Volume XXII of the Society’s _Collections_, _The Journals of Captain
Meriwether Lewis and John Ordway_, distributed in the summer of 1916,
has attracted much attention at the hands of historical editors and
others. Of it the _Iowa Journal of History and Politics_ says: “It is
perhaps not too much to say that, no publication of the State
Historical Society of Wisconsin possesses a wider interest than this
book.” The review in the _Washington Historical Quarterly_ concludes:
“Those who have collected the works of Lewis and Clark should
certainly secure this book. It makes a rich supplement to any of the
other editions.” In similar fashion the review of the book published
in the _American Historical Review_ closes with the statement, “The
Historical Society of Wisconsin is to be congratulated on the
publication of this volume.”
Volume XXIII of the Society’s _Collections_ (_Frontier Advance on the
Upper Ohio, 1778-79_) and Mr. Merk’s _Economic History of Wisconsin
During the Civil War Decade_ have been distributed too recently to
have attracted much attention at the hands of the reviewers at the
time of our going to press. On the part of the newspapers of
Wisconsin, however, Mr. Merk’s volume has already evoked much notice
and comment. The Milwaukee _Sentinel_ and other papers of the state
have republished numerous extracts from the book, while the Chippewa
Falls _Independent_ devoted special attention to the chapters on the
history of the lumbering industry in Wisconsin. The expected comment
of our historical neighbors on these two volumes will be noted in a
future number of the _Magazine_.
The annual volume of _Proceedings_ of the Society for the year 1916
came from the press and was distributed to our members and exchanges
in July. The volume is longer than any of its predecessors, and the
workmanship of the printer is probably the best of any in the long
series of annual volumes put out by the Society. Aside from the
business report and other routine proceedings, the book contains eight
historical papers. The most interesting and valuable of these is
Captain Arthur L. Conger’s study of “President Lincoln as War
Statesman,” delivered as the annual address before the Society in
1916. Unless we mistake greatly, this paper will quickly gain
recognition as one of the most trenchant studies yet made of Lincoln’s
career. Four studies of a biographical character are the reminiscences
of Father Chrysostom Verwyst of Bayfield and of Mary Elizabeth Mears,
early Wisconsin authoress; “New Light on the Career of Nathaniel
Pryor,” sergeant on the exploring expedition of Lewis and Clark; and
an account of the military career of Major Earl, noted Wisconsin Civil
War scout. A study of “The Beginnings of the Norwegian Press in
America” reveals the fact, interesting to citizens of Wisconsin, that
this state, rather than its western neighbor, was originally and for
long the chief seat of Norwegian development in America. Hence the
story of the beginnings of the Norwegian press in the United States is
almost wholly a Wisconsin story. Another local study is that of the
long-drawn-out “Watertown Railway Bond Fight,” one of the notable
legal contests in American history. Finally, and of more general
import, is “The Dream of a Northwestern Confederacy,” which recites
the story of the rise and decline of the hopes of the Southern people
to draw off the Northwest from the remainder of the Union and in so
doing to win the struggle for its disruption.
By the will of Joseph Pulitzer, the noted New York journalist,
provision is made for the establishment of an annual prize of $2,000
by the authorities of Columbia University for the best book of the
year in American history. It is interesting to note that the first
award, announced at the 1917 commencement of Columbia, was made, not
to a professional historian but to a busy man of affairs, the French
ambassador to the United States, Monsieur J. J. Jusserand, for his
volume _With Americans of Past and Present Days_. The book includes
four important and charming historical studies. The longest,
“Rochambeau and the French in America,” presents a narrative, based
largely on hitherto unused sources, of this able but neglected soldier
in the war for our national independence. The other studies deal with
“Washington and the French,” “Major L’Enfant in the Federal City,” and
“Abraham Lincoln.” The latter paper is particularly interesting as
showing the contemporary French estimate of President Lincoln and the
popular sentiment in France in favor of the Union. Thoroughly
scholarly and charmingly written, the volume is commended as an
agreeable companion for a leisure evening.
A second annual prize established by Mr. Pulitzer is one of $1,000
awarded for the best American biography teaching patriotism and
service. It was first awarded to Mrs. Laura E. Richards and Mrs. Maud
Howe Elliott for their biography of their mother, Julia Ward Howe. The
noble career of this talented woman should ever serve as an
inspiration to her countrymen. Especially at this time of stress are
we grateful for her immortal “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Like M.
Jusserand’s book, the work is unreservedly commended to our readers.
One of the most important and scholarly studies in the field of
western history to appear in many years is Clarence W. Alvord’s _The
Mississippi Valley in British Politics: A Study of the Trade
Speculation, and Experiments in Imperialism Culminating in the
American Revolution_. The book is beautifully printed in two volumes
by Arthur H. Clark of Cleveland. It is Professor Alvord’s contention
that the seeker after the causes leading to the American Revolution
will find them chiefly in connection with the policies and efforts of
the British ministers to organize the imperial American domain which
came to it from France in the Seven Years’ War, rather than in the
incidents and events along the Atlantic seaboard to which historians
have paid chief attention hitherto.
Of particular interest to Wisconsin readers is the volume, _Early
Narratives of the Northwest, 1634-1699_, edited by Louise P. Kellogg
of the Society’s staff for the _Original Narratives of American
History_ series. In this volume have been gathered, with appropriate
editing, the principal classics of northwestern exploration in the
seventeenth century. Included are the narratives of (or concerning)
Nicolet, Radisson, Perrot, Allouez, Dollier and Galinée, Jolliet and
Marquette, La Salle, Duluth, and St. Cosme. Thus at length we have
assembled in convenient form the more important sources for the
earliest history of this region, so that anyone who will, may easily
avail himself of them. With this volume the important series of
_Original Narratives of Early American History_, sponsored by the
American Historical Association and under the general editorship of
Dr. J. Franklin Jameson of Washington, concludes. It is interesting to
note that the series was begun and finished by Madison scholars, Prof.
Julius Olson having edited (jointly with Professor Bourne) the first
volume and Miss Kellogg the final one.
Mr. Lucius C. Colman of La Crosse has had reprinted by photomechanical
process from the copy in the Wisconsin Historical Library the rare
_Brief Sketch of La Crosse Wisc’n_ published in 1854 by Rev. Spencer
Carr. The work, a pamphlet of twenty-eight pages, may be regarded as a
city history, directory, census, and promoting tract all in one. From
it we learn that in January, 1854, La Crosse had a total population of
745. Indicative of the character of the place at this time is the
further information that, among this population were 78 “single
Gentlemen” and but 38 “single Ladies.” In view of the fact that less
than three years earlier there were but five families in La Crosse,
the author’s generally optimistic view of the town’s advantages and
future prospects seems fairly justified. A further indication of the
roseate future which the townsmen saw in prospect is afforded by the
enumeration among the 745 persons in the community of 9 physicians and
12 lawyers.
Of Ulysses S. Grant, conqueror of the Confederacy, many biographies
have been written. The recently published biography by Louis A.
Coolidge is one of the best in the series, although it still remains
to write an entirely satisfactory account of Grant’s career. Mr.
Coolidge’s biography devotes a relatively large amount of space to
Grant’s later civilian career (over three-fifths of the volume). The
author believes and seeks to show that Grant was a greater statesman
and more successful president than he is commonly believed to have
been.
The Historical Department of Iowa has issued _Downing’s Civil War
Diary_, edited by Prof. O. B. Clark of Des Moines. Alexander G.
Downing was a sergeant in the Eleventh Iowa Infantry. He served from
1861 to 1865, a period during which he succeeded in participating in
nearly forty battles and skirmishes. Like the _Artilleryman’s Diary_
of Jenkin Lloyd Jones, published by the Wisconsin History Commission
three years ago, Downing’s diary gives a valuable first-hand picture
of the war as seen from the standpoint of the soldier in the ranks.
Unlike the _Artilleryman’s Diary_, however, Downing’s diary, as
printed, does not reproduce the original record. Instead, it is a
composite made up by the editor from the original diary plus a revised
version written out by Mr. Downing in old age, together with such
alterations as the editor deemed desirable. The editor’s work seems to
have been done skillfully on the whole, and author, editor, and
historical department are to be congratulated on the publication of
the book. As with the _Artilleryman’s Diary_, not much of commendation
can be accorded the physical makeup of the book. So worthy a record
was deserving of a better dress.
For several years the Lakeside Press of Chicago has published an
annual Christmas volume of a historical character for complimentary
distribution to patrons and friends. The volume published in 1916 was
a reprint of the autobiography of Black Hawk, the famous Sauk chief,
and was edited by M. M. Quaife of the State Historical Society of
Wisconsin. So great was the demand for the book that although 3,500
copies were printed the edition was exhausted within a brief period.
For the year 1917 the Indian-captivity narrative of Rev. O. M. Spencer
is being edited by Mr. Quaife. The work was originally written for the
_Western Christian Advocate_ of Cincinnati, from whose files the
numerous reprint editions in volume form of seventy years ago were
taken. For the new edition under preparation, recourse has been had to
the rare file of the _Advocate_ preserved in the newspaper division of
the Wisconsin Historical Library.
An elaborate report of _Perry’s Victory Centennial_ has been issued by
the Perry’s Victory Centennial Commission, State of New York. As usual
with politico-historical publications of this character, the
physiognomies of the several members of the commission are adequately
presented to public gaze in a series of full-page half-tones. The
numerous historical addresses delivered in connection with the
celebration constitute the more interesting portion of the contents of
the volume. Included is the address of Hon. John M. Whitehead of our
Society at the laying of the cornerstone of the Perry Memorial at
Put-in-Bay, Ohio, July 4, 1913.
One of the most laborious, and at the same time useful, pieces of
historical workmanship of recent years is being prosecuted towards its
conclusion by Mr. Clarence Brigham, secretary of the American
Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Massachusetts. This is the
compilation of a calendar of all American newspapers published down to
(and including) the year 1820. Newspapers are as the breath of life to
the serious student of American history, but with no comprehensive
guide to enlighten him as to what papers were published and where
files of these have been preserved, the individual student has been
sadly handicapped heretofore in his efforts to avail himself of this
source of historical information. Aside from its value to students of
American history generally, there are at least two reasons why the
progress of Mr. Brigham’s enterprise should afford peculiar interest
to members of this Society; first, because our Society was a pioneer
in the field of publishing newspaper catalogues, the last edition of
our _Annotated Catalogue_ got out by Doctor Thwaites a few years ago
still standing as one of the two chief American publications of this
character in print; and second, because of the creditable showing made
by our Society’s collection of early American newspapers in Mr.
Brigham’s calendar; this notwithstanding the fact that the major
strength of our newspaper collection lies in a period more recent than
that covered by Mr. Brigham.
Publication of _The Louisiana Historical Quarterly_ was begun by the
Louisiana Historical Society in January, 1917. The initial number
contains 119 pages of material, bearing chiefly upon the history of
the state. The Georgia Historical Society issued in March the first
number of the _Georgia Historical Quarterly_. These two new
publications afford gratifying evidence of renewed vigor on the part
of their sponsors, each of which is upwards of eighty years of age.
To the October, 1916, number of the _Missouri Historical Review_ Duane
Mowry of Milwaukee contributes an interesting collection of letters of
Carl Schurz, B. Gratz Brown, and other prominent Missourians,
contained in the collection of papers of Senator James R. Doolittle of
Wisconsin, now in Mr. Mowry’s custody. The January, 1917, number of
the _Review_ contains a further instalment of Senator Doolittle’s
correspondence with leading citizens of Missouri.
The June number of the _Mississippi Valley Historical Review_ contains
as a leading article a valuable account of the Doukhobors in Canada.
Other articles worthy of note are Professor Robertson’s “Sectionalism
in Kentucky from 1855 to 1865,” and the annual survey of historical
activities in the Old Northwest for the preceding year. Our Wisconsin
readers will be gratified by the opening sentence of the survey: “The
State Historical Society of Wisconsin continues to maintain its
leading position among historical agencies of this region.” To those
of our readers who are as yet unacquainted with the _Review_ we are
glad to commend it as the livest and best historical periodical in
America, saving only the _American Historical Review_. Because it
belongs to our own section of the country its contents are probably of
greater interest and value to most middle-western readers than are
those even of the _American Historical Review_. Membership in the
association is open to all; members receive the quarterly _Review_
together with the annual volume of _Proceedings_ of the association.
The leading articles in the July number of the _American Historical
Review_ possess an unusual degree of timeliness. Prof. S. B. Fay
writes on “The Beginnings of the Standing Army in Prussia.” Two Civil
War articles are “The Northern Railroads, April, 1861,” and “The
Confederate Government and the Railroads.” The former of these is by
Prof. Carl R. Fish of the University of Wisconsin. Finally, James A.
Robertson, who went from Wisconsin to the librarianship of the Manila
Public Library, gives an account of “The Philippines since the
Inauguration of the Philippine Assembly.” Included in the book reviews
are full-page notices of the two recently issued volumes of this
Society’s _Collections_, No. XXII and No. XXIII.
Of military history and principles most Americans are woefully
ignorant. Those who would improve their knowledge of these things can
hardly do better than to become readers of _The Military Historian and
Economist_ edited jointly by Capt. Arthur L. Conger, U. S. A., and
Prof. R. M. Johnston of Harvard. Timely and stimulating articles in
the July number of the magazine are Émile Laloy’s discussion of
“French Military Theory” and an anonymous contributor’s “Estimate of
the Situation.” The writer believes that the most effective military
course for the United States to take is to keep at home the larger
part of the army now in process of creation, and by so doing enable
our navy to be sent into the Pacific to establish there a secure
Anglo-American predominance. The considerations which lead to these
conclusions cannot, of course, be set forth in this brief note.
[Illustration: CARL RUSSELL FISH]