NO , 27 TH E CLE MENTS LI BRA RY ASSOCiATE S SPRING-SU MMER 2007

THE OLD NORTHWESTLibrary Director had been eyeing it.covetously, for two decades. until itbecame ava ilable at auction.

Probably because he was aMidwesterner. or because his father was

British. not American,William L. Cleme ntshad little interest in thereg ion 's history . Theper iods of Europeanexploration and discove rywere what got him excit ­ed . He was interested inthe earliest colonial set­tlements . the Europea n­centered wars for empire,and the AmericanRevolution on the eas ternseaboard but not muchinterested in the territorywest of the Hudson orSusquehanna Rivers .In creatin g his Library,C lements felt that he wasbringing the history andthe refinements of theEast and Europe to aMidwest that was still abit wet behind the ears !In 1923 . when feelingthe financial pressuresof building and furnishingthe co llection. he evensold the " western" por­tion of his collection .including a superb copyof Filson' s Kentuckie(1784) with its map,Zenas Leo nard' s highlyprized account of hisjo urney to the Pacific(1839) , and a superb

collection of Indian captivity narratives.Randolph Adams. the Library's

first Director, was a Phil adelphian , andperhaps because of that fact he foundthe history of the frontier romanticand exc iting . Collecti ng intere sts

Elizabeth Erwin of Birmingha m.Michigan , and Janet Mueller of LeSueur , Mi nnesota . This manuscript vol­ume was from the personal co llec tion ofWilliam Guthman, a longtime frien d ofthe Clements Lib rary . and the present

Library is now reproducing in limi tedquantities and the John PorteousLetterbook , kep t at Detroit andMichilimackinac in I767-{59 . recentlyacquired with generous support from

Perhaps no human alteration has had a more profo und impact on thelandscape of the Old Northwest than the pattern ofsurveying imposedby the Land Ordinance oj 1785 . It divided the region into six-mile­square townships. each of thirty-six numbered sections oJ640 acres .Rufu s Putnam surveyed this township in Meigs County , Ohio. about1787, highlighting the sections reserved fo r public benefi t.

or anyone interested inthe Great Lakes frontie r or

the Oh io Valley from the per iodof the French and Indian War

through the War of 1812 .the Clements Library is a" must" stop for research .If you are intere sted inPontiac' s War or NativeAm erican history in theera of the Revolution,you need to work inthe Amherst and GagePapers, study the JamesSter ling Letterboo k, orread the Jehu Hay diary ,

Or perhaps youwant to know moreabout the conflicts withthe British and Indiansfrom the 1780s to 1820 ?Any thorough scholarwill come to An n Arborand consult the JosiahHarmar or AnthonyWayne Papers . the NativeAmerican Collection.Fort Wayne IndianAgency Lerterbook,the Cas s Papers, andother collections besides.Th e Library 's mapresources for the regio nare also exceptional .

Thi s issue of theQuarto includes a descrip­tion of John Fitch's AMap of the north we.H

parts of the United StatesofAmerica (1785 ) recen t­ly acquired by the Library,Its acquis ition is a veryexciting event for us. This issue high­light s, as well, other items relating to thesame geographical area: the marvelousEdward Walsh watercolors of the bor­derlands between the United States andBrit ish North Ame rica that the Clements

~~~~~~---i8-~~~~~~"'l:: .~~~ "

The twin title pages oj Epistles and Gospels for all Sundays and Holidays Throughoutthe Year, primed on Father Gabriel Richard 's press in 18 /2, refl ected the injluenceof Detroit's majorityjrancophone community.

Native American history. and frontierdip lomacy between Britain, the UnitedStates, and their native allies, oftennegotiated at the point of a gun! Adamsunderstood that these collections provid­ed a firm foundation of unique materi­als. By appreciating such an area ofpotent ial strength and then buildingupon it with careful , sus tained co llect­ing , he correctly anticipated that theClements would eventually haveanother "specialty" that would attractthe world's top scholars and support"cutting edge" scholarship .

The Old Northwest thereforebecame, in the 1930s, the Library ' sfirst area of expan sion beyo nd theinterests of Clements himself. Adamscould make it his own field of co llectingsuccess. The accession books of all ofthe Library's divisions document thisnew focus. Shortly before Clements 'sdeath in 1934, the Library acquired agroup of Robert Rogers' s family lettersthat Kenneth Roberts , an enthu siasticClements Library research visitor,would find invaluable in writingNorthwest Passage. In 1936 Adamspurchased a 1764 manuscript map ofDetroit by John Montresor and a unique1799 manuscript map of Fort Lem oultand the town of Detroit. The same yearhe tracked down and acquired the JehuHay diary of Pontiac ' s War from notedPhiladelphia collector Boise Penro se.He was particularly proud, in 1938,to secure Anthony Wayne ' s letterannouncing the raising of the Americanflag at Detroit in 1796, and , a year later ,he not only got the papers of frontiermilitary commander Josiah Hann arfrom his descendants but the Walshsketchbook , with its unique viewsof Detroit , Toronto , and the militaryfortifications along the Canadian border.

The acquis ition of the Fitch mapand the Porteous Letterbook are simplysteps in a long and continuing tradi-tion- a tradition of identifying historicalareas where the Clements Library canbecome an important center of researchand persistently working to accomplishthe goal. It is an ongoing proce ss.

- John C. DonnDirector

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GOSPELS

were changing anyway in the post­Depression era , with American imprints,western history. and things authenticallyAmerica n on the ascendancy andEuropean Americana in decline.Most of the bibliographical spadeworkhad been completed for the earlier era.while the American west was a wide­open field of new discoveries and schol­arship. The Shelburne and Gage Paperswere not simply records of the AmericanRevolution but were full of new, unex­plored source material on westernexpan sion in the late colonial period,

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PAGE 2 THE QlJARTO

A MATTER OF GREAT INTEREST TO CARTOGRAPHERS

John Fitch 's advertisement for his map ran in Philadelphia newspapers inJuly /785 .

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J 0 H N P--I T C H-;- IH I!I: INC I ra verle~ 'he cO"~iry N , W . oflhe Ohio, ill "1,,.

t nef ev er,,, c.. pa,:'!u s of ~ captive , a (urv eyor and a tra­v eller- - ,7j the r~/'lit III h/J labors anI remarks, hal com- Ip leld, and run» 'w i{~e s t;[ell•. " , ;e-w, accurate }'I AI' of "that count rs, gener a, ,) .hi "'i uijlled by tbe Tell New SIt/ttS .including K entucky, "whicb op~nJ im:nenft [ourccs of l1"ra/th iand adv;wfage fJU5 !peculatiolt to the citize ns 'Jf l be United IStates, ant! I b ·cr~f()re is an v!Jj r fj of genera! attm tio ». An d· Ibav ing fnrf :;pmed. the engraving and prh;ting himf df,i ienabled IQ}~ 1l at t be v tryJmali In ice ftj II Fr eucb crcw1Z ~ !

T o be {o ld by W IL L I AM PRICHARD ; clI tile IlOr: i; Ifide v.f l.Vl arkt>t ··j irref, ct ro/ite L tC! it itlD)U~t. . 7i(i~1 30.. "" lli" - [l R ."1' S 0 "E O I~ ~~t:eJJJ_, ~;;LJ. •U::U;;~h_ Xl:lJ."OJ.~ ~la.>t~,_

from the Clement s Librar y Associatesin recogniti on of John ' s long and distin ­guished service . As one of the most

sought-after America nmaps, its purchase is aparticularly appropria teway to honor a consum­mate collector who hasdevoted his career toimproving the marvel ­ous holdings of theLibrary . We are proudto announce that giftsfrom Associates havefully paid for thepurchase of the Fitchmap , well in advanceof the events and cere­monies marking John 'sretirement.

C lements LibraryAssociates have seenthe co lorful mailingpiece that requestedsupport for acquiringthe Fitch map . In it,Joh n Dann summarizedthe fascinating , yet trag­ic, career of the manwho wa_? its cartogra­pher, engrave r, andpub lisher. John Fitch(1743-98) was a geniuswho could never quiteseize the success thatshould have rewardedhis talents and efforts.Dabbling in a varietyof trade s earlier inhis life , Fitch is bestremembered for design­ing and succes sfullytesting steamboatsin the late 1780 s andl 790s. Eve n then, truefame el uded him , andcredit for the first com­

mercial, steam-powered vessel went toRobert Fulton. Perpetually strapped forcash , John Fitch' s venture into cartogra­phy was intended to raise capita l tosupport the development of his self­propelled vessels.

Fitch had the credentials to pro­duce a creditable map of the north west­ern lands identified for settlement by theContinenta l Congress in 1784 . He had

pies survive . Clearly, as P. Lee Phillipswrote in 1916 , "when a copy of Fitch'smap is discovered, it becomes a matterof great inter est to cartographers ."

Acquiring Fitch's map of the OldNorthwest has been a goal from the ear­liest days of the Clements Library '. Itnow comes to us at an interesting time,as John Dann , director for thirt y years,is poised to retire . The map is a gift

examples ; and a few others were knownto be in private colle ctions . Today, weestimate that perh aps eight to ten exam-

here is not much wall spacein the Map Division office , and

what there is of it is decorated withthe odd picture and

a few reminders ofthings that need tobe done. Amongthe latter is a single ,typed sheet of paperent itled "CollectionDevelopment- MapDivision." This listof twenty-seven items,most of them Americanmaps dating from the1780s through 1823,was compiled by for­mer Curator of Map sDavid Boss e in 1994and revised by the CUf­

rent curator two yearslater . Its introdu ctorystatement notes that thetitles on the list are allitem s that the Lib raryshould "strive toobtain." This is fol­lowed by a caveat thatmany of them are "vir­tuall y unobtainable ."

What a pleasureit is to report that oneof these prize maps hasbeen checked off thelist and is now a partof the collections ofthe Clements Library.John Fitch ' s A Map ofthe nor th west parts ofthe United States ofAmerica of 1785 wasprobably the mostdesirable of them all.It has long been con­sidered amon g the rar­est of American maps ,and it is the first tofocus on the "Old Northwest ," theimmense tract of land north of the OhioRiver laid out as the Northwes t Territoryand eventually carved into six states.In 1969, when 1. Clements Wheat andChrist ian F . Brun produced their Mapsand Charts Published in America Bef ore/800, they could identify onl y five insti­tut ions holding cop ies of Fitch' s map .Thi s count represented six indi vidual

THE Q1JARTO PAGE 3

r-I

- Brian Leigh Du nniga nCurator ofMaps andHead ofResearch &Publications

structed by prehis­toric NativeAme ricans. AtLicking Creek,HockhockingRiver , and "MingoT [own]" the hand ­written notationsare supported byinked squares rep­resenting moundcomplexes. Twonotes in easternOhio record thepresence of coal ,and a reference toThomas Jefferson ' s

writings report that mammoth boneshad been found near Bluestone Creekin Virginia . Another tell s us thatKentuck y "wants water in dry seasons."

Who added the se additional ,largely practical comments and forwhat reason ? Five of the notes citeFitch as their source, suc h as, "Fitchsays this is the great depo sit of Bonesof the Indian s" near "the grea t Cave"on the Mississippi Ri ver just belo w theFall s of St. Anthony . Were they addedat the cartographer's direction or by anea rly owner of the map who had accessto information pro vided by Fitch?Written in muchthe same style as theengra ved notes, these a~.dit ions suggestthe possibility that F itch anticipatedmaking revisions for a later versio n ofhis map . Sadl y, this was not to be thecase . and the 1785 map of the OldNorthwest was never the commercialsuccess its author had hoped for .

Not long after thenotes were added. someonedissected the map andaffixed it to linen to makeit easier to fold and store ina slipcase . A hand writ tenlabel was pasted to the casegiving the title of the mapand crediting its author.Th e map has bee n kept inthat fashion ever since andwill remain so until a newarchival box is completedfor this latest treasure ofthe Clements Library.

arbitrarily drawn , with little regard fornatural featur es. None bear the fancifulnames proposed by the future president.

The Clements Library copy of theFitch map includes a few unique detailsthat set it apart from othe r examples andtell us a bit more about what the cartog­rapher had seen and how he might haveplanned to convey additional informa­tion in future editi ons. Seven manu­script notations appear at differentpoints, varying from a few words toa paragraph written across northernIllinois, India na , and Ohio. Thi s lastbegins by inform ing us: "North of aLine dra wn from the Illin ois [River]to Detroit Fitch has laid down this Mapfrom other Maps or Information of oth­ers." Below that point , it adds , he hadsurveyed the Ohio River from its sourceto the Muskin gum River . Along theway , Fitch observed impressive ea rthenfortifi cations and burial mounds con-

A later hand augmented Fitch 's comment on the quality of lands alongthe Lake Erie coast ofnorthern Ohio to note the presence of significan tdeposits of coal.

I,!III

: /"7JP' ,,/ / / r~-/ rt!! /'7J ll---,__~~ /I:'L~ If.·.~/~:~/::(I/I I );t){'rI f:-JAn illustration and description oj one ofFitch's novel steamboat designs appeared in theColumbian Magazine oj December 1786.

served as deputysurveyor ofKentuck y in theclos ing years ofthe AmericanRevolut ion andhad seen the south­ern parts of theregion. Capturedby Indians in 1782,he was carried toDetroit and eve ntu­ally down the St.Lawrence Riverto freedom. Fitchdrew on his per­sonal observationsas we ll as publi shed cartography,parti cularly maps of the interior of NorthAmerica by Thomas Hutchins (1730-89)and William McMurray (fl. 1784).To his credit, Fitch acknowledged hissources but also stated his belief that"his own Surveys and observati ons. . .could make considerable impro vement son those and all that had gone before ."

The cartographer 's reliance onearl ier sources is apparent-details suchas imaginary islands in Lake Superiortha t had first appeared on French map sin the 1740s . The reasonabl y correctoutline of Michi gan' s Lower Pen insulais remin iscent of renderings produced byHutchin s in the 1760 s. Printed notationsin the western Upper Peninsula (near apitifully stubby Keweena w) record thepresence of copper and describe thespectacle of the Fall s of St. Anthony.South of the lakes, however , the nota­tions seem more likely to have beenbased on Fitch's ownobservations. Severaldescribe the quality ofthe land , details of interestto potential settlers. Theextended description ofNiagara Falls and itsgorge likely relates tothe author ' s return fromDetroit in 1782 .

One very contempo­rary feature of John Fitch ' smap was its representationof the proposed divisionof the region into futurestates, a feature he copiedfrom Will iam McMurray' s1784 map . Heavily influ­enced by the ideas ofThomas Jefferson , theseboundaries seem almost

THE Q1JARTO PAGE 5

OF BATEAUX AND BEAVER SKINS

hen Joh n Port eousarri ved in America from

Scot land in 1762, he entered a relent­lessly competitive fur-tr ading marketthat extended from England to Albany ,north and west to Montreal and Detroit,and north into central Canada. Porteouswas hired in the fall of 1764 as a clerkby John Duncan , who had organized hisown business in Schenectady in 1761.Duncan ' s first assoc iates were Wal terRutherford of New York and PeterVan Bru gh Livingston. They selectedthe Niagara Portage for their frontierentrepot, where they built a storehouseand hired James Sterlin g to manage it.When terri torial disputes compelledthem to look elsewhere for theirwestern headquarters. they sent Sterlingto Detroit, a small settlement of lesstha n one thousand peop le, most ofthem French.

John Duncan entered into anagreeme nt with Porteous in Marc h1765 , whereby Porteous wou ld workfor Sterling in Detroit and set up tradeat Michilimackin ac in return for onequarter of the profi ts , Sterling procu redthe goods and sent them up to Porteous.who so ld them , collected debts, extend-

ed credit , and procu red furs, At thistime. James Phyn joined Duncan inbusiness , as did Alexander Ellice , bothof whom supplied much needed cap ital.When Duncan left the firm iu 1767 ,the partners hip was reorg anized as Phynand Ellice. Under a new arrangement,Sterling and Porteous formed their ownalliance in Detroit but remained affi liat­ed with Phyn and Ellice, with whomthey regular ly co nduc ted business.

The hub of operations wasSchenectady, New York, where thefirm built a storehouse . The companyordere d trade good s on credit from NewYork and Britain and stored them untilspring. when they were shipped to thefrontier posts, Phyn and Ellice used thecustomary trade route to the interior:goods from their store house - rum,tobacco, sugar, dry good s -were loadedon boats to go up the Moh awk River toLake Oneida and Oswego, then alongLake O ntario to the Niagara River . Thetraders had to portage around NiagaraFalls to boats that too k them across LakeErie to Detroit and , from there, up LakeHuron to Michilimackinac .

The return trip was much thesame , depending on wind and weather

or ca lamity . Packs of furs, unsoldgoods, and Indian curiosi ties wereloaded into the returning bateau x thatfollowed the same route in reverse.An agent usually attended eachshipment and often took monetarydrafts and notes to settle acco untsin Detro it or Schenectady. The furswere so ld to pay the merchants ' debtsor were sent directly as payment.

The John Porteous Letterbook(1767-69) is one of the ClementsLibrary' s newer acqui sitions. It waspurchased in part to complement theJames Sterlin g Letterbook (176 1-65),which the library has owned since 1931.Togeth er they describe one small partof the larger operation of the Indiantrade in the Old Northwest and parts ofCanada and New York du ring the 1760s ,just after the Briti sh defeat of the Frenchin Canada dur ing the French and IndianWar . Porteous' s letters are filled withthe minuti ae of running the trade fromMichilimackinac: cash flow, debts, furshipments , relations with traders . gluts ,wage s, employment , and seasonality.

The letterbook co ntains 90retained copies of letters to Porteous ' sbusine ss associates, mostof which he

Michilimackinac was the gateway 10the western fu r trade and an important business location ja r John Porteous. Lieutenant PerkinsMagra's plan,Jrom the Thomas Gage Papers , shows the place as it was in the summer oj 1765 .

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The Detroit settlement was centered around a fortified village on the nor th hank of the river. By the mid-/760s most English-speakingtraders had their stores and houses within the stockade . while Francophone f armers domin ated the countryside. This deta il is f rom JohnMontresor 's map of 1764 .

The contents and weight of three large packs of Porteous 's furs are record­ed in this /76 7 invoice copied into his /etterhook. The heavy bundles wouldhe portaged several times on their journey to Schenec tady and New York .

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Michilimackinae in May 1768, at thestart of what turned out to be a goodseason. He had sold all his goods bythe end of July , had sent 97 packs offurs and 63 bearskins to Phyn andEllice. and was ready to leave.

The lette rs for the end of 1768and 1769 are few. The last was datedNovember I , 1769, eight month s afterPorteous was added to the firm as a fullpartner . His work carried on seamless ly,and he was given the responsibility ofadmini stering business in Detro it andMichi limackinac. The partnership ofPhyn , Ellice, and Porteous conti nueduntil 1774 , when it was dissolved.

Manuscri pt co llections arevery rarely complete in themselves,no matter how large they are . Aresearcher always has to link themto other primary sources and thenfill in the gaps of established knowl­edge. The John Porteous Letterbookis a mere digit in the annals of Ameri canhistory . But added to the Sterlin gLetterbook , corre spondence fromthe commandants of Detroit andMichilimackinac in the ThomasGage Papers, other Porteous materia lsat the Burto n Historical Collection

and the Buffalo and ErieCounty Historical Society,and the Phyn and Ell iceLetterbooks, a lso atBuffalo, we see the fulldimension of a major furtrading company's organi­zation - the financialarrangements, the Ind iantrade , the routes , and themerch andise . On thisstage, Porteous becomesa major player . as each

• /' ,I' /t'~ 1!I3- letter or invoice has arole in fitting the piecesof history together.

- Barhara DeWolfeCurator ofMa nuscripts

against debtors maks but little headin our Government."

Furs were hard to procureand labor was expensive - men atMichilimackinac asked "ex horbitant"wages . Of all the traders who wentout to Indian villages duri ng the winter,only a few made a profit after payingtheir men and charges. The demand forlabor was so great that Porteous couldnot find an honest man to help him . Hebegged Sterli ng to send him "four goodCanadians bound," but Sterling was notable to send the men unti l the middleof Augu st, when it was too late . Thelack of reliable help caused him a greatdea l of "trouble and pains" getting furs,though he did manage to find fifty-sixpacks to send back to Schenectady ,with the hope that this would beenough to pay the company's debts.

Porteou s spen t the winter inDetroit , where he filled his leisurehours hunt ing "in the Indian way ,"and ordered goods for the spring.In December. news of the murder ofan English trader by Indians at the postof St. Joseph sparked fear of a "generaldisturbance ," which lasted throu ghoutthe spring. Porteous was back in

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wrote to James Sterl ing (22), JohnDuncan (10), Robert and Alexa nderEllice (13) , and James Phyn (5) . Thefirst letter of March 8. 1767, was writtenfrom Schenectady . where Porteous wassettling company affairs before head ingoff to Michilimackinac for the seaso n.The frozen river detained him until May.when he set out on a boat "deep loaded"with goods .

Porteous arriv ed on June 6. to findthat most the traders who had winteredamon g the Indians had not yet arrived .He bemoaned the fact that "severlsare already gon & preparing to go outamo ngst the Indians.. .& will quite ruinthe tread here this Season ." Until 1766,trade had been restricted to the frontierposts. such as Michi limackinac. Butthese regulations were lifted in 1766 ,which enabled operators to travel toIndian villages and huntin g grounds.The change in policy meant that justabou t anyone with a boat load of

. goods to sell co uld go out among theIndians and barter. which caused fierceco mpetition, a scarcity of labor. andlower prices . It also meant thatPorteous's role changed from traderto a supplier of traders. Porteous andother established business-men protested the removalof these restrictions, as itmade it much harder todispose of their goods andto compete for furs andIndian curiosities .

The 1767 summertrading season was diffi­cu lt for Porteous. He wasnot very successful in col­lecting debt s. One traderwas robbed by the Indiansand could not pay for hisgoods until the followingsummer. Also , no civilauthority exis ted to actas a deterrent for debto rs.Porteous had to "coaxor importune," and be

patient, as "complaints

THE QlJARTO PAGE 7

In 1804 Edward Walsh took. a view of US.-held Fort Niagara as seen from the wharf at NUl')' Hall below Fort George . It is possible thatthe artist depicted himselfas the red-coated figure leaning on a walking stick .

A SURGEON 'S VIEW OF THE WESTne way to measure a continent iswith a surveyor's chain. Another

is to capture the sense of the placethrough images. Prior to photography.

precise rendering of the landscape withpencil and watercolor was a skill expect­ed of military officers. To Britishregimental surgeon Edward Walsh(1756-1832), artistic training meshedwith poetic and scientific interests com­mon to the educated gentleman-soldierof his era. While in North America,Walsh created pictures that have aunique documentary and artistic valueto the scholarship of what was thenconsidered the Northwest.

As an artist, Walsh wasn' t aBenjamin West. His images were neverintended to be allegories of imperialpower , like West' s "The Death ofGeneral Wolfe ." Instead, Walsh depict­ed control over North America by care­fully documenting key positions thatdefined the imperial foothold on UpperCanada. But his views are not just coldtopographical statements. His sketches(done on the spot as opposed to in a dis­tant studio) also commun icate his per­sonal involvement with these places,ongoing relationships with the nativepopulation. and a great interest in thenatural world.

Edward Walsh was born inCounty Waterford, Ireland, the son ofa merchant. He had literary aspirations

and published some of his poetry inBagatelles. or Poetical Sketches byE. Walsh MD. in 1793. His versetook a political tum with "Progressof Despotism." a poem. dedicated toWhig politician Charles James Fox,on how the lust for power tainted theideals of the Enlightenment. Walshstudied medicine at Glasgow andEdinburgh. As a student, he wasknown to have sketched portra itsof faculty and scenery . His view of"Castle Rock" on Calton Hill accenteda landscape profile that was said toresemble a distinguished gentleman'sface. Years later, it was determinedthat the likeness was to Lord HoratioNelson. This divine occurrence wascause for the publication of Walsh' sview as a part of the print series."Ackermann's Repository."

Walsh' s career took him tomany of the military hotspots ofhis time. After service on a WestIndies packet, he entered the armyin 1797 as an assistant surgeon. Heexperienced action during the 1798Irish Rebellion and a hair-raising land­ing with the Holland expedition of 1799,which nearly cost him his life. In 1801,Walsh's 49th Regiment of Foot providedthe marine detachment aboard H.M.S.Ganges during Nelson' s attack onCopenhagen. A nearby explosion shat­tered Walsh' s hand during the battle.

It was likely with a sense of reliefthat. in 1802, Walsh was stationed to theNiagara region of Canada. where servicewas described as "do uble allowance andnothing to do." He was inquisitive andobservant and found plenty to do assurgeon to the 49th Regiment at FortGeorge . Walsh became quite enamoredwith North America and its native peo­ple. He went to great lengths to gatherinformation on their character. language,music, crafts. and rituals. He took par­ticular interest in the parallels he sawbetween native rituals and Judaism andadded to the speculation that NativeAmericans were descended from the losttribes of Israel. Walsh collected nativeartifacts and narratives. Additionally,he took extensive notes on the botany,geography, and mineralogy of NorthAmerica. As a measure of his interestand determination, there is, in Libraryand Archives Canada. a survey letterfrom Walsh titled "Subjects on whichI wish to be informed" with a four-pagelist of ethnographic and natural sciencequestions directed to fellow officers.

Walsh assembled a menagerieof woodland mammals, birds, and rep­tiles at Fort George. His watercolorsinclude detailed sketches of wildlife.Driven by official policy, or by humani­tarianism, he reportedly carried outvaccinations for smallpox among theIndians of the Grand River near Lake

PAGE 8 THE Q1JARTO

Erie. In exchange. he was initiated as"Co njourer" in a long, grueling ritualrarely seen by Europeans and involvinga dog sacrifice. smoke inhalation. anda shaman who anointed the doctor byspitting in his ear. Walsh associatedwith Native American leaders JosephBrant (Thayendanegea) and Tecumsehand testified before a tribal council asa character witness in defense of Brant.In 1804 Walsh traveled as far as SaultSte. Marie. sketching along the way .Dated watercolors of Fort Erie. York .Detroit , Joseph Brant' s home. FortChippawa, Fort St. Joseph, and SaultSte. Marie suggest an extensive tourof Upper Canada.

lt was Edward Walsh' s intent topublish a natural history of Canada fromhis accumulated information . The notesfor this project survive at Library andArchives Canada. His watercolors couldhave been the basis for an impressiveset of engraved illustrations. Sadly,this project was never completed.

After his placid assignment inAmerica, Walsh was back in the thickof the Napoleonic Wars with the

Walcheren expedition of 1809. Asstaff physician with the 6th DragoonGuards. he was involved in action dur­ing the Peninsular War of 1807- 14. Hewas present at Waterloo in 1815 withthe Army Medical Department. Late inhis military career. Walsh was appointedPresident of the Ostend Medical Board .

The Napoleonic Wars provided anopportunity for active art acquisition bythe victors , and Walsh loved Flemishpainting. He was apparently foiled in anattempt to "import" from the Continentlarge Rubens and Van Dyke canvasesrolled in his medical chests. He wasreported to have had a peaceful retire­ment in Ireland. One can imagineWalsh entertaining family and friendswith his recollections, supported by hisbeautiful watercolors . Edward Walshdied in Dublin in 1832.

Over two hundred years havepassed since the creation of the prizedset of Walsh' s watercolors now at theClements Library. The Clements hasalways sought out visual materials withhistoric content. Walsh 's sketches areunique dep ictions of key British points

of control in the wilderness of the GreatLakes. Many of the sites he illustratedcontinue to be important. Historiansand restorers of historic sites frequentlyconsult Walsh' s meticulous details ofuniforms and architecture . This docu­mentation alone is invaluable. but Walshgives us more. Through his artistic sen­sibilities he commu nicates a sense ofwonder about the natural world. Walshdepicted the British military presence assynchronistic to this world and its nativecommunity. The pace of life is leisure­ly. with plenty of time to observe.

Typical of military artists trainedto record topography. drawing peoplewas not Walsh' s strength. Yet the fig­ures in his watercolors play an importantrole as surrogate viewers who bring usinto the space and mood of the land­scape. From their point of view. weshare the light breeze that ripples theflags, smell the nearby forests and lakes,and feel the warmth of the sunlight. Itis likely that Walsh depicted himself inseveral of his views. His native friendsare frequently present . portrayed with astatus that may not be quite equal to that

Sault Ste. Marie. where Walsh composed "A View of the Falls (rapids ) ojSt. Mary ." marks the fa rthes t point of the artist 's 1804 forayinto the upper Great Lakes . The j oregrotmd includes several Native Americans .

•

/ / "";:" ','P',«:;,-Ai~'/"~"t ItJjJith ' ) "to ;I.,.... 11.110 : .• ;,-: / .. ,'ff. ...

THE QVARTO PAGE 9

',' " .-:",..',\"~ , ,<;'.,.,,1.. 'iTfH.'J~. "-:' 4~ " ·f ' · , ,,(.' ! 'f ./t:••' ~.:: '.i("_.'~ ' / - / '/'-''' ' ,

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Although best known/or his renderings a/military posts and topography, Edward Walsh was also an ornithologist who documentedsome of the birds of the Great Lakes. These three are today known as the Canada grouse, scarlet tanager, and cedar waxwing.

Edward Walsh, depicted in this 1834 engrav ing/rom the DublinUniversity Magazine, vol. 3, no. /3. Courtesy, Kresge Library,Oakland University.

of the soldier-doctor-artist, but certainlyin a position of mutual respect withinthe shared world that Walsh acknowl­edges was once theirs . The sketchesevoke complex relationship s of the pastin ways that the written word cannot.

At some point the Walsh water­colors were divided up . Examplessimilar to the Clements'sdrawings may be foundin the collections ofLibrary and ArchivesCanada and the RoyalOntario Museum .Several of his watercolorswere reprodu ced as printsfrom about 1811 to 1814and are now missing.Those at the Clementssurfaced in 1939 in abound sketchbook in thehands of John Ward , aLondon antiquitie s dealer .Ward had failed to sellthe sketches to HenryFord and offered them tothe Clements for $1,000.This represented a verysubstantial sum at a timeof very tight budgets.A loan from The DetroitFriends of the ClementsLibra ry, a precursor tothe Clements LibraryAssociates, made the

purchase possible . The history andprovenance of the watercolors priorto 1939 is unkno wn, although there isevidence that a group of Walsh drawingswas in the possession of Canadian histo­rian and theologian Henry Scadding(1813-190 1). It is possible that heonce owned those now at the Clements.

Walsh 's views have a broadenough appeal to be marketable asreprodu ctions, both in his time andours. As a fundrai sing venture torepay the Detroit Friends , the Clementsproduced a limited edition of three hun­dred color, collotype facsimiles of theview of Detroit. The collotype process

was the most accurate ofits day and these facsimilesare often misidentifiedas original art .

Today, the combina­tion of digital technologyand offset lithograph ycan produce replicas ofeven greater accuracy.Following on the successof the 1939 venture , allten of the Clements'sWalsh views will bepublished later this yearas full size reproductions.No doubt , Edward Walshwould be quite thrilled that,two hundred years later, amultitude of admirers willbe enjoy ing and learningfrom his creat ions.

- Clayton Le wisCurator of GraphicMaterials

PAGE 10 TH E QlJARTO

SOLDIER-ARTIST OF THE OLD NORTHWEST

This unsigned "Plan ofFort Hannar" is the fi nest and most detailed of severalversions of a survey done in 1786. The handwriting is very similar to Heart's,and the inclusion of the garrisonj1ag is a technique he occasionally employed .

t was atreaty of

peace thatmade the lands

between the OhioRiver and the GreatLakes a part of theUnited States ofAmerica in 1783.But the region. knownto many as the "OldNorthwest," wouldenjoy precious littlepeace over the nextdozen years. The agree­ment thatended the Warfor Independence drewthe boundary line withCanada through theGreat Lakes, abandon­ing the homelands ofmany Native Americannations that had alliedthemselves with theBritish. Undefeatedon the battlefield,these peoples were notinclined to surrendertheir lands quietlyto the Americans .

The ensuing fron­tier war would occupymuch of the small U. S.Army from the mid-I780s until the 1795Treaty of Greenvilleended hostilities .During this period ofconflict, American sol­diers constructed andguarded military posts along the OhioRiver and on the routes leading to thecenters of Indian resistance in the north­ern parts of modem Ohio and Indiana.Federal troops and local militia usedthese forts as bases to supportmajorexpeditions in 1790, 1791, and 1794.The first of these was unsuccessful,the second an absolute disaster, andthe third resulted in Anthony Wayne'svictory at Fallen Timbers that set thestage for the Treaty of Greenville .

Documentation of all three cam­paigns can be found in Clements Librarymanuscript holdings, most notably the

Harmar, Wayne, and Old Northwestpapers but in many smaller collectionsas well. As might be expected, militaryofficers produced much of this writtenmaterial in the course of their duties.Some left visual documents as well ­topographical maps, plans of forts , andsketches of towns and military posts.Topographical drawing was a valuedskill that allowed officers to recordvisual details for future reference orfor use by their superiors. Experiencedtopographical artists were less commonin the young U.S. Army than in themore established European forces.

Fortunatel y, the armyin the Old Northwestenjoyed the servicesof at least one talentedofficer-artist, andsome of his workis preserved at theClements Library .

Jonathan Heart(l748-9 1), like manyof his fellow soldiers ,was a veteran of theWar for Independence.Originally fromConnecticut, Heartvolunteered in May1775, soon after theoutbreak of fighting.He obtained aContinental Armycommission inJanuary 1776 andthereafter servedwith Connecticutregiments untilNovember 1783,reaching the rank ofcaptain . After a briefhiatus>Heart resumedhis military serviceand rank in June 1785with the newly estab­lished federal army.He was soon in theNorthwest, assistingin the constructionof Fort Harmar atthe mouth of theMuskingum River(Marietta, Ohio).

In 1786 he was at Fort Finney (oppositeLouisville, Kentucky), and in April 1787Heart was sent to establish Fort Franklin(Franklin , Pennsylvania) on the routefrom Pittsburgh to Lake Erie. Heexplored toward the lake in 1789 andthen found himself at Fort Washington(near Cincinnati) in 1790 where hejoined Colonel Josiah Harmar's expedi­tion against the Miami villages (today'sFort Wayne. Indiana). In 1791 Heartmarched with Arthur St. Clair's doomedexpedition against the Miami villagesand was killed on November 4 whenthe army was surprised in camp by

TH E CliJARTO PAG E 11

I. ,I -,!..;..,'<I -•: ~

U'---===-~=Fort Harmar is shown at ground level in this unique sketch centering 0 11 the tip of one of its fi ve bastions . The hack wails ofhorizontal­log barracks fo rmed the "curtains" 0/ the fort . while the bastions were made of vertical pickets . The lower part s of the picket wallswere "lined " with shorter srakes to close gaps . The pap er . border. and handwriting on the verso of this sketch match known worksby Jonathan Heart .

Native American forces and routed withgreat loss of life.

Although Jonathan Heart ' s deathat St. Clair 's Defeat deprived later histo­rians of his artis tic talents during subse­quent campaigns, the captain drewplans and views of some of the placeshe had seen before 1791. The IndianaHistorical Society has a plan and draw­ings of Fort Finney. and the CincinnatiHistorical Society owns a Heart view ofFort Washington . With the acquisition

of the papers of Josiah Harmar and byindividual purchase of several piecesonce belonging to James McHen ry, theClements Library obtained a number ofplans and drawings prepared by CaptainHeart for his superiors. Five of thesedocument the construction of FortFrankl in in 1787-88. All are eithersigned or were associated with theartist' s reports. Among several imagesdepicting Fort Harmar is a detailedground plan that appears to be by

Heart's hand. Even more typical ofhis work is an unsigned , colored sketchshowing the fort from outside its walls.

Captain Heart , though hardly agreat artist , was a fine observer and aprecise draft sman whose work is as use­ful today for study ing the forts of theOld Northwest as it was for informinghis superiors in the 17805 and '90s . Hisseries on Fort Frank lin provides views,cross sections. and ground plans thatclearly revea l the building techniques

Although in dama ged condition. Jonathan Heart 's view of Fort Franklin from the north is signed by the artist and is one of his nicestcompositions. The ornamental trees close to the fo rt surely represent arti stic license .

PAGE 12 THE QlJARTO

employed in the construction of wilder­ness fortifications. One of his drawingsof Fort Finney even peeks through agateway into the interior of the post,a perspective rarely depicted. Heart ' sview of Fort Hannar clearly shows howits five bastions were constructed andconnected to the shed-roofed barracksthat formed the "curtains" or outerwalls. Heart provided details of the

first took an interest in those on the eastbank of the Muskingum River oppositeFort Harmar, and he mapped anddescribed them for an article thatappeared'in the Columbian Magazineof May 1787. His "Plan of theRemains of Some Ancient Works onthe Muskingum" carefully lays outwhat Heart took to be a fortified townwith pyramids. He corresponded with

inconsistent , and carry more than theappearance of tradition," Heart found,Not content to map the earthworks andmake inquiries, he opened at least oneburial mound to find "bo nes in the natu­ral position of a man" buried east andwest with some isinglass on his breast."He was uncertain of the ancient people' sconnection to the Indians whom he wasthen fighting but dismissed the popular

~~-~, =t'f"""'~~ •...-",- ~•.<

'J\. PR.OFILE oft]leWORK S on Creek

S('al e- '10 f e-et b the luc1l. .~";;--£i=,:G~=tnifu¥

Captain Heart was a respectable draftsman who prepared both views and ground plans of military posts, This cross section of FortFranklin provides details of the blockhouse and the bombproof shelters that would have been useful in the event of a British attack fromLake Erie .

sort dear to any archaeologist or historicsite researcher.

Although Jonathan Heart is bestknown today for his renderings of mili­tary posts, he also occupied himself withbroader , antiquarian interests during histime in the Old Northwest. Americansentering the Ohio country in the 1780sencountered visible evidence of sophisti­cated, earlier societies in the form ofearthen burial and effigy mounds andfortifications. Three such complexesare noted on the Clements copy of JohnFitch' s map of the Northwest. Heart

Benjamin Smith Barton on the subjectearly in 1791 , and that letter was pub­lished posthumously in the Transactionsof the American Philosophical Societyfor 1793.

Heart was frustrated by his inabili­ty to learn more about these ancientNative Americans, He concluded thatthe earthworks had been "constructedby a people not only numerous, but wellacquainted with the art of fortificationand defence." Inquiries of the localIndians proved unhelpful , however.Their answers were "irregular and

notion that the mound builders weredescended from the lost tribes of Israel.He attributed any similarities to the"coincidence of natural customs."

Captain Jonathan Heart , soldier­artist of the Old Northwest, left a graph­ic legacy through which we can picturesome of the region's early militaryposts and learn a bit about its ancientmonuments as well.

- Brian Leigh DunniganCurator of Maps and Head ofResearch & Publications

THE Q!)ARTO PAGE 13

THE

Al\'IERICAN

VINE·DRESSER'S GUIDE;BEINQ- A TREATISE

ON THE

e ULTlva.TI ON OF 'I'llE VINE'l~

AND

THE P1\OOESS OJ;' WINE MAKIHG~

ADAPTED T O T HE SOIL AND CLIMATE

OJ,' T HE

UNITED STATES :

]I

l'OR 1\tllR LY OF SW I SSERLA ND , AND NOW AN AM ERICA N CI T I ZEN,C ULTIVA'rOR OF T H E VINE F R OM H IS ClllLDHOOD, AND FOR T HE

L AST T WENTY F IVI! 10 -"<1. 11.8, O.CC.Ul'JED I"" THAT LI"" .: OFB US I NE Sll, !"IRS'" INl{'EN·Tl..TCJl:Y, AND N OW ON THE

BORDEI\.S OF OHIO, NE,\.R YEVAY, INDIA.N A.

,Then said the t rees to the vine, come thou, and reign over us:

And the vine said unto them, sho uld I leave my wine, which cheer­eth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees1

Judges, c. ix, 12 &. 13 vs.

e iuefUU(tt{:PRINTED BY S. J . BROWNE,

AT THE E.MPO RIU M O:FFlCE •.~ .1826.

John James Dufour (1763-1827) was an immigrant from Vevey, Switzerland, who came to America in 1796, determined 10produce awine as great as his adoptive country. After an abortive start in Kentucky , he moved in 1802 to the newly created Indiana Territory andestablished a Swiss colony at what became Vevay , Switzerland County, Indiana. There he created one of the country's first successfulcommercial vineyards. l t fiourished for twenty-five years . Dufour 's The American Vine-Dresser's Guide (Cincinnati, 1826) recountsthat historic experiment in American viticulture .

PAGE 14 THE QlJARTO

AN NOUNCEMENTS

INTERI M DI RECTO R NAM ED

Provost and Executive Vice Presidentfor Academic Affai rs Teresa A. Sullivanhas announ ced the appo intment of BrianLeigh Dunnigan as Interim Director ofthe Clements Library. He will take onthis respons ibility following the retire­ment of John C. Dann on June 30.Brian has served as Curator of Mapssince 1996. As Head of Research &Publications he also edits the Quarto andintroduce s new readers to the Library .

A WAS H INGTON SIGNATURE

AN D MEDALLI ON

James Clements Whea t was the firstCurator of Maps in the library named

for his uncle . Recently, three ofhis descendants of the Bosschieterfamily visited from the Netherlandsto present the Library with someGeorge Wash ington items once ownedby their grandfather. The gift includesa "free-frank" addres s leaf dated AprilII , 1777, signed by Washing ton andaddressed to Thomas Johnson, memberof the Continental Congress , firstgovernor of Maryland , and justiceof the Supreme Court. Framed withit is a medallion bearing the profil eof the first president. The Bosschieters'gift adds to the Library ' s GeorgeWashington holdings and providesa visually appealing artifact forfuture exhibits.

PRIC E FELLOW SH IPS

Each year the Clements Library awardsa number of Jacob M . Price VisitingResearch Fe llowships to promi singyoung scholars. The funds are used fortravel and expen ses for a visit to AnnArbor to consult the resources of theLibrary. Competition was particularlystiff this year, and we are pleased toannounce nine recipients .

Dr , William H , Bergmann, NorthernMichigan University, for his book,Commerce and Arms: Defin ing theWestern Economy During the EarlyRepublic, 1 776~18J5 .

Dr. Tyler Boulware, West VirginiaUniversity . for his book, Deconstructingthe Cherokee Nation: Town , Regional,and Nationa l Identities AmongEighteenth-Century Cherokees.

Erica Charters, University of Oxford ,for her disserta tion , "After the War :Disease and Demobilization in theBritish Empire, 1 763~ 1 776 ."

James C. David, The College ofWilliam & Mary , for his dissertation,"D unmore 's New World, 1770- 1798,"

Sean P, Harvey, The College ofWilliam & Mary, for his- disserta tion ,"American Languages: Natives andNation . Phi lology and Empire , 1783­1857 ."

Laura Keenan, University ofPenns ylvania, for her dissertation,"The Shawnees in the Colonia lAtlantic World,"

Patrick Spero, University ofPennsylvania, for his dissertation,"From Conte sted Land toCommonwealth: The Tra nsformationof Pennsy lvania, 1730-1800 ."

James M . Vaughn, University ofChicago , for his dissertat ion , "Imperiumin Imperio: The East India Company,Metropo litan Politics , and the PoliticalEconomy of British Imperial ism,1675-1 775."

Heather Weiland, University ofChicago, for her dissertat ion , "Investorsand Improvers: British Imperialisms,1 713~1 776,"

THE Q1JARTO PAGE 15

CALENDAR OF EVE NTS

!\larch 26-J une 1,2007: Exhibit. r'A to Z:An Alphabet of Regional and Ethnic CulinaryTraditions." Weekdays. 1:00-4:45 p.m.

May 18-20,2007: Second BiennialSymposium on American Culinary History:Regional and EthnicTraditions.

June II-Sept ember 28, 2007: Exhibit."Growth and Evolution of the ClementsLibrary. 1903- 2007." Weekdays. 1:00-4:45p.m.

June 11,2007: Lecture by award-winninghistorian David f\:kCullough. RackhamAuditorium. 4 :00 p.m. Reception for Mr.McCullough and Clements Library Associatesimmediately following at the Library.

DAVID MCCULLOUGH TO SPEAK

Renowned historian David McCullough willvisit Ann Arbor on June 11.2007 . to presenta lecture honoringClements Library directorJohn C. Dann on the occasion of his retire­ment. McCullough is a gifted author andspeaker. widely acclaimed as a "master of theart of narrative history" and as "a matchlesswriter." He is twice winner of the NationalBook Award and twice winner of the PulitzerPrize . His second Pulitzer was received in2005 for / 776, a book that drew on the collec­tions of the Clements Library. A forthcoming.deluxe. illustrated edition will include a num­berof images and maps from the Library.

Mr. McCullough will speak at RackhamAuditorium at 4:00 p.m. His lecture is spon­sored by the University of Michigan Officeof the President, the Office of the Provost.and the Public Goods Council and is open tothe public at no charge. A reception for Mr.McCullough and Clements Library Associateswill follow at the Clements Library.

PAGE 16 THE QVARTO