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Mace's Primary History
Stories of Heroism

I became acquainted with this engaging little book by sheer happenstance: one of my neighbours was selling a pile of books at our yearly block lawn sale in the summer of 2006; best quarter I ever spent.

More formally, here is the review in The Elementary School Teacher, 11:333 (1911):

A Primary History: Stories of Heroism. By William H. Mace, Professor of History in Syracuse University. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1910. Cloth, 8vo, pp. 396.

This book gives a simple and interesting story of American history by means of biographies, grouped according to periods. The purpose of the author has been "to bring before the mind of the pupils a series of great historical characters. These men do interesting things from the beginning to the end of life. Because their deeds are concrete and physical, they are easily pictured in imagination." The biographies are unusually well selected to give various types of heroism, emphasizing the services rendered to the country by overcoming great obstacles in its industrial development as well as by fighting its battles.

The author has wisely taken advantage of the charm always attached to biography. Children are not attracted by a brief, summarized treatment of events. It is the dramatic personal story that arouses interest. This is a principle well understood by teachers but rarely followed by writers of textbooks.

Professor Mace has not only written entertaining stories of the great men who made the nation but has also related these stories in such a way as to give a connected study of our history. Better still, each character is presented with some background or social environment which brings the child nearer to the understanding of historical problems than the mere story. However, the book covers too much ground to be entirely successful. The child's imagination cannot picture the social situation in any period without more detailed statements. For this reason it is doubtful if any one-volume textbook covering the whole of American history can ever be satisfactory. At least, such a textbook should be used in connection with supplementary reading offering fuller treatment of social life.

The style of this book is so vivid, simple, and clear that children of the fourth and fifth grades read it easily and enjoy it thoroughly. It is well illustrated with both pictures and maps.

E. J. R.

The Preface

A List of the Maps

The Northmen and the Most Famous Traveler in the Far East	1
Leif Ericson, Who Discovered Vinland	1
Marco Polo, the Man Who Wrote a Book About the Far East	3

Christopher Columbus, the First Great Man in American History	8
He Sought India and Found America	8

The Men Who Succeeded Where Columbus Failed	21
Magellan, Who Proved That the World is Round by Sailing Around It	21
Cortés, Who Found the Rich City of Mexico	25
Pizarro, Who Found the Richest City in the World	29

Two Men Who Proved that North America Had no More Rich Cities	36
Coronado, Who Discovered New Kinds of Towns and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado	36
De Soto, the Discoverer of the Mississippi	39

The Men Who Made America Known to England and Who Checked the Progress of Spain	42
John Cabot also Searches for a Shorter Route to India and Finds the Mainland of North America	42
Sir Francis Drake, the English "Dragon" Who Sailed the Spanish Main and Who "Singed the King of Spain's Beard"	45
Sir Walter Raleigh, the Friend of Elizabeth, Plants a Colony in America to Check the Power of Spain	50

Famous People in Early Virginia	56
John Smith, the Savior of Virginia and Pocahontas its Good Angel	56
Sir William Berkeley, the Cavalier Governor, and Nathaniel Bacon, the First American rebel	63
Lord Baltimore, in a Part of Virginia, Founds Maryland as a Home for Persecuted Catholics (1634) and Welcomes Protestants	70

Some Old England Puritans in New England	75
Elder Brewster, the Pilgrim Preacher, and Miles Standish, the Pilgrim Soldier	75
John Winthrop, the Founder of Boston; Roger Williams, the Founder of Rhod Island; and Thomas Hooker, the Founder of Connecticut	87

The Men Who Planted Colonies for Many Kinds of People	95
Henry Hudson, Whose Discoveries Led Dutch Traders to Colonize New Netherland	95
Peter Stuyvesant, the Great Dutch Governor of New Netherland	100
William Penn Founds a Home for the Quakers, but Makes Welcome all Persecuted Christians	104
James Oglethorpe, the Founder of Georgia as a Home for English Debtors, as a Place for Persecuted Protestants, and as a Barrier Against the Spaniards	111

The Men Who Planted New France in America and Threatened to Keep the English South of the St. Lawrence and the Lakes, and East of the Mountains	116
Samuel de Champlain, the Father of New France	116
Joliet and Marquette, Fur Trader and Missionary, Explore the Mississippi Valley for New France	119
La Salle and Hennepin Pushed Forward the Work Begun by Joliet and Marquette	124
Montcalm, the Defender, and Wolfe, the Conqueror of New France	131

The Men Who Defended America by Tongue and Pen	141
Patrick Henry, the Orator of the Revolution	141
Samuel Adams, the Firebrand of the Revolution	148

The Men Who Fought for American Independence with Gun and Sword	159
George Washington, the First General and First President of the United States	159
The Three Men Who Prepared the Way for the Capture of Burgoyne's Army	187
Generals Greene, Morgan, and Marion, the Men Who Helped Win the South from the British	200

The Men Who Helped Win Independence Fighting England on the Sea	211
Paul Jones, a Scotchman, Who Won the Great Victory in the French Ship, "Bon Homme Richard"	211
John Barry, Who Won More Sea Fights in the Revolution than Any Other Captain	215

The Man Who Helped Win Independence by Winning the Hearts of Frenchmen for America	220
Benjamin Franklin, the Wisest American of his Time	220

Foreigners Who Came Over the Sea to Help Washington Win Independence	230
Marquis de Lafayette	230
Baron von Steuben	233
Tadeusz Kosckiuszko	235
Casimir Pulaski	236
Johann De Kalb	238

The Men Who Crossed the Mountains, Defeated the Indians and British, and Made the Mississippi River the First Western Boundary of the United States	241
Daniel Boone, the Hunter and Pioneer of Kentucky	241
James Robertson and John Sevier, the Pioneers of Tennessee	249
George Rogers Clark, the Hero of Vincennes	258

The Men Who Helped Washington Start the New Government	267
Alexander Hamilton, the Youngest of the Great Men of the Revolution and the Father of the Federalist Party	267
Thomas Jefferson, Who Wrote the Declaration of Independence, Founded the Democratic Party, and Purchased the Louisiana Territory	272

Heroes of the War of 1812	282
William 0hood Harrison, the Victor at Tippecanoe and the Thames	282
Oliver Hazard Perry, the Victor in the Battle of Lake Erie	288
Andrew Jackson, the Victor of New Orleans	293

The Three Greatest Statesmen of the Middle Period	303
Henry Clay, the Founder of the Whig Party, and the Great Pacificator	303
Daniel Webster, the Defender of the Constitution	309
John C. Calhoun, Champion of Nullification	314

The Men Who Won Texas, the Oregon Country, and California	320
Sam Houston, the Hero of San Jacinto	320
Lewis and Clark. Finding the Way to the Oregon Country	324
John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder of the Rocky Mountains	330

The Men Who Made the Nation Great by Their Inventions and Discoveries	337
Robert Fulton, the Inventor of the Steamboat	337
Samuel F. B. Morse, Inventor of the Telegraph	341
Cyrus West Field, Who Laid the Atlantic Cable Between America and Europe	345
Thomas A. Edison, the Greatest Inventor of Electrical Machinery in the World	348

The Men Who Saved the Union	354
Stephen A. Douglas, the Little Giant	354
Abraham Lincoln, the Liberator and Martyr	360
Ulysses S. Grant, the Great General of the Union Armies	372

The Man Who Led the Confederate Armies	380
Robert Edward Lee	380

The Men Who Fought Spain, Conquered the Philippines, and Made Cuba Free	388
George Dewey, the Hero of Manila Bay	388
The Capture of Cervera's Fleet	390

A Message to the Boys and Girls of America

Technical Details About This Site

Proofreading

This transcription is being minutely proofed. In the table of contents above, sections shown on blue backgrounds indicate that I believe the text of them to be completely errorfree, while sections shown on red backgrounds have not been proofread yet. As elsewhere on this site, the header bar at the top of each chapter's webpage will remind you with the same color scheme.

My printed edition was very well proofread, and the inevitable errors are minor. Because this is a children's book, I didn't obstruct the visible text with my usual little bullets, but marked the corrections only in the source code. A small number of odd spellings, curious turns of phrase, etc. have been marked  in the sourcecode, just to confirm that they were checked.

Any other mistakes, please drop me a line, of course: especially if you have a copy of the printed book in front of you.

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Mace's Primary History Stories of Heroism

Technical Details About This Site

Proofreading

Pagination and Local Links

Mace's Primary History
Stories of Heroism