The History of Kentucky: Including an Account of the Discovery, Settlement, Progressive Improvement, Political and Military Events, and Present State of the Country, Volym 1

Not all historians agree on the merit of Marshall's work. Some particularity those who have written about Marshall';s political opponents, have discounted the 1812 history heavily. A twentieth century writer upon hearing anything unfavorable to John Brown is alledged to invariably reply, "I supposed you got that from that old liar Humphrey Marshall." Temple Bodley, author of the "Life of George Rogers Clark," characterized Marshall as "a chronic candidate for office" and castigated the history as "a rancorous and utterly unreliable polemic, written to defame all towards whom its writer was hostile." A more judicious appraisal was made by the Reverend Robert Davidson: "Mr. Marshall's work is not popular, having fallen into unmerited disgrace on account of the strong prejudices and partisanship of the author....Its intrinsic merits are great," A.C. Quisenberry in the "Life and Times of Honorable Humphrey Marshall," quotes from various works in showing Marshall's contribution of accurately recording for the first time many facts of early Kentucky History that otherwise might have been lost.