DOCSLIB.ORG

Rise of the American People 1750 1775

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rise of the American People 1750 1775 THE FILSON CLUB HISTORY QUARTERLY VOL. 31 LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, OCTOBER, 1957 No. 4 RISE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE* 1750-1775 BY WILLARD ROUSE JILLSON, Sc.D. Frankfort, Kentucky The seventeenth century was a period of active European coloniza- tion in the western hemisphere. Frenchmen, following the epoch- marking exploratory footsteps of Jacques Cartier, were busily engaged in establishing Quebec and Montreal in the St. Lawrence Valley and in pushing on into the west along the Great Lakes. By 1682 the two great governors of New France, Champlain and Frontenac, and their lieutenant explorers, particularly the intrepid, inspired and untiring Nicolet, Radisson, Marquette, Joliet, and La Salle, had found all the important water routes to the West, the Southwest, and the South. Traversing the Ohio, the Wabash, the Illinois, and finally the Mississippi to its mouth, these hardy explorers laid the foundations from Labrador to Louisiana for the vast empire of New France in North America. Far to the south, Spain moved with measured mili- tary assurance to consolidate and exploit the long-established ex- plorations and conquests of Cortez in Mexico, Balboa in Darien, and Pizarro in Peru, while withdrawing annually from the mines and treasure troves of New Spain more than half a million ounces of fine gold to say nothing of other wealth and plunder. Moved by these great and immeasurably successful continental adventures, England, recalling the discoveries of John Cabot, the daring Venetian sea captain, who, flying the British flag and the royal * Text of address given before the Twenty-first General Assembly of the General Society of Colonial Wars at the Casino Club, 195 East Delaware Place, Chicago, Illinois, Saturday evening, May 25, 1957. 303 304 The Filson Club History Quarterly [Vol. 31 colors of Henry VII in 149"/and 1498, had explored and mapped the mid-Atlantic coast of North America, claimed all the land from Canada to Florida and westwardly from the ocean to the Mississippi. During the reign of James I, charters granted by this monarch to the London and the Plymouth companies resulted in the settlement of Virginia at Jamestown in 16o"/ and Massachusetts at Plymouth in 1620. Holland in the meantime had explored, taken possession of and settled the length and breadth of the Hudson Valley. A single outpost, Fort Orange, had been erected within the eastern realm of the blood-thirsty Iroquois nearly at the head of tidewater on the present site of Albany in 1614, and a decade tater--in 1624--a village port was established at the southern tip of the now world-famous island of Manhattan, which soon acquired the name--New Amster- dam. Puritans from England settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1628, and Lord Baltimore and his Cavaliers, Maryland in 1634. By order of the English king, Charles II, his brother James, the Duke of York, took possession of the Dutch colony, New Amsterdam, and in 1664 established New York. William Penn, at what later became Philadelphia, set up the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681, the widely spread settlements of religious dissenters, chiefly from Virginia and Pennsylvania in the Albemarle country, were brought together as the Crown Colony of North Carolina in 1689 and, lastly, James Edward Oglethorpe founded Georgia in 1732. Competition gradually developed between the English and the French for the possession of the Ohio Valley. The French king claimed the area on a basis of discovery by La Salle in 1669, the compass surveys by DeLery, 70 years later, in 1739, and the military tour •Sf de Celeron in 1749, at which time engraved lead plates declaring the land the possession of France were buried in mounds and at the mouths of the principal rivers entering the Ohio. As a counter action the English king directed Sir William Johnson, his superintendent of Indian affairs for the British colonies, to establish a number of official outposts in Indian villages west of the Ohio River and push Indian traders as far to the west as possible. Thus the rival claims and activities in the Ohio Valley of the two greatest nations and military powers in Europe stood at the middle of the eighteenth century. Although there were many thousands of Dutch, German, Swedish, and French immigrants scattered through the thirteen British-American colonies, the common language, dominant culture, and principal grievances against the English kings and their Parliaments of the great majority of the colonists during the first fifty years of the eighteenth century tended constantly to bring them closer together. As the land filled up, connecting roads were built, 1957] American People 1750-I 775 305 limited stagecoach lines were finally established, and post routes and riders between the larger towns, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Williamsburg, became the order of the day. In the New England colonies where the Puritans dominated the scene, church members and landowners through their well-educated clergy controlled all public affairs. Marine fisheries and shipbuilding were the principal industries. In the South the Anglican Church was widely established but was not looked to for leadership. Wealthy Virginia and Maryland planters, remotely situated on thousands of acres of virgin soil and in many instances possessed of hundreds of black slaves, shaped local laws under more or less indulgent Royal Governors. In the middle colonies of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, a mixed population of Dutch, English, Swedes, Welsh, Germans, and Scotch-Irish turned its attention principally to manufacturing industries and commerce with very light emphasis on agriculture and stock raising. In this area, no one class being domi- nant, religious tolerance beclime widespread and many widely differing churches and sects--Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish--were established and throve in peace and quietude while public affairs gradually attained to a rather free expression of the desire of the people. As the British-American colonies became more and more the haven for various European peoples suffering religious persecution or eco- nomic oppression, the number of German, English, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish immigrants of small estate arriving in Pennsylvania, Mary- land, and Virginia, rapidly increased. With little money for property investment and no land worth having available near tidewater at any price, these unfortunate but courageous people gradually drifted into the western parts of these colonies where vast boundaries of wild, unclaimed but first-class land in the Conococheaque Valley of Penn- sylvania, the Potomac of Maryland, and the Shenandoah of Virginia, were available for the taking and the holding. This was the colonial borderland. It lay west of the Blue Ridge and east of the Allegheny mountains. West of it lay the vast, inhospitable wilderness, the home and the hunting grounds of many warlike Indian tribes--Shawnees, Delawares, Mingos, Caughnawagas, Miamis, Maumees, Twighwees, Wyandottes, Hurons, and others. In 1747 King George II, answering a petition of the Ohio Com- pany (a group of leading Virginians of whom Laurence Washington was one), approved a grant of 500,000 acres of land in the Ohio Valley to be located between the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers. On instructions from the throne, this grant was made by the Royal Governor of Virginia. As the imminence of war with France be- 3O6 The Filson Club History Quarterly [Vol. 31 came more and more apparent, in an effort to induce settlers to occupy the eastern part of the Ohio Valley, the King authorized the Colonial Governor at Williamsburg to exercise liberality in the matter of western land. Accordingly the Governor in the course of a very few years granted many hundreds of thousands of acres of land, the largest being for 800,000 acres, in 1749 to the Loyal Land Company of Virginia. Dr. Thomas Walker was certainly an important mem- ber, if not the leading spirit of this group. In such manner many bold, hardy, and highly intelligent people were drawn into the valleys of the upper Potomac from every colony from Massachusetts to North Carolina. Augusta County, embracing not only the famous valley of Vir- ginia but a vast and rather vague terrain on to the west, was estab- lished in 1738. Settlement, however, in the eastern part of this area by a goodly number of rugged Scotch-Irish immigrant families had preceded this event by several years. A typical "cabin in the clearing" borderland, the settlers of this Appalachian Midland were perhaps the first Americans, for they faced the enemy the French and the Indians, by common impulse without the aid of either colony or king. During the decade 1740 to 1750 they learned by bitter experience what a French-inspired rising of the Ohio Indians meant--the stealthy foray, the burning cabins and barns, the crashing tomahawk, the bloody scalping knife, the slaughter of children and innocent babes, torture and burning at the stake, and the unending horrors of cap- tivity. All as volunteers, men and women, young boys and girls scarcely able to level a rifle, held the thin line of the straggling settle- ments from central Pennsylvania southwardly through all of western Virginia into the remote uplands of North Carolina. The story of these heroic people is epic; the theme is typically early American. During these years of calculated .English advance and settlement along the western colonial Borderland as it touched upon the Ohio Valley, genuine warfare against the French in Novia Scotia got under- way in the East. Dislike and distrust of the French at Louisburg at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, generally conceded to be the strong- est fort on the Atlantic coast of North America, was widespread and of long standing in New England. This feeling, due in large measure to much competition and many complications in the fishing industry, was more pronounced in Massachusetts than elsewhere, though other adjacent colonies in varying degree felt similarly.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Left Logstown, Near the Present Site of An> Bridge, Pennsylvania, On
    FROM LOGSTOWN TO VENANGO WITH GEORGE WASHINGTON1 W. WALTER BRAHAM Washington left Logstown, near the present site of An> Georgebridge, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, November 30, 1753, and arrived at Venango, now Franklin, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Decem- ber 4. His route between these two points has been the subject of much speculation. Washington's biographers, from John Marshall, who blandly assumes that he went up the Allegheny River, to the late Doug- las Southall Freeman, who traced his route through Branchton inButler County, all adopt without comment the theory of a journey by a direct route from Logstown to Venango by way of Murderingtown. Dr. Free- man's recent and excellent volumes on "Young Washington'' give present point to the inquiry. The first-hand evidence on the trip of Washington to Fort Le Boeuf is of course in the diaries of Washington and of his companion, Christopher Gist, and the map of western Pennsylvania and Virginia believed to have been prepared by Washington himself and now lodged in the British Museum. 2 The diary entries are brief and may be quoted in full. Washington's diary entries concerning this part of his trip are: [Nov.] 30th. We set out about 9 o-Clock with the Half-King, Jeska- kake, White Thunder, and the Hunter; and travelled on the Road to Venango, where we arrived the 4th of December, without any Thing remarkable happening but a continued Series of bad Weather. [Dec] 4£7i. This is an old Indian Town, situated at the Mouth of French Creek on Ohio; and lies near N.
    [Show full text]
  • The French and Indian War in Virginia Formatted
    THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR IN VIRGINIA Copyright and All Rights Reserved Lawrence J. Fleenor, Jr. Big Stone Gap, Virginia August 7, 2020 We cannot agree on what to call it. We cannot agree on its dates, nor do we appreciate the extent that Virginia was involved, and was permanently shaped by it. It would be appropriate to address these issues in their larger context, and to explore all the events that led into it, and those that came out of it. Americans call it The French and Indian War – dates 1754 to 1763. The rest of the world, including Canada, Great Britain, and France, call it the Seven Years War – dates 1756 to 1763. As far as the beginning date goes, the sluggishness of transatlantic communications in those days kept Europe unaware that something major was going on in North America for a couple of years. Indeed, this essay will put forward the thesis that the war began with the settlement of the first Europeans in North America. Even that place and date is debated. The date of its ending, which is used by everyone, is the date the European powers signed a peace treaty. No one bothered to tell the North American Indians, who kept fighting for another half a century. Let us tell the whole story, from its very beginning to the ultimate unwinding of its results.(1) The Basques are a mysterious people who live on both sides of the Spanish / French border. This is confusing to many people, and the Basques and their descendants often will just say that they are either ‘French’ or ‘Spanish’.
    [Show full text]
  • The Western Historical
    The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine INDEX Volume 52 /.: *v Published quarterly by THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA 4338 Bigelow Boulevard, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania A Andrews, J. Cutler, rev. of Curry's Blueprint "Account Book of General John Neville," for Modern America, NonNan MilitaryLegis- edited by James H. Moon, with appendix lation of the First Civil War Congress, of letters, pages from account books, maps 199-201 of Reserve Tracts, etc., 345-360 Anti-Mormon feeling, high during investiga- "Account Book of General John Neville," tion of Reed Smoot and Mormon Church, photographic copy of, in Pennsylvania Di- 49; tosome, itwas persecution, 49 vision of Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh; Anti-Mormon petitions, about four million, original in vault storage, 354; appendix, sent to Senators Knox and Penrose from 355-360 Pennsylvania, 50; Knox, four others voted Hall, for Smoot, 50; failure to gain quick ap- "Address at the Dedication of Town proval Senate, 50; after Ligonier, Pennsylvania," June 13, 1969, from entire sum- by Stanton Belfour, 311-314 mer break, Congress to settle almost four- ) year-old case, 51 Agricultural sports in Pittsburgh, 67 Appleton Brothers, letters to Mathiot about Allegheny Conference on Community De- their losses on tunnel excavation on velopment, guiding organization for Point Portage Railroad, 158 Park project, 266; studied by other coun- Arensberg, Charles Covert, "The Spelling of tries, 266; established Point Park Com- Robert Neill Who Built the Neill Log mittee (1945) at request of Gov.
    [Show full text]
  • Michel Pepin Dit La Force and John Carlyle: a Link to the Seven Years
    Carlyle House D OCENT D ISPATCH Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority April 2007 Michel Pepin dit La Force and John Carlyle: A Link to the Seven Years’ War by Melanie La Force and Norman La Force On occasion, genealogical research reveals more to the researcher than names, births, deaths, baptisms, and marriages. A family member recounts a story about ancestors and describes their participation in a historical event. A comment is inserted in a document; a name is mentioned in a journal. Sometimes a physical description is given. Finally, a link is made to a prominent person and a different picture of history develops. This is the case for ancestors in the Canadian La Force family line. It would include an accurate marriage record and a note of power of attorney that would reveal which La Force was involved in the events that started the French and Indian War. In French Canadian history, the La Force family will be linked to life in New France, to Duluth, Governor Duquesne, Commander Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, Jumonville Glen, the Iroquois people, and the Seven Years’ War. In American history Michel Pepin dit La Force is linked to John Carlyle, life in Nova Francia et Canada, 1597. As it was upon the arrival of Alexandria, George Washington, and the French and the Guillaume Pepin dit Tranchemontagne. Indian War through a small note in one of John Carlyle’s Tranchemontagne a hardy, skilled, and strong man, letters. went with Duluth on the expedition to Minnesota. Carlyle’s note mentioned the events of the Jumonville Guillaume’s grandson, Pierre, married Michelle Le Glen attack in 1754 in which a La Force was captured.
    [Show full text]
  • Fort Duquesne
    FORT DUQUESNE AND FORT PITT EARLY NAMES OF PITTSBURGHSTREETS F OU R TH E D I TI ON P U BLI S HE D BY I D AU GHTER S OF T HE AME R I CAN R E!OLU TI ON . v ‘ 7 f-v-f A G H Y TY P Y A I A LLE E N C OU N , E NNS L! N R E E D W I T T I N G , P R E S S Tbis little skelen D uquesn e a n d F ort P ill is ’ com il d from exlra els lei /!z n m a in l from P a rkma n s p e e y Hislories T/ze Old n Tim é N vill B . Cra i F ort ; e e , y e e g, P ill B M s m l n on P ion i o W . D a i l H sl é r . r r r , y g ; ee y , y Hild el e c S . P . r /z , i . P itts én rg/z S eplember 1 898 . C HR O N O L O G Y . —T h F r n ch b e b a chain r s t o eu 17 5 3 . e e gin to uil d of fo t a forc e th eir b ound ri e s . — L B 1 7 53 . Was s s F r e e . D e c e mb e r 1 , 1 hington vi it o t o uf ’ — a Wa wr s I s a d J a ar 17 54 .
    [Show full text]
  • Student Worksheet
    Student Worksheet A Shot in the Backwoods of Pennsylvania Sets the World Afire French & Indian War Worksheet 1: Focus Questions for "The Roots of Conflict" Instructions: Your group may answer these questions after the reading of the two handouts found in your packet has been accomplished. Turn this worksheet over, and do not refer to it until you have fin- ished reading the handouts. Remember, everyone in your group should agree on the answers given, and everyone should record the questions and answers in their notebooks. The Roots Of Conflict Focus Questions Where is LOUISBOURG? Why were the British Colonists so upset over its return to France? (It was a major French fortification that controlled the St. Lawrence River and therefore trade between France and its colony in North America. Also, it was captured by New England soldiers during King George’s War, and turned over without, what the New Englanders felt was adequate compensation. Further, Louisbourg was a seaport town where French warships could, in time of war, raid along New England coasts and inflict injuries on English shipping.) • Why is the Treaty at Logstown in 1748 so important? What did it do? • Who was Pierre Celoron de Bienville? What was mission? • Why did the French destroy the village of Pickawillany? • What document gave the Virginia government the right to assert claim on the Ohio Country? How could the French claim the right to the area? • How did the French seek to control the Ohio Country? • Why was it easier for the French to move in the Ohio Country? • Why
    [Show full text]
  • Finding Fort Tonoloway a French and Indian War Fortification on the Western Frontier of Maryland ABPP Grant #GA-P18AP000519
    Finding Fort Tonoloway A French and Indian War Fortification on the Western Frontier of Maryland ABPP Grant #GA-P18AP000519 Submitted to: Preservation Maryland 3600 Clipper Mill Road, Suite 248 Baltimore, Maryland 21211 Submitted by: Rivanna Archaeological Services 410 E. Water Street Suite 1100 Charlottesville, VA 22902 Finding Fort Tonoloway A French and Indian War Fortification on the Western Frontier of Maryland ABPP Grant #GA-P18AP000519 This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Interior. Principal Investigator and Report Author Benjamin P. Ford Rivanna Archaeological Services, LLC Charlottesville, Virginia August 2020 Finding Fort Tonoloway Preservation Maryland ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project owes a large debt of gratitude to many people. This research could not have been completed without the invaluable assistance of Robert Ambrose, Fort Frederick State Park Ranger. Robert’s manuscript, Stoddert’s Fort: Marylands Defender in the Tonoloways, was our first in-depth introduction to Fort Tonoloway and its historical context. Robert also generously gave us a first-hand tour of Fort Tonoloway State Park and drove us on windshield tour of the vicinity of Hancock, Maryland. Throughout our research Robert fielded, and patiently answered, our numerous questions and requests for assistance. His extensive knowledge of Fort Tonoloway, the French and Indian War Period, and insight into local informants and repositories was essential to this project’s success. Nicholas Redding, Executive Director of Preservation Maryland served as overall project manager, organized the start-up meeting, and provided guidance and advice throughout the project.
    [Show full text]
  • Historic Indian "Paths of Pennsylvania
    Historic Indian "Paths of Pennsylvania HIS is a preliminary report. The writer is in the midst of a study of Pennsylvania's Indian trails, undertaken at the Trequest of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Com- mission and under the special direction of S. K. Stevens, State His- torian. The examination of source materials, which are far more abundant than was supposed when the project was initiated, has not yet been completed. Much remains to be done in the field and in libraries and manuscript repositories such as The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the American Philosophical Society, the Archives of the Moravian Church, and in the Land Office at Harrisburg, although in each of these places the writer has already spent much time. In research work of any magnitude, it is well at times to pause to get one's bearings—to see what has been accomplished, what still needs to be done, and what methods have proved themselves best to carry the work through to completion. To the writer himself, this report has already served its purpose. To others who may be inter- ested, it is hoped that its materials, incomplete though they are, may help to a better understanding of Indian trails and the events in Pennsylvania's history that depended upon them. It is impossible here to name the hundreds of persons in Pennsyl- vania, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina who have generously assisted me in this work. It is a great fraternity, this Brotherhood of Indian Trail Followers. To them all I say, "Thank you.
    [Show full text]
  • The Journal of Major George Washington (1754)
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Electronic Texts in American Studies Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln 1754 The Journal of Major George Washington (1754) George Washington Paul Royster , editor University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/etas Part of the American Studies Commons Washington, George and Royster, Paul , editor, "The Journal of Major George Washington (1754)" (1754). Electronic Texts in American Studies. 33. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/etas/33 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Texts in American Studies by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. George Washington report printed, and it became very popular reading. The Virginia The Journal of Major George Washington (1754) legislature was so pleased with his mission and his report that they voted him a £50 reward. The Journal of Major George Washington was reprinted in various colonial newspapers as far away as Boston, In October of 1753, George Washington, a 2 -year-old major in 1 and a British edition was issued in London later that same year, for the Virginia militia, volunteered to carry a letter from the governor which Washington sent materials for the preparation of a map. of Virginia to the French commander of the forts recently built on This online electronic text edition of the Journal is based on the headwaters of the Ohio River in northwestern Pennsylvania.
    [Show full text]
  • I- WASHINGTON's SKETCH MAP from the George Waslhingtopi Allas
    I -. z7 I l i I II i I I I I I i i I '74a5ny I .fldtrw I I Il I I S- I- ' WASHINGTON'S SKETCH MAP From The George Waslhingtopi Allas. GEORGE WASHINGTON'S ROUTE FROM VENANGO TO FORT LE BOEUF, 1753 BY PAUL A. W. WALLACE* WHEN, in the late fall of 1753, George Washington stopped at Logstown on his way to Fort Le Boenf, carrying Vir- ginia's summons to the French to leave the country, he learned from the Indians that "the nearest and levellest Way was now impassable, by Reason of many large mirey Savannas."' He and his party, therefore, were obliged to go round by way of Venango (Franklin). They were aided on this part of their journey by a natural phenomenon known today as the terminal moraine of the Wisconsin Glacier.' It provided them, for a good part of the way, with a well-drained path and, best of all, with a firm -bottomed ford of Muddy Creek-Butler County's Muddy Creek, which is to be distinguished from a second Muddy Creek they had to cross in Crawford County. North of Venango, which they left on December 7, nature proved less accommodating. French Creek at the "big crossing" was found to be impassable, and the swamps adjacent to Crawford County's Muddy Creek took an extra day to negotiate. The waters of some of the lesser streams were so swollen that they were unfordable. The travelers had to swim the horses and carry the baggage across on tree trunks.
    [Show full text]
  • Warfare in Colonial America: Prelude and Promise
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2000 Warfare in Colonial America: Prelude and Promise David Michael Corlett College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Corlett, David Michael, "Warfare in Colonial America: Prelude and Promise" (2000). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539626274. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-07ab-qb78 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WARFARE IN COLONIAL AMERICA: PRELUDE AND PROMISE A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by David M. Corlett 2000 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Approved, January 2000 James Axtell eisa D Dale E. Hoak TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgments iv List of Figures V Abstract vi Introduction 2 Chapter 1: The Irregular Education of John Bull 5 Chapter 2: Defeat on the Monongahela 42 Chapter 3: Aftermath of Disaster 79 Conclusion 106 Bibliography 114 Vita 126 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Professor James Axtell, whose suggestions, criticisms, and insight proved invaluable in the process of researching and writing this thesis as did his insistence on clear and engaging prose.
    [Show full text]
  • Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine
    THE WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE Volume 49 January 1966 Number 1 THE VENANGO PATH AS THOMAS HUTCHINS KNEW IT Niles Anderson and Edward G. Williams Introduction what those roads have known," we may well recite with a worthy Virginia historian. 1 Visions of our pioneering fore- Cnsiderbears who trod those roads rise before us and link us with a train of past historic events. The Venango 2 Trail was just such a link with an almost legendary age, but it was also the lifeline to the Forks of the Ohio for the masters of the Upper Allegheny, French Creek 3 and Lake Erie re- gions, successively Indian, French and British. Itmight well be called the forgotten road, for the limelight of history and romance has been focused upon other roads that carried larger marching armies that fought great battles and captured great forts. Yet, the Venango Path shared military importance with the Braddock and Forbes roads dur- ing the French and Indian War period ;and its military significance continued through the early Federal years of the fledgling United States to establish our hold upon the Erie Triangle and to protect northwestern Pennsylvania from the British-incited Indian menace. Through the War of 1812, this road was of the greatest strategical consequence to our military and naval dominance in the Great Lakes theatre. Although never one of the channels through which flowed the Mr.Anderson and Mr. Williams, two of our valued contributors, have spent nearly three years of careful investigation of the topography, court records, maps, documents and source materials of all descriptions to establish the Venango Path „„ !.
    [Show full text]