LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1883. (HisxoBY.) 



479 



The "Virginia Campaign of 1864-'65," by 

 Gen. A. A. Humphreys, was by an accom- 

 plished soldier, whose position as chief of staff 

 and military attainments gave him a peculiarly 

 favorable opportunity of judgment. The same 

 author had also previously contributed " From 

 Gettysburg to the Rapidan." The series was 

 concluded by a " Statistical Record of the Ar- 

 mies of the United States," by Frederick Phist- 

 erer, which gave all the figures, both in money 

 and men, involved in the war. The naval se- 

 ries, supplementing the foregoing, consisted of 

 three volumes, all published during the year. 

 "The Blockade and the Cruisers, 1 ' by J. Rus- 

 sell Soley, contributed an account of sea-coast 

 operations, which is both trustworthy and well 

 written. Admiral Daniel Am in en covered an- 

 other section of the same field in " The Atlan- 

 tic Coast," and " The Gulf and Inland Waters," 

 by Commander Mahan, finished the series. 

 The two series constitute a consecutive and, 

 on the whole, very ably written history of the 

 military and naval operations of the late war. 

 There were other interesting contributions to 

 war-literature in this department. Col. T. A. 

 Dodge wrote " A Bird's-Eye View of our Civil 

 War " (James R. Osgood & Co.), and from the 

 same firm we had " Brook Farm to Cedar Mount- 

 ain," by Gen. George D. Gordon. " Bullet and 

 Shell," by George F. Williams, treated the war 

 from the stand-point of the private soldier in a 

 picturesque fashion (Fords, Howard, & Hul- 

 bert). Under the title of " The Secret Service 

 of the Confederate States ; or, How the Confed- 

 erate. Cruisers were equipped," by James D. 

 Bulloch (G. P. Putnam's Sons), there was an 

 interesting monograph, giving a great mass of 

 hitherto unknown facts. Properly belonging 

 to war literature, too, was the "Diplomatic 

 History of the Civil War," being the fifth vol- 

 ume of the " Works of William H. Seward," 

 edited by George E. Baker (Honghton, Mifflin, 

 & Co.), a book which will probably remain a 

 permanent and standard authority. "Anec- 

 dotes of the Civil War," by Gen. E. D. Town- 

 send, late adjutant-general, also possessed 

 considerable historical value (D. Appleton & 

 Co.). The " American Commonwealth " se- 

 ries (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.) aims to cover a 

 unique and important field, State histories in 

 their relation to national history. Three vol- 

 umes were issued in 1883 : " Virginia, a His- 

 tory of the People," by John Esten Cooke ; 

 "History of Georgia," by Charles C. Jones, 

 LL. D. ; and " Oregon, the Struggle for Posses- 

 sion," by William Barrows. The latter work 

 gives a succinct account of the narrow miss 

 by which the United States escaped losing the 

 enormous territory contained in Oregon and 

 Washington Territory. A work of interest to 

 statesmen, merchants, and political economists 

 is found in the " Financial History of the United 

 States," by Albert S. Bolles (D. Appleton & 

 Co.). Not to be overlooked in the year's rec- 

 ord of historical research is the series written 

 and published under the auspices of the Johns 



Hopkins University. These works touch the 

 legal and institutional aspects of American Ms- 

 tory. Among them maybe mentioned "Lo- 

 cal Government in Illinois," by Albert Shaw ; 

 "Local Government in Pennsylvania," by E. 

 R. L. Gould; "Local Government and Free 

 Schools in South Carolina," by B. J. Ramage; 

 "Local Government in Michigan and the North- 

 west," by E. W. Bernis; "Introduction to 

 American Institutional History," by Edward 

 A. Freeman ; " Genesis of a New England 

 State (Connecticut)," by Alexander Johnson ; 

 " Germanic Origin of New England Towns," 

 by H. B. Adams; "Normal Constables in 

 America," by H. B. Adams; "Parish Institu- 

 tions of Maryland," by Edward Ingle ; " Saxon 

 Tithingmen in America," by H. B. Adams; 

 and " Village Communities of Cape Ann and 

 Salem," by H. B. Adams. These works will 

 prove themselves exceptionally valuable to the 

 philosophical student of history. Other works 

 of local and antiquarian interest are, " A His- 

 tory of the Schenectady Patent in the Dutch 

 and English Times," edited by Maj. McMur- 

 ray, U.S.A.; "History of Bristol, R. I.," by 

 Wilfrid B. Munro (J. A. & R. A. Reid); 

 "History of Hardwicke, Mass." by Lucius R. 

 Paige (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.) ; " History of 

 the Union League of Philadelphia," by George 

 Parsons Lathrop (J. B. Lippincott & Co.) ; and 

 " Orderly Book of Sir John Johnson in 1777, 

 during the Revolution," by W. L. Stone (Joel 

 Munson's Sons). On the side of religious his- 

 tory several important contributions have been 

 made by American historians. The first vol- 

 ume of Dr. Philip Sc'haff's " History of the 

 Christian Church, Ante-Nicene Christianity, 

 A. D. 100-325 " (Charles Scribner's Sons), was 

 issued. This is to be completed in four vol- 

 umes. The "History of the Reformation," by 

 Prof. G. P. Fisher, D. D., of Yale College 

 (Charles Scribner's Sons), was the work of one 

 of the most accomplished ecclesiastical schol- 

 ars of the country. Rev. George A. Jackson's 

 " Post-Nicene Greek Fathers " (Appletons' 

 " Christian Literature Primers ") was a con- 

 cise sketch of more than ordinary interest. 

 Other works in religious history were " His- 

 tory of Indian Missions on the Pacific Coast " 

 (Am. S. S. Union) ; the " History of the Meth- 

 odist Episcopal Church in the United States " 

 by Rev. P. Douglass Garrie (John E. Potter 

 & Co.) ; and the " History of the Episcopal 

 Church in Connecticut," by Rev. Edward 

 Beardsley, D. D. (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.). 

 A book which must not be overlooked, as 

 bearing an important relation to the history 

 of the country, is the Hon. G. P. Williams's 

 " History of the Negro Race in the United 

 States" (G. P. Putnam's Sons), notable as 'be- 

 ing the work of a negro scholar, marked by 

 literary skill and research. Other histories of 

 the year worthy of mention were, Prof. Her- 

 bert Tuttle's " History of Prussia " (Houghton, 

 Mifflin, & Co.) ; " Medieval Civilization," by 

 G. B. Adams (Appletons' " History Primers "); 



