Volume 047-1 - January 1993 (10 pages)

BOOK REVIEWS Ernest Allen Lewis, The Fremont Cannon, High up and Far Back. Penn Valley, Western Trails Press; 1990. This is a second edition of the author’s book of the same title, published in 1981 by the Arthur H. Clark Company of Glendale, California (now located in Spokane, Washington). On Fremont’s second expedition (23 May 1843 6 August 1844), he generally followed the Oregon Trail to The Dalles, Oregon. From there he moved southward, through present day Oregon and Nevada and decided to cross the Sierra Nevada in January 1844 to reach Sutter’s Fort. From there, he traveled southward through present day California, the southern tip of Nevada State, Utah, Colorado and Kansas, back to St. Louis, Missouri. On this expedition, Fremont took a small cannon, a howitzer, obtained from the United States Arsenal in St. Louis. This apparently was against regulations and, while already encamped on the prairie, his wife, Jessie, rceived a letter in St. Louis, addressed to Fremont demanding the return of the cannon. Jessie did not forward this letter but instead, sent Fremont an urgent note, advising him to start his trip immediately. This Fremont did. The cannon was with the party until the time of crossing the Sierra Nevada, a hazardous undertaking in mid-winter, through perhaps the wildest part of the Sierra and hampered by severe showstorms. At some spot in the Sierra the cannon had to be abandoned, never to be seen again. And the desire to find the cannon has motivated several persons to guess where the howitzer was lost and search the area; until today with no result. The author is one of those searchers who have devoted considerable time and effort to locate the cannon. In the Introduction, besides information customary found at this location, the author describes his own involvement in the search. The chapter ‘‘In search of Destiny’’ discusses the events around the acquisition of the cannon in addition to a description of the early life of Fremont and his background. The next two chapters discuss the second expedition up to the time of the crossing of the Sierra Nevada. The following chapter is easily the most important one for the would-be cannon searcher. In this chapter, the author analyzes Fremont’s day to day description of his crossing and correlates this text with topographical features, identified on modern maps. At another place in the book, a map is found on which the supposed track of Fremont is superimposed on a modern topo map. In the second half of this chapter, the author comments on the description of this track and generally discusses Fremont’s attitude towards the cannon. This chapter has several views of the topography of the terrain which is discussed as well as reproduction of the map of Preuss, which was published in the original edition of Fremont’s reports. The discussion of Fremont’s track, convincing as it may be, is not without challengers. Another Fremont cannon searcher, Fred Green of Reno proposed another track. As far as I am aware, Green has never published on the matter, but it is 8 alleged that he left ‘‘a foot-high file of documents’’ at the Nevada State Museum, Both the Lewis and the Green tracks are shown, superimposed on a topo map in a booklet by John M. Townley (1984). In the course of time, several cannons have been believed to be Fremont’s cannon. This topic is discussed in the chapter ‘‘The Nevada Cannon’’, which argues that none of those cannons can possibly have been Fremont’s. This chapter is partially based on the work of Fred Green, who made an intense study of American cannons of the first half of the nineteenth century. Speculations on whether the Indians may have found the cannon and what they might have done with it are the subject of a chapter “‘Washoe Indians versus Fremont Howitzer?’ It appears unlikely that the Indians found the cannon. There is some confusion on the term ‘‘Fremont’s cannon?’ On the one hand, there is the lost cannon which is the subject of this book. On the other hand, there is the Kearny-Fremont cannon, lost by General Kearney to the Californians at the battle of San Pasqual (6 December 1846), and retrieved by Fremont at the treaty of Cahuenga (13 January 1847). In the chapter ‘“‘The Fremont-Kearny Cannon’’, the author argues that this cannon is the one at the Nevada museum in Carson City. In the last chapter, the author recapitulates various arguments and concludes that the Fremont cannon has never been found. The book ends with a bibliography, some financial records of Fremont and a table of distances. The text of the present second edition is identical to the one in the first edition, with perhaps a little change here or there. One of these changes caught my eye. In the Introduction, writing about Fremont’s court martial, the author writes in the first edition: ‘Justifiably found guilty after a long and highly published trial . . . etc.” but in this second edition, the word ‘‘Justifiably’’? is omitted. The author evidently changed his mind on the justic, meted out at the trial. Footnotes in the original edition have been incorporated into the text of the second edition, but printed in italics. The sketch map of the ‘“‘cannon area’’, showing the proposed track in the first edition is replaced by a map, showing the track in this area superimposed on a topo map. There are several (9) more illustrations in the second edition and their reproduction is much better. The book of Lewis is the bible for those who want to locate the lost cannon. However, the book may interest those who are interested in California history also, as it highlights an episode in Fremont’s life which is hardly discussed in any of the many books, devoted to the Pathfinder. Cannon hunters, who want to acquire the book may order it from: Western Trails Press; 18014 Jayhawk Drive; Penn Valley, California 95946-9206. —vdP. Joseph A. King, Winter of Entrapment, A New Look at the Donner Party. Toronto; P.D. Meany, Publishers; 1992. In the history of the settlement of Oregon and California, two events stand out. One of these is the Whitman Massacre in Oregon (29 November 1847) when a mission station, established since 1836, was wiped out by hostile Indians. The other one is the story of the Donner Party. Both events have yielded a voluminous literature; the Donner Party perhaps the most and in both cases, the later literature is critical of the earlier. For example, the picture drawn of Narcissa Whitman by the latest writers is completely different from the earlier ones. The present book centers around the Breen family, a family featured less prominently in the Donner Party literature than the other families or single persons. The first two chapters tell us something about the background of the Breen family and puts them on their way to California. In the next two chapters, the Breens join the Donner Party, the members of which are introduced. The crossing of the Wasatch Mountains, the travel around the southern tip of the Great Salt Lake, the crossing of the salt desert and finally the Forty Mile Desert are discussed. During this trip, the party is delayed for several reasons and, when they arrive at Truckee Meadows (Reno), it is too late to cross the Sierra Nevada. Most of them camp near (present) Donner Lake in three cabins, while the two Donner families, who were in the rear, camped some miles north of the lake. King presents a list of the occupants of each of the four lodgings. In chapter 8, the diary of Patrick Breen is reproduced in its entirety, together with some general comments. The diary starts at the time the travelers reached the camp site and stops at the time Breen is rescued (1 March 1847). This is the only diary which covers the events at the Donner camp, indeed, the only diary which has come to us for the entire trip. The diary is generally believed to be highly reliable. Almost four weeks after arrival at the camp site, a group attempted to cross the mountains, most of them on snow shoes; the Forlorn Hope party. Of the fifteen members of this party, only seven reached Johnson’s Ranch, The history of those who remained behind is told in the remainder of chapter nine. As the plight of the people at Donner Lake became known in California, relief parties were organized; the story of the first three of them is told in chapter 10, while the story of the fourth and last of them is presented in chapter 11. The report on this event, which has raised many questions. was published in the California Star, which had already several earlier accounts of the events. The history of the Donner Party, as told by the author, ends here. It is a very good and readable narrative of what happened. In the foreward, by Robert R. Miller, of King’s book, it is stated that there are four major books on the history of the Donner Party, dated 1880, 1911, 1936, and 1950. The first of these is the second edition of C.F. McGlashan: History _ of the Donner Party (the first edition is dated 1879). The second one is Eliza P. Donner

BOOK REVIEWS Ernest Allen Lewis, The Fremont Cannon, High up and Far Back. Penn Valley, Western Trails Press; 1990. This is a second edition of the author’s book of the same title, published in 1981 by the Arthur H. Clark Company of Glendale, California (now located in Spokane, Washington). On Fremont’s second expedition (23 May 1843 6 August 1844), he generally followed the Oregon Trail to The Dalles, Oregon. From there he moved southward, through present day Oregon and Nevada and decided to cross the Sierra Nevada in January 1844 to reach Sutter’s Fort. From there, he traveled southward through present day California, the southern tip of Nevada State, Utah, Colorado and Kansas, back to St. Louis, Missouri. On this expedition, Fremont took a small cannon, a howitzer, obtained from the United States Arsenal in St. Louis. This apparently was against regulations and, while already encamped on the prairie, his wife, Jessie, rceived a letter in St. Louis, addressed to Fremont demanding the return of the cannon. Jessie did not forward this letter but instead, sent Fremont an urgent note, advising him to start his trip immediately. This Fremont did. The cannon was with the party until the time of crossing the Sierra Nevada, a hazardous undertaking in mid-winter, through perhaps the wildest part of the Sierra and hampered by severe showstorms. At some spot in the Sierra the cannon had to be abandoned, never to be seen again. And the desire to find the cannon has motivated several persons to guess where the howitzer was lost and search the area; until today with no result. The author is one of those searchers who have devoted considerable time and effort to locate the cannon. In the Introduction, besides information customary found at this location, the author describes his own involvement in the search. The chapter ‘‘In search of Destiny’’ discusses the events around the acquisition of the cannon in addition to a description of the early life of Fremont and his background. The next two chapters discuss the second expedition up to the time of the crossing of the Sierra Nevada. The following chapter is easily the most important one for the would-be cannon searcher. In this chapter, the author analyzes Fremont’s day to day description of his crossing and correlates this text with topographical features, identified on modern maps. At another place in the book, a map is found on which the supposed track of Fremont is superimposed on a modern topo map. In the second half of this chapter, the author comments on the description of this track and generally discusses Fremont’s attitude towards the cannon. This chapter has several views of the topography of the terrain which is discussed as well as reproduction of the map of Preuss, which was published in the original edition of Fremont’s reports. The discussion of Fremont’s track, convincing as it may be, is not without challengers. Another Fremont cannon searcher, Fred Green of Reno proposed another track. As far as I am aware, Green has never published on the matter, but it is 8 alleged that he left ‘‘a foot-high file of documents’’ at the Nevada State Museum, Both the Lewis and the Green tracks are shown, superimposed on a topo map in a booklet by John M. Townley (1984). In the course of time, several cannons have been believed to be Fremont’s cannon. This topic is discussed in the chapter ‘‘The Nevada Cannon’’, which argues that none of those cannons can possibly have been Fremont’s. This chapter is partially based on the work of Fred Green, who made an intense study of American cannons of the first half of the nineteenth century. Speculations on whether the Indians may have found the cannon and what they might have done with it are the subject of a chapter “‘Washoe Indians versus Fremont Howitzer?’ It appears unlikely that the Indians found the cannon. There is some confusion on the term ‘‘Fremont’s cannon?’ On the one hand, there is the lost cannon which is the subject of this book. On the other hand, there is the Kearny-Fremont cannon, lost by General Kearney to the Californians at the battle of San Pasqual (6 December 1846), and retrieved by Fremont at the treaty of Cahuenga (13 January 1847). In the chapter ‘“‘The Fremont-Kearny Cannon’’, the author argues that this cannon is the one at the Nevada museum in Carson City. In the last chapter, the author recapitulates various arguments and concludes that the Fremont cannon has never been found. The

book ends with a bibliography, some financial records of Fremont and a table of distances. The text of the present second edition is identical to the one in the first edition, with perhaps a little change here or there. One of these changes caught my eye. In the Introduction, writing about Fremont’s court martial, the author writes in the first edition: ‘Justifiably found guilty after a long and highly published trial . . . etc.” but in this second edition, the word ‘‘Justifiably’’? is omitted. The author evidently changed his mind on the justic, meted out at the trial. Footnotes in the original edition have been incorporated into the text of the second edition, but printed in italics. The sketch map of the ‘“‘cannon area’’, showing the proposed track in the first edition is replaced by a map, showing the track in this area superimposed on a topo map. There are several (9) more illustrations in the second edition and their reproduction is much better. The book of Lewis is the bible for those who want to locate the lost cannon. However, the book may interest those who are interested in California history also, as it highlights an episode in Fremont’s life which is hardly discussed in any of the many books, devoted to the Pathfinder. Cannon hunters, who want to acquire the book may order it from: Western Trails Press; 18014 Jayhawk Drive; Penn Valley, California 95946-9206. —vdP. Joseph A. King, Winter of Entrapment, A New Look at the Donner Party. Toronto; P.D. Meany, Publishers; 1992. In the history of the settlement of Oregon and California, two events stand out. One of these is the Whitman Massacre in Oregon (29 November 1847) when a mission station, established since 1836, was wiped out by hostile Indians. The other one is the story of the Donner Party. Both events have yielded a voluminous literature; the Donner Party perhaps the most and in both cases, the later literature is critical of the earlier. For example, the picture drawn of Narcissa Whitman by the latest writers is completely different from the earlier ones. The present book centers around the Breen family, a family featured less prominently in the Donner Party literature than the other families or single persons. The first two chapters tell us something about the background of the Breen family and puts them on their way to California. In the next two chapters, the Breens join the Donner Party, the members of which are introduced. The crossing of the Wasatch Mountains, the travel around the southern tip of the Great Salt Lake, the crossing of the salt desert and finally the Forty Mile Desert are discussed. During this trip, the party is delayed for several reasons and, when they arrive at Truckee Meadows (Reno), it is too late to cross the Sierra Nevada. Most of them camp near (present) Donner Lake in three cabins, while the two Donner families, who were in the rear, camped some miles north of the lake. King presents a list of the occupants of each of the four lodgings. In chapter 8, the diary of Patrick Breen is reproduced in its entirety, together with some general comments. The diary starts at the time the travelers reached the camp site and stops at the time Breen is rescued (1 March 1847). This is the only diary which covers the events at the Donner camp, indeed, the only diary which has come to us for the entire trip. The diary is generally believed to be highly reliable. Almost four weeks after arrival at the camp site, a group attempted to cross the mountains, most of them on snow shoes; the Forlorn Hope party. Of the fifteen members of this party, only seven reached Johnson’s Ranch, The history of those who remained behind is told in the remainder of chapter nine. As the plight of the people at Donner Lake became known in California, relief parties were organized; the story of the first three of them is told in chapter 10, while the story of the fourth and last of them is presented in chapter 11. The report on this event, which has raised many questions. was published in the California Star, which had already several earlier accounts of the events. The history of the Donner Party, as told by the author, ends here. It is a very good and readable narrative of what happened. In the foreward, by Robert R. Miller, of King’s book, it is stated that there are four major books on the history of the Donner Party, dated 1880, 1911, 1936, and 1950. The first of these is the second edition of C.F. McGlashan: History _ of the Donner Party (the first edition is dated 1879). The second one is Eliza P. Donner