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)

9781108032810, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 September 2011

412 pages, 3 b/w illus.
21.6 x 2.3 x 14 cm, 0.52 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not to publish his work in the US, as his opinions might 'irritate a powerful interest', and his manuscript remained unpublished until 1844, after his return to England.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 2 describes the geography and inhabitants of Arksansas and New Orleans.

23. The 'Military Road'
24. Description of White River
25. Little Red River
26. State of Society at Little Rock
27. Apology for the manners of Arkansas
28. A concert of wolves
29. Arrive at Magnet Cove
30. Curious and beautiful mineral structure of the adjacent country
31. Leave the Hot Springs
32. Bear-hunting
33. Probable origin of prairies
34. Mr. Williams
35. Course and ancient channels of Red River
36. Reach Little Rock again
37. Approximative method suggested of calculating the age of fluviatile deposits
38. The steamer boarded by swindlers
39. The delta of the Mississippi
40. Quadroon young ladies, their hard fate
41. Embark in a steamer, and ascend the Mobile and Alabama
42. Description of the Muskogee or Creek people
43. The ruins of a nation
44. The gentlemen of America
45. Inside and outside passengers in chain
Concluding chapter.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]