The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-07-27

KKrCKERBOCKER kEDIvIvue.-Une a. r.
Wood, Of Dubuque, says he hss nearly ready
for press "Military History Of Iowa from
1867 to 1861 Mr.. A. P. Wood says:
ga valuable feature of this History will
be that it will furnish connected NEW OF
the whole War, beginning with the West Vir.
g;n;. campaipn Of General Mcclellan, and
ending with the cavalry raid Of Gen. Wilson
through Alabama and Georgia"
"Where, new, is good old DsnislY We
mean where now is good old Diedrich knick-
erbocker,-.ha. venerable and versc'ous wr'-
ter, who in the year Of grace 1903 wrote
'History Of New York from the Beginning
of the World to the End Of the Dutch Dy>
nasty containing, among many other sur
prisine and curious matters, the unutterable
ponderings of Walter, the Doabter, the dis
astrous projects of William, the Testy, and
the chvnlrie achievements OF Peter the
Headstrongs' Where. We say, is good old
Diedrich7 1t has been generally understood,
till now, that Diedrich was dead Dutchman.
He seems to have arisen from the grave OF
Sleepy Hollow, however, and gone to On
buque For it is utterly and pAlpably 'ncrsd'
ible that anybody but old DIedrich should
think of commencing military History OF
Iowa. with the self-asserted valuable feat.
uren of the West Virginia campaign, with
which Iowa troops had not one thing to do.
If Mr.. A. P. Wood be going to do the thing
up in the mock heroic style, why don't he do
it, We despise halfway things. We advise
him TO commence with Alexander the Grea1
or julius Caesar. at least. Then he can ring
in great batch of history about ancient and
modern wars, which the people have never
heard of before
Mr.. Wood is doubtless prodigious histo.
rian, but be seems to be no great shakes IN
Arithmetic. How he is to get in Military
History of Iowa from 1851 to 1885, and at
the same time close with the Wilson raid,
which, according to our almanac, ended in
1865, bothers US. But If he can ring in Lat.
tie Macs campaign in West Virginia, Alex,
snder the Great, and Julius Caesar, we DOM
see why he can't ring in almost anything.
As further showing his opinion Of what il
necessary to make book, Mr.. Wood an
lnounced his purpose, in the inception Of hi
work, to get the names of all Iowa soldiers
Into his history. That wonld make it IN in
teresting volume equal to Patent Office
Report, as literary work; and not nearl,
so useful; for our excellent Adjutaut Gene
raj, in his several volumes, has madea Mr.
Woods labors in this line superfuous-
Mr.. ISGEasoLL, classically accurate, at
tractive and elegant writer, has given us il
his excellent work, 81 Iowa and the Rebel
ion," rather portly volume. He has extra
ordinary power of condensation. He ha'
given US pages Of accurate descriptions in
few sentences Yet SO brief has be beer
compelled, from the scope Of his work, to b
in many passages of Iowa military history
that it is to be regretted his one volume die
not expand into two. yet tbs stout volum,
as it is; aud as large as Mr.. Wood had bes
venture upon if We are to judge Of his lite
AIRY style by his published card. So Of Capt
Stuarts fine work, Iowa Colonels and Reg
iments.n 1t is large volume Of more thar
six hundred and fifty pages, yet its concise
ness, though clear and accurate, is frequently
unsatisfactory. But Mr.. Wood, with geniu,
eminently sui generis is going to give us q
! Military History of Iowa, which shall contain
the names of all Iowa soldiers, and a genera
history of the late war, besides. lis mat
ter of painful solcitude to know where he il
going to put his history of Iowa's connection
with the war. 1t must be the play Of Hamlet
with Hamlet omitted second edition o.
Hogarth's distinction of the Egyptians in
the Red Sea- canvas ocean of red paint and
/, nothing else; the Israeites not visible be.
cause they had crossed over, and the Egyp.
tians not visible because all drowned Mr.
Wood evidently purposes to give us list oil
names and chronological skeleton and leave
the historic filings up to the fancy Of his
readers. We hope upon its appearance Mr..
VS. book will be better than its promise.
Statistical and chronological tables and news
paper scraps are not history. There is diff.
| ference between historian and literary
quack. We bid the former God speed; the
latter will have his labor for his pains.