VOL. I NO. 5 THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WITH NOTES AND QUERIES MAY 1905 WILLIAM ABBATT 281 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK Published Monthly $5.00 a Year 50 Cents a Number THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WITH NOTES AND QUERIES VOL. I MAY, 1905 NO. 5 CONTENTS PAGE THE _BON HOMME RICHARD_ AND THE _SERAPIS_ _Frontispiece_ PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER (Second Paper) WARREN UPHAM 255 (Sec’y Minn. Historical Society) THE RECORD OF REDDING CHARLES BURR TODD 266 CIVIL WAR SKETCHES (Second Paper) Confederate Finance in Alabama WALTER L. FLEMING 274 (Prof. of History, West Va. University) THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS (First Paper) REV. LIVINGSTON ROWE SCHUYLER 283 UNPUBLISHED POEM—_The Autograph_ THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH 288 THE THIRTIETH OF MAY (_Poem_) MRS. E. M. ADAMS 289 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHWEST AND THEIR PRESERVATION PROF. EDGAR L. HEWETT 291 (Of the National Museum, Washington) JOHN PAUL JONES’ FELLOW OFFICERS EDGAR STANTON MACLAY 301 THE MOONLIGHT BATTLE—Note by the Editor. 304 BURLEIGH—AND JOHNSON’S ISLAND FREDERICK J. SHEPARD 306 (Of the Buffalo Public Library) ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS Letter of Robert Stuart to Secretary of War Spencer 316 Letter of Edgar Allan Poe to William Poe 317 Letter of Abraham Lincoln about a Deserter 320 Letter of Washington about a Deserter 320 Letter of Col. Barnard Beekman, C. S. A. 321 HISTORICAL SOCIETIES 322 COMMUNICATIONS 323 MINOR TOPICS 323 BOOK NOTICES 324 _Copyright, 1905, by William Abbatt_ Entered as second-class matter, March 1, 1905, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. [Illustration: _From the original painting by Birch_ THE MOONLIGHT BATTLE THE “_BON HOMME RICHARD_” AND THE “_SERAPIS_” SEPT. 23, 1779 ] THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY