The Magazine of History February 1905

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, 62both 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 63and 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.

65Resistance 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 66to 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 67one 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.

69On 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 70Men,” 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.

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.

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.—

73The 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.—

75I 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;—

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 76with 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.”

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 78only 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.

“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 79stroke 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.”

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.

80Another 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 81by 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 82if 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.”

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 83largest 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 84captain 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.

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 87John 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.

88Captain 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 89bluff 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.

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.”

90Professor 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.

P. S.—I wish to express my indebtedness to Gen. Henry Cadle, of Bethany, Mo., for valuable favors connected with this story.

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 92smaller, 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.

93Both 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.

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 94in 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 95“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 96in 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.”

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 98Prairie. 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 99corn 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 100which 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 101Foxes 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]

102As 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 103were 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 104Indians.^[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.

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 106author 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.

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:

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.

The accompanying extracts from the minutes of the Chamber of Commerce were as follows:

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.

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.

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 10940° 42′ 9″ and from those of Castor 40° 42′ 7″, a mean whereof is the Latitude of the Fort, 40° 42′ 8″.

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.

The mean of the above observations ascertain the Latitude of Fort George in 40° 42′ 8″.

110The 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 111the 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.

112The inscription originally drafted by the New York Historical Society for the Fort George monument was as follows:

The monument was not erected until 1818, and the inscription actually carved on it reads as follows:

A WAR LETTER OF WALT WHITMAN

[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....”

“... 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 114deepest, 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.”

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.

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.”

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.

Flags—Are any of the flags carried by our Revolutionary forces still preserved (except the one of the Washington Light Infantry of South Carolina).

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?

Matthias Ogden—Is there any portrait of Matthias Ogden, brother of Aaron, extant?

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.

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.

118h. 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.

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.

11910. 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.

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.

Baptisms.

Burials.

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.

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.

BOOKS WANTED

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.

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 History of The Primitive Yankees or The Pilgrim Fathers in England and Holland. By William Macon Coleman. Washington. 1881.

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.

Burnham’s Burnham Genealogy, 1869 or later edition containing the Ipswich families.

ARNOLD’S EXPEDITION TO QUEBEC

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:

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.

50 will be large paper, bound in boards, 8 × 11, untrimmed edges, gilt top, special paper. $5.00.

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.”

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

Page	Changed from	Changed to
82	these shores alone. One November day, 1896, two of left Plattsburgh	these shores alone. One November day, 1896, two of us left Plattsburgh
90	became its first representative in the General Assembly of the State in 1846 was re-elected in 1848	became its first representative in the General Assembly of the State in 1846 and was re-elected in 1848
110	a table of references may by Orrando	a table of references made by Orrando

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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

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

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 Project Gutenberg eBook of 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

CONTENTS

SOME POPULAR MYTHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL

THE BOSTON MASSACRE

COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE

“THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY”

THE MINUTE MEN

THE EFFICIENCY OF THE NEW ENGLAND TROOPS

WEEMS’ “LIFE OF WASHINGTON.”

EARLY MENTION OF EVENTS AND PLACES IN THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY.

I

II

III

LINCOLN.

CAPTAIN ABRAHAM LINCOLN versus PRIVATE LORENZO DOW THOMPSON

THE STORY OF A CELEBRATED CONTEST

SIDE-LIGHTS ON CAROLINA HISTORY

SOCIAL CONDITIONS

INDIAN AGRICULTURE IN SOUTHERN WISCONSIN

THE AUTHENTICITY OF CARVER’S “TRAVELS”

OLD FORT GEORGE, ON THE BATTERY, NEW YORK CITY

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS

A WAR LETTER OF WALT WHITMAN

LETTER OF LINCOLN, DECLINING AN OFFER OF OFFICE

SOCIETIES

THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

NOTES AND QUERIES

MINOR TOPICS

THE DEATH OF WALTER N. BUTLER

GENEALOGICAL