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An Exceptional Example of Pittman's Treatise on 18th-Century European Colonization of the Mississippi River -- The First English Book To Describe The Mississippi River From St. Louis to New Orleans and the First Survey of the River To Use Scientific Survey Tools

A work of monumental importance regarding the colonial history of the Mississippi River and environs.  

Pittman's book provides a first-hand account of the Floridas and Illinois country. Pittman was a surveyor, and his maps include a chart of the Mississippi as well as plans of Mobile, New Orleans, Caskaskia, and Fort Rosalia. Pittman's narrative is rich in political, social and military detail on the territory newly acquired by Great Britain through the Peace of 1763. It is the earliest English account of these settlements.

Among the more historically significant features of his work, Pittman describes the importance of the far west as a means of strengthening England's hold on the area, just 5 years prior to the American Revolution. 

Captain Pittman arrived in the Mississippi Valley shortly after the Treaty of Paris in 1763.  As noted in the book, he spent “five years residence as an engineer in those countries, during which time I was chiefly employed in surveying and exploring their interior parts.”  During his time in the region, he served as “acting engineer” on a 1765 expedition up the Mississippi River, with orders to explore the Mississippi and garrison the Illinois country for the British Army. At the time, the area was mostly populated by settlers and native Americans loyal to the French and Spanish. Pittman wrote that his travels left him with “an acquaintance with the principal inhabitants,” which “enable[d] me to speak with at least as much authority as any author who has hitherto written on the subject.”  

The book is a marvelous accounting of Pittman's time in the region.  After a general description of the Mississippi’s geography, Pittman works his way upriver, providing detailed accounts of European forts and settlements along the way. He provides a great deal of geographic, historical, and economic information, with much of interest relating to military installations and activities. Pittman's account includes John Law’s fictitious German settlement in Arkansas, as well as a description of St. Louis, and the first account of the settlement published in English, based on Pittman`s visit a mere two years after it was founded in 1764.

Pittman's book is well-illustrated by a set of maps and plans from his own work, engraved by the esteemed British mapmaker Thomas Kitchin. These include a valuable strip map of the Mississippi River on three sheets (pre-dating John Ross's map of the Mississippi River by several years), as well as a map of the Iberville River and plans of New Orleans, Fort Rosalie, Kaskaskia, and a large plan of Mobile that is the first printed plan of that town.

Pittman states that his report was submitted in manuscript for the “perusal of the secretary of state for the colonies”.  At the time the British had little first-hand information about French and Spanish settlements along the Mississippi, so his account was a most valuable addition to the record, useful to both British policymakers and members of the military and civil administration in the American Colonies.

Pittman`s account has been described as a “A classic of the Mississippi Valley,” “the most authoritative work in English on the Mississippi Valley on the eve of the Revolution” and “a work of primary importance, one of the significant works on the West of the pre-Revolutionary era.” (Reese)

The present example of the book was offered for sale by Anderson Galleries in 1928 at the Samuel L. Kingan sale, where it was described as "An unusual crisp copy of the very rare First Edition of the earliest English account of the Mississippi settlements, with the maps and plans in immaculate condition. This work is esteemed as a source of the highest authority in early western history. The half-title is present in this copy."  (Lot 308 in the Library of Mr. Samuel L. Kingan, 1928).

Pittman and The Construction of His Maps

As noted by Thurman:

Lieutenant Pittman, detached from the British Sixteenth Regiment of Foot, was assigned as "acting engineer" to two expeditions that were organized in Louisiana to ascend the Mississippi and provide an English garrison for the Illinois country.  Pittman arrived in New Orleans about the end of 1763, and in February, 1764, the Twenty-second Regiment, commanded by Major Arthur Loftus, began its expedition. On March 20, however, about fifteen leagues north of the Louisiana settlement of Point Coupee, the Tunica and three other tribes ambushed the regiment, forcing it to turn back.

During the period between Pittman's arrival in New Orleans and the departure of the Twenty-second two months later, Pittman probably had secured French maps of Louisiana and had a "synthetic" map drawn from them. This probability is suggested from two entries in the financial records kept by Lieutenant Colonel James Robertson of the Twenty-second. The accounts pertain only to the regiment's movement.

15 To Monsr Brelyppeoiux, a French Engineer for forming a General Plan of Louisianne, from former Plans, His own Surveys & Observations - 20 Dol-lars

16 To John Francis for Copying D° - 4 Dollars

Thus, by February 17, 1764, Pittman apparently had possession of a synthetic map of Louisiana and a copy of that map.  About the cartographer Brelyppeoiux nothing more is known.

In June, 1765, the British Thirty-fourth Regiment of Foot attempted what the Twenty-second had failed to accomplish. With Pittman accompanying, the Thirty- fourth set out for Illinois and in early December reached Fort de Chartres.

[During this period], Pittman was working on a general map of the lower South, from a point at the mouth of the Mississippi known as the Balise to near present-day Memphis and from central Alabama to western Louisiana. Pittman himself reported that the interior portion of the map was based on French maps, while the Gulf Coast was drawn from his own observations. [Historian Roger] Rea believed that the Pittman map was forwarded to General Thomas Gage in June of 1765. . .  the map of the lower South has never been found . . .

Pittman's major contribution to cartography was drawn while accompanying the Thirty-fourth Regiment in 1765. The increased accuracy of that map over those of his predecessors suggests that he may have been the first cartographer of the Mississippi to use surveying instruments. The Robertson financial account shows that Pittman purchased a theodolite, probably soon after his arrival in New Orleans in 1763.

There are two versions of that Pittman map, both of which provide only an outline of the course of the Mississippi itself and do not trace its tributaries. The first was published in Pittman's book . . . The more detailed is the manuscript map in the William C. Clements Library of the University of Michigan. The legend of that map reads: "A Draught of the River Missisippi - From the Balise to Fort Cavendish. Taken in the months of June, July, August, September, October and November on a passage to the Illinois with his Majesty's Thirty fourth Regiment, in the year 1765. By Philip Pittman Lieutenant of the 16th Regiment."  The names given by Pittman for the Illinois fort provide relative dates for the maps. The French name was Fort de Chartres, renamed Fort Cavendish by the British. The manuscript map, which Pittman submitted to Gage (probably in September, 1766, or later), has many more place names and is obviously the second state of the map. This suggests that the place names on the published version were identified by Pittman from the French map or maps taken with him on the expedition. The additional names on the later manuscript map were probably obtained from informants or other maps found in the Illinois country.

Lieutenant Pittman was not the first British mapmaker to visit the Illinois country after the French cession. Almost ten months earlier, in February, 1765, Lieutenant John Ross of the Thirty-fourth, accompanied by the trader Hugh Crawford, came overland from Mobile to Fort de Chartres. Ross and Crawford intended to meet with Pontiac, whose Indian rebellion had prevented British passage to Illinois, but instead they left a few weeks before Pontiac's arrival and proceeded down the Mississippi.  Two years after Pittman's book, Ross published a map of the Mississippi that included the lower courses of its tributaries. The legend on the map reads: "Course of the River Mississippi from the Balise to Fort Chartres; Taken on an Expedition to the Illinois, in the latter end of the Year 1765. By Lieut. Ross of the 34th Regiment: Improved from the Surveys of that River made by the French. London Printed for Robt. Sayer, No. 53 in Fleet Street. Pub- lished as the Act directs. 1 June 1775."

Complement of Maps

The engraved maps included in the book are detailed, authoritative, and rare; indeed, AMPR records not one of the maps as having been offered separately.

1. Kitchin. Plan of New Orleans.
2. Kitchin. Draught of the R. Ibbeville
3. Kitchin. Plan of Fort Rosalia.
4. Kitchin. A Plan of Cascaskies.
5. A Draught of the River Missisippi from the Balise up to Fort Chartres. 1
6. A Draught of the River Missisippi from the Balise up to Fort Chartres. 2
7. A Draught of the River Missisippi from the Balise up to Fort Chartres. 3
8. Kitchin. A Plan of Mobile.

Text

Pittman's book begins with a preface, an introduction, and then proceeds in concise chapters covering locations along the Mississippi: New Orleans; River Ibbeville; Description of Massaic, Part of the River Amit, And the River Ibbeville; Pointe Coupee; Tonicas; Pelousas; Natches; Post of Arcansas; Cascasquias; La Praire de Roches; Fort Chartres; Saint Philippe; Kaoquias; Saint Louis, or Paincourt; Sainte Genevieuve, or Misere; Of the Country of the Illinois; Of the Government of the Country of Illinois When belonging to the French; Of the Inhabitants; L'Arret de la Cour Superieure de la Province; Arret of the Superior Council of the Province; 

Provenance:

Pencil inscription on front pastedown reads: "Cost me $42.00 Jan 8-98-- S. L. Kingan".

Samuel L. Kingan of Tucson, Arizona, was a lawyer, artist and early Arizona patron of the arts.  He was likely one of the earliest serious American book collectors in Arizona Territory.  Kingan formed his collection in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.  His collection was sold in 1928 by Anderson Galleries in a single collector, multi-day sale, with the catalog title Americana From The Library of Mr. Samuel L. Kingan, Tucson Arizona.  The present example of the Pittman book was offered as Lot 308 in the 1928 Anderson Galleries sale.

Samuel Latta Kingan was born in Pittsburgh, PA in 1869. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Law, Ann Arbor. From 1894 until his death in 1943, he lived and practiced law in Tucson, Arizona. In October 1910, he was one of five members from Pima County, Arizona, who served on the constitutional convention which drew up the state constitution under which Arizona was admitted to the Union.

In addition to being a practicing lawyer, Kingan was a painter of desert, ranch, and nocturnal landscapes. In 1917 he was elected the founding president of the Tucson Art Association. In 1920 his book, The Nature of Landscape, was privately published. The March 1, 1937 edition of The Art Digest makes mention of him in an article titled "The Southwest the Tourist Seldom Sees."

Samuel Latta Kingan's house, at 325 W. Franklin Street in Tucson, was built circa 1902 by Holmes and Holmes, architects. The building later served as the home of The Tucson Art Center. The Samuel Kingan Scholarship for Artistic Achievement is awarded annually to a deserving University of Arizona art program major.