Excursion through the Slave States, from Washington on the Potomac to the Frontier of Mexico
With Sketches of Popular Manners and Geological Notices

Published in 1844, this description of the American South documents its fascinating geography and its often harsh and violent society.

George William Featherstonhaugh (Author)

9781108032803, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 September 2011

406 pages, 7 b/w illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 2.3 cm, 0.51 kg

The English geologist George William Featherstonhaugh (1780–1866) was commissioned to undertake a survey of the Arkansas territory in America, and spent 1834–5 travelling through the southern slave states to reach his destination. He was shocked by the slave system of the south, saying he 'had never seen so revolting a sight'. When he began to write about his experiences, Featherstonhaugh was urged not to publish his work in the US, as his opinions might 'irritate a powerful interest', and his manuscript remained unpublished until 1844, after his return to England. His lively two-volume account of his adventures contains a fascinating mixture of scientific and sociological detail. It is a closely observed record of Southern society in the period before the Civil War that candidly documents the violence experienced by Black slaves, Native Americans and frontier settlers. Volume 1 describes the Alleghany Mountains, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri.

Introduction
1. Barnum's Hotel at Baltimore
2. Ascent of the first Alleghany Ridges
3. A Virginia hotel in the mountains
4. The celebrated White Sulphur Springs
5. State of society at Compulsion Row
6. The system of Alleghany Ridges caused by an upheaval from below, and the White Sulphur Springs a consequence of the movement
7. Paying beforehand as bad as not paying at all
8. Depart on foot across the mountains to Fincastle
9. Cause of some confusion in the designation of the Alleghany Ridges explained
10. A pleasant party in a stage coach
11. A Negro-driver in mourning for a great patriot
12. Indian practice of burning the underwood to enable the natives to pursue the game
13. Description of Nashville
14. The religious sect of the Campbellites
15. Leave Nashville
16. Leave Louisville, and take to the stage-coach again
17. A remarkable barrow
18. Purchase a waggon
19. Departure from St. Louis
20. Taplitt and Perry's lead mines
21. Mine la Motte
22. Big Black River.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]