Cyrus Clay Carpenter and Iowa Politics, 1854-1898 (review)

BOOK REVIEWS87 a big man now." Obviously this gave little satisfaction since he also wrote "I hope this war will sone close for I am tired of it." Finally, in the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia, he received his belated "Red Badge of Courage"—a shoulder wound which won him a trip home. Through the skillful use of extensive notes, Wright never allows Freeman 's experiences to blur the larger events of the war. When Freeman writes that a couple of his friends "have been over in Maryland," Wright explains in a note that this trip referred to General Lee's 1862 invasion. In addition he properly acknowledges his debt in these notes to The Life of Johnny Reb, for these letters simply reenforce the conclusions of Professor Bell Wiley. G. Wayne King Francis Marion College Cyrus Clay Carpenter and Iowa Politics, 1854-1898. By Mildred Throne. (Iowa City: The State Historical Society of Iowa, 1974. Pp. xi, 302. $10.00.) This biography of Cyrus Clay Carpenter (1829-1898) was written by the late Mildred Throne of the State Historical Society of Iowa. It remained in manuscript form from the time of her death in 1960 until last fall. In it the author skillfully traces Carpenter's career in public-service. A land surveyer from Fort Dodge, he began his political climb as a Republican legislator in the 1850s. Then, after participating in the Pike's Peak gold rush, he returned to Iowa and in time received appointment as Commissary of Subsistence for the Army of the Mississippi and later for the Army of the Tennessee. After the war Carpenter quickly aligned himself with the powerful Radical wing of the Iowa Republican party. Elected governor in 1871 and again in 1873, he proved to be an honest and loyal party man. The passage of the famed Granger Law in 1874 highlighted Carpenter's governorship. Although he favored this particular railroad-reform measure, he himself exerted little direction on legislation. Carpenter closed his political career with several minor positions , the most important being a term in Congress. Throne concludes that her subject "was a politician, a loyal party member, who worked for his party and his community in the light of his beliefs." However, "he lacked the drive to power necessary to rise in public life." Cyrus Clay Carpenter is a useful book. Not only does it shed light on Iowa political affairs during the Middle Period, but it complements nicely such recent works as Stanley Hirshon's biography of Grenville Dodge and Morton Rosenberg's study of mid-19th century Iowa politics . One chapter, "The Iowa Granger Law of 1874," is especially valuable . Much of Throne's conclusions on this all-important piece of legislation appeared earlier in journal articles; they largely support George H. Miller's findings in Railroads and the Granger Laws ( 1971). 88CIVIL WAR HISTORY The Carpenter biography is attractively printed. Moreover, it contains illustrations and a first-rate index. We can hope that additional publications of this type will come from the revived press of the State Historical Society of Iowa. H. Roger Grant The University of Akron The Segregation Struggle in Louisiana, 1862-77. By Roger A. Fischer. (Urbana, Chicago, and London: University of Illinois Press, 1974. Pp. xiv, 168. $6.95.) This is a thorough study and a model monograph. It is informative, imaginative, and exceptionally well written; and it illustrates the needs and opportunities that exist respecting familiar topics that have escaped definitive study. Fischer focuses upon the dispute over racial segregation in public schools and public accommodations. He not only establishes the crucial importance of those issues, but he also reveals the central role of blacks in pushing the desegregation fight. His emphasis upon a traditional and persistent white demand for segregation also agrees with Joel Williamson in challenging the central thesis of C. Vann Woodward's Strange Career of Jim Crow. The author acknowledges that, compared to slavery, segregation did play a weak secondary role in the antebellum maintenance of black subordination. But he also clearly shows how under certain circumstances a strong white demand for segregation arose, which during the fifty years preceding the Civil War established a pattern of enforced...