Society for Historians of the Early American Republic

Hunting Lieutenant Chadbourne by Jim W. CorderReview by: Scott E. CasperJournal of the Early Republic, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Summer, 1994), pp. 270-272Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press on behalf of the Society for Historians of the EarlyAmerican RepublicStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3124238 .

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JOURNAL OF THE EARLY REPUBLIC JOURNAL OF THE EARLY REPUBLIC

teen times, indicating the high level of this type of activity during this period. Of special interest is Appendix 2: "Individual List of Instru- mental Musicians in Boston, 1796-1842." Along with each individual's name appears, if known, the musician's instrument and the years that the musician was in Boston. Those individuals pursuing genealogical studies will find this list useful. Entire chapters are devoted to Lowell Mason and Samuel Eliot. Of the hymnodic reformers of the nineteenth century, Mason's influence was the strongest. His career and publica- tions are examined in chapter 3. A subsequent chapter is devoted to Eliot, who took over the presidency of the Boston Academy of Music in 1835. Eliot, virtually unknown to most scholars, was an important fig- ure in the history of American music. Perhaps the information provided in this chapter as well as other parts of the book will whet the appetite of

aspiring musiciologists. Another individual of importance is John S.

Dwight, one of the founders in 1837 of the Harvard Musical Society. In 1852 there appeared for the first time Dwight's Journal of Music, in

which the value of music and its place in society was debated. Chapter 6, "Crisis in Secular Concert Activity: Disputes and Divergences," be-

gins with a description of the relationship between amateur and profes- sional musicians. Until 1820 both groups co-existed peacefully. Through implication by association because of any poor performance, professional musicians began to have doubts about publicly performing with amateurs. The dispute was brought to light in 1821, in the Euter-

peiad, another popular musical journal of this period. The solution sug- gested was that each group should trust the other more. Overall, this book is an important one for musiciologists who wish to learn more about a city, its people, and how movements and influences that are still felt today were shaped.

Pittsburg State University Kenny O. McDougle

Hunting Lieutenant Chadbourne. By Jim W. Corder. (Athens: Univer-

sity of Georgia Press, 1993. Pp. ix, 169. Illustrations. $24.95.)

As its title suggests, this slender volume concerns the hunting as much as it does the quarry. Theodore Lincoln Chadbourne, eldest son of a Maine family and graduate of West Point, died at age twenty-three in the Mexican War, at Resaca de la Palma. Writing in the first person, Jim W. Corder, a professor of English at Texas Christian University, reconstructs his quest for Chadbourne, which began when he encoun- tered a marker for Fort Chadbourne along Highway 277 outside San

teen times, indicating the high level of this type of activity during this period. Of special interest is Appendix 2: "Individual List of Instru- mental Musicians in Boston, 1796-1842." Along with each individual's name appears, if known, the musician's instrument and the years that the musician was in Boston. Those individuals pursuing genealogical studies will find this list useful. Entire chapters are devoted to Lowell Mason and Samuel Eliot. Of the hymnodic reformers of the nineteenth century, Mason's influence was the strongest. His career and publica- tions are examined in chapter 3. A subsequent chapter is devoted to Eliot, who took over the presidency of the Boston Academy of Music in 1835. Eliot, virtually unknown to most scholars, was an important fig- ure in the history of American music. Perhaps the information provided in this chapter as well as other parts of the book will whet the appetite of

aspiring musiciologists. Another individual of importance is John S.

Dwight, one of the founders in 1837 of the Harvard Musical Society. In 1852 there appeared for the first time Dwight's Journal of Music, in

which the value of music and its place in society was debated. Chapter 6, "Crisis in Secular Concert Activity: Disputes and Divergences," be-

gins with a description of the relationship between amateur and profes- sional musicians. Until 1820 both groups co-existed peacefully. Through implication by association because of any poor performance, professional musicians began to have doubts about publicly performing with amateurs. The dispute was brought to light in 1821, in the Euter-

peiad, another popular musical journal of this period. The solution sug- gested was that each group should trust the other more. Overall, this book is an important one for musiciologists who wish to learn more about a city, its people, and how movements and influences that are still felt today were shaped.

Pittsburg State University Kenny O. McDougle

Hunting Lieutenant Chadbourne. By Jim W. Corder. (Athens: Univer-

sity of Georgia Press, 1993. Pp. ix, 169. Illustrations. $24.95.)

As its title suggests, this slender volume concerns the hunting as much as it does the quarry. Theodore Lincoln Chadbourne, eldest son of a Maine family and graduate of West Point, died at age twenty-three in the Mexican War, at Resaca de la Palma. Writing in the first person, Jim W. Corder, a professor of English at Texas Christian University, reconstructs his quest for Chadbourne, which began when he encoun- tered a marker for Fort Chadbourne along Highway 277 outside San

270 270

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.162 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 15:07:10 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Angelo, Texas. Over the next few years, Corder traced Chadbourne through contemporary newspapers and reminiscences of Mexican War veterans, and in governmental documents and personal correspondence collected in the 1940s and 1950s by a local historian of San Angelo. This book moves uneasily between presenting information on Chad- bourne gleaned from these sources, describing West Point in the Jackso- nian era and the battle of Resaca de la Palma, and recounting Corder's own frustrations, discoveries, and doubts along the trail of this obscure lieutenant.

If on one level Corder engages in a dialogue with Chadbourne- exemplified by his query, "Will I ever know you?"-that genealogical researchers will find strikingly familiar, on another he speaks to recent

literary critics like Roland Barthes and Stanley Fish, who suggest that all history is autobiography and that historical narrative is an artificial construction. In musing about what he is discovering or constructing, Corder challenges the formulation that all history is "text"-insisting, finally, on the materiality of Chadbourne's existence, even if the scar- city of documents makes the young lieutenant hard to find. After all, somebody (whom Corder cannot discover) named a camp for Chad- bourne three years after his death, and the fort for him in 1852. At the same time, however, the book's structure grants the essence of the theorists' argument, that hunting Lieutenant Chadbourne is at bottom the story of the hunter. The first-person narration and often repetitive self-questioning have the feel of a diary, but of course are as clearly a construction as the more straightforward historical narrative that Corder eschews.

While this book thus speculates about some underlying questions that historians face, it makes little attempt to integrate Chadbourne's experience with the recent work of social and cultural historians on young manhood in Jacksonian America or on the Mexican War. Rob- ert W. Johannsen's analysis of the tensions within the American army (in To the Halls of the Mantezumas: The Mexican War in the American Imagi- nation [1985]), for instance, might have illuminated Chadbourne's per- spective as a regular army officer in a largely volunteer fighting force. Moreover, Hunting Lieutenant Chadbourne lacks elements that the historian expects. Long extracts from letters, memoirs, and other sources appear with scant analysis; documentation is sketchy (a brief bibliographical note lists sources consulted); and an index would have been useful. But historians will not be Corder's principal audience, and adopting the his- torian's methods was not his aim. Indeed, by refusing to adopt them,

BOOK REVIEWS 271

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JOURNAL OF THE EARLY REPUBLIC JOURNAL OF THE EARLY REPUBLIC

he challenges the reader, historian or not, to reconsider his own as-

sumptions about what "history" means.

University of Nevada, Reno Scott E. Casper

Correspondence ofJames K. Polk, Vol. VIII: September-December 1844. Edited by Wayne Cutler et al. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993. Pp. xxxvi, 588. Illustration. $32.50.)

In the fall of 1844, after five years of political struggle in Tennessee, James K. Polk made a smashing return to the national political arena

by narrowly defeating Henry Clay in that year's presidential election. Volume 8 of the Correspondence of James K. Polk documents the last hectic months before ballots were cast in November as well as the post-election advice, controversy, and interparty conflict Polk encountered as the new

president-elect. Politics dominate the letters in this volume as never before in the

Polk series. Most letters in this volume fall into three distinct periods: pre-election campaign strategy and projections; worry, then elation, over the election returns; and post-election (and largely unsolicited) ad- vice about cabinet appointees and patronage.

During September and October 1844, Polk was buried with letters about the latest political developments and vote projections from across the nation. Polk kept in close touch with the campaigns in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Tennessee since his victory depended on win-

ning at least two of those states. In New York and Pennsylvania, Polk was worried about the impact of the Liberty party as well as political alliances between nativist groups and Whigs. His worries proved to be

justified, but by small margins Polk carried both states. Tennessee was a more personal matter. Since 1839 Polk had led the Tennessee Democ-

racy; even as a presidential candidate he remained in charge of the par- ty's statewide campaign, by exhorting his political operatives to rally against the Whigs and arranging travel schedules for Democratic speak- ers. Despite his responsibility to the national party, Polk did everything possible to return Tennessee to the ranks of the Democracy. Losing Tennessee again-if only by a hundred or so votes-was a bitter pill to

swallow, until it was clear he had won the election despite the Whig victory in his home state.

Because of the extremely close vote, the first two weeks of Novem- ber were filled with letters about state, even county returns. Polk and his correspondents did their best to interpret the piecemeal results. When New York voted Democratic, Polk could finally relax, for a mo-

ment, before facing the formidable task of maintaining the fragile alli- ance between the northern and southern factions of the Democratic

he challenges the reader, historian or not, to reconsider his own as-

sumptions about what "history" means.

University of Nevada, Reno Scott E. Casper

Correspondence ofJames K. Polk, Vol. VIII: September-December 1844. Edited by Wayne Cutler et al. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993. Pp. xxxvi, 588. Illustration. $32.50.)

In the fall of 1844, after five years of political struggle in Tennessee, James K. Polk made a smashing return to the national political arena

by narrowly defeating Henry Clay in that year's presidential election. Volume 8 of the Correspondence of James K. Polk documents the last hectic months before ballots were cast in November as well as the post-election advice, controversy, and interparty conflict Polk encountered as the new

president-elect. Politics dominate the letters in this volume as never before in the

Polk series. Most letters in this volume fall into three distinct periods: pre-election campaign strategy and projections; worry, then elation, over the election returns; and post-election (and largely unsolicited) ad- vice about cabinet appointees and patronage.

During September and October 1844, Polk was buried with letters about the latest political developments and vote projections from across the nation. Polk kept in close touch with the campaigns in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Tennessee since his victory depended on win-

ning at least two of those states. In New York and Pennsylvania, Polk was worried about the impact of the Liberty party as well as political alliances between nativist groups and Whigs. His worries proved to be

justified, but by small margins Polk carried both states. Tennessee was a more personal matter. Since 1839 Polk had led the Tennessee Democ-

racy; even as a presidential candidate he remained in charge of the par- ty's statewide campaign, by exhorting his political operatives to rally against the Whigs and arranging travel schedules for Democratic speak- ers. Despite his responsibility to the national party, Polk did everything possible to return Tennessee to the ranks of the Democracy. Losing Tennessee again-if only by a hundred or so votes-was a bitter pill to

swallow, until it was clear he had won the election despite the Whig victory in his home state.

Because of the extremely close vote, the first two weeks of Novem- ber were filled with letters about state, even county returns. Polk and his correspondents did their best to interpret the piecemeal results. When New York voted Democratic, Polk could finally relax, for a mo-

ment, before facing the formidable task of maintaining the fragile alli- ance between the northern and southern factions of the Democratic

272 272

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.162 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 15:07:10 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions