﻿NOTES 297 



In addition to his Napoleon library. General de Peyster lias pre- 

 sented a large number of histories of the American Revolution and 

 the Civil War, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other books of refer- 

 ence, tog-ether with numerous works on Gypsies, all of which he 

 acquired during the prosecution of his various studies. Through his 

 munificence, also, the historical collections of the Institution have 

 hern enriched by many objects relating to the Colonial period of 

 America, including tableware, pistols, guns, pictures, etc. 



General de Peyster has written numerous works on military and 

 historical topics, and has contributed largely to periodical literature. 

 Among his publications are Waterloo: The Campaign and Battle; 

 The Prussians in the Campaign of Waterloo; The Real Napoleon 

 Buonaparte; Napoleone di Buonaparte ; Marshall Blucher; Practical 

 Strategy of the Austrian Field Marshall Trauu; Life of Leonard 

 Torstcnson, Field-Marshal Generalissimo of Sweden; The Dutch at 

 the North Pole and the Dutch in Maine; Carausius, the Dutch 

 Augustus; Life of Lieutenant-General Meuno, Baron Cohom ; Per- 

 sonal and Military History of Major -General Philip Kearny; The 

 History of the Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac; The De- 

 cisive Conflicts of the Great American Civil War; The Last Cam- 

 paign of the Army of the Potomac; The Ancient, Mediaeval and 

 Modern Netherlander s, etc. General de Peyster's writings number 

 perhaps hundreds of titles, and by American military experts he has 

 been referred to as " the foremost military writer of the country." 



The Smithsonian Alaska Expedition 



In May of this year Mr. A. G. Maddren was authorized to under- 

 take, in behalf of the Smithsonian Institution, an exploring expedi- 

 tion into Alaska, having for its immediate purpose the investigation 

 of the numerous reported finds of remains of mastodon and other 

 large mammals. Mr. Maddren left Seattle, Washington, May 24, 

 and entered Alaska by way of Skagway and Dawson. From Daw- 

 son he proceeded down the Yukon to Eagle, thence to Circle City, 

 stopping at the latter place long enough to investigate the reported 

 remains on Mastodon creek. Thence he proceeded to Fort Yukon 

 and up Porcupine river and its tributaries as far as Old Crow river, 

 which latter stream was followed for a distance of one hundred and 

 seventy-five miles ; he then went down the Porcupine to Fort Gibbon, 

 at the mouth of the Tanana. A severe epidemic of diphtheria among 

 the Indians of Porcupine valley prevented him from obtaining the 

 necessary assistance for a thorough exploration of the region, but 

 evidence of the existence of an extensive deposit of vertebrate 



