Captain W. W. Withenbury’s 1838–1842 Red River Reminiscences ed. by Jacques D. Bagur (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Captain W. W. Withenbury’s 1838–1842 Red River Reminiscences ed. by Jacques D. Bagur Debbie Liles Captain W. W. Withenbury’s 1838–1842 Red River Reminiscences. Edited by Jacques D. Bagur. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2014. Pp. 335. Maps, notes, index.) In response to trade from the Midwest moving to Red River ports in the 1870s, organizations in New Orleans began to protest the loss of business. As can be expected, the most prominent newspaper in that town, the Daily Picayune, did all it could to broadcast support of its city’s commercial enterprises by publishing a series of editorials. These editorials suggested midwesterners had no place claiming any rights to Red River trade, as they had no history there. Cincinnati resident W.W. Withenbury, a retired Red River steam boat captain, responded with a series of letters about the contributions of midwestern traders to the early Red River region. These letters, published in the Cincinnati Commercial, became collectively known as Withenbury’s “Red River Reminiscences.” When Sam Bowers Hilliard published his exceptional study of food in the South, Hog Meat and Hoecake (Southern Illinois University Press, 1972), he made it a point to mention that there was very little evidence about the river trade north of New Orleans. This study fills that need. As Withenbury’s letters more than adequately show, early trade on the Red River was depended upon by planters and other settlers in the region, [End Page 431] and it was most often delivered by those from the Midwest. The words of this experienced steamboat commander transport the reader to the antebellum years, for which he colorfully describes customs, people, and the multiple problems that occurred above the Red River logjam known as the Great Raft. Jacques Bagur, whose previous book Antebellum Jefferson, Texas (University of North Texas Press, 2012) demonstrated his expertise with the Red River region, has expertly edited Withenbury’s reminiscences, and he has added much more to the original text with maps, background information, annotations, and detailed footnotes. Bagur selected thirty-nine of Withenbury’s fifty-four letters, which focus on three boats and their activities: the Concord, the Hunter, and the Relief. These letters produce a study free of distractions from Withenbury’s original intention, which was to show the involvement of midwesterners in the trade of the upper Red River. For those interested in the development and settlers of early northeastern Texas, activity along the Red River, and early commerce in the American Southwest, this book will add an important layer of understanding that is difficult to obtain elsewhere. And readers who just like to read an interesting tale cannot go wrong with this work. Debbie Liles University of North Texas Copyright © 2014 The Texas State Historical Association