
Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 9, No. 4
December, 1931
REVIEW OF HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS
Page 476
THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Volume 1, Number 1, has been received. This is the first issue of a Quarterly Historical Publication by the Kansas State Historical
Society but the history of the State has not been neglected. It has been recorded, preserved, catalogued and annotated for
many years. Kansas has a long history and much of it is an essential part of the history of our country. In fact, our so-called
Civil War started in Kansas long before Fort Sumter was bombarded on April 12th, 1861. Kansas has had some able historians
who have recorded the deeds of the men and women who have been the makers of history of that State.
The Kansas State Historical Society has published many books, and also annual and biennial collections of historical material,
but now it is to publish an historical quarterly magazine like that of Oklahoma and many other states. The initial number
has about eighty pages (about half the size of the Chronicles); annual subscription three dollars, single number seventy-five
cents. It is printed and published by the Kansas State Printing Plant, a state owned institution. It is well printed and one
of the neatest publications that come to our Society.
There are five featured articles in this first issue. The first is entitled: "Pioneer Printing of Kansas." The second is an
interesting article entitled: "Freighting: A Big Business on the Santa Fe Trail." The third has as a caption; "The First Day's
Battle at Hickory Point." This story is from the diary and reminiscences of Samuel Reader. It tells of a conflict between
"Jim Lane's Free State Men" and the "Kickapoo Rangers", or "Border Ruffians", as they were called by the Lane men, who were
supposed to represent the Pro-slavery Party. The Battle of Hickory Point occured on September 13th and 14th, 1856, and was
one of the first conflicts that precipitated the War between the States.
The next is an interesting historical study entitled: "The Military Post as a Factor in the Frontier Defense of Kansas, 1865-1869."
The last article is stated in the form of a question: "Was Governor John A. Martin a Prohibitionist?" John A. Martin was one
of the incorporators of the Kansas Historical Society, and was its president in 1878. I have read this article pretty carefully
but cannot from the argument presented, answer the question propounded in the caption, though it is certain that he was a
politician.
We hope to receive this Kansas publication every three months. We will carefully file the numbers and have them bound into
books annually, and in a few years, we will have all of the history of the Jayhawker State in our Library.
THE SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
is the organ of the Texas State Historical Association, and is published at Austin. It is well printed and a well edited magazine
of about eighty pages. Annual dues of the Society are three dollars, and the Quarterly is sent free to all members.
The October number has an interesting disquisition upon the subject of the western boundary of Louisiana. Many historians
insist that Jefferson did not get all of Louisiana when he made that famous purchase; that the original boundary of that country
transferred to France from Spain included all of Texas and that the Rio Grande and not the Red River was the west and southwest
boundary of Louisiana. It is a long story but it is contended that in the different treaties between France and Spain the
latter had left Texas out of the "deed," and that the United
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States did not get all of the original tract when our own Thomas Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase. This is an interesting
study and this article throws light on the subject. The next article is a Civil War story and is entitled, "The 'Harriet Lane'
and the Blockade of Galveston."
A most interesting story is a biographical sketch of James Butler Bonham. He was one of the heroes of the Alamo, and the man
for whom the City of Bonham, Texas, was named.
Bonham was a well educated man, a lawyer by profession. He was an independent spirit, a high born soul, who would not hesitate
to defy the conventional when he thought that he was in the right. The author of this story calls him "A Consistent Rebel."
No doubt, he had come west and joined the Texans in their war for independence, inspired more by the spirit of adventure than
from patriotic motives. It seems that he had been a boyhood friend of Colonel Travis back in South Carolina, and although
he was not in the Alamo when the Mexican Army of seven thousand men beseiged less than one hundred eighty-three men in the
old church (still standing in San Antonio), he voluntarily dashed in through the whole Mexican Army on a "dun" horse to join
his old friend Travis and there to die like Leonidas at Thermopylae. If this is the true story, it was a brave deed, but a
very foolish one. There are many stories, myths, and traditions about the Battle of the Alamo, but this old Mission will always
be the Sacred Shrine of every true Texan.
Temple Houston once told the writer what his father, General Sam Houston, had told him about the seige of the Alamo. His father
said that he had sent two messengers to Colonel Travis at the Alamo and ordered him to fall back and form with him on the
Colorado River and there to stop the Mexican Army under Santa Anna, as it attempted to go North thru Texas. General Houston
told Travis that the Alamo was not a tenable position, and that he could not hold it with the few men with him. Perhaps Bonham
was one of the messengers sent to Travis by Houston. The truth is, that at that time many of the Texans had not recognized
Houston as the Commander-in-Chief. They all recognized him as the Head of the Army after the Battle of San Jacinto, April
21st, following the massacre of the Alamo.
There is an article containing many statistics under the caption: "The Overland Movement of Cotton, 1866-1886," and a biographical
sketch and diary of some of the old pioneers of the Lone Star State.
THE NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW
printed by the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico (subscription to Quarterly three dollars per year in
advance). The October number contains about one hundred pages of history, biography, and the romance and traditions of the
Southwest. The first article by Col. M. L. Crimmins, is a history of Fort Fillmore. This Military Post was established in
1851, about thirty eight miles from El Paso, on the road to Las Cruces on Highway Number 80.
There is also an interesting article upon: "Conveyance of Property, the Spanish and Mexican Way." These people had learned
to transact business mostly by trade and barter and actual money was seldom mentioned. Several pages are devoted to an account
of John G. Heath, a pioneer of Missouri ,and one of the earliest Amircans to invade New Mexico. The events recited in his
biography form a part of the real history of the Southwest.
There is some "Folk-History" giving the stories and traditions of the Navajo and Hopi Indians. Then, there is a long diary
of Sylvester Davis, a native of Massachusetts, who went over the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico in 1859. New Mexico has reasons
to be proud of her antiquity and the Historical Review does great credit to the State.
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THE NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL REVIEW
is, perhaps, the largest and most pretentious historical publication that we receive in exchange for the Chronicles. The October
number contains about one hundred fifty large pages. It is published by North Carolina Historical Commission, Raleigh, North
Carolina. The regular price is two dollars per year. The October issue is Volume 8, Number 4. A number of distinguished men
contribute to this magazine and some of the articles relate to events in that state's history around the Revolutionary Period,
though some of the writings are of history of a later date. It contains much interesting American history.
THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
The periodical of Florida Historical Society is a small magazine but typographically it is a model of the printers art. The
October number contains less than sixty pages and the subscription is two dollars.
This number contains an extended article of especial interest to the student of the Creek and Affiliated Tribes of Indians,
now residing in Oklahoma. The article is entitled: "International Rivalry in the Creek Country, Part 1, The Ascendency of
Alexander McGillivary 1783-1789." This story gives many interesting episodes in which not only the Creek Indians have a part
but also the Spanish, English, and American. This same celebrated Indian was the subject of an article in the Chronicles in
volume VII, two years ago.
There is some other historical material, but a review of this Florida publication would not do it justice that did not tell
of the picture of the five flags on the cover, all in colors, representing the five Nations to which that State has held allegiance
in its four hundred years of history.
THE COLORADO MAGAZINE
is published bi-monthly by the State Historical Society of Colorado. It is a small publication, the September number having
less than forty pages. Perhaps the most interesting article in this number is an account of a trip from Denver to Salt Lake
by overland stage in 1862. There is also some early Denver history. This story is illustrated by views of Denver in the early
Sixties. Active membership in the Colorado Historical Society is two dollars annually.
THE MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW
is brim full of Missouri history. The October number contains one hundred fifteen pages, and is the publication of the State
Historical Society at Columbia, the seat of the State University. There are two articles continued from the June number of
this review which were referred to in the September Chronicles. One of these articles is the biography of Joseph B. McCullagh
by Walter B. Stevens, and the other is that of Joseph Pulitzer written by George S. Johns.
Then there is the beginning of an autobiography of Governor T. T. Crittenden, compiled shortly before his death on May 29th,
1909. He was governor of Missouri when the "James Boys Rode," and it was largely through his efforts that lawlessness was
suppressed in that state. I remember Governor Crittenden quite well. He was a most distinguished looking gentleman, kind and
courteous to every one with whom he came in contact. He was a strong Union man and was opposed to the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise. He helped raise a regiment for service in the Union Army. John F. Phillips was elected as the colonel and Crittenden
as lieutenant-colonel. Both Crittenden and John F. Phillips were Democrats, and both men were elected to positions of honor
and trust
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after the war. This autobiography is to be continued in the next number of the Missouri Historical Review.
There is a continued article entitled, "The St. Louis School of Thought," written by Cleon Forbes, who received his master's
degree in philosophy in the University of Oklahoma. Mr. Forbes is a professor of education and philosophy in Harding College
at Morrillton, Arkansas.
Under the caption, "Missouriana," appear some seventeen pages of short stories concerning historical events. The first is
a story about John Brown's raid into Missouri in 1858. On the night of December 20th, of that year, John Brown crossed the
Kansas-Missouri border into Vernon County, Missouri, with a party of twelve or fifteen men, on a mission of liberation, as
they called it, but the Missourians called it slave-stealing. On this raid Brown's party secured not only a number of slaves
but it is claimed in this article, took stock and other personal property of the Missouri slaveholders. This was the last
raid before he made that historical raid in Virginia in October, 1859, and seized the United States Arsenal for which he was
hanged December second, 1859.
There are also several pages devoted to historical notes and comments, most of which are excerpts from the newspapers of that
state; but they also refer to two articles recently published in the Chronicles of Oklahoma. These notes and comments concerning
historical events help to preserve local history. Then there are several short stories telling of events in "Missouri History
Not Found in Textbooks."
The Chronicles also receives the historical publications of several other states, but we lack the space to review them in
this number. Since the last publication of this magazine we have had bound more than fifty volumes of historical magazines
and are placing them in our library. There is much interesting and reliable history in these volumes. Everyone is welcome
to come to our spacious library reading room to engage in reading and research.
D. W. P.
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