THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN His Origin, Development, Decline and Destiny.
By Elbridge S. Brooks. FIRST EDITION. Published in 1887 by D. Lothrop &
Company, Boston. 9” x 7” illustrated cloth hardcover with gilt decoration.
Illustrated. 312 pages.
Condition: GOOD ANTIQUE CONDITION. Exterior as shown in photo, cloth a little
darkened. Bright gilt decoration. Binding is good. No torn, loose, or missing
pages. Text is clean and complete, occasional smudges. Occasional small round
brownish marks near the gutter of several pages, about the size of a pencil
eraser. Owner's name inside front cover, gift inscription on first endpaper
see Provenance below). A great example of this very rare 19th-century Native
American title.
Provenance: There is an important handwritten inscription on the endpaper. At
the top of the page appears the name "Rev. R.B. Howard." Below Reverend
Howard's name is an inscription, as follows: Perhaps my brother will associate
this little memento with the Peace Campaign Oct. 27 to Nov. 16 1887; and, with
the Divine Blessing, its successful issues in connection with the coming of the
British Arbitration deputation. C.H.H. West Medford, November 16, 1887.
After some research I have concluded that the book was presented to Reverend
Rowland Bailey Howard (1834-1892) by his brother, General Charles Henry Howard
1839-1908). General Charles Henry Howard was a Union Brevet Brigadier General
in the Civil War. Following the war, General Howard settled in Illinois, worked
for the American Missionary Association, became editor of several newspapers
and assisted his brother Oliver Howard (founder of Howard University) in
founding many colleges and the settling of Native Americans in the West. He
also became involved in the American Peace movement and in 1893 was appointed a
delegate to the Chicago Peace Congress by the American Peace Society. General
Howard's other brother, Reverend Rowland Bailey Howard, to whom the book is
inscribed, was also an official of the American Peace Society, which he served
as Secretary. Regarding the Peace Campaign referred to by General Howard in his
inscription, in 1887, as part of a joint effort by American and British
Quakers, a deputation consisting of several members of British Parliament
visited their counterparts along with President Grover Cleveland at Washington
to promote "Peace and Arbitration" between Great Britain and the United States.
It was an event celebrated by citizens of both countries, especially those in
the Peace movement.
General Howard's military career alone is sufficient to warrant interest in a
book bearing his inscription and initialed signature. He served at the Battle
of Bull Run; the Battle of Fair Oaks (in which he was severely wounded by an
exploding artillery shell); the June-July 1863 Gettysburg Campaign; and the
Atlanta Campaign including the famous "March to the Sea." But the fact that
part of General Howard's post-war career was devoted to the settlement of
Native Americans in the western territories makes the placing of his imprimatur
on this copy of THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN even more relevant and special.
Note from Neetmok: I originally offered this book at $2250, then I noticed a
couple other copies have popped up and are being offered at the same price,
which seems ridiculous because my book is the one and only copy personally
inscribed by a Civil War general whose post-war activities were directly
related to Native American history in the West. In terms of value, other
copies, which have no such esteemed provenance, pale by comparison. Now I'll
set my book apart from the others again, by cutting my price by $500. Not
only is mine the most desirable/collectible copy available anywhere in the
world, it is also the best bargain too.
DESCRIPTION:
Note on Rarity and Value: I refer you to two of my previous sales of this
title/edition. Please seeeBay No. 351254241266
andeBay No. 352057145458 . The presence
of a handwritten inscription by a Civil War Brigadier General only adds to the
value of this book.
Here is a rarity in the annals of 19th-century American Indian literature – a
serious and sympathetic study of Indian history by a white author who describes
the mistreatment of the Indian” as “one of the abuses of the age.”
In THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN, Elbridge S. Brooks traces the American
Indian experience from the colonial shores of New England to the high deserts
of the Old West. A fascinating, wide-ranging narrative accompanied by pages and
pages of antique illustrations.
Elbridge Streeter Brooks was renowned in the 19th century as an American
author, editor, and critic. He made his reputation as an author of numerous
works of fiction and nonfiction for younger readers, much of it on historical
or patriotic subjects – in fact, some of his patriotic works were issued under
the auspices of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the
American Revolution.
But in THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN, he sheds the mantle of patriotic
storyteller and assumes the more discerning and objective viewpoint of the
historian. What great personal fortitude must have been required on the part of
Mr. Brooks, who earned his livelihood recording the proud saga of his America,
to tell the story of the American Indian, so wronged by the United States
government and its people.
A period advertisement for THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN describes the book
thus:
The first and only complete and consecutive story of the Red Men of America.
It is sympathetic but not sentimental, practical but not one-sided, picturesque
but not romantic. A book for all Americans to read.In the Preface to THE STORY
OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN, Brooks explains why he felt it was important for
Americans to do some soul-searching in regard to the original proprietors of
the land:
The popular opinion of the American Indian has for generations been based upon
prejudice and ignorance – as thoughtless as it is unreasoning and unjust. The
red man of America may be no saint, but he is at least a man and should not be
condemned unheard. He has his side of the story quite as much as has his white
conqueror.
Desire, acquisition, superiority, indifference – these have been the steps
toward the ostracism that has been visited upon the American Indian, denying
him justice and opportunity for advancement since the earliest days of white
occupation. It is these barriers to progress that have alike created and
complicated the vexed Indian problem.
This volume does not attempt to state or solve that problem. It simply seeks
to arrange in something like complete and consecutive form the story of the
North American Indian as he has existed for generations, and as from supremacy
in the land of his fathers he has fallen under the ban of the white
civilization that conquered and displaced him.
The mistreatment of the Indian, a recent writer declares, is one of the abuses
of the age, and one of the reproaches of civilization. It is high time that the
abuse and the reproach should give place to something like fairness and moral
sense. If this story of a race that has played its part in the drama of human
progress shall lead readers to exchange indifference for interest and contempt
for justice, the labor and study that it has involved will not have been in
vain.
If the future of the American Indian is to be brighter and more self-helpful
than ever before the credit of this advance is in great measure due to the
self-sacrificing exertions of those missionaries of good who have, in spite of
heedlessness, and in spite of slur, devoted so much of their lives to the
bettering of a misunderstood and unfortunate race.
To all such, and to all friends of humanity who, despising injustice, seek to
convert public opinion into public conscience, this story of the American
Indian is gratefully inscribed.
Contents Are:
Chapter One ~ The Ancient American
Chapter Two ~ The Red Man Before Columbus
Chapter Three ~ Race Divisions and Kinship Ties
Chapter Four ~ Indian Faiths and Confederations
Chapter Five ~ Culture
Chapter Six ~ The Indian Home
Chapter Seven ~ The Indian Youth
Chapter Eight ~ Manners and Materials
Chapter Nine ~ The Coming of the White Man
Chapter Ten ~ Colonial Injustice
Chapter Eleven ~ Placing the Responsibility
Chapter Twelve ~ Pushed to the Wall
Chapter Thirteen ~ Indian Types
Chapter Fourteen ~ The Indian's Outlook
ILLUSTRATIONS INCLUDE: Quigualtanqui’s defiance * “The coldest of existing
lands” * Ruins called “the Governor’s House,” Yucatan * Skeleton of the
megatherium * The mylodon * Hunting the dinornis * An ancient volcano in the
Rocky Mountain range * The mammoth and primitive man * Primitive household
utensils * Mounds on the Kickapoo River * Skull found in a mound in Tennessee *
Skull found in mound in Missouri * Ground plan of “high bank pueblo” * Home of
the “village Indians” * In the grand canon of the Colorado * A cliff dwelling *
Ruins of an Arizona cliff dwelling * Nature’s wonderland * The home of the
ancient American * A study of comparative cranial outlines * An Indian myth *
Interior of a partially restored cliff-dweller’s house * Hiawatha, the
river-maker” * Atotarho, the war chief * An Indian village * One of Nature’s
highways * The “spoor” of the game * The wounded buffalo * The hunted elk *
Shell ornaments and fish hooks * First discoveries * The landing of Columbus *
The return of Columbus * An Iroquois scout * The gate of Ladore * In the shadow
of Shasta * A Pueblo boy * Powhatan * One of the higher types * Glen Canon *
The marvelous white man” * “The spirit of peace” * An Indian myth * Fighting
the stone giant * Coyote fetish * In the land of the fetish * The Navajo of
today * Palisaded Iroquois village * In the Moki land * The home of the
Columbians * A town of the Zunis * White Buffalo * An Indian’s greeting * “The
White Chief” * The domed earth houses of the Pacific tribes * In the Iroquois
country * An Iroquois long-house * An admirer of warlike prowess * The Mandan
Lodge of the Northwest * Here I discovered five papooses slung to the trees *
An education in drudgery * Dreaming of his “medicine” * As happy as a white
baby * The Scalp Dance * On the War Trail * The Ceremony of the Wampum Belts *
A lesson in archery * A Wampum necklace * Decorated wampum belts * Indian
method of lighting fire * Navajo basket work * Indian weapons * Council of
chiefs and warriors * So the white man came * “Along the narrow trail the
startling tidings sped” * Spanish occupation * The death of his comrade * The
pitiless man-hunter * The burial of De Soto * “Killed in the swamp” * “Red man
and white” * Civilization distrusts savagery * “Doomed and uncovenanted
heathen” * An episode of the French and Indian War * “Justice or war – which?”
Ho, Waldron, does your hand weigh a pound now?” * “A new feature in the
Indian landscape” * Hispaniola * Colonies at the time of the Revolution *
Attack on stockade * Military tyranny * In contact with civilization * An
episode of the Seminole War * “The white man wanted the land” * Fighting the
Indians on the Virginia frontier * The home of the Indian * Types of a fading
race * Fra Junipero Serro * The meeting of the races * Charging an Indian camp
The renegade of civilization * Pocahontas and her son * Pontiac, chieftain of
the Ottawas * Te-cum-the, Chief of the Shawanoe * Sa-go-ye-wat-ha the Seneca *
Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah the Sauk * Spotted Tail with his wife and daughter *
His story is a simple one * Contact with a higher intelligence * A candidate
for Hampton School * The land of their fathers * Pack train leaving a pueblo *
In process of civilization * Darkness * Daylight
DON’T MISS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO OWN THIS RARE AND BEAUTIFUL ACCOUNT OF
AMERICA’S FIRST INHABITANTS, THE AMERICAN INDIANS.
Remember folks, this is an 1887 FIRST EDITION SIGNED BY A CIVIL WAR BRIGADIER
GENERAL WHO AIDED IN THE SETTLEMENT OF NATIVE AMERICANS AFTER THE WAR. This
book is 131 years old.
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