Best of
History

1891

The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations


Michael W. Holmes - 1891
    Introductions and bibliographies are generous and up to date. In the textual apparatus, existing notes have been revised and expanded, and well over 200 new notes have been added. This handsome and handy one-volume, thin-paper edition will be an essential resource for students and scholars and a joy to book lovers.

Hannibal


Theodore Ayrault Dodge - 1891
    Setting out from Carthaginian-dominated Spain with a small army of select troops, he fought his way over the Pyrenees and crossed the Alps with elephants and a full baggage train. Theodore Dodge retraced this route from Carthage to Italy, paying particular attention to the famous crossing of the Alps, and wrote what remains unequalled as the most comprehensive and readable study of history's greatest general.

On the Border with Crook


John G. Bourke - 1891
    It has that rare combination, a personal reminiscence covering important events, and a thoroughly scholarly and reliable treatment." — Westerners Brand Book For fifteen years John G. Bourke served under General George Crook as they fought side by side on the frontiers of the United States from Mexico to the Canadian border. Crook and his troops clashed against some of the most formidable opponents of the nineteenth century during the Great Sioux War and the Apache Wars, including Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Geronimo. This fascinating account of these times brings to life the frontier of the Old West, with vivid descriptions, humorous anecdotes and deadly encounters. On the Border with Crook is essential reading for anyone interested in not only Crook’s military campaigns of the American Indian wars but also anyone wishing to find out how settlers and communities survived and prospered through adversity. “Bourke was a meticulous observer as well as a superb and engrossingly interesting writer. He would also colour his material with lyrical and poetical observations upon the natural world, including the landscape and the weather, and also with copies of such official correspondence he deemed important such as orders, rosters, newspaper clippings and his own drawings to accompany his texts. Furthermore it would all be laced with his descriptions - sometimes with humour - of characters, military, civilian and Indians met along the way.” The English Westerners’ Society John Gregory Bourke was a captain in the United States Army who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his services during the American Civil War. After he had completed fifteen years of duty in the American Indian Wars he became a prolific author, writing a number of accounts about his time in the army as well as ethnographical studies of the American West. On the Border with Crook was first published in 1892 and Bourke died four years later in 1896.

Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson: Stonewall Jackson


Mary Anna Jackson - 1891
    

From the Darkness Cometh the Light; Or, Struggles for Freedom


Lucy Delaney - 1891
    1830-c. 1890s) was an African-American author and former slave, remembered for her inspiring 1891 narrative From the Darkness Cometh the Light; or, Struggles for Freedom, which remains virtually the only source of information regarding her life. The text takes much of its shape from slave narratives and is primarily devoted to Polly Berry's struggles to free her family. Though the story is ostensibly Delaney's, Berry remains the primary driving force and often seems to be more the protagonist than Delaney herself. The narrative is very spiritual in tone, both celebrating what Delaney sees as God's benevolent role in her own life as well as attacking the hypocrisy of Christian slave owners. Also, like many post-bellum slave narratives, From the Darkness does not so much recount the horrors of slavery as attempt to show the strength of the African-Americans who suffered them. Consequently, the narrative continues after Delaney's freedom, showing her fortitude following the death of her first husband, and later her four children. Delaney also celebrates her later political involvement, arguing for the potential of African-American citizens in American democracy.

A Brave Black Regiment: The History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865


Luis Fenollosa Emilio - 1891
    Robert Gould Shaw. Hundreds of free blacks enlisted. When the 54th Massachusetts spearheaded the suicidal charge against Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, the regiment was showered with acclaim, but that defining event was not its only illustrious moment. After the devastating repulse at Fort Wagner left all of the unit's ranking officers dead or wounded, Captain Luis F. Emilio (1844–1918) emerged as the 54th's acting commander. A Brave Black Regiment offers an unparalleled, moving, inside view of the entire history of the 54th Massachusetts, from recruitment through disbandment. With a new introduction, rare, previously unpublished photos of Emilio and members of the 54th, the complete regimental roster, and his lengthy appendix concerning Confederate treatment of black prisoners-of-war, this Da Capo Press/Persues Books Group edition is certain to remain definitive for a long time to come.

Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, ... Office, Washington, 1891, pages 1-142


John Wesley Powell - 1891
    Into the regions occupied by these tribes travelers, traders, and missionaries have penetrated in advance of civilization, and civilization itself has marched across the continent at a rapid rate. Under these conditions the languages of the various tribes have received much study. Many extensive works have been published, embracing grammars and dictionaries; but a far greater number of minor vocabularies have been collected and very many have been published. In addition to these, the Bible, in whole or in part, and various religious books and school books, have been translated into Indian tongues to be used for purposes of instruction; and newspapers have been published in the Indian languages. Altogether the literature of these languages and that relating to them are of vast extent.

The Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin


Frederick Jackson Turner - 1891
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

The American Siberia; Or, Fourteen Years' Experience in a Southern Convict Camp


J.C. Powell - 1891
    Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1891 Excerpt: ...the train pulled out. I took a seat in the rear of the men, and for the next hour or two Oliver kept furtively looking around at me. I cautioned him against these tactics, and while I was speaking, he sprang to his feet and leaped for the open car window, head'first, like a diver. He was half-way out before I could lay hold of him. I seized his legs and drew him in, struggling desperately, although he was manacled and the train was going at full speed. As soon as I got him into the seat again I drew my revolver, and presenting it at his head told him that the next time he moved or looked around I would blow his brains out. Under this powerful persuasion he remained quiet for the balance of the trip. When I turned him over to Captain Forrester, I told him of the character of the man, and a few days later he fully sustained his reputation. He was with a squad on a construction train moving at fullspeed, and while passing over a twelve foot embankment he seized an opportunity to leap off. He wore a 'stride-chain" on his ankles at the time, riveted from shackle to shackle, but strange to say, he alighted unhurt and instantly darted off into the timber. Captain Forrester was on the train, saw the leap, and jerked the bell-cord. The engine was reversed, and when the speed of the train was slackened a little, he also jumped off. However, he was not as sure-footed as the negro, and rolled headover-heels to the bottom of the embankment. When he regained his feet, his eyes were so full of sand and he was so jolted up generally that he had no idea which direction the fugitive took. Thus he made good his escape. CHAPTER XI A bad example is just as dangerous in a convict camp as elsewhere, and the day following the escape of Smith Oliver, described in the last chap...