Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/834

 824 Revieivs of Books tain). No Union troops reached the top of Lookout during Hooker's battle. "As Sherman came fighting along Missionary Ridge from the left Bragg removed more troops from the centre " to oppose him. Sherman carried no part of Missionary Ridge proper, did not advance along it, and Bragg sent no troops whatever from the centre toward Sher- man. On the contrary, three brigades, namely. Brown's, Cummins's and Maney's, were ordered from in front of Sherman to resist Thomas's assault in the centre. The dozen pages towards the close of the little volume present the most graphic picture of the closing days of Lee's army yet given by any writer in such compass. The full Grant chronology is a most attractive and valuable addition to the volume. All in all it is a striking book ; but the editor should have applied the test of the ofificial records to its statements of detail. Historic Toiuns of the Southern States. Edited by Lym. P. Powell, with introduction by W. P. Trent. (New York : G. P. Put- nam's Sons. 1900. Pp. xxxviii, 604.) The book before us completes the triad of volumes on the older American Historic Towns, the former numbers of the series having dealt with the historic towns of the New England and of the Middle States re- spectively. In the interest of clearness of thought there ought to be a more general agreement as to what states constitute "the South;'' for the expression is fast becoming as vague a one as that of " the West, ' ' and quite as ambulatory. Does the word Southern convey a geographical, a social, or a political idea? From any point of view it is surprising to find that no mention is made in this volume of San Antonio, the con- necting link between Latin and Anglo-Saxon America, and a city literally teeming with historic monuments. It is scarcely less unfortunate that separate chapters have not been devoted to Alexandria and Georgetown. Just why such ancient boroughs are ignored, as dead as Jamestown though they may be, and considerable space devoted both to Frederic Town — famous only by reason of Whittier's imaginary incident — and Little Rock, where not even romance appears ever to have recorded anything peculi- arly striking, are among the several diverting features of the volume. Curiously enough, moreover, of the eighteen towns described herein with varying degrees of interest, fully one-fourth are southern or northern ac- cording to one's point of view. Professor Trent's introductory essay is by all odds the most modern and valuable portion of the book. In it he sets forth at considerable length and with great clearness the manifold economic and social condi- tions which hindered the growth of urban communities at the South prior to the Civil War. He also throws considerable light on the various at- tempts of ante beUuin leaders to foster the growth of commerce and indus- tries — a favorite expedient having been the convention. The greatest drawback to most of the other papers is their lack of originality. Their