Southern Historical Association The Spanish in the Mississippi Valley, 1762-1804 by John Francis McDermott Review by: Jo Tice Bloom The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Nov., 1974), pp. 644-645 Published by: Southern Historical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2206364 . Accessed: 09/06/2014 17:18 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. . Southern Historical Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Southern History. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 188.72.127.85 on Mon, 9 Jun 2014 17:18:28 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sha http://www.jstor.org/stable/2206364?origin=JSTOR-pdf http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp 644 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORY have shown what a careful search of available "grass-roots" records can produce. The publication of this volume with its heavy reliance upon the resources of the Hall of Records is a fitting tribute to Dr. Morris L. Radoff, who is retiring this year as archivist of Maryland and director of the Hall of Records. Painstaking research, a mastery of both primary and secondary sources, and short biographies of the members of the Associators' Con- vention all enhance the value of this volume, especially for the scholar. Northeastern Illinois University JOSEPH C. MORTON The Spanish in the Mississippi Valley, 1762-1804. Edited by John Francis McDermott. (Urbana, Chicago, and London: University of Illinois Press, c. 1974. Pp. xiv, 421. $15.00.) This is another collection of the excellent papers given at the occasional conferences on Mississippi Valley history held at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. The coordinator was, as usual, John Francis McDermott, who can always put together a stimulating program since he can make a promise of publication to the authors. An essay by John Francis Bannon, which opens the volume, is an excellent summary of the history of the area and period. It serves to limit the scope of the volume and to provide a setting for the essays which deal with various aspects of Spanish occupation and government. Each essay is fascinating in its own way. Covering the period of Spanish occupation of the Mississippi Valley from 1763 to 1804, the essays touch on many aspects of this period and demonstrate that the Spanish influence was extremely important, although it was present for a relatively short time. An example of the on g-range influence of Spanish government is provided by John G. Clark's dis- cussion of the Spanish cabildo and the American city council. C. Richard Arena's essay on Spanish land policies and their actual use also illustrates the persistent Spanish influence. Anyone who has attempted to sort out the controversies over French, Spanish, and American land grants in the Orleans and Louisiana territories is fully aware of the complexities of the problems, and Arena's discussion helps to clarify some of the questions of the modern researcher. Several of the essays are weak. C. Harvey Gardiner, in discussing the Mexican archives as a source for Mississippi Valley history, points out that there is very little material in Mexico City but seems to insist that researchers should go there. Similarly, Samuel Wilson, Jr.'s essay on the philanthropist Andres Almonester goes into great length on the buildings given by Almonester and their history but omits a great deal about the man himself. At times one feels that the writers are reaching out for something to say on very narrow This content downloaded from 188.72.127.85 on Mon, 9 Jun 2014 17:18:28 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp BOOK REVIEWS 645 topics. Perhaps they should have followed the lead of John C. Ewers, whose essay on symbols of chiefly authority is thorough, informative, concise, and short. For those who have studied the settlement of the Mississippi Valley by Americans, the essay by William S. Coker on Bryan Bruin will prove very interesting. Bruin was one of the earliest Americans to enter the area and had an effect on Spanish immigration policies. Bryan Bruin and his son Peter also had an important effect on the course of Mississippi history. Of equal interest to social historians is Jack D. L. Holmes's study of Spanish regulations on taverns and the sale of liquor. He has thoroughly researched the subject and reveals that the alcoholic consumption of the residents along the river has been of concern to the authorities for at least two centuries. This book reveals many facets of life in Spanish Louisiana, and comparable studies of other periods and areas would be fascinating. All in all, the volume is a fine publication and provides much information on the Spanish history of the United States. Bowie State College Jo TIcE BLOOM British Drums on the Southern Frontier: The Military Colonization of Georgia, 1733-1749. By Larry E. Ivers. (Chapel Hill: Uni- versity of North Carolina Press, c. 1974. Pp. xiv, 274. $12.50.) The colony of Georgia was created for a variety of reasons and purposes, not the least of which was to serve as a military buffer between the British Carolinas and Spanish Florida. A purely military history of its formative years is, then, highly appropriate. Larry Ivers has combed the printed and manuscript records of the colony and searched the accounts of participants to construct a narrative that must satisfy the most demanding connoisseur of American colonial military history; and to extensive research he has brought insights gained in all too similar conditions in the Mekong Delta. "The filth, smells, rats, mosquitoes, and sickness of the little forts," he declares, "are imbedded in my senses" (p. xii). If he was, like most, an amateur soldier, Ivers is also a true amateur of the history he writes, for he appreciates the importance of detail, the sparse but suggestive personal glimpses of the officers and men of the irregular Georgia forces, the importance of the fiery leadership of such a commander as James Oglethorpe. He also must have insisted that a study which doggedly tracks little bands of rangers up and down the coast between Frederica and St. Augustine, whose background stretches from Mobile to Charles Town, must be well supplied with both general and detailed maps that really locate the places noted in his text. With the addition of some delightful visual impressions of men and forts sketched by Bill Drath, the result is This content downloaded from 188.72.127.85 on Mon, 9 Jun 2014 17:18:28 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp Article Contents p. 644 p. 645 Issue Table of Contents The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Nov., 1974), pp. 537-730 Volume Information [pp. ] Front Matter [pp. ] Criminal Procedure in Slave Trials in the Antebellum South [pp. 537-564] Half a Loaf: The Shift from White to Black Teachers in the Negro Schools of the Urban South, 1865-1890 [pp. 565-594] Pollard's The Lost Cause Regained: A Mask for Southern Accommodation [pp. 595-612] The Georgia "Race Strike" of 1909 [pp. 613-630] Book Reviews Review: untitled [pp. 631-636] Review: untitled [pp. 636-639] Review: untitled [pp. 639-641] Review: untitled [pp. 641-642] Review: untitled [pp. 642-643] Review: untitled [pp. 643-644] Review: untitled [pp. 644-645] Review: untitled [pp. 645-646] Review: untitled [pp. 646-647] Review: untitled [pp. 647-648] Review: untitled [pp. 648-649] Review: untitled [pp. 649-651] Review: untitled [pp. 651-652] Review: untitled [pp. 652-653] Review: untitled [pp. 653-654] Review: untitled [pp. 655-656] Review: untitled [pp. 656-657] Review: untitled [pp. 657-658] Review: untitled [pp. 658-659] Review: untitled [pp. 659-660] Review: untitled [pp. 660-661] Review: untitled [pp. 661-663] Review: untitled [pp. 663-664] Review: untitled [pp. 664-665] Review: untitled [pp. 665-666] Review: untitled [pp. 666-667] Review: untitled [pp. 667-668] Review: untitled [pp. 668-670] Review: untitled [pp. 670-671] Review: untitled [pp. 671-672] Review: untitled [pp. 672-673] Review: untitled [pp. 674-675] Review: untitled [pp. 675-676] Review: untitled [pp. 676-677] Review: untitled [pp. 678-679] Review: untitled [pp. 679-680] Review: untitled [pp. 680-681] Review: untitled [pp. 681-682] Review: untitled [pp. 682-683] Book Notes [pp. 684-687] Historical News and Notices [pp. 688-700] Back Matter [pp. ]