THE study of American History in general, and of Indian History in particular, has long been the favorite employment of many of my hours; I cannot say "leisure hours," for such are unknown to me; but time amidst a variety of cares and business, and be. fore and after "business hours." My first publication upon the subject of the Indians was an edition of Church's History of Philip's War, a duodecimo, with notes and an appendix. This was in the summer of 1825; and, in 1827, it was considerably enlarged, and issued in a second edition, the copyright of which, not long after, passed out of my hands, and the number of editions since issued is unknown to me; but, about two years since, one of the proprietors told me they amounted to some thirty or forty; yet "second edition" is continued in the title-page to this day, (1848). In this republication I intimated my design of a work upon INDIAN BIOGRAPHY, and in 1832, a small duodecimo of 318 pages, bearing that title, was published. In that edition, the chiefs and others noticed were arranged alphabetically. In 1833, a second edition was issued, with THE BOOK OF THE INDIANS superadded to the title. The volume now contained three times as much as before, and yet my materials were scarcely half exhausted. It was in octavo, and under an entirely new arrangement, namely, in books and chapters; each BOOK being paged by itself, for the purpose of adding new matter at some future time at the end of each Book. This arrangement was continued through all the editions to the present. A third edition, also considerably enlarged, was published in 1834, which extended to 548 pages, 108 more than the second. The same year produced a fourth, with a few corrections, but without altering the number of the edition in the title-page. A fifth, which stands numbered as the fourth, appeared in 1835, with the addition of a catalogue of all the principal Indian tribes, arranged alphabetically. This was drawn, at great expense of time, from an incredible number of sources. The second edition had been stereotyped, to the original cost of which great expense had been added in corrections and additions, considerably exceeding the profits which had accrued, and I was now beginning to console myself that very little, if any thing, more would be required by way of additions or corrections, and that I should soon begin to derive some small advantage from it, as it had been tolerably well received; but I found I had "reckoned without my host; for, on the night of the 30th of September, 1835, the whole was consumed by fire. This was quite discouraging. However, I soon determined to stereotype it anew. Thus taking advantage of what I had considered a great misfortune, I began to revise the whole throughout. Parts were rewritten, and additions made in almost every page, and the page itself was enlarged, although one of the pages of the former editions contained as much reading as two octavo pages in the common type. Besides this enlargement of the pages, their number was extended to six hundred. Such were the preparations for the sixth (though printed as the fifth) edition, an impression of which was issued in 1836. The next year produced a seventh. This was the same as the preceding, excepting a few important corrections. I come now to the eighth and present edition, which has received very important enlargements in the three last books, amounting to more than one hundred pages; and it may be proper to note, that all after pages 143 of Book III., 96 of Book IV., 168 of Book V., are additions to what has been before published. And the catalogue of the TRIBES has been enlarged to more than twice its original amount. It is now submitted with all its imperfections; and, although I hope to multiply the number of editions, I have no intention of further enlarging the work.
This edition has been delayed many months in consequence of a hope I had entertained of living to be assured that the Florida war was at an end. That time may now be considered to have arrived. On the events of that war, as will be seen, I have been full and particular; and, if events of importance have escaped me, it was not because I had not used great exertions to possess myself of them. If, however, a doubt should be raised upon this head, I would refer the skeptical reader to a document published by order of the U. S. Senate in 1840, purporting to be a report of the secretary of war, "showing the massacres committed and the property destroyed by the hostile Indians in Florida since 1835, where a comparison may be made between what I have published, and the amount of information in the possession of the war department.
The history of the wrongs and sufferings of the Cherokees has been an important addition to this edition; and, whatever judgments may be pronounced upon it by the present generation, I shall remain silent, under the consciousness that I have done no injustice to the parties concerned. I have been an observer through the whole course of it, and registered events as they passed. I have not used a dirk in the dark, but the broadsword in open day, with fair warning to the adversary. "Let those who undertake prepare to undergo."
As the word edition in the title-page of a book now-a-days may mean any thing or nothing, when a number stands before it, I will just observe that my first edition consisted of 1,500 copies, the second of 2,000, the third of 500, the fourth, fifth, and sixth of 1,000 each, and the seventh of 500.