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SSStttooonnnyyy BBBrrrooooookkk UUUnnniiivvveeerrrsssiiitttyyy The official electronic file of this thesis or dissertation is maintained by the University Libraries on behalf of The Graduate School at Stony Brook University. ©©© AAAllllll RRRiiiggghhhtttsss RRReeessseeerrrvvveeeddd bbbyyy AAAuuuttthhhooorrr... Besieged: British-American Forts, Families, and Communities in the Seven Years’ War, 1755-1763 A Dissertation Presented by Elizabeth Bartlett Hornor to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University August 2011 Copyright by Elizabeth Bartlett Hornor 2011 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Elizabeth Bartlett Hornor We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. Ned Landsman – Dissertation Advisor Professor, Department of History Donna Rilling - Chairperson of Defense Associate Professor, Department of History Kathleen Wilson Professor, Department of History Andrew Newman Associate Professor, Department of English, Stony Brook University This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School Lawrence Martin Dean of the Graduate School ii Abstract of the Dissertation Besieged: British-American Forts, Families, and Communities in the Seven Years’ War, 1755-1763 by Elizabeth Bartlett Hornor Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University 2011 This dissertation examines interactions between civilians and the military during the Seven Years’ War in the British North American colonies. The settings of those interactions were seven forts located along three corridors that encompassed British, French, and Native American territory. The corridors include the region between Philadelphia/Alexandria and the Ohio River, the territory between Albany and the Great Lakes, and the area between Albany and Quebec/Montreal. This project traverses the divide between histories of colonial society and histories of the war by using letters, personal journals, newspapers, memoirs, wills, and colonial and military records to explore backcountry communities and their interactions with the military at and near forts. Rather than interpreting interactions between the army and civilians simply as conflicts, the project argues that forts became sites of negotiation as civilians and military authorities made requests of one another. By examining the varying ways in which people responded to the war, the dissertation illuminates how the experience of living on the periphery influenced residents’ perceptions of the army and imperial administration. In exploring the civilian experience of the war on the periphery, the project connects the events of the Seven Years’ War to existing problems and circumstances, thereby integrating the war more seamlessly into the history of colonial America and facilitating a more nuanced understanding of how the war affected its civilian participants. iii Dedication To: The Elizabeths: Elizabeth Sloan and Elizabeth O’Connell Gennari and The ELM girls: Emily Hickey and Melissa Stroud Life with you is half as hard and twice as good. iv Frontispiece v Table of Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction 2 Chapter One 16 Corridors of War: Forts and the Geography of the Seven Years’ War Chapter Two 34 “Good and loyal Subjects:” Demands and Supplies at Fort Cumberland and Fort Herkimer Chapter Three 73 “A Frontier Place:” The Fort-City of Albany and the British Military Chapter Four 114 “A very material post:” Fort Number Four and the New England Frontier Chapter Five 156 “The innocent blood of Women:” Gender and the military in the Seven Years’ War Chapter Six 199 “To Beg some relief from your Lordship:” Petitioners and Lord Loudoun Chapter Seven 239 “A Tree of Shelter:” British-Iroquois relations at Fort Johnson Conclusion 283 Bibliography 291 vi Acknowledgements Rarely in life do we have the opportunity to publicly thank all the people who have helped us along. I am, therefore, grateful for this chance to acknowledge all of the help and support I have received in my education and through the dissertation process. I have heard that teachers have to tell students something seven times before they really understand it. I am afraid that Ned Landsman has had to exceed that number in advising me through this process. I began giving him earnestly-written but half-baked chapter drafts in 2007, and he has shown remarkable patience as I have steadily pestered him with draft after draft over the past four years. His responses and criticism have been thorough and incisive even as I found new ways to make the same mistakes. His ability to guide without simply telling me what to do has shaped my own approach to teaching, and his understanding of colonial America has influenced my own profoundly. If this dissertation says anything useful, he deserves the credit, and if it persists in reifying empire despite his seven-fold warning, I’ll take the blame. Donna Rilling read several chapter drafts throughout the process and has an ability to ask questions that helped me see what was missing and what needed to happen. She has an eye for detail while also keeping the big picture in mind, which was very helpful as I struggled to find that balance. She has also been very encouraging to me since the first day of grad school, both in my own teaching, my work, and my professional development. I am very grateful to have her on my committee. Kathleen Wilson has also been very encouraging to me throughout the dissertation writing process. She gave me good advice about finding larger themes back when the dissertation was still a pile of stories. She is one of the few people who have written about women in the Seven Years’ War, and that work has been critical to my own understanding. I am thankful to have her on my committee. I am also grateful to have Drew Newman on my committee. I had a chance to work with him on the short-lived Atlantic Studies Working Group, of which I was perhaps the greatest beneficiary. He was also helpful to me as I formulated a conference paper for the McNeil Center that was the earliest iteration of this project. I have benefitted from funding from several sources. At Stony Brook, the Gardiner Fellowship funded the beginning stage of my graduate education. In 2008, a Robert L. Middlekauf Fellowship at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California allowed me to research the Loudoun Papers and afforded me the opportunity of participating in that community and studying at a beautiful and inspirational institution. In particular, Olga Tsapina, the curator of American Historical Manuscripts was helpful both at the library and with later requests. In 2009, a David Library Fellowship allowed me unlimited access to the David Library in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania where the librarians and staff fostered an atmosphere conducive to studying. In addition, the librarians and staff at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the New Hampshire Historical Association’s Library (where I met a relative of a very obscure person from chapter four, Thomas Tash) and the Melville Library and interlibrary vii loan department at Stony Brook University were all very important and helpful in the research process. I am aware of the great privilege it is to pursue a doctorate in the humanities, and I recognize that it was only possible through the support and assistance of many people. At Stony Brook, many professors, in addition to those on my committee, taught and encouraged me. I am especially grateful to Young-Sun Hong, Sara Lipton, April Masten, and Ian Roxborough in addition to Ashli White and Kathleen Banks Nutter, who have since moved on. Particular thanks is due to Michael Barnhart whose influence in two moments in my education, several years apart, affected me profoundly. During my one undergraduate year at Stony Brook, one of the books he assigned in his World War II class was Miss You: The World War II Letters of Barbara Woodall Taylor and Charles E. Taylor , which sparked my interest in the intersection of war and civilian society. Several years later, in his Biography research seminar, he made us keep a journal of our research and writing process. I used this same strategy for this project, and my dissertation journal is almost as long as the actual dissertation. More than almost anything else, the journal has kept me sane and organized. Also at Stony Brook, Susan Grumet has been very generous and helpful to me and keeps the department lively. Roxanne Fernandez has reinstituted order and stability to the administrative side of the graduate program, and I have benefitted from her kindness and patience. Outside of Stony Brook, Elizabeth Mancke took time out of her enjoyment of the Seven Years’ War conference at Fort Niagara to talk with me about my project, which helped jolt me out of the rut I had fallen into. At the Huntington, Mary Beth Norton talked to me about female petitioners and gave me some critical references. I’ve been very fortunate to make a number of wonderful friends at Stony Brook who have journeyed with me through the ups and downs of grad school and made the whole experience more fun than it is probably supposed to be. I am grateful to be named Elizabeth and therefore numbered among the Elizabeths of S312. When Elizabeth “Sloanie” Sloan arrived at Stony Brook, we both recognized the same wide-eyed, bewildered look on each other’s face and became fast friends (we are cool and confident now , of course). Elizabeth “O’Connell” Gennari’s arrival unleashed the full power of our combined ability to turn anything into an opportunity for a pop culture reference, and between the three of us, our pop culture savvy borders on the encyclopedic. Their friendship and support continues to be invaluable to me. In addition to the Elizabeths, several other members of the mysterious Turtle Group deserve mention.

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