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| Book Review | Indiana Magazine of History, 102.4 | The History Cooperative
102.4  
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December, 2006
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Reviews

Peter Cartwright
Legendary Frontier Preacher

By Robert Bray
(Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2005. Pp. x, 314. Illustrations, notes, index. $35.00.)

A definitive biography of Peter Cartwright has long been needed. Often used as an example and cited as a source, the man known not only as the most famous frontier circuit rider but also as one of the leading Methodists in early American history clearly deserves more direct scholarly attention. In this volume, literature professor Robert Bray delves deep into Cartwright's place in American religion, politics, and literature. 1
      Bray seems most interested in the preacher's long relationship with Abraham Lincoln. Other writers have noted Cartwright's political, theological, and social rivalry with Lincoln, but Bray fully explores these conflicts in a way that makes them more coherent than an occasional reference. The two giants of frontier Illinois squared off time and again in public battles over religion and politics, but they agreed on some issues—including slavery—and they shared a similar fame as "self-made" men. Cartwright, like Stephen Douglas, shaped Lincoln's career to the extent that he served as a worthy political and philosophical foe. . . .
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