Caleb Atwater
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Caleb Atwater (December 1778 – March 13, 1867) was an American politician, historian, and early archaeologist in the state of
Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
. He served several terms as a state politician and was appointed as United States postmaster of
Circleville, Ohio Circleville is a city in and the county seat of Pickaway County, Ohio, United States, set along the Scioto River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Columbus. The population was 13,927 at the 2020 census. The city is best-known today as the host ...
. He was known best during the 19th century for his publication ''
History of the State of Ohio History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
'' (1838), the first book-length history of the new state. It also included much natural lore. Atwater was recognized by contemporaries as a pioneer of the study of the
mounds A mound is an artificial heap or pile, especially of earth, rocks, or sand. Mound and Mounds may also refer to: Places * Mound, Louisiana, United States * Mound, Minnesota, United States * Mound, Texas, United States * Mound, West Virginia * ...
or massive
earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour *Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), mi ...
in the Ohio Valley; he published an account during 1820. These are now known to have been constructed by ancient Native Americans of the United States. At the time, Atwater and other scholars developed various theories of origin; he thought a culture other than ancestors of Native Americans created such monuments. He helped publicize a theory by John D. Clifford, an amateur of
Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the second-largest city in Kentucky and 57th-largest city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 28th-largest ...
, who suggested that people related to
Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
of
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
had migrated by sea and built the mounds, to be replaced by ancestors of contemporary Native Americans.


Early years

Caleb Atwater was born in
North Adams, Massachusetts North Adams is a city in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population was 12,961 as of the 2020 census. Best known as the home of the largest contemporary ...
during 1778 during the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. He was the son of a carpenter and his wife, and educated at local schools. He graduated from
Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kille ...
in 1804. After failing as a schoolmaster in New York City, he studied theology and became a Presbyterian minister. His first wife Diana Lawrence died after the birth of their first child. Dissatisfied with the ministry, the widower Atwater studied law, studying and working with a judge in
Marcellus, New York Marcellus is a town in Onondaga County, New York, United States. The population was 6,210 at the 2010 census. The town was probably named after Marcus Claudius Marcellus, a Roman general, by a clerk interested in the Classics. The Marcellus Form ...
. He was admitted to the state bar. Instead of practicing, he entered into business and soon became bankrupt. As a result of this failure, during 1815 he moved with his new wife (Belinda Butler) to Circleville in Ohio, founded during 1810. They had nine children together.


Career

Atwater practiced law for six years, and gained an assured income when appointed as United States postmaster of the town. He was elected to the state legislature during 1821. Circleville was developed at a site of circular earthworks built by the ancient
Hopewell culture The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from ...
. Initially, it was planned with streets of concentric circles to fit into the remains of the monument. The county courthouse was erected in the center circle. During the late 1830s, people decided they wanted an ordinary town with a grid pattern, and the remnants of the circular works were destroyed. Elected to the state’s house of representatives during 1821, Atwater endorsed
internal improvements Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, canal ...
, including legislation that authorized the
Ohio and Erie Canal The Ohio and Erie Canal was a canal constructed during the 1820s and early 1830s in Ohio. It connected Akron with the Cuyahoga River near its outlet on Lake Erie in Cleveland, and a few years later, with the Ohio River near Portsmouth. It a ...
. It was intended to improve the waterways for connection to the Erie Canal in New York State and thereby to the major market of New York City. Atwater promoted tax-funded public schools, equal education for boys and girls, and better teachers’ pay. After several terms, he was not re-elected during 1828. An enthusiastic Jacksonian Democrat, Atwater was appointed by President
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
during 1829 as one of three federal commissioners to negotiate the Third Treaty of Prairie du Chien with the Winnebago Indians in Wisconsin. His journey to the western frontier stimulated his interest in Native American issues and history, and he began to study them. Atwater wrote and published books after this period. His journey to Wisconsin and meeting with Native Americans stimulated him to write about his experiences in the west: '' Remarks Made on a Tour to Prairie du Chien'' (1831), which includes an interview with the noted Sauk leader
Quashquame Quashquame (alt: "Quawsquawma, Quashquami, Quashquammee, Quash-Qua-Mie, Quash-kaume, Quash-quam-ma", meaning "Jumping Fish") (c. 1764 – c . 1832) was a Sauk chief; he was the principal signer of the 1804 treaty that ceded Sauk land to the Unit ...
. A decade later he wrote ''
An Essay on Education An, AN, aN, or an may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Airlinair (IATA airline code AN) * Alleanza Nazionale, a former political party in Italy * AnimeNEXT, an annual anime convention located in New Jersey * Anime North, a Canadian an ...
'' (1841), which contained his most mature thoughts on the subject. During the nineteenth century, Atwater was known best for his publication ''
History of the State of Ohio History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
'' (1838), the first book-length history of the new state.
Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States. He also served as the 23rd governor of Ohio, represented Ohio in the United States Senate, a ...
during 1833 included a 40-page history of Ohio in his compendium
Both Atwater's ''
Tour to Prairie du Chien Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...
'' and his ''History'' contained much natural history lore as well as civil history. He also contributed articles on this topic to the ''
American Journal of Science The ''American Journal of Science'' (''AJS'') is the United States of America's longest-running scientific journal, having been published continuously since its conception in 1818 by Professor Benjamin Silliman, who edited and financed it himsel ...
''.


Archaeological career

Atwater is known as one of the first researchers to undertake a serious study of the prehistoric Adena and
Hopewell culture The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from ...
earthworks, and their associated artisan artifacts found throughout the Ohio Valley. He was fascinated by the ancient circular works found in Circleville, and studied others in the area. The Hopewell culture is now known to have flourished from BCE200 to CE500. During 1820 Atwater published ''
Description of the Antiquities Discovered in the State of Ohio and Other Western States Description is the pattern of narrative development that aims to make vivid a place, object, character, or group. Description is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narra ...
,'' a 160-page report in the first volume of the ''Transactions'' of the American Antiquarian Society. This account, considered the first scientific treatment of the monuments, is illustrated with woodcuts of artifacts and with engraved maps of prehistoric sites. Included is one of Circleville (Plate v), where some earthworks had been plowed under, but the city's plan had been made to conform to Hopewell circles. This circular plan was later changed during the late 1830s, and all traces of the Hopewell works were destroyed. Although the maps were stylized and likely not too accurate, they preserve all that is known today of some other prehistoric sites since destroyed by development. Atwater’s acquaintances contributed some of the maps and their descriptions in this book. Additionally, Atwater speculated about who had built the elaborate, complex earthworks and what had happened to them. Contemporary Indians in the area did not have direct knowledge of the mounds’ origins. Americans tended to consider the Indian societies as primitive and did not believe the builders of the mounds could have been part of the same culture. Atwater had learned that John D. Clifford, a
Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the second-largest city in Kentucky and 57th-largest city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 28th-largest ...
merchant, and his naturalist friend C.S. Rafinesque, a polymath and professor at
Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...
, were also working on these topics. Clifford found documentation in the university library and town archives from which he built a theory about builders of the earthworks. Rafinesque identified, measured and mapped many of these sites in the Ohio Valley and developed his own theories; his manuscripts contained identification of 148 sites in Kentucky, all of which were later featured in E. G. Squier and Davis in their 1848 work on the monuments. Clifford published "Indian Antiquities,” eight long letters in Lexington’s short-lived '' Western Review and Miscellaneous Magazine'' (1819-1820), with material from Rafinesque.John D. Clifford, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, ''John D. Clifford's Indian Antiquities''
edited and annotated by Charles E. Boewe, Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2000
He proposed a theory, circulated more widely by Atwater, that the mounds were the work of ancient people related to the
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
s of
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, who had reached North America by sea. He proposed that they had built the mounds and an elaborate culture but were driven south into Mexico by the more warlike Indians who followed them (and who became known to Europeans). He died soon after publishing this material. Rafinesque had contributed to Clifford's letters, adding that the warring Indians were ancestors to such contemporary tribes as the
Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...
. He theorized that the later Indian ancestors had crossed to North America over the frozen Bering Strait from Asia. During 1819 Atwater published a memoir of his archaeological career to date in the journal ''Archaeologia Americana.''


Controversy

When a tepid and anonymous review of Atwater's 1820 work in the American Antiquarian Society’s ''Transactions'' appeared in the magazine '' Western Review,'' Atwater guessed correctly that Rafinesque was its author. He was angered by what he thought was unjustified criticism, and the two exchanged statements. Atwater’s adaptation of the Clifford thesis was promulgated in Europe when Vicomte François René de Chateaubriand appended a translation of Atwater’s report to his '' Voyage en Amérique et en Italie'' (1828).


See also

*
Atwater Township, Ohio Atwater Township is one of the eighteen townships of Portage County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2000 census there were 2,762 people living in the township. Geography Located in the southern part of the county, it borders the following tow ...


References


Sources

*Boewe, Charles. 1987. “The Fall from Grace of that ‘Base Wretch’ Rafinesque,” '' Kentucky Review'' 7: 39-53. *Boewe, Charles (Ed.). 2000. '' John D. Clifford’s Indian Antiquities; Related Material by C.S. Rafinesque''. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, TN. *Boewe, Charles. 2004. " C.S. Rafinesque and Ohio Valley Archaeology", ''Ancient America,'' No. 6. Center for Ancient American Studies, Barnardsville, NC. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atwater, Caleb American archaeologists 1778 births 1867 deaths Connecticut Land Company Members of the Ohio House of Representatives People from North Adams, Massachusetts People from Circleville, Ohio Historians from Massachusetts Williams College alumni Historians from Ohio