. He
was a brave man named Garistatsia (“the Iron”), vigilant and greatly
renowned for his exploits performed against us and against our savages.
The chief of the Algonquins, perceiving that the leader of the Iroquois
was this Garistatsia—or in French Le Fer, so famous and renowned by the
many disasters that have so often made us mingle our tears with our
blood, made straight at him and by a hatchet stroke on the head, forced
Garistatsia to fall to the ground, where his courage forbade him to
acknowledge himself vanquished, and he yielded the victory after losing
his life. Ten of the enemy remained dead on the spot, while three were
taken alive, and the rest escaped, completely covered with wounds.”
This was a terrific engagement, though short. It evidently occurred on
the west shore of Lake Champlain, between a band of Iroquois raiders
returning over land from Montreal and a band of Algonquins, who, coming
up the Richelieu, had “scarcely arrived” at Lake Champlain. These latter
proceeded to surround the Iroquois. How much more easily surrounded on a
point than on a continuous shore! The leader of the Iroquois “was famous
and renowned.” He had “so often made us” _i. e._ both French and
Algonquins, “mingle our tears with our blood!” So well known was he that
the leader of the Algonquins, even in the dark, “made straight at
him”—in order to rid the country of this distinguished enemy.
Therefore, I think it not unreasonable to claim that this battle, in the
year 1663, was fought on the cape on the west border of Lake Champlain
opposite the lower portion of Isle La Motte, known now and for so many
years as Point au Fer, and that the cape received its appellation from
that of the mighty Iroquois chief killed there—“Garistatsia, or in
French Le Fer.”
II
The matter of prehistoric occupation of the Valley of Lake Champlain has
received considerable attention during the last twenty-five years.
Before that time, historians would refer to Champlain’s vague statements
concerning the enemies of his Algonquin allies residing around the
mountains in the east and south, and then state that but few vestiges
remained of ancient occupation. But later researches have revealed the
fact that this valley was once quite thickly populated. I know of at
least forty-five dwelling sites, the greater portion of which I have
located and visited. The larger part of these are on, or near, the Lake
itself; but there are, also, many on the rivers and smaller streams and
lakes; and some at a distance from any even moderately large body of
water. The evidence of former dwelling sites consists of stone
implements and weapons, and chippings scattered over small areas—say of
half an acre or more. One such site exists on the River Richelieu, in
the Parish of St. Valentine, near Isle aux Noix, twelve miles below
Rouses Point. From this place alone I have obtained several hundred
stone implements and weapons, some of them very fine.
Another is at the mouth of the Big Chazy River, near Point au Fer. It
was October 5, 1881, that I first discovered this dwelling site, and in
two hours I picked up about thirty stone axes and many chipped flints;
and had not the night come on, I should have obtained at least twice as
many at that visit. To an ardent collector, so many things almost
beseeching to be gathered furnished an experience not readily forgotten.
I presume that any of you would have done as I did. You would have taken
off your shoes and stockings, and found with your feet, stone axes in
the clay mud of the bottom, and picked them out with your hands; and
would have wished the sun to stand still at least an hour, in order that
you might obtain more.
Another place is on a high sand plain in the town of Ausable, New York.
Here the ground is white with quartzite chippings over many acres,
though this locality has furnished but few perfect implements.
From Colchester Point upon the Ouinooski river, certainly as far as
Williston, the soil abounds in celts, chippings and wrought flints. But
to locate and describe all the known sites would require far too much
time, and I presume the half of them have not been discovered.
However, in many particulars, the most important prehistoric dwelling
place in our Valley is that on the shore of Cumberland Bay, partly
within the present limits of the city of Plattsburgh. Here was a sand
ridge a mile long, from twenty to forty rods wide, fifteen to
twenty-five feet high, having a sluggish stream abounding in fish on its
landward side, and the wide bay opening out into the broad lake, on the
other. The greyish white sand between the pines on the ridge and the
waters of the bay, was a conspicuous object for miles out on the lake.
About thirty-five years ago some of the pines were cut off, and the wind
made openings through and through the ridge at right angles to the axis
of its length. Then it was seen that here was once a great village,
covering the whole ridge. Below the old surfaces were vast quantities of
flint chippings, arrow and spear points, axes, pottery, fire-places,
kitchen middens, and other evidences of ancient occupation. From this
site alone, I have secured fragments of hundreds of edge pieces of
different jars of pottery, and thousands of wrought implements of stone.
In our early researches, where the sand had not been blown out down to
the level of the lake, there were seen heaps of cobble stones, arranged
in some order, each perhaps consisting of a bushel or more of sand
stones that had been heated by fire. These heaps rested in sand and
ashes blackened by charcoal, but never, in a single instance did they
contain flints, wrought stones or pottery. In other words, these were
not kitchen middens.
For years, I supposed this place to have been prehistoric, as it mostly
was. But in 1885, the Prince Society of Boston, in its invaluable series
of historical publications, printed “Radisson’s Voyages.” Now, Peter
Esprit Radisson was a Frenchman of roving disposition, who came from
France to Canada in 1651. He made several “voyages,” as he calls them,
going through Lake Champlain to the Iroquois country; and again to Lake
Huron and Lake Superior; and, I believe, overland to Hudson’s Bay, in
his various journeyings. But he did what we wish more of those early
adventurers had done. He left a written account of his experiences. This
record was made partly in French and partly in English and is very full
of interest. In the year 1652, he was out hunting on the St. Lawrence
River, one day, was made prisoner and taken up the Richelieu, through
Lake Champlain and thence to the country of the Iroquois. I quote from
his “Relation of My Voyage being in Bondage in the hands of the
Irokoits.” After being captured (and his captivity seems to have been a
pleasant one from beginning to end), he says: “Midday wee came to the
River of Richelieu, where we weare not farr gone, but met a new gang of
their people in cottages” (village No. 1). After a day and a night, he
continues: “Our journey was indifferent good without any delay, w’ch
caused us to arrive in a good and pleasant harbour. It was on the side
of the sand where our people had any paine scarce to errect their
cottages, being that it was a place they had sejourned at before.”
(Village No. 2). The next day, he says: “At 3 of the clock in the
afternoon we came to a rappid streame, where we were forced to land and
carry our Equipages and boats through a dangerous place. Wee had not any
encounter that day. Att night where we found cottages ready made
(village No. 3), there I cutt wood with all dilligence. The morning
early following, we marched wth making great noise, or singing as
accustomed. Sejourning awhile, we came to a lake 6 leagues wide, about
it a very pleasant country, imbellished with great forests. * * * * We
arrived to a fine sandy bancke, where not long before Cabbanes weare
errected and places made where Prisoners weare tyed.” (Village No. 4.)
“In this place our wild people sweated after the maner following: first
heated stones till they were redd as fire, then they made a lantherne
with small sticks, then stoaring the place with deale trees, saving a
place in the middle, whereinto they put the stoanes, and covered the
place with small covers, then striped themselves naked, went into it.
They made a noise as if ye devil weare there; after they being there for
an hour they came out of the watter. I thought veryly they weare
incensed. It is their usual custom. * * * * In the night they heard some
shooting, which made them embark themselves speedily. In the meanwhile
they made me lay downe whilst they rowed very hard. I slept securely
till morning, when I found meselfe in high rushes. There they stayed
without noise.”
Now, this “rappid streame” was the Chambly Rapids.
This 3d village, in my opinion, was that site below Isle Aux Noix, in
the parish of St. Valentine, which I have spoken of. Villages No. 1 and
No. 2 I have never visited. The lake “imbellished with great forests,”
was Champlain. The “fine sandy bancke, where not long before cabbanes
weare errected,” was, I feel certain, this great dwelling place on
Cumberland Bay. The heaps of fire stones that I have mentioned could
easily have been those made use of by “our wild people” when they
“sweated after the maner following:” and where Radisson found himself in
“high rushes” the morning after, may have been at the mouth of the
Ausable; or of the Lamoille, or of the Ouinooski.[3]
III
For some time I have endeavoured to make an annual visit to Fort
Ticonderoga and its neighborhood. September, October and November,
before the ground freezes, when the lake is usually the lowest, are the
best portions of the year for searching there. On the shores between
high and low water marks around the Ticonderoga promontory; at Wright’s
Point and on the Orwell shore opposite, the earth is black with flints.
These are arrow and spear heads, knives, hammer stones and immense
quantities of flakes. But few of the implements are perfect. I account
for this condition because of the great numbers of soldiers there in the
old wars. As you know, it was their practice to select the best arrow
and spear heads and break them into pieces suitable for their
flintlocks. But the native flint exists in great abundance in the
limestone rocks of the locality; and so it was that, for centuries, the
Indians resorted to this region, lived there and made weapons and
implements for their own use, and for traffic with other savages passing
by. I have obtained 2500 chipped stone implements from these shores
alone. One November day, 1896, two of us left Plattsburgh by train at
8.30 a. m., reached Fort Ticonderoga at 10.30, picked up 575 wrought
flints, and returning, got home at 6.15 the same evening. So, while I
have considered that the great dwelling site in Plattsburgh was the most
important for the manufacturing of pottery, and probably had the largest
population of any village in the valley, yet certainly the Ticonderoga
region surpassed it in the making of chipped implements. On this day of
which I speak, my companion stopped on Mount Independence, while I
pushed over to the Orwell shore, perhaps a hundred rods away. And, by
the way, let me say that the historic ruins on Mount Independence are
nearly as interesting as those on the Ticonderoga promontory. I could
not see the gentleman on the mountain because of the trees, but when I
called out to him, not only his reply came to me, but my voice echoed
back first, so quickly, so distinctly and with such force as to startle
me. It was uncanny.
Turning again to the Jesuit Relations, this time to Volume 51, pages
179–183; in the Relation of 1667–68, written by Francis Mercier, we find
an account of the experiences of Fathers Fremin, Pierron and Bruyas,
three Jesuits, on the way to the Iroquois country. It was one of these
fathers who wrote from Ste. Anne, Isle La Motte, August 12, 1667, the
interesting letter, a translation of which was printed in the Burlington
Free Press of August 22, 1902.
Father Mercier says: “The Fathers Fremin, Pierron and Bruyas having set
out to go to the lower Iroquois—and having been detained for a long time
in Fort Sainte Anne at the entrance to Lake Champlain * * * left the
fort at last.” Then he quotes from their journal: “About four o’clock in
the afternoon we embarked to go and take shelter at a league distance
from the last fort of the French—which is that of Sainte Anne * * We
gaily crossed this entire great lake, which is already too renowned by
reason of the shipwreck of several of our Frenchmen, and, quite
recently, by that of Sieur Corlart, commandant of a hamlet of the Dutch
near Agnie, who, on his way to Quebec for the purpose of negotiating
some important affairs, was drowned while crossing a large bay, where he
was surprised by a storm. Arriving within three-quarters of a league of
the Falls by which Lake St. Sacrament empties, we all halted without
knowing why, until we saw our savages at the water side gathering up
flints, which were almost all cut into shape. We did not at that time
reflect upon this, but have since learned the meaning of the mystery,
for our Iroquois told us that they never fail to halt at this place to
pay homage to a race of invisible men who dwell there at the bottom of
the lake. These beings occupy themselves in preparing flints, nearly all
cut, for the passers by, provided the latter pay their respects to them
by giving them tobacco. If they give these beings much of it, the latter
give them a liberal supply of these stones. These water men travel in
canoes, as do the Iroquois; and when their great captain proceeds to
throw himself into the water to enter his palace, he makes so loud a
noise that he fills with fear the minds of these who have no knowledge
of this great spirit and of these little men. * * * The occasion of this
ridiculous story is the fact that the lake in reality is often agitated
by very frightful tempests, which cause fearful waves, and when the wind
comes from the direction of the lake, it drives on the beach quantities
of stones which are hard, and capable of striking fire.”
Now, this place where the fathers “sheltered themselves at a league’s
distance” from Fort Sainte Anne, may have been Cumberland Head. The bay
in which “Sieur Corlart” was drowned has been considered to be
Willsborough Bay. Allow me to state that Arendt Van Corlaer (“Sieur
Corlart”) came to his death in this very year, 1667, in which these
Jesuits saw the savages at the water side gathering up flints. So the
Indians 235 years ago had an established custom of picking up flint
implements around Ticonderoga; the same practice that I have indulged
in, perhaps quite as successfully without having to offer tobacco to a
race of invisible men; and the “loud noises” which their “great captain”
made when he proceeded to throw himself into the water to enter his
palace and “which filled with fear the minds of those who have no
knowledge of this Great Spirit and of these little men,” may have been
an echo, like that marvelous one which came back to me from Mount
Independence, on that November day, so loud and distinct as to seem
uncanny.
* * * * *
I have thus grouped these three different parts although they may not be
homogeneous. In some degree they unite the present with the early
historic and prehistoric past of the Champlain Valley. I understand that
the United States Government is soon to issue a large volume of
Place-Names, and such work is highly to be commended. What an immense
number our own localities could furnish to be thus preserved!
In the early Voyages, Journals, Relations and Letters are references to
many known locations. But, for instance, should Radisson, or the Jesuit
Relations or even Hadden, go to new editions during the next half
century, the present notes, though copious, would seem meagre and
inadequate, compared with what should then appear.
Concerning matters prehistoric, I hope I have said enough to reveal what
a vast field for research lies almost untouched at our very doors.
DAVID S. KELLOGG, M. D.
Read before the Vt. Hist. Society.
LINCOLN.
A young backwoodsman, tall and strong of limb,
We find him in the wilds of Illinois,
So brave, so faithful oft men said of him,
“A man while yet a boy.”
A man, indeed, while moving upward still,
They gazed at his advance with wondering eyes,
And saw his lofty aims, his steadfast will,
With glad surprise.
He reached the summit in a crucial hour,
When clouds and darkness hung above the land,
And proved himself to all a man of power,
Who could command.
He loved his country, not some special part
More dear than others, but the glorious whole.
He gave to save the Union, all his heart,
His brain, his soul.
In one brief respite from the awful strain,
The foul assassin’s bullet—then the end.
And all the wide world mourned, and mourned in vain,
The nation’s friend.
But was it all in vain, when proudly waves
The flag he loved—full starred—from shore to shore?
When North and South clasp hands o’er heroes’ graves,
Would he ask more?
MARY ISABELLA FORSYTH.
_The Christian Intelligencer._
CAPTAIN ABRAHAM LINCOLN _versus_ PRIVATE LORENZO DOW THOMPSON
THE STORY OF A CELEBRATED CONTEST
While searching for material affecting the history of the Black Hawk
War, of course I found the stereotyped version of the noted wrestling
match between Captain Abraham Lincoln and an obscure private from the
St. Clair company of Captain William Moore; the same published in
Nicolay and Hay’s Life of Lincoln. But not until too late for my purpose
did I secure its details with anything like accuracy. A long course of
investigation has just rewarded me with the facts.
The match was celebrated, the State over, long before Lincoln became
famous and it must be admitted a pleasure to turn from the serious man,
to the early, robust Lincoln; the young man of stature and strength,
informal as he was when just reaching man’s estate and in possession of
his first prize in life.
It may seem ridiculous to class the modest office of captain of a
company of sixty day volunteers, as a proud position, yet Leonard Swett
has told us the day of Lincoln’s election to such a position in 1832,
was the proudest of the latter’s life.
When Governor Reynolds called out the militia to remove Black Hawk and
his band from Illinois soil, “dead or alive,” Abraham Lincoln as he has
told us, was “out of a job,” and enlistment therein invited him to
place, adventure and perhaps renown. A company of sixty-eight
intractable spirits (two more were added subsequently), was organized in
Sangamon County and enrolled on April 21st, of which Lincoln was elected
captain and from which he was expected to exact discipline. His First
Sergeant was John Armstrong, the gentleman who had undertaken with
disastrous personal results, to introduce Lincoln to New Salem “life”
through the medium of a wrestling match. William Kirkpatrick, said to
have filched a cant-hook from Lincoln, as well as the latter’s rival in
the contest for captain, was another. The Clary boys, Royal and William,
who acted disagreeable parts at the Armstrong function, were of the
number, while as though smiling at the joke of it, “Pleasant” Armstrong
was another private. Finally from the sentimental side we find the names
of John M. and David Rutledge to add to the list. Truly a picturesque
crowd!
Once organized, the company was marched to Beardstown to be sworn into
the service of the State by Inspector General John J. Hardin, where too
the captain fell in with such men as O. H. Browning, Edward D. Baker,
Adam W. Snyder, John Dement, Gov. Carlin and others who became famous in
the history of the State and Nation. At that point the companies were
formed into regiments and moved toward “The Yellow Banks” _en route_ for
the mouth of Rock River where Captain Lincoln was to meet General Henry
Atkinson, and Lieut.-Col. Zachary Taylor, as well as Lieutenant Robert
Anderson, Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, Captain William S. Harney, Lieut.
Albert Sidney Johnston and many others who were to be prominent in his
future during the great crisis of our country.
In referring to the nights of that period, O. H. Browning in his journal
of May 2d, wrote that they were “cold and tempestuous;” so that choice
camping grounds, affording wood and water, were eagerly sought and when
found, the scramble for their possession was spirited.
At, or just out of Beardstown, the companies of Captain Lincoln and
Captain William Moore from St. Clair County, came upon just such a
camping ground simultaneously and for its occupation a strife arose of
course. With the propensity for free fights, usual to those days, it may
appear miraculous at this day that such an affray was avoided; but as
Captain Lincoln felt his official oats at the time and may have desired
to reap a little personal advantage from the collision, he proposed to
Captain Moore that “‘captain for captain,’ the matter should be settled
by a match.”
But as every rule of wrestling forbade a contest so unequal, Captain
Moore, who declined, suggested as a substitute the selection of a man
from each company. That appeared fair enough and with a metaphorical
chip on his shoulder Captain Lincoln selected himself to represent his
company, while Captain Moore who was not an authority on “wrestling
form,” turned over the function of selection to his brother, Jonathan
Moore, Orderly Sergeant.
The latter knew his business even though a shout of derision went up
from Lincoln’s men when the champion was produced. When led up for
slaughter, the victim was found to be just above medium height and
weight and so unobtrusive and guileless that I had almost forgotten to
mention his name:—Lorenzo Dow Thompson of St. Clair County.
Captain Lincoln chortled and gave the upstart a look of such fine scorn
that the poor fellow should have been sorry for living and had the
affair been one of to-day we surely could have heard the captain shout
“what a cinch!” when the books were opened for bets.
Jonathan Moore was called to referee the match which was to consist of
“best two in three” falls. He tossed up a coin, winning choice of
“holts” for Thompson, who chose “side holt.” Lincoln’s was “Indian
holt,” and generally speaking it was a scrappy sort of a “holt” too. At
once a great scramble followed among Lincoln’s men to lay their bets
before Captain Moore’s men got “scart.” But Captain Moore’s men refused
to get “scart.” In fact there was a very suspicious degree of firmness
and unanimity in their opinion of “Dow” Thompson’s ability to take care
of himself and any loose change his friends might put up on him; so up
went powder-horns, guns, watches, coats, horses, pay-rolls and
reputations until there remained not one solitary article of property in
possession or expectancy thereof which had not been put into the pot on
that match.
To increase the zest of his men for gaming, Captain Lincoln who was
cock-sure of victory, had urged them to offer odds and discount the
future all they could, and the men did it. Then the combatants
grappled—side holt,—Thompson’s choice.
They see-sawed. The spectators shouted. Momentarily Lincoln’s men
bantered Thompson with words of encouragement, “just to drag the sport
out and get their money’s worth,” but when they discovered their error
there appeared a temporary inspiration by the Clary boys to meddle. The
Armstrong boys wanted to get busy as the contest proceeded, but before
any of these meddlers could devise a plan, the long legs of the captain
cleft the air and in the very next instant Thompson had him fairly upon
the ground. The din which followed would have silenced a thunderstorm.
As said of the boy who fell down cellar:—he did not hurt himself, but
_did_ hurt his new pants, so it might be said of the chagrined captain
after that first fall. His person had not been harmed but the disaster
to his feelings was something dreadful. Particularly harmful because the
crowd to witness it had quadrupled several times, each installment
adding a few words of humiliation. Defeat in the presence of a few
friends would have been dreadful, but surrounded by an army and he a
captain, it was a catastrophe. Even the swagger back to the center did
not square it. His friends shouted: “That’s only one fall, while two
more are due.” That encouragement did not place his confidence _in statu
quo_. But he made his bluff by stating icily when he had secured his
“holt:” “Now Mr. Thompson, it’s your turn to go down.”
The Indian hug or “holt” did not work at all however. In fact the
patronizing captain was kept busy trying to keep his feet solid against
the multitude of tricks which Thompson had up his sleeve to thwart the
captain’s favorite “holt.” At last it was abandoned as altogether
useless.
The redoubtable captain followed with a “crotch-holt,” but that terrible
device was resisted as easily as water runs from a duck’s back. A trick
called “sliding away,” was introduced, only to confirm the growing
opinion of the spectators that the doughty wrestler from Sangamon had
met his master.
A moment of indecision followed, the slipping of a mental cog, so to
speak,—just enough to allow the despised St. Clair man to get in his
fine work, and once more the legs of the valiant captain rose in the air
and both men fell to the ground in a heap.
“Dog fall!” yelled Lincoln’s men.
“Fair fall!” retorted Moore’s men.
A free fight was imminent, but Lincoln, disgruntled and defeated though
he was—in one fall at least—was a “good loser.” Springing to his feet
before the referee could act, he cried: “Boys! The man actually threw me
once fairly; broadly so, and this second time—this very fall, he threw
me fairly though not apparently so.” That settled the matter and the
frankness of the speaker saved him his reputation although his men had
lost all their available property.
On the 8th day of August, 1860, Professor Risdon Marshall Moore, then of
McKendree College (now of San Antonio, Texas), son of the referee,
Jonathan Moore, called upon Mr. Lincoln at the latter’s house in
Springfield with a delegation of college men, devotedly attached to Mr.
Lincoln’s cause. In introducing Prof. Moore, Lieutenant Governor Koerner
added, “of St. Clair County.”
Prof. Moore then stated: “Mr. Lincoln, we have called to see the next
President.” To which Mr. Lincoln replied: “You must go to Washington to
see the next President.”
During this and other conversation which followed, Mr. Lincoln eyed
Prof. Moore constantly with a suspicious twinkle of the eye, after which
he asked: “Which of the Moore families do you belong to? I have a grudge
against one of them.”
Professor Moore replied with a still merrier twinkle: “I suppose it is
my family you have the grudge against, but we are going to elect you
President and call it even.”
There were present at that meeting the same O. H. Browning who had
witnessed the match nearly thirty years before, Norman B. Judd, Richard
J. Oglesby and some others, to all of whom Mr. Lincoln related the story
as herein told, concluding with these words: “I owe that Moore family a
grudge, as I never had been thrown in a wrestling match until the man
from that company did it. He could have thrown a grizzly bear.”
Poor Thompson! He migrated to Harrison County, Missouri, and became its
first representative in the General Assembly of the State in 1846 and
was re-elected in 1848. He was also a member of the first grand jury of
the county. Politically he was called an anti-Benton Democrat. Positive
in all his convictions, he was called eccentric toward the end of his
life, but all who knew him testify that he was able, upright and a good
neighbor and citizen.
In 1875 he died in indigence at the age of 65 and his body lies in
Oakland cemetery six miles north of Bethany.
Singularly enough, we are told that to the same point migrated one Peter
Rutledge who claimed to be brother to Ann Rutledge.
In the early history of Illinois, the Moores were known as the “fighting
Moores,” by reason of their daring in the Indian war of 1812–14 and the
border troubles which were constantly menacing our frontier.
Jonathan Moore who was born in Georgia, Nov. 20, 1799, was one of the
number. He moved to Illinois in 1812, served in the Black Hawk War and
enlisted in the Mexican War, but his company was rejected because troops
enough had already been sent to the front.
At the breaking out of the Civil War, he enlisted and was made captain
of company “G” Thirty-second Illinois Infantry and served at Shiloh and
other hard fought engagements.
CHICAGO. FRANK E. STEVENS.
P. S.—I wish to express my indebtedness to Gen. Henry Cadle, of Bethany,
Mo., for valuable favors connected with this story.
SIDE-LIGHTS ON CAROLINA HISTORY
My object in the following paper is not to present a summary of South
Carolina history, enumerating well-known dates and facts already
recorded by much better writers, but rather to furnish sundry varied
items of information which, while not themselves entitled to rank as
history, may yet serve a useful purpose as side-lights upon history
proper.
South Carolina has always occupied an almost unique position in the
family of States. Geographically small, numerically weak, she has
nevertheless managed to make her influence felt throughout the
Federation.
Thus much concerning her is known to the world at large, but the very
peculiar conditions which existed for many years within her borders are
not so generally known to outsiders. Yet it is these conditions which to
a great extent moulded State character and influenced State politics.
Indeed they are the key without which it would be impossible to explain
many anomalies, in both her political and social history.
Presenting an unbroken front to the world, a solid unit on all questions
of national policy, within herself she was divided into two jarring and
irreconcilable factions. How this sectional antagonism originated, or
when it first showed itself it is impossible to say. But the unnatural
animosity once developed, the exceptional conditions existing in the
State were unfortunately calculated to aggravate and perpetuate it. The
root of the evil was that old grudge of the mass against class. Broadly
speaking, the wealth and cultivation of South Carolina were confined to
a single section of the State instead of being scattered throughout the
whole. Orders and degrees of men have existed in all times and in all
lands, but in South Carolina they were, so to speak, geographically
distributed—the “orders” being found in the interior, and the “degrees”
along the sea-board.
Thus, socially considered, a very broad line of demarcation separated
the State into two distinct sections; and in many respects in manners,
in habits, even in speech, the people of the two differed widely one
from the other.
Along the coast lay the great rice-plantations, containing thousands of
acres and worked by hundreds of slaves; their proprietors constituting
the landed aristocracy of the State. In the interior, the plantations
were smaller, there were fewer slaves, and their owners were “farmers”
rather than “planters,” devoting themselves to the cultivation of a
variety of crops instead of confining their efforts to the exclusive
production of a single staple.
Thus in a very important particular South Carolina differed from both
Virginia and Georgia—the two members of the State-sisterhood which in
many respects she most closely resembled: for in Georgia the sea-board
bore so small a proportion to the interior that the influence of the
coast-dwellers could not be a very appreciable factor in the general
equation. And in Virginia, a difference of climate produced a
corresponding difference in the mode of life of the country
gentry—Virginia planters for the most part making their homes on their
plantations the year round, whereas Carolina planters were compelled by
considerations of health to abandon their plantations during the summer
months. Though some went no farther than to settlements among the pine
woods or along the seashore near at hand, the great majority either
spent their summers in Charleston—the center of South Carolina
refinement and cultivation—or traveled abroad into the great outside
world, thereby rubbing off their rusticity and keeping themselves in
touch with passing events and current interests. Necessarily, the
combined advantages of wealth, education and travel produced in the
coast-folk a polish of manner and a breadth of mind not possessed by the
dwellers of the interior of the State who, year in and year out,
vegetated contentedly on their native soil.
The difference between the denizens of the two sections was inevitable.
The trouble was that, instead of regarding their superior advantages as
entailing upon them corresponding duties towards their less favored
neighbors, the people of the sea-board arrogated to themselves the
position of critics, and looked down with scarcely veiled condescension
and contempt upon their rustic brethren of the interior; by whom, it is
unnecessary to say, this attitude was deeply resented.
But having meted out the blame that of right belonged to the
“low-country” in this matter, justice demands the statement that—as in
all family disputes—the provocation was by no means entirely on one
side. Except in the matter of politics, the coast had little in common
with the interior. As a class, the people of the “up-country” were
ignorant and unpolished. Their lack of breeding disgusted, their want of
cultivation repelled, their marvelous thrift and instinct for
money-getting absolutely bewildered the low-country intelligence. And
when brought together the people of the coast recoiled with the feeling
that they were in contact with an alien race.
Both sections were in fault and both paid the penalty. The development
of the interior was greatly retarded by its obstinate antagonism to all
that savored of the more advanced civilization of the coast; and the
coast suffered in its turn, by frequently finding itself in a weak
minority as regarded measures of sectional advantage. Each faction of
the State Legislature was determined to consult solely its own interests
whenever these appeared to conflict.
Such was the condition of affairs up to the period of the Civil War. At
its close, a new era dawned in the life of South Carolina. Previous
conditions were now reversed. The sea-board—formerly the garden spot of
the State—was left depopulated, beggared, ruined; while the interior had
escaped from the terrible ordeal almost unscathed.
It was also evident that in recuperative power, there could be no
comparison between the two sections; the conditions which had formerly
operated adversely to the progress of the interior now conducing to its
development.
First, and chief of its advantages, were to be reckoned climatic
conditions permitting of white agricultural labor.
Secondly, the greatly lessened disparity in numbers between whites and
blacks in its population.
Thirdly, a hardier and more homely mode of life, which enabled its
people to adapt themselves with greater readiness to the new order of
things.
Fourthly, the varied character of its industries; and
Lastly, a staple (cotton) naturally suggestive of manufacturing
enterprise.
When these combined advantages are taken into account, and the section
possessing them compared with the coast, whose sole source of revenue
lay in the fertile, but miasma-laden rice fields, for the cultivation of
which negro labor was an absolute necessity, it is seen at once how
completely “old things had passed away!”
The mere reversal of former conditions, however, was certainly not
calculated in itself to heal the sectional breach. But, fortunately,
ameliorating agencies were at work—the gradual spread of
education—increasing intercourse between the sections, the result of
improved facilities of travel, and also of business enterprises in which
both were interested. And far above and beyond all else in mollifying
power, the four years of fellowship in suffering for a common cause,
which linked the erstwhile jarring sections together in a closer
brotherhood than would probably have been brought about by generations
of peace and prosperity.
The frightful race-problems with which South Carolina found herself
confronted at the close of the Civil War, and the grim burlesque of
government which followed, known as the “Reconstruction” period, during
which chaos and crime ran riot in the land, served to weld still more
firmly the new made bond. And when in 1876, after years of almost
superhuman patience under provocation, the people of South Carolina
decided that endurance had ceased to be a virtue, and rose in their
righteous indignation; and in the face of overwhelming odds, by one
supreme effort the State righted herself, “low-country” and “up-country”
rejoiced together in true fraternal spirit.
Since that time the bond has continued to strengthen. And instead of
being as of old, “a house divided against itself,” the State of South
Carolina is gradually becoming one harmonious and homogeneous whole.
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
In the peculiar internal State-relations which we have been considering,
South Carolina was unique. But in the social and domestic conditions now
to be described, she was a true type and representative of the other
Southern States.
It is an accepted truth that in all lands economic conditions determine
social relations. In the South, the stability of the former insured a
corresponding stability in the latter. To borrow a figure from geology,
there were no “faults” in the stratification of Southern society. Each
stratum rested secure and well-defined upon the one beneath it, with
none of the perplexing sudden “dips” and “out croppings,” common in
other parts of America. In that land of belated nineteenth century
chivalry and feudalism, the long-exploded axiom that it took “three
generations to make a gentleman” still held sway as the law governing
social usage. As is the case with all laws, however, there were
exceptions to this one. Men of force of character and intellectual gifts
stepped over class barriers at one stride, and took their place at once
in the very fore front of the social ranks.
Divisions and subdivisions of society existed, but into these intricate
complexities it is not necessary to enter here. Enough to say that the
“upper-crust” was composed exclusively of the landed proprietors and
professional men. Of trade, this class had a holy horror, although they
recognized “degrees” in infamy; holding with Cicero that, while the
“retail” trader was to be regarded as “unmitigatedly base,” the
“wholesale” trader might be accounted “mitigatedly” so.
Next to this topmost layer came the factors. The factor combined in his
own person the functions of banker, commission merchant, and general
factotum. He sold the planter’s crop, invested his proceeds, negotiated
his loans, and advanced him money when required. Socially, the factor
was the connecting link between the mercantile class and the landed
gentry, to whom, indeed, he was often closely allied by blood. For it
was the Southern custom to pass into a counting-house and thereby
convert into “factors,” such planters’ sons as were considered incapable
of receiving a classical or professional education, and showed no
special aptitude for any particular calling.
Below the factor class were innumerable gradations gradually descending
until, at the bottom of the social scale, were to be found the poor
whites, or “crackers,” as they were contempteously termed. Of this
element nothing need be said, as its influence was _nil_; the Old South
being practically composed of but two classes—its aristocracy and its
negroes.
In those old days the tone of public morals was pure and high. As a
rule, a Southern gentleman’s word was as good as his bond; for any
imputation on his honor he regarded as a disgrace, and disgrace was the
one thing he dared not face. To these people wealth was not the be-all
and the end-all of existence. Not that they underrated its importance or
despised its advantages, but their whole manner of life was a protest
against making wealth the standard by which to gauge the sum of human
achievement, affixing, as it were, a money value to all things in the
heavens above and in the earth beneath.
Again, they were—not obstructionists indeed—but strong conservatives;
holding that change is not necessarily synonymous with improvement, but
that it sometimes means retrogression rather than advance. And holding
this creed, they were not carried away by every vagary which presented
itself, whether masquerading in the guise of social panacea or political
hocus-pocus.
The conditions of Southern life naturally tended to produce and foster
individuality, and perhaps the most marked trait in Southern character
was an almost fierce independence and a hot resentment of any semblance
of control. The Southerner was quick tempered and somewhat over hasty in
taking offence at fancied slights. But there was nothing vindictive or
malevolent in his nature, and, his outburst of temper over, if cool
reflection showed him to have been in the wrong, he did not hesitate
frankly to acknowledge himself in fault, and make ample apology for his
mistaken judgment and hot words. As a class, Southerners undoubtedly
held a very good opinion of themselves; and sometimes, where mental
ballast was lacking, this comfortable consciousness of being at quits
with the world went to the head, and effervesced in silly
superciliousness and irritating condescension. But for the most part,
the people bore themselves with irreproachable courtesy and the quiet
dignity which springs from self-respect. As a race they were a brave,
fearless people, truthful, honest, and generous to a fault.
Besides this common heritage however, the folk of the Carolina coast
possessed certain endowments peculiarly their own—a finished grace of
manner, a keen sense of humor, and a power of quick repartee—their
birthright by virtue of descent from a Huguenot ancestry. This French
element was in truth, a very appreciable quantity in the Carolina
equation, exercising considerable formative influence on character as
well as manners. Unlike the French settlers in other parts of the United
States, the Carolina Huguenots, notwithstanding the inhospitable
reception given them on their arrival in the colony, held their own
manfully in their adopted country; and soon established such friendly
relations with their English neighbors, that in the course of a
generation or so, by intermarriage with these, they had ceased to be a
distinctive class of the population, and were only to be traced by their
French names, which they had bestowed upon half the families in the
lower section of the State.
One trait remains to be mentioned—a trait common to the entire South. I
allude to the ardent patriotism and intense State-love of the people.
This is proved by the records of the Civil War, which show how gladly
substance and life were both devoted to the service of their beloved
country. Even now, a thrill runs through one, at the recollection of the
heroic self-sacrifice and whole-hearted devotion of the united Southern
people to their “Lost Cause.”
CHARLESTON, S. C. H. E. BELIN
(_Conclusion next month._)
INDIAN AGRICULTURE IN SOUTHERN WISCONSIN
Early writers and travellers were lamentably negligent in recording many
phases of Indian life which it would be desirable to know, especially
those related to the economic activities of these primitive people. An
undue amount of “historical divination” is required in arriving at
satisfactory or even plausible conclusions concerning some of these
matters. The real influence which aboriginal agriculture exercised upon
the exploration, settlement, and development of the Western lands, is
well worth our study. The new comer often received therefrom suggestions
as to what crops would most likely flourish on the various soils and in
the different rain-belts; not to mention the direct effect upon lines of
supplies bought or stolen from the retreating tribes—these are
interesting questions, but we must not expect much specific information
concerning them. The methods of hunting and fighting; of making weapons,
utensils, and implements; of dancing, singing, wooing, are all told by
early chroniclers with painstaking minuteness and detail, but the
products of the soil are noticed by them only in parenthetical phrases
or general observations. There is hardly a line yet found, relating to
the agricultural tools used, or the sort of ground chosen for
fields—absolutely nothing as to yield, and next to nothing concerning
the importance of these crops to the Indians themselves.
For a long time the Sauk and Foxes had their principal villages near the
Wisconsin River, at the east end of Sauk Prairie, just opposite the
northwest corner of Dane County. These Indians were somewhat above the
average of the tribes of this region in civilization; they lived in more
compact and larger settlements, hence naturally depended more on their
corn-fields than did their more nomadic neighbors to the west. Their
corn was planted along the edge of the woods which fringe the Wisconsin,
and this belt is choice corn-land to-day. Some small parts of it have
been kept in grass from the time of the earlier white settlement, and in
those places old Indian corn-hills may still be seen, the sod holding
them in shape. The Indian cultivated the growing corn by hoeing toward
the hill; and as this became the mellowest spot, the corn was planted
each succeeding year in the same little mound, which grew to be a foot
or more in height.
“There was a large settlement of Sauk at the lower end of Sauk Prairie.
I have often examined the remains of their tillage there, and should
suppose they raised corn in one lot of at least four hundred acres * * *
the four hundred acres is covered with well formed, regular
corn-hills.”[4] Just what this writer means by “regular” is not quite
clear—probably that the hills were of uniform size, and approximately
the same distance apart, for it does not appear that the Indians often
planted corn in rows, there being, with their mode of culture, very
little occasion for such methods.[5] The Indians of northern Michigan at
the present day generally care for their corn much as did their
ancestors of a century ago; and the few who attempt its cultivation with
a horse cultivator do not take the precaution to plant the corn in rows,
but run here and there wherever there happens to be sufficient room
between the hills.
Whether or not the Wisconsin Indians, like those of Ohio or New England,
girdled trees so as to rid the land of them, and leave it in a suitable
condition for cultivation by their rude and ineffective tools, is not
stated; but the probability is that little of such work was
necessary.[6] The field at Sauk Prairie just mentioned, lay along the
border of the woodland; and as the prairie was burned off nearly every
year, it is reasonable to suppose that the fire crept into the woods for
a greater or less distance, killing the trees and leaving a considerable
belt neither distinctively prairie nor woods. Naturally this would
become overgrown with weeds and saplings, which could be much more
easily eradicated than the heavy growth of trees or grass. The prairie
sod was altogether too tough to be subdued by the Indians, and nowhere
do we find them tilling any considerable area of genuine prairie soil.
There are one or two direct references to Indian fields within Dane
County. While stationed at Fort Crawford, Jefferson Davis visited this
section and left in his journal some remarks pertinent to our subject:
“While on detached service in the summer of 1829, I think I encamped one
night about the site of Madison. The nearest Indian village was on the
opposite side of the lake. * * * The Indians subsisted largely on Indian
corn and wild rice.”[7] Probably he referred to the place now known as
Winnequah, on the eastern shore of Lake Monona, where a few Indian
corn-hills are still discernable. The nature of the land here at the
time of the Indian occupancy, cannot now be estimated with the same
accuracy as in the case of the Sauk district. It is not on the edge of a
prairie; but from the condition of the present woods about Winnequah,
and the sandy nature of the soil, it is altogether likely that there
were sufficient open spots for all the corn-fields which the small
villages of Indians would be likely to cultivate.
Capt. Jonathan Carver, who made a trip through the northwest in 1766, in
speaking of the Winnebago Indians remarks: “The land adjacent to the
lake [Winnebago] is very fertile, abounding with grapes, plums, and
other fruits, which grow spontaneously. The Winnebagoes raise on it a
great quantity of Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes, and
watermelons, with some tobacco.”[8] Carver also gives an interesting
description of the kind of corn grown by the Indians. We should infer
from what little he says that it is very similar, although not
identical, with the corn raised by the New England Indians in the
seventeenth century: “One spike generally consists of about six hundred
grains which are placed closely together in rows to the number of eight
or ten, and sometimes twelve.”[9] He does not tell us whether or not it
is dented; but since he finds it maturing as far north as Lake
Winnebago, and especially as the ears are long and slender, it is safe
to infer that it was the hard flint variety known as “Yankee corn.” In
case the four hundred acres near Sauk Prairie produced such remarkably
large ears—averaging, we should judge, at least a foot in length, the
aggregate yield must have been very great. Reasoning from this, it is
easy to believe the various reports of discoveries of fifty thousand
bushels of corn in _cache_ by armies in the Ohio Valley, and to the
southward. However, the element of uncertainty is by no means a
negligible quantity, and the reader must draw his own conclusions as to
the probable amount of farm produce raised by the Wisconsin Indian.
For the most part, the practices and methods of these Indians resembled
those of the tribes farther east. The Sauk and Foxes were scattered up
and down the Wisconsin and Fox rivers; wherever found, they depended for
a living, in part, on the cultivated product of the soil.[10] In raising
a crop of corn, or other field products, the Indians had many
difficulties with which to contend, even more perplexing than those
connected with subduing the native soil. Perhaps the depredations of
blackbirds and crows were the worst; for as soon as other food began to
fail them in the fall, they pounced upon the corn, usually when it was
about in the milk or “roasting ear,” and wrought sad havoc. The Indians
were always inordinately fond of the tender, green corn, and this fact,
together with the danger of loss by birds or frost from leaving it out
until maturity, induced them to gather it early. They were familiar with
the fact that corn may be cured while yet in the green state, and still
be desirable food; this fact, as well as the method of storing, appears
in the following quotation:[11] “I observed several women with bags on
their heads and shoulders, appearing heavily laden, bent down and not
raising their faces from the path they were upon. I never saw
individuals contend more with a load that almost mastered them, than did
some of these females. Following them a short distance to a place where
they stopped, I found they were making a _cache_ of the ripe maize of
the season. A sort of cave had been hollowed out in the side of the
hill, about eight feet in diameter at the bottom, and not more than two
or three at the top. To this _cache_ the women were bringing the corn, a
distance of about three miles, and some very young girls were in the
cave storing it away. * * * The ears of maize are gathered and cured
whilst the corn is in the milk, and the bags when filled with it are
laid in the cave upon layers of dry grass, one layer above another. When
the cave is full, straw is put in and covered over with dry earth. They
cure the corn in the milk, because the blackbirds are numerous enough to
devour it all if it were left to ripen in the field.[12] From this it is
seen that the agricultural methods of Wisconsin Indians were not
different from those farther east and south—the women do the work; the
corn is gathered before fully ripe, and put in _caches_ for safe
keeping.
It would be hazardous to attempt any estimate of the quantity of corn
raised, even by any one tribe. The Sauk and Foxes appear to have
depended more on products of the soil than did their neighbors. The four
hundred acres raised near where Sauk City now stands, is good evidence
of a total product of no slight proportions, for these Indians had many
other villages scattered along the line of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers.
Speaking of these tribes as a whole, Worden remarks: “The Sacs and Foxes
raise corn, beans and melons, and derive a great part of their
subsistence from agriculture and gardening.”[13]
Indian improvidence is usually spoken of as though the red man had no
regard whatever for the morrow; but Pike credits the Osage with the
virtue of rigid economy in saving their corn and beans for seasons when
the chase is likely to fail in supplying the larder.[14] The same author
mentions the drying of pumpkins, for winter use, by the Indians of the
plains. In the same strain Father Allouez, who visited the Western
Indians in the early part of 1670, says of the Outagami: “These
savages * * * are settled in an excellent country,—the soil, which is
black there, yielding them Indian corn in abundance. They live by
hunting during the winter returning to their cabins towards its close,
and living there on Indian corn that they had hidden away the previous
Autumn; they season it with fish.”[15] Again, in speaking of the
Oumamis, [Miami], he mentions the fact that on the first of May they
still had corn which they offered him to eat; and of the Potawatomi,
that their land is “very good for Indian corn, of which they plant
fields, and to which they very willingly retire to avoid the famines
that are too common in these quarters.” These famines were usually the
result of drouth which, by drying up the forage plants, drove the big
game away to other sections,[16] leaving the poor Indians dependent on
fish and the grain in stock—the latter being, unhappily, seldom or never
found in quantities sufficient to tide over a famine of any
consequence.[17]
A traveller in 1669 makes this record on his visit to Green Bay: “I
found here only one village of different nations—Ousaki, Pouteouatami,
Outagami, Orenibigoutz (i. e. Ouinipegouk)—about six hundred
souls. * * * All these Nations have their fields of Indian corn,
squashes, beans, and tobacco.”[18]
In 1793, Robert Dickson wrote of the Indians near Portage: “At the Falls
of the Fox River there is a portage of three-quarters of a mile. The
Indians here raise Indian corn, squash, potatoes, melons, and cucumbers
in great abundance, and good tobacco. On the low lands by the river
great quantities of wild oats [rice] grow.”[19]
As a rule the Indian depended on corn and beans to support him during
his long excursions, whether in peace or war. In the account of the
capture of the Hall girls, which occurred about May, 1832, there is a
good side-light on the Indian commissariat: “When we halted, the Indians
having scalded some beans, and roasted some acorns, desired we should
eat. * * * On our arrival several squaws came to our assistance * * *
prepared a place for us to sit down, and presented us some parched corn,
some meal, and maple sugar, mixed, and desired us to eat. * * * In the
evening we were presented with a supper consisting of coffee, fried
cakes, boiled corn, and fried venison, with fried leeks. * * * When our
flour was exhausted we had coffee, meat, and pounded corn made into
soup.”[20] Later, it is mentioned that the Indians carried pork and
potatoes while on the march. The pork as well as the coffee was, of
course, obtained from the whites, but the potatoes, so-called, were
probably wild artichokes which Lapham found in use as food among the
Indians in what is now Brown County. In 1844 he found them using “a very
good kind of potato * * * the mode of preserving which was entirely new
to us. The potatoes, which are of an oblong shape, and not longer than a
man’s thumb are partially boiled, and carefully peeled while hot,
without breaking the pulp, and strung like so many beads upon a twine or
tough thread of bark and then hung in festoons on the ridge pole of the
wigwam, over the smoke of the fire, where they became thoroughly dry.
This process renders the potatoes fit for transportation and use during
the severest frosts without injury. The squaws take great interest in
preparing this article of food which is about the only vegetable they
cultivate.”[21] However, the Indians around Green Bay were by no means
restricted to one agricultural product, although contact with the white
men tended to make them more and more dependent, since they found it
easier to barter furs for food than to raise grain.
From the above citations, it appears that the cultivated fields of the
Indians occupied a diagonal line across the state, following the courses
of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers and Green Bay; and that the Sauk, Foxes,
and Winnebago were the most inclined, in the struggle for existence, to
make use of their agricultural knowledge and opportunities. It may also
be shown that there were some important cultivated areas along the
Mississippi and Rock rivers, and some insignificant patches near Lake
Michigan. The settlement of Black Hawk’s followers on the lower part of
the Rock, on the point between that river and the Mississippi is of
interest, and these were Wisconsin Indians, who had resumed their
agricultural labors in a new home.
Something of the skill of these people in choosing land on which to grow
corn, also an idea of the quantity grown, are furnished by Black Hawk in
his _Autobiography_: “In the front a prairie extended to the
Mississippi, and in our rear a continued bluff gently ascended from the
prairie. * * * On the side of this bluff we had our corn-fields,
extending about two miles up parallel with the larger river, where they
adjoined those of the Foxes, whose village was on the same stream
opposite the lower end of Rock Island and three miles distant from ours.
We had eight hundred acres in cultivation, including what we had on the
islands in Rock River. The land around our village which remained
unbroken, was covered with blue-grass which furnished excellent pasture
for our horses. * * * The land being very fertile never failed to
produce good crops of corn, beans, pumpkins, and squashes.”[22]
Black Hawk then goes on to state that, owing to encroachments of the
white settlers, his people had hard work to find sufficient land on
which to plant corn, and gives a sorrowful account of the distress
caused by the confiscation of their crops by the whites. Black Hawk does
not give any estimate of the area cultivated by the Foxes, but Col. John
Shaw, in speaking of both settlements, estimates the fields at five
thousand acres.[23] This is probably an exaggeration, but it serves its
purpose in giving some notion of the importance of agricultural industry
to the Indians themselves, and surely it was not inconsiderable. Anyone
wishing to estimate the amount of these products by the various tribes,
will find some data in the _Emigrant’s and Traveller’s Guide_, where a
fairly good estimate of the numbers of the several Indian tribes in 1834
appears.[24]
A great many more references could be given, emphasizing the reliance of
the red man on his rude husbandry; but perhaps enough has already been
said to make it plain that something is due him for taking the initial
step in the development of the great grain regions of the upper
Mississippi valley. Neither are we left wholly to deduce our conclusions
from circumstantial evidence. The early military expeditions of the West
and Northwest were for the most part dependent on supplies obtained from
the Indians.[25] The accounts of the Lewis and Clark expedition tell of
the dependence of the party on provisions furnished by the Indians, and
even so far north as the Mandan village they traded for Indian corn. At
Mackinac Island, a point hardly within the present corn belt, the
Indians raised a sufficient quantity of that cereal to attract the
attention of the British garrison as well as of various travellers. As
early as 1766 Jonathan Carver saw the importance of the agricultural
products of the Wisconsin Indians, and after enumerating the crops grown
by the “Saukies” before mentioned, speaks thus of the Sauk village:
“This place is esteemed the best market for traders to furnish
themselves with provisions, of any within eight hundred miles of it.”
Thus it is seen that the Indians, on their own account, furnished
provisions for their own war parties; for the English forays against
Americans and Spanish; for explorers like Marquette, Carver, and Lewis
and Clark, and the long list of later adventurers who came to spy out
the land and eventually to expel the tribesmen from their fields. The
traders who ranged the woods and rivers for a century before
civilization ruined their traffic, depended in a large measure on the
meagre stores of Indian corn and beans; while even the troops which
finally hunted the natives from their homes, filled their camp kettles
either from the _caches_ or the corn fields of the fugitives. Nor was
this all. The earliest settlers seized upon the little cultivated plots
as the most desirable ground for their own first plantings, and utilized
the native-grown seed, since it was known to be adapted to the soil and
climate. It is interesting to note that the two crops which the Indians
prized most highly, corn and tobacco, are at present two of the foremost
products of Wisconsin.
BENJAMIN HORACE HIBBARD, PH. D.
(Communicated by Wisconsin Historical Society.)
THE AUTHENTICITY OF CARVER’S “TRAVELS”
In his paper on “The Travels of Jonathan Carver,” read before the
American Historical Association in Chicago, December 29, 1904, Prof. E.
G. Bourne of Yale University, presented the results of an investigation
as to the originality and authenticity of the second part of this famous
book, which is devoted to giving a systematic account of the manners and
customs of the Indians in the Northwest, and of the animals and products
of the soil.
The Professor brought to light the fact that as early as 1792 Oliver
Wolcott, then Comptroller of the Treasury in Philadelphia, wrote the
geographer Jedidiah Morse, that he had been informed on good authority
that the book was written under very inauspicious circumstances; adding
that Carver was an ignorant man, incapable of writing such a work, and
that there was reason to believe it to be a compilation from other
authors.[26]
Next, he cited contemporaneous but entirely independent criticisms by
Schoolcraft in 1823,[27] and by Keating in 1824,[28] both of whom assert
that the author of the _Travels_ drew considerably from Lahontan. In
addition, Schoolcraft declared that material was also derived from
Charlevoix’s _Travels_. More detailed and more positive still, were the
assertions of Greenhow, the historian of Oregon, that the second part of
Carver’s _Travels_ was a compilation from Charlevoix, Hennepin, and
Lahontan.[29] Greenhow was familiar with Keating’s views, but apparently
not with Schoolcraft’s, whose _Memoirs_ were published in 1851, or with
Wolcott’s, whose letter first saw light in 1846. These early criticisms
appear to have escaped the notice of later writers who have written upon
Carver’s _Travels_, for neither Moses Coit Tyler, in his _History of
American Literature_, nor the authors of the articles on Carver in the
various cyclopædias, breathe any suspicion as to the authenticity of the
work.
In the second part of his paper, Professor Bourne gave the results of
his attempt to test the correctness of the assertions of Wolcott,
Schoolcraft, Keating, and Greenhow. He cited a few passages showing how
the author of the _Travels_, whoever he might be, drew from books
information which a genuine traveller would not think of going to books
for. For example, the description of the personal appearance of the
Indians was taken from Lahontan; of their keenness in detecting a trail,
from Charlevoix; of their game of lacrosse partly from Charlevoix and
partly from Adair’s _History of the American Indians_. The description
of the Indian sled (or toboggan), with which the real Carver must have
been perfectly familiar, is taken word for word from Charlevoix. Again,
the real Carver must have many times seen Indians scalp prisoners, for
he was a veteran of the French and Indian War, and one of the survivors
of the Fort William Henry massacre; but notwithstanding such presumable
personal observation, the author of Carver’s _Travels_ borrows word for
word Adair’s account of the process of scalping. The accounts of the
animals are largely from Charlevoix. “The short vocabulary of the
Chippeway Language” is almost entirely taken from Lahontan’s “Dictionary
of the Algonkin Language.” Some of the changes are pure blunders of
hasty transcription, which one familiar with the language, as Carver
pretended to be, could not have made; as, for example, where Carver
gives _Sheshikwee_ for “dart,” when Lahontan gives it as the name of a
particular kind of dance; or again, where Carver gives the word for
“heart” which Lahontan gave for “hart.”
Professor Bourne’s conclusion was, that the second and larger part of
Carver’s _Travels_ is not an original work, but a literary compilation,
like Sir John Mandeville’s _Travels_ or Benzoni’s _History of the New
World_; and that the first part was probably put together by the same
writer, from Carver’s notes or oral recollections. As to the extent or
reality of Carver’s journey up the St. Peter’s (or Minnesota) River,
Professor Bourne felt disposed to accept the view of Keating, who
apparently had studied the question very thoroughly on the ground, that
Carver had entered the river but did not ascend it as far as he
pretended.
OLD FORT GEORGE, ON THE BATTERY, NEW YORK CITY
On July 30, 1904, the contractors who were excavating for the Rapid
Transit tunnel in Battery Park, New York City, dug up at a point twenty
feet west of the center line of State street and eighty-seven feet north
of the center line of Bridge street, a small monumental stone of great
historical significance. This stone, which was two feet nine inches
below the surface of the ground, marked the site of the southwest
bastion of Old Fort George.
The great historical value of this monument was immediately appreciated
by the American Scenic and Historical Preservation Society and the New
York Historical Society, for it supplied the _datum_ for the exact
location of the boundaries of the old fort, which, under various names,
had occupied the site of the birthplace of the Metropolis.
The Secretary of the American Scenic and Historical Preservation Society
on August 1, wrote to Mayor McClellan, and President Orr of the Rapid
Transit Commission, requesting that the bearings of the exact site of
the monument be carefully taken, and that the stone be replaced above
ground on the same spot as soon as Battery Park was restored to its
normal condition. On August 12th, the Scenic Society’s letter was
formally approved by the Rapid Transit Board, and the acting chief
engineer was authorized to construct a proper pedestal for the monument
and restore it as soon as practicable.
The New York Historical Society, through whose instrumentality the stone
was originally erected in 1818, also manifested the liveliest interest
in the matter, and when the stone is replaced will probably hold formal
ceremonies.
The circumstances of the original erection of the monument are extremely
interesting:
Under date of June 10, 1817, Mr. John Pintard, Secretary of the New York
Chamber of Commerce, wrote to the New York Historical Society as
follows:
NEW YORK, _10th June, 1817_.
The subscriber, as Secretary of the Corporation of the New York
Chamber of Commerce (instituted 5th April, 1768), in reviewing the
minutes of that respectable Association, found the following
astronomical observations for determining the Latitude of the City of
New York made in October, 1769, by Mr. David Rittenhouse of
Philadelphia, and Captain John Montresor of the British Corps of
Engineers, at that period stationed in this City.
These observations, it is presumed, have never been published, and may
be considered of sufficient importance to be preserved in the archives
of the New York Historical Society.
JOHN PINTARD.
The accompanying extracts from the minutes of the Chamber of Commerce
were as follows:
NEW YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,
_7th November, 1769_.
At the desire of several members of the Chamber, they had requested
the President to apply to Messrs. David Rittenhouse and John Montresor
to take the Latitude of the Flag Bastion on Fort George in the City of
New York.
NEW YORK, _October 12th, 1769_.
At your request, in behalf of the Chamber of Commerce of the City of
New York, I have made the following observations with the Pennsylvania
sector of six feet radius on the Southwest Bastion in this city.
Zenith distance on the Meridian
of Capella
° ′ ″
Octr. 9th, morn 5 2 0½
10th, do 5 1 59
of Castor
° ′ ″
10th, morn 8 19 51
12th, do 8 19 51
Having carefully computed the Declinations of the above stars from
their latitudes as settled by Dr. Bradley, reduced to the present time
and corrected by the observation of light and variable motion of the
earth’s axis, I find, the Latitude of the place from the observations
of Capella to be 40° 42′ 9″ and from those of Castor 40° 42′ 7″, a
mean whereof is the Latitude of the Fort, 40° 42′ 8″.
I am sir, your very humb. servt.
DAVID RITTENHOUSE.
to John Cruger
President
of the Chamber of Commerce
Observations made at the Flag Bastion in Fort George in the City of
New York, principally with the sector belonging to the Province of
Pennsylvania, of six feet radius, by Messrs. David Rittenhouse and
John Montresor, Engineers, October, 1769.
Zenith Distance of Capella
October 9th 3h 50′ morn 5° 2′ 0½″
10th 3 46 do 5 1 59
Zenith Distance of Castor
October 10th 6h 6′ 8 19 51
12th 5 58 8 19 51
=== === ===
Declination of Capella 45 44 14
Zenith distance of Capella Refraction 5 2 5
——— ——— ———
Latitude 40 42 9
=== === ===
Declination of Castor 32 22 7
Zenith distance of Castor 8 19 51
Refraction 0 0 9
——— ——— ———
Latitude 40 42 7
=== === ===
The mean of the above observations ascertain the Latitude of Fort
George in 40° 42′ 8″.
I am, with respect
Sir, Your most Humb. Servt.
JOHN MONTRESOR.
John Cruger Esq.
President
of the Chamber of Commerce
of New York.
(End of extract of minutes.)
The Chamber of Commerce appropriated 20 pounds to pay Mr. Rittenhouse
for his services in the above matter.
In 1790,[30] Fort George was razed to the ground, part of the material
was used for filling in and enlarging Battery Park, the Government
Building was erected on part of the old fort site, and all trace of the
southwest bastion where the observations of Montresor and Rittenhouse
were made was lost.
The New York Historical Society, on June 10, 1817, therefore voted to
apply to the Corporation of the City to ascertain the site of the
bastion an which Messrs. Rittenhouse and Montresor made their
observations in 1769 and to erect a monument with suitable inscriptions
to mark the same. Messrs. John Pintard, Dr. John Griscom and Dr. Samuel
L. Mitchill were appointed a committee to prepare the memorial to the
Common Council and present it to that body. The memorial, dated June 16,
1817, recited the facts here given and said: “It is conceived by the
Historical Society that it is worthy the care of a cultivated and
enlightened people to ascertain and perpetuate by a monumental stone the
aforesaid site.” It also called attention to the fact that “Your
magnificent City Hall has been erected considerably to the northward of
the place where Fort George formerly stood,” and requested that its
latitude also be accurately determined and marked by a monument with
appropriate inscriptions.
On July 8, 1817, the New York Historical Society Committee reported to
the Society that the Committee of Arts and Sciences of the Common
Council, to whom their Memorial had been referred, had reported
favorably thereupon.
The report of the Common Council Committee, after reciting the facts of
the survey in 1769, proceeds as follows:
“The communication from the Historical Society having stated this fact
as taken from the minutes of the Chamber of Commerce, request that the
Corporation would endeavor to find the site of the Flag Bastion of Fort
George and erect on the spot a stone with an inscription stating the
latitude, when and by whom taken, and that a suitable person or persons
be employed to take the latitude of the City Hall and erect a stone in
front or near it with the latitude marked thereon which shall serve as a
monument or milliarium from which all distances shall be reckoned and
which will be considered the proper latitude of the place, being taken
from the largest and most elegant and permanent building in the City.
“Your Committee think that the subject of this communication is of great
importance and that so large and growing a city as New York, should not
longer remain without its latitude being accurately ascertained and that
a place of observation should be known and designated; wherefore they
recommend,
“1, That the Street Commissioner be directed to ascertain as nearly as
possible the site of the Southwest Bastion of Fort George and to erect
thereon a monumental stone on which shall be marked the latitude as
taken in 1769 and by whom;
“2, That a suitable person or persons be employed under the direction of
your committee to find the Latitude of the City Hall and to erect a
monumental stone near it with suitable inscriptions from which mileage
or distances from the city shall hereafter be computed.
“One other subject connected with the one before your committee, though
not in the petition under consideration, they beg to submit to the
Board. The City Surveyors frequently differ in their computations of
distances and direction in consequence sometimes of the different
variations of the magnetic needles used by them. If a place was fixed in
some elevated situation, (as the cupola of the City Hall, for instance)
from which some permanent object on Long Island or the Jersey Shore
could be observed, and the true direction ascertained, it might serve
the purpose of regulating surveys and in some measure of correcting
errors, as thereby the compasses of all surveyors might at any time be
adjusted. Wherefore your committee recommend the adoption of the
following resolution:
“Resolved, That the Street Commissioner be directed to ascertain if any
proper object can be seen from the Cupola of the City Hall which may be
fixed upon as a mark to ascertain the direction of the compass from the
said cupola; and that a stone slab be fixed somewhere on the top of the
Hall with marks thereon by which the true direction of the magnetic
needle of surveyors’ compasses may at all times be regulated and
adjusted.
“Respectfully submitted.
SAMUEL ACKERLY,
J. WARREN BRACKET,
THOMAS R. SMITH,
JOHN REMMEY,
ARTHUR BURTIS.”
The inscription originally drafted by the New York Historical Society
for the Fort George monument was as follows:
_To perpetuate
The site of the S. W. Bastion of
Fort George
The Latitude of Which, 40° 42′ 8″
was taken at the order of the N. Y. Chamber of Commerce[31]
by Capt. John Montresor and David Rittenhouse Esq.
In October, 1769
The Corporation of the City of New York
(at the request of the N. York Historical Society)
have erected
This Monument
A D 1817_
The monument was not erected until 1818, and the inscription actually
carved on it reads as follows:
_To perpetuate
The Site of the S. W. Bastion of
Fort George
In 40° 42′ 8″ N. Latitude
As observed by_
CAPT. JOHN MONTRESOR, AND DAVID RITTENHOUSE
_in October 1769.
The Corporation of the City of New York,
have erected
This monument
A. D. MDCCCXVIII._
NEW YORK CITY EDWARD HAGAMAN HALL
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
A WAR LETTER OF WALT WHITMAN
(_His opinion of President Lincoln_)
[The original letter dated Washington, March 19, 1863, is owned in New
York and is of exceptional interest, as written to two intimate
friends and revealing Whitman at his very best. He says it is the
longest he has ever written, and that he is “writing at night, while
taking care of the child of a friend who had gone to see Matilda Heron
in _Medea_.”]
* * * After describing his life in Washington, among the soldiers, he
refers thus to President Lincoln:
“Congress does not seize hard upon me ... much gab, great fear of public
opinion; plenty of low business talent, but no masterful man in Congress
(probably best so)—I THINK WELL OF THE PRESIDENT. He has a face like a
Hoosier Michael Angelo, so awful ugly it becomes beautiful, with its
strange mouth, its deep cut criss-cross lines, and its doughnut
complexion. My notion is, too, that underneath his outside smutched
manner, and stories from third-class country bar rooms (it is his
humor), Mr. Lincoln keeps a fountain of first class practical telling
wisdom. I do not dwell on the supposed failures of his government; he
has shown I sometimes think an almost supernatural tact in keeping the
ship afloat at all, with head steady, not only not going down and now
certain not to, but with proud and resolute spirit, and flag flying in
sight of the world, menacing and high as ever. I say never yet Captain,
never ruler, had such a perplexing dangerous task as his the past two
years. I more and more rely upon his idiomatic western genius, careless
of court dress or of court decorums....”
(_His hospital experiences are very interesting._)
“... These Hospitals, so different from all others—these thousands, and
ten and twenties of thousands of American young men, badly wounded ...
operated on, pallid with diarrhoea, languishing, dying with fever,
pneumonia, etc., open a new world somehow to me, giving closer
insights ... showing our humanity ... tried by terrible fearful tests,
probed deepest, the living souls, the body’s tragedies, bursting the
petty bonds of art. To these, what are your dreams and poems, even the
oldest and the tearfullest? Not old Greek mighty ones, where man
contends with fate (and always yields)—not Virgil showing Dante on and
on among the agonized and damned, approach what here I see and take a
part in. For here I see, not at intervals but quite always, how certain
man, our American man—how he holds himself cool and unquestioned master
above all pains and bloody mutilations.... This, then, what frightened
us all so long! Why it is put to flight with ignominy—a mere stuffed
scarecrow of the fields. O death where is thy sting? O grave where is
thy victory?...”
LETTER OF LINCOLN, DECLINING AN OFFER OF OFFICE
⁂ It is easy to see the great personal interest of such a letter as
this. It marks a period in Lincoln’s life, the importance of which can
hardly be over-estimated. In Morse’s _Life of Lincoln_, it is said that
upon the offer of the position, “controlled by the sensible advice of
his wife, he fortunately declined.”
Springfield, _Illinois_, _Sept. 27, 1849_.
“HON. J. M. CLAYTON
Secretary of State.
DEAR SIR
Your letter of the 17th inst. saying you had received no answer to
yours informing me of my appointment as Secretary of Oregon is
received and surprises me very much—I received that letter accompanied
by the commissions in due course of mail, and answered it two days
after, declining the office and warmly recommending Simeon Francis for
it. I have also written you several letters since, alluding to the
same matter all of which ought to have reached you before the date of
your last letter.
Your Obt. Servt.
“A. LINCOLN.”
SOCIETIES
THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The 100th anniversary of the founding of the Society was celebrated on
Tuesday evening, Nov. 22, 1904, by a banquet. The president announced
that Mr. Henry Dexter, a fellow member had presented to the Society the
sum of $150,000, and in addition the granite for the entire front of the
central portion of the new building, Central Park West, 76th–77th Sts. A
medal in bronze and silver has been struck to commemorate the founding
of the institution.
At an annual meeting (Jan. 3d, 1905), of the Society, the following
officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Samuel V.
Hoffman; first vice-president, Frederic W. Jackson; second
vice-president, Francis R. Schell; foreign corresponding secretary,
Archer M. Huntington; domestic corresponding secretary, George R.
Schieffelin; recording secretary, Acosta Nichols; treasurer, Charles A.
Sherman; librarian, Robert H. Kelby.
At a stated meeting held February 7th, Mr. A. Emerson Palmer, Secretary
of Board of Education, read a very interesting and instructive address
on “A Century of Public Schools in the City of New York,” with
stereopticon illustrations.
The Society resolved to take measures to celebrate in 1909 the
ter-centenary of the discovery of this part of North America by Henry
Hudson, the 200th anniversary of that event having been celebrated by
the Society on September 4th, 1809.
RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
At the annual meeting Jan. 10, Ex-Chief Justice Stiness paid a glowing
tribute to the character and ability of the late Judge Horatio Rogers,
formerly President of the Society. Prof. Albert Harkness of Brown
University, the present president delivered a valuable address on “Some
Phases in the Development of History.” The librarian, Mr. Brigham, in
the course of his report on the accessions to the library during 1904,
made this remark, which may be commended to the attention of those who
have accumulations of such material which seem to them only fit to be
burnt, as occupying space, and not even worth offering for the
acceptance of any library of reference: “In many cases these gifts have
been made with the apology that they were too trivial, and hardly worth
the acceptance. But it is the ephemeral pamphlet and the unimportant
report that is likely to be asked for by the next generation, just as we
to-day are searching, too often in vain, for the transitory publication
of a half century ago.”
NOTES AND QUERIES
CAMPBELL—Can any reader give particulars of Lieut.-Col. Donald Campbell
of the Revolutionary Army? All I find about him is that he held a staff
appointment until 1782.
W. A.
* * * * *
FLAGS—Are any of the flags carried by our Revolutionary forces still
preserved (except the one of the Washington Light Infantry of South
Carolina).
_Cleveland, O._ R. E. B.
* * * * *
BAND INSTRUMENTS DURING THE REVOLUTION—There were some of Washington’s
regiments which had bands of music—Col. Proctor’s Pennsylvania artillery
regiment for one, and the Third New York infantry another. I remember
seeing a statement, somewhere, years ago, that the band instruments of
the latter were deposited in some public building at Poughkeepsie, N.
Y., after the Revolution. Where are they now—and are those of Proctor’s
regiment also preserved, and where?
_Chicago._ H. AUSTIN.
* * * * *
MATTHIAS OGDEN—Is there any portrait of Matthias Ogden, brother of
Aaron, extant?
NEW JERSEY.
MINOR TOPICS
THE DEATH OF WALTER N. BUTLER
Mrs. Mary (Mower) Baldwin, who died in Oneida County, N. Y., Dec. 10,
1904, was a daughter of Peter Mower, a Revolutionary soldier. His
brother George, was one of the party of patriots who with several
Indians, pursued the notorious Tory and killed him at the ford of West
Canada Creek, Oct. 30, 1781.
History has always credited the fatal shot to an unnamed Oneida Indian,
but Mrs. Baldwin in whose family it was a tradition, always declared
that it was fired by her uncle George, the only white man who had kept
up so far with the Indians. Butler after crossing the ford in safety,
dismounted from his horse; Mower, recognizing him by his uniform—the
notorious “Butler’s Rangers”—fired and killed him.—_American Monthly
Magazine_, February.
GENEALOGICAL
All communications for this department (including genealogical
publications for review) should be sent to William Prescott Greenlaw,
address: Sudbury, Mass., from April to November, inclusive;
Commonwealth Hotel, Bowdoin St, Boston, Mass., from December to March,
inclusive.
[A limited number of queries will be inserted for subscribers free; to
all others a charge of one cent per word (payable in stamps) will be
made.]
8. _a._ PALFREY—Wanted, the maiden name of the wife of Peter Palfrey who
came to Salem, Mass., about 1626, was made freeman 1630 and settled in
Reading.
_b._ FRARY—Wanted, the maiden name of the wife of John Frary who settled
in Dedham, Mass., about 1638.
_c._ LILLIE—Wanted, the parentage of David Lillie who is said to have
been born in Lebanon, Ct., Oct. 27, 1742, and married Huldah Blodgett in
1756 at Stafford, Ct.
_d._ ADAMS—Wanted, the maiden name of the first wife of Robert Adams who
settled in Newbury, Mass., and died there Oct. 12, 1682.
_e._ PEASE—Wanted, the maiden name of the wife of Robert Pease who came
to Salem, Mass., in 1634 and died there in 1644.
_f._ SEYMOUR—Wanted, the maiden name of the wife of Richard Seymour who
died in Norwalk, Ct., Nov. 25, 1655.
_g._ WOODRUFF—Wanted, the maiden name of the wife of Matthew Woodruff
who died at Farmington, Ct., in 1682.
_h._ CARTER—Wanted, the maiden name of the first wife of Capt. John
Carter of Woburn, who died there Sept. 14, 1692.
_i._ PRESCOTT—Wanted, proofs of the ancestry of John Prescott of
Lancaster, Mass., who died there in 1681.
M. 1.
9. _a._ MULLINS—Wanted, a complete list of the children of William and
Alice Mullins who came to Plymouth on the Mayflower, 1620.
_b._ MULLINS—Wanted, a complete list of the children of William Mullins,
Jr., whose daughter, Sarah, m. Gannett, Savil and Faxon.
_c._ MULLINS—Who was the William Mullins who married May 7, 1656, Ann,
widow of Thomas Bell, in Boston?
_d._ MULLINS—Did Ruth, daughter of William and Alice Mullins, who was
baptized at Dorking, England, 1619, marry and leave descendants?
_e._ ALDEN—Did Thomas Delano marry Rebecca Alden, daughter of John and
Priscilla? If not, is there any positive evidence as to the given name
of the daughter he did marry?
_f._ ALDEN—Wanted, a complete list of the children of John Alden, and
the order of their births.
S. 3.
10. _a._ TURNER—Whom did the daughter of John Turner, who came in the
Mayflower, marry and did she leave any children? Bradford says she was
living in Salem about 1650.
B. 2.
FARRAR FAMILY MEMORANDA.
Thomas Farrar, of Lynn, 1639, had wife, Elizabeth; children, Thomas,
Sarah, Hannah, Susanna, Peleg, Mehitable and Elizabeth. His wife died 8
Jan., 1681, and he d. 23 Feb., 1694. (_Savage’s Gen. Dict._)
Thomas Farrar of Lynn, aged above 50 in 1699. (N. E. Hist, and Gen.
Register, vol. 6, p. 253.)
1645. “2. (11) A tre Atturney gener^{ll} for debts rents landes from
Tho: ffarrar of Boston husbandman (son of Thomas ffarrar of or neere
Burnley in Lan^{ce} husbandman) unto Henry Farrar his brother Mariner,
wth power to sett lett Lease or make sale of any such house or lands
to him due by inheritance gift or otherwise. witnes Joseph Wilson.”
(Aspinwall’s Notarial Records, p. 18.)
Extracts from the Registers of the Parish Church of Burnley in the
County of Lancaster, England.
MARRIAGES.
Edward ffarrer and Jenett Willsone 9 August 1567.
Henrie ffarrar and Jenet Jacksonn 20 May 1610.
Henry Shore and Agnes ffarrar 12 ffebruarie 1614–15.
Henrie ffarrar and Alice Thomas 13 October 1623.
William Roberte and Anne ffarrer 27 October 1636.
Isaack ffarrar and Dinah Woodhead 18 July 1643.
BAPTISMS.
John son of John ffarrer 30 January 1581–2.
Roberte son of John ffarrer 24 April 1584.
Anne dau. John ffarrer 17 September 1586.
Marie dau. John ffarrer 4 August 1588.
* * * * *
Anne dau. of Anthonie ffarer 20 May 1592.
Henry base son of Anthonie ffarer 19 May 1594.
* * * * *
Susan dau. of Henry ffarrer 28 Marche 1611.
Robert son of Henry ffarrar of Worsthorne 27 September 1618.
Marie dau. of Henrie ffarrar 10 October 1624.
Jenet dau. of Henrie ffarrar 11 November 1627.
Daurathie dau. of Henrie ffarrar 11 December 1631.
Margret dau. of Henrie ffarrar 20 April 1634.
* * * * *
Elizabeth dau. of Thomas ffarrar 14 April 1612.
Thomas son of Thomas ffarrar 29 Januarie 1614–15.
Anne dau. of Thomas ffarrar 29 Marche 1618.
Henry son of Thomas ffarrar 7 October 1621.
BURIALS.
A child of Anthony ffarrer 30 April 1591.
Anthonie ffarrer 10 June 1597.
* * * * *
Uxor Edward ffarrer 10 July 1597.
Edward ffarrer 21 Auguste 1597.
* * * * *
Uxor John ffarrer 9 October 1596.
John ffarrer 4 October 1597.
A child of Adam ffarrer 5 September 1597.
* * * * *
Uxor Henrie ffarrar of Worsthorne 3 September 1627.
Henrie ffarrar of Worsthorne 24 October 1633.
* * * * *
Daurathie dau. of Henrie ffarrar 17 Marche 1632–3.
A child of Henry ffarrer 1 ffebruarie 1635–6.
* * * * *
A childe of Thomas ffarrer 9 Januarie 1603–4.
A child of Thomas ffarrer of Pendle 23 December 1604.
A child of Thomas ffarrer 7 Aprill 1606.
A child of Thomas ffarrer 9 November 1608.
A child of Thomas ffarrer 20 December 1609.
A child of Thomas ffarrer 14 Marche 1610–11.
Uxor of Thomas ffarrer 19 Marche 1610–11.
John son of Thomas ffarrar 6 Marche 1630–31.
* * * * *
Anne dau. of Thomas ffarrar of Saxifield 23 March 1649–50.
Athellred uxor Thomas ffarrar of Saxifield 30 March 1650.
DEXTER GENEALOGY 1642–1904 BEING A HISTORY OF THE DESCENDANTS OF
RICHARD DEXTER OF MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS, FROM THE NOTES OF JOHN
HAVEN DEXTER AND ORIGINAL RESEARCHES. By ORRANDO PERRY DEXTER, M.
A., Oxon. Arranged by HENRY L. MILLS. Press of J. J. LITTLE & CO.,
Astor Place, New York, 1904. 12mo. pp. 279. Ill.
Richard Dexter came from Ireland, and belonged to a family which from
the beginning of the twelfth century has been prominent in Irish
history. The genealogy, therefore, is prefaced by a chapter on “Early
Irish Records Relating to the Dexter Family.” Mr. Mills has well
performed the labor of arranging the materials which came into his
hands, the authorities for the statements in them being indicated in a
table of references made by Orrando Perry Dexter. The good index, the
convenient size of the book, its letterpress and binding, are all
mentionable points. The illustrations are two in number, one being a
coat of arms in color. ***
* * * * *
THE CHURCHILL FAMILY IN AMERICA. COMPILERS: GARDNER ASAPH CHURCHILL,
NATHANIEL WILEY CHURCHILL. Editor and Associate Compiler: REV.
GEORGE M. BODGE. Published by the family of GARDNER A. CHURCHILL.
Boston, 1904. Large 8vo. pp. xv + 707. Ill.
The Plymouth branch, the Connecticut branch, and the Manhattan branch
of the Churchill family constitute the three divisions of this work,
followed by an appendix of names unconnected with the above lines, and
preceded by Mr. Bodge’s preface which concludes with “The Churchill
Family in England.” Mr. Bodge explains that, owing to the death of the
compilers, the task of preparing their collections for the press was
left to him, a labor which, as would be expected, he has ably
performed. The plan on which the genealogy is arranged is that of the
New England Historic Genealogical Society, in its organ, the
“Register,” by means of which the immense mass of notes and
correspondence entrusted to Mr. Bodge have assumed the lucid order
which alone renders a genealogy serviceable. There is a most carefully
prepared index of nearly ninety pages. The illustrations are fine,
chiefly portraits. The book is printed on good paper and bound in
black cloth.
* * * * *
GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES OF THE WOODBURY FAMILY, ITS INTERMARRIAGES AND
CONNECTIONS. By CHARLES LEVI WOODBURY. Edited by his sister, E. C.
D. O. WOODBURY, Manchester, N. H.: Printed by the JOHN B. CLARKE
CO., 1904. Square 4to. pp. 251. Ill.
The sketches are introduced by a memoir of Judge Woodbury, the
compiler. The genealogical value of the work is apparent from the fact
that, beside the Woodbury pedigree, it includes those of such families
as the Quincys, the Palgraves, the Wendells, the Clapps, the De Kays,
the Willetts, the Perkinses, and others. Though left unfinished and
inaccessible at Judge Woodbury’s death, the sketches are nevertheless
presented here in a nearly completed form, though it has been found
impossible to fill omissions occasioned by the loss of some of the
original papers. The mental energy, the skill and the humor
characteristic of the compiler will be recognized in these pages,
which, though not intended for the public, will be attractive to many
outside of the readers for whom they were designed. Paper, print and
binding are good. There is no index. ***
REPLIES.
3. _a._ MAVERICK—There is no absolute proof that Moses Maverick was son
of Rev. John and brother of Samuel, but the editor of this department (a
descendant of Moses) is satisfied that Rev. John Maverick was father of
Moses, Samuel, Antipas and Silas, notwithstanding what Palfrey and
Savage wrote to the contrary.
A thorough examination of the whole matter has brought to light no
evidence which contradicts the statement of John Josselyn, who was a
guest of Samuel Maverick several days in July, 1638, that Mr.
Maverick, the minister, was father of Samuel, the commissioner
(Josselyn’s Two Voyages, 1865 edition, pages 13, 20 and 190); nor of
the statement of Col. Cartwright in 1665 that Mr. Samuel Maverick had
mother, wife, children and brothers living in Massachusetts at that
date. (N. E. H. and G. Register, vol. 48, p. 207).
There is no record of the death of the widow of Rev. John Maverick,
and I have no doubt that she was the mother of Samuel Maverick and
lived with him during her widowhood. A point worth noticing in this
connection is that Samuel Maverick in writing to a man who lived near
where Rev. John Maverick had lived after his marriage in England, says
that his mother “presents her humble service.”
The direct evidence of Josselyn and Cartwright both of whom had ample
opportunity by association with Samuel Maverick to learn about the
family, is not disqualified by the unsupported opinion of these two
eminent historical scholars.—EDITOR.
BOOK NOTICES
A HISTORY SYLLABUS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS. Published by D. C. Heath &
Co., Boston, Mass., 1904. $1.20 net.
This Syllabus consists of four outlines in History. (1) Ancient History
(the major portion Greek and Roman), (2) Mediæval and Modern European
History, (3) English History, and (4) American History and Government.
General suggestion to teachers in regard to the method and use of the
outlines and useful bibliographies furnish helpful and necessary data
for the school work of preparation and recitation.
The primary object of the syllabus is to provide definite and practical
material in training pupils to meet the college entrance requirements.
Those schools, also, which do not prepare their pupils to pass college
examinations will find the book useful.
The syllabus is wisely not intended for boys and girls of thirteen years
of age. Pure narration is best for them at this age, as the living voice
serves to arouse interest and to furnish a stimulus for the sterner work
of wide and varied reading.
Grave, but not unsurmountable difficulties, will arise in the actual
working out of this syllabus from the inadequate preparation of the
teacher and from the failure to provide the student always with the
books for reading.
Yet these difficulties ought to be overcome, since the slavish method of
simply hearing the recitation from the text-book must give way to the
more comprehensive method of reading many writers.
As these outlines have been prepared by able university professors and
successful secondary school teachers, they are the product of careful
planning and actual experience.
F. C. H.
BOOKS WANTED
Wants Inserted for 10 Cents Per Line. Ten Lines Free to Each Subscriber.
Limited to Americana.
LIBRARIAN, 18 SOMERSET STREET, BOSTON, MASS.
A Patent for Plymouth In New England. To which is annexed, extracts from
the Records of that Colony, etc., etc. Boston; New England: Printed by
John Draper, 1761. 22 pages.
An Hour with the Pilgrim Fathers and their Precursors. By Benj. Scott.
Second edition. London. 1869.
The Pilgrim Fathers neither Puritans nor Persecutors. By Benj. Scott.
London. 1864.
Mayflower Essays on the Story of the Pilgrim Fathers. Blaxland. London.
1896.
A Declaration of the Warrantable Grounds and Proceedings of the First
Association of the Government of New Plymouth In their Laying the First
Foundation of this Government, and in their Making Laws, and Disposing
of the Lands within the same. Together With the General Fundamentals of
their Laws, Enacted, Ordained, and Constituted, by the Authority of the
Associates of the Colony of New Plymouth. Boston. Printed and sold at
Greenleaf’s Printing-Office, in Hanover-Street. M.DCC, LXXIII.
The Pilgrim Fathers. A lecture by R. W. Dale, M. A. London. 1854.
Waddington’s Life of John Penry.
The Pilgrim Fathers in Holland. By William C. Winslow, LL.D Boston.
1891.
The History of The Primitive Yankees or The Pilgrim Fathers in England
and Holland. By William Macon Coleman. Washington. 1881.
The Illustrated Pilgrim Memorial. Boston. 1886.
Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections. Second Series, vols. 9 and 10. Fourth
Series, vol. 1. Sixth Series, vol. 10. Seventh Series, vols. 1, 2, 3 and
4.
Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, First Series, vols. Second Series, vols.
Morton’s New England’s Memorial. Boston. 1721, and Newport. 1772.
Chapman’s Bulkeley Genealogy. 1875.
Raymond’s Raymond Genealogy. 1886.
Burnham’s Burnham Genealogy, 1869 or later edition containing the
Ipswich families.
Copyright, 1905, by William Abbatt
ARNOLD’S EXPEDITION TO QUEBEC
By the late JOHN CODMAN, 2D
Extra-Illustrated Edition. Two Maps, and Notes. Edited by William
Abbatt.
200 copies at $7.50 net. Cloth, gilt top.
50 copies on hand-made paper. Boards, gilt top. $15.00.
Postage, 30 cents extra on each.
Among the historical books of 1901, I know none more interesting or
valuable than Mr. CODMAN’S, and it is greatly to be regretted that he
did not live to witness its deserved success.
Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL (author of _The Crisis_) says: “This book richly
deserves the prominent notice given it (by a leading literary journal).
It revives a most important and glorious episode in the history of this
country, and every American will be the better for reading of the heroic
struggles of Arnold’s men across the wilderness. It is a book which
seems essential to every library.”
But the author failed to fully recognize his opportunity for
illustrating the story, giving portraits of only four of the twenty or
more officers of the expedition.
In my edition I insert _thirteen additional portraits, several of which
have never appeared before, and nine other illustrations_.
The biographical notices of the original have been extended wherever
possible. These various improvements add much value to the original
work, not only to the bibliophile but to the general reader.
The expedition to Quebec, through the trackless wilderness of Maine, is
easily the most dramatic episode of the Revolution. It was led by one
who was destined to a brilliant career as a soldier, and a disgraceful
end as a traitor to his country. But for two events it would have been
completely successful, and the whole history of our Revolution changed
thereby—the territory of the original thirteen Colonies being augmented
by the vast domain now comprehended under the general name of British
America, and our country thus extending from the shores of the Arctic
Ocean to the Rio Grande.
These two incidents were, first: the month-late start of the expedition,
because of which the terrible flood in the Dead River, with the
resultant hardships, was encountered by those whom one of their number,
many years later, justly termed “that band of Heroes”—and, second: the
wound which disabled Arnold himself when, during the desperate attack on
Quebec, his inspiring presence and wonderful leadership were most needed
by his men.
Mr. Codman’s book is the only modern account of this important “prologue
of the Revolution,” as it has been styled by another author. No full
understanding of the importance of Arnold’s enterprise and the heroism
of his men is possible without having read it. Its terse diction and
graphic style make it most interesting reading, and the numerous
illustrations (most of them made expressly for it) add greatly to its
value.
Sample pages will be sent free on request. Address the MAGAZINE of
HISTORY, 281 Fourth Ave., N. Y.
ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR 1905
I expect to publish within the coming twelve months several interesting
items of Americana, viz:
I.—THE HISTORY OF THE SECOND COMPANY, GOVERNOR’S FOOT-GUARD of the
State of Connecticut; by Jason Thomson, Esq., of the New Haven Bar
(a member of the Company). This was originally issued as a pamphlet,
but has long been out of print. The Company is the third oldest
military organization in the United States, beginning its history
with service in the Revolution when Benedict Arnold, its first
captain, took the Colony powder by force from the hesitant Selectmen
of New Haven, and marched to Cambridge, accompanied by Israel
Putnam, to join the patriot forces there. It has since served in the
War of 1812, the War of the Rebellion, and the Spanish-Cuban War.
The history of such an organization is obviously well worth
preserving and enlarging by illustrations, as I have done. It will
contain:
1. A rare plate of Benedict Arnold, in uniform, as he appeared before
_Quebec_.
2. A colored plate, showing the present uniform of the Company.
3. A most interesting reproduction of a document of unique
interest—the original manuscript petition to the Assembly of
Connecticut, praying for the incorporation of the Company. This is
signed by all the original members of the Company, including Arnold
and his brother-in-law, Pierpont Edwards, who afterwards, by the irony
of Fate, became the executor of his estate, at the discovery of his
treason.
The original is owned by the New Haven Colony Historical Society, and
will be reproduced, not by engraving, but by an actual
photograph—folding to fit the size of the page. The edition will be
limited to 250 copies, of which 248 will be for sale.
200 will be octavo (6 × 9) gilt top, bound in cloth. $3.00.
50 will be large paper, bound in boards, 8 × 11, untrimmed edges, gilt
top, special paper. $5.00.
_Postage extra on each._
The printing will be from type, distributed as soon as the work has
been done, and this edition will never be duplicated.
II.—THE POEMS OF EDWARD COATE PINKNEY. With a biographical sketch of
of the poet, by Eugene L. Didier, author of a “Life of Edgar A.
Poe,” “Life of Madame Bonaparte,” etc. The original edition of these
poems is now one of the rarest items of Americana. It was published
in 1825, and won the admiration of the chief American critics, Poe
among them, who pronounced Pinkney to be “the first of American
lyrists,” and his poem, “_A Health_,” (of which I give two verses
herewith) “especially beautiful—full of spirit and brilliancy.”
A HEALTH
I fill this cup to one made up of loveliness alone,
A woman, of her gentle sex the seeming paragon;
To whom the better elements and kindly stars have given
A form so fair that, like the air, ’tis less of earth than heaven.
Her every tone is music’s own, like those of morning birds,
And something more than melody dwells ever in her words;
The coinage of her heart are they, and from her lips each flows
As one may see the burthened bee forth issue from the rose.
Only Pinkney’s untimely death—before he was twenty-five—prevented his
becoming one of the foremost poets of our country. The _North American
Review_, then the highest literary authority in the country, said: “If
the name of Thomas Carew or Sir John Harrington had been attached to
these poems, we should, in all probability, like others, have been
completely taken in.” Another critic declared: “Some of his poems are
not surpassed by any similar productions in the English language.” I
risk nothing in saying that Pinkney’s readers of 1905 will re-echo these
praises—and I trust all who have heretofore sustained me in my
historical publications will give as hearty support to this, my first
effort in the field of American poetry. The edition will consist of 250
copies, of which 200 will be in octavo (6 × 9) form, gilt top, uncut
edges, at $3.00.
50 copies, on special paper, large paper (8 × 11). $5.00.
_Postage extra on each._
EACH STYLE WILL HAVE A PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR, from an authentic
original.
III.—ADVENTURES IN THE WILDS OF AMERICA AND THE BRITISH-AMERICAN
PROVINCES. By Charles Lanman, author of _A Dictionary of Congress_,
_The Private Life of Daniel Webster_, etc., etc. With an Appendix by
Lieut. Campbell Hardy, Royal Artillery.
2 vols., octavo. 500 pp. each. Illustrated. Portrait, and memoir of
the author by William Abbatt. Price $10.00.
Large paper (8 × 11) 3 vols. (consecutive paging), special fine paper.
Only 15 copies. $20.00.
Originally published in 1857, this most valuable and interesting work
has long been out of print and scarce, and hence not known to the
present day as its merits deserve.
While other books on similar subjects have been issued since, I think
none of them—or all combined—equal this, as a record not alone of
sport, but of travel, description of scenery, literature and legend
(for the author has recorded many most beautiful Indian legends). The
range of his journeys was from Florida to Labrador, and from the
Atlantic to the present St. Paul and Minneapolis. His style needs no
encomium from me. I prefer to quote from letters to him from
WASHINGTON IRVING and EDWARD EVERETT:
MY DEAR SIR:
I am glad to learn that you intend to publish your narrative and
descriptive writings, in a collected form. I have read parts of them
as they were published separately, and the great pleasure derived from
the perusal makes me desirous of having the whole in my possession.
They carry us into the fastnesses of our mountains, the depth of our
forests, the watery wilderness of our lakes and rivers, giving us
pictures of savage life and savage tribes, Indian legends, fishing and
hunting anecdotes, the adventures of trappers and backwoodsmen; our
whole arcanum, in short, of indigenous poetry and romance: to use a
favorite phrase of the old discoverers, “they lay open the secrets of
the country to us.”
I return you thanks for the delightful entertainment which your Summer
rambles have afforded me. I do not see that I have any literary advice
to give you, excepting to keep on as you have begun. You seem to have
the happy, enjoyable humor of old Izaak Walton, and I trust you will
give us still further scenes and adventures on our great internal
waters, depicted with the freshness and skill of your present volumes.
With the best wishes for your further success, I am
Very truly, your obliged
WASHINGTON IRVING.
EDWARD EVERETT wrote:
I fully concur with the opinions expressed by Mr. Irving on the
subject of a collective edition of your narrative and descriptive
writings. While I am not familiar with all of them, from those which I
have read and from his emphatic and discriminating commendation, I am
confident the series would be welcomed by a large class of readers.
You have explored nooks in our scenery seldom visited, and described
forms of life and manners of which the greater portion of our busy
population are entirely ignorant.
Wishing you every success, I am
Very truly yours,
EDWARD EVERETT.
A selection of a few of Mr. Lanman’s chapters will give a slight idea
of the variety of his book:
Legends of the Illinois—Lake Winnipeg—Fish of the Upper
Mississippi—Down the St. Lawrence—The Saguenay River—The Hermit of
Aroostook—The Falls of Tallulah—The Valley of Virginia—The Cheat River
Country—Tombigbee and Black Warrior Rivers—Accomac—A Week in a Fishing
Smack—A Virgina Barbecue—Esquimaux of Labrador—The Western Pioneer.
IV.—GARDEN’S ANECDOTES OF THE REVOLUTION (both series). The author,
Alexander Garden, was Major in Lee’s Legion—and his work is one of
the best on its theme. The first volume was published at Charleston,
in 1822; the second in 1824. Each is scarce and valuable, the second
particularly so. I propose revising the text, to eliminate errors,
and to issue my edition in two octavo volumes (6 × 9) with a number
of illustrations, including one or more of the author, and one each
of the brothers Pinckney (not heretofore published), and a number of
landscapes.
The edition will be limited to 200 copies (6 × 9) and 50, large paper
(8 × 11)—the former in cloth, gilt top, with paper label; the latter
in charcoal boards, gilt top, and untrimmed edges. The prices will be
$10.00 and $15.00 respectively.
N. B.—All these works will be printed in large type (Small Pica, same
as this line) on fine paper, well bound and produced in the general
style of my other publications. Address, William Abbatt, 281 Fourth
Ave., N. Y.
SUBSCRIPTION FORM
_TO_ WILLIAM ABBATT
281 FOURTH AVE., NEW YORK
I HEREBY SUBSCRIBE FOR:—
I. The Governor’s Foot Guard
_____Copies, ordinary form_
_____Copies, large paper_
II. The Poems of Edward Coate Pinkney
_____Copies, ordinary form_
_____Copies, large paper_
III. Adventures in the Wilds of America, _by Lanman_ (_3 Volumes_)
_____Copies, ordinary form_
_____Copies, large paper_
IV. Garden’s Anecdotes of the Revolution (_The two series in one
volume_)
_____Copies, ordinary form_
_____Copies, large paper_
_Name_________________________________
_Address_________________________________
_Date_________________________________
-----
Footnote 1:
A bronze tablet has been placed to commemorate the encounter—since
this paper was written—in John Street at the corner of William.
Footnote 2:
This has reference to a difficulty which seems to have existed in
getting the New England troops, at this stage of the war, to realize
the necessity for special cleanliness about their quarters.
Footnote 3:
Winooski is the modern spelling.
Footnote 4:
Wisconsin State Agricultural Society _Transactions_, i. p. 125.
Footnote 5:
“At every step they dig a round hole in which they sow nine or ten
grains of maize which they have first carefully selected and soaked
for some days in water.”—Carr, _Indian Mounds of the Mississippi
Valley_, p. 15.
Footnote 6:
“In the fall of 1814 the late Col. Dickson was stopped here [Lake
Winnebago] by the ice and compelled to remain during the Winter. * * *
He cleared the land, now cultivated by the Indians.”—Journal of Mrs.
James D. Doty, in _Wis. Hist. Colls._ x, p. 114.
Footnote 7:
_Wis. Hist. Colls._, x, p. 75.
Footnote 8:
_Travels in North America_, p. 37.
Footnote 9:
_Ibid._, p. 521.
Footnote 10:
See Coues, _Pike’s Expeditions_ (N. Y., 1895), pp. 294–303; also brief
mention in the Reedsburg _Free Press_, July 23, 1874.
Footnote 11:
G. W. Featherstonhaugh, _Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor_, p. 350.
Footnote 12:
In Chas. W. Burkett, _History of Ohio Agriculture_, (Concord, 1900),
the point is made that the Indians unconsciously practiced a careful
system of selection by taking the best and earliest corn each year for
seed. This seems reasonable, but Professor Burkett does not give his
authority for the statement.
Footnote 13:
Worden, _United States_, ii, p. 539.
Footnote 14:
Coues, _Pike’s Expeditions_, p. 532.
Footnote 15:
Thwaites, _Jesuit Relations_ (Cleveland, 1896–1901), liv, p. 223.
Footnote 16:
_Wis. Hist. Colls._, xii, p. 139.
Footnote 17:
Many incidental references to the sorry plight of the Wisconsin
Indians in times when game was scarce may be found in the _Wis. Hist.
Colls._, especially in the Grignon and Dickson papers, xi, pp.
271–315.
Footnote 18:
_Jesuit Relations_, liv, pp. 205, 207.
Footnote 19:
_Wis. Hist. Colls._, xii, pp. 134, 135.
Footnote 20:
Smith, _Wisconsin_, iii, pp. 189–195.
Footnote 21:
Lapham, _Wisconsin_, p. 116. Although Lapham was a scientist he does
not venture to give the botanical name of this plant, which was
evidently a puzzle to him.
Footnote 22:
_Autobiography of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, or Black Hawk_ (St.
Louis, 1882), pp. 57, 58.
Footnote 23:
_Wis. Hist. Colls._, x, p. 220.
Footnote 24:
Tanner, _View of the Valley of the Mississippi or the Emigrant’s and
Traveller’s Guide to the West_ (Philadelphia, 1834).
Footnote 25:
In a letter to Brehm, Governor Sinclair speaks of sending a sloop
through the lake region in the fall of 1779 to collect all the grain
and other provisions available, to be used in the campaign against St.
Louis the following spring. In others of the Haldimand papers are
direct statements to the effect that the provisions for the St. Louis
expedition were to be gathered principally from the Indians along
Wisconsin River, where corn was said to be abundant, and as a matter
of fact this plan appears to have been carried out.—_Wis. Hist.
Colls._, xi, pp. 141–184.
Footnote 26:
Gibbs, _Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and Adams_ (New
York, 1846), i, p. 76.
Footnote 27:
Schoolcraft, _Personal Memoirs_ (Philadelphia, 1851), p. 196.
Footnote 28:
Keating, _History of Long’s Expedition_ (Philadelphia, 1824), i, pp.
325, 326.
Footnote 29:
Greenhow, _History of Oregon_ (Boston, 1845), pp. 142, 144.
Footnote 30:
There have been many obscure statements concerning the date of the
obliteration of Fort George. The act authorizing its removal was
passed March 16, 1700, and Mrs. Lamb and others are in error in giving
an earlier date.
Footnote 31:
In the original manuscript draft, the words “at the order” are crossed
out and “by desire” written above them. The words “N. York” in the
same line are also crossed out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Page Changed from Changed to
82 these shores alone. One November these shores alone. One November
day, 1896, two of left day, 1896, two of us left
Plattsburgh Plattsburgh
90 became its first representative became its first representative
in the General Assembly of the in the General Assembly of the
State in 1846 was re-elected in State in 1846 and was re-elected
1848 in 1848
110 a table of references may by a table of references made by
Orrando Orrando
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last
chapter.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
● Enclosed bold or blackletter font in =equals=.
● The caret (^) serves as a superscript indicator, applicable to
individual characters (like 2^d) and even entire phrases (like
1^{st}).
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