Unsettling the West

by Rob Harper

  24. devereux smith to [William] smith, 10 June 1774, aa4 1:470 (“abuse[d] him”); prevost

  132 (“no store”); William crawford to Washington, 8 may 1774, gWp (“displeashure”); James

  robertson to preston, 26 July and 1 sept. 1774, dhdW 99, 174 (“unless i kill part,” 99); michael

  Woods to preston, 3 sept. 1774, dhdW 175; connol y 6– 8, 10, 11[b].

  25. connol y 6– 8, 10, 11[b] (“cou’d bring,” 6– 7); croghan to dunmore, [may] and 15 sept.

  196

  notes to pages 60–64

  1774, prevost 151– 52, 160– 61 (“too incautiously,” 160); prevost 118, 134– 41 (“a proclamation,” 139);

  Valentine crawford to Washington, 13 may 1774, gWp; st. clair to penn, 22 June 1774, pa 4:523–

  25; pittsburgh payrol s, 1775.

  26. dunmore to county lieutenants, 10 June 1774, dhdW 34 (“oblige the assembly”);

  preston, circular letter, 20 July 1774, dhdW 92 (“every Vol unteer,” “great stock of horses”);

  William christian to preston, 22 June and 12 June 1774, dhdW 44 (“encourage men”) and 83

  (“any thing publickly”); Floyd to preston, 26 and 28 aug. 1774, dhdW 163– 64, 167– 68; camp-

  bell to preston, 28 aug. 1774, dhdW 170– 72; albert h. tillson, Gentry and Common Folk: Po-

  litical Culture on a Virginia Frontier, 1740– 1789 (lexington: University press of Kentucky,

  1991), 48– 55, 66– 68, 73– 75; Faragher, Daniel Boone, 102– 6; hinderaker, Elusive Empires, 193– 94; holton, Forced Founders, 117– 19.

  27. Oconastotah to cameron, [June 1774], enclosed in Ogilvy to haldimand, 18 July 1774, as

  121, tgp (“White people”); [cameron] to [stuart?], 10 Oct. 1774, chalmers (“foam’d”); cameron

  to [stuart], 4 July 1774, enclosed in Ogilvy to haldimand, 18 July 1774, as 121, tgp; campbell to

  cameron, 20 June 1774, enclosed in stuart to gage, 14 sept. 1774, as 123, tgp; campbell to

  preston, n.d., dhdW 38– 39.

  28. logan to michael cresap, 21 July 1774, dhdW 246– 47 (“must kil ”); edward Wilkinson

  to cameron, 26 June 1774, enclosed in Ogilvy to haldimand, 18 July 1774, as 121, tgp (“sur-

  rounded”); christian to preston, 22 June and 4 July 1774, dhdW 42– 46, 63– 66; christian to

  Joseph cloyd, 29 June 1774, dhdW 56– 57; charles lewis to preston, 9 July 1774, dhdW 73– 74;

  John pollock, &c., depositions, 15 July 1774, pa 4:544– 45; Valentine crawford to Washington, 27

  July 1774, gWp; robertson to preston, 12 aug. 1774, dhdW 140– 42; preston, letter, 13 aug.

  1774, aa4 1:707– 8; preston to Washington, 15 aug. 1774, gWp; mmd 204, 212; connol y 17;

  William robinson, declaration, 28 Feb. 1800, Jefferson papers; “narrative by captain John stu-

  art of general andrew lewis’ expedition,” Magazine of American History with Notes and Que-

  ries 1, no. 11, 12 (1877): 674– 75.

  29. speeches at detroit, 19– 23 aug. 1774, enclosed in richard lernoult to haldimand, 31

  aug. 1774, as 122, tgp; huron indians, answer, 7 sept. 1774, chalmers; caldwell to [gage?], 29

  sept. 1774, as 123, tgp; mmd 222; mcKee 32– 33, 48– 49, 53– 54, 58– 59; mmd 218, 236– 38, 250.

  30. angus mcdonald to connol y, n.d., dhdW 151– 54; extract of a letter from redstone,

  [aug. 1774], aa4 1:722– 24; mmd 221– 22.

  31. mcKee 57– 58; mmd 222– 23. The editors of Zeisberger’s diaries suggest that the hard-

  man, as head civil leader, had handed authority to the head military leader, as was customary at

  the beginning of a war. mcKee’s account indicates otherwise. rather than reflecting traditional

  divisions of authority, the incident signaled the flexibility of such divisions: a civil leader had

  drawn the nation into war, while a military leader took on the role of peacemaker.

  32. mcKee 59– 60 (“committed murders”); prevost 131, 132, 135, 138– 39 (“measures & ways,”

  131); christian to preston, 7 sept. 1774, dhdW 186 (“hung up like colours”); councils, [sept.

  1774], aa4 1:872– 76; campbell to preston, 9 and 17 sept. 1774, dhdW 192– 95, 202– 4; William

  doack to preston, 22 sept. 1774, draper 3QQ:101; preston, letter, 28 sept. 1774, aa4 1:808; Wil-

  liam Fleming, journal, n.d., dhdW 281– 82; mmd 223, 229.

  33. mmd 231– 32 (“all their warriors,” “gathering”); Fleming to William Bowyer, n.d.,

  dhdW 256 (“speak with the army”).

  34. Fleming to Bowyer, n.d., dhdW 254– 57; isaac shelby to John shelby, 16 Oct. 1774,

  dhdW 270– 76.

  35. dunmore, speeches at camp charlotte, n.d., chalmers (“deluded brethren”); mmd

  notes to pages 64–71

  197

  236– 38; prevost 143; christian to preston, 8 nov. 1774, dhdW 301– 7; Valentine crawford to

  Washington, 1 Oct. 1774, gWp; White, Middle Ground, 362– 64.

  36. Fleming, journal, n.d., dhdW 290 (“the guide”); William crawford to Washington, 14

  nov. 1774, gWp; mmd 236– 38; christian to preston, 8 nov. 1774, dhdW 301– 7; andrew lewis

  to samuel campbel , n.d., Virginia Historical Register, and Literary Adviser 1, no. 1 (Jan. 1848):

  32– 33; hinderaker, Elusive Empires, 193– 94.

  37. White, Middle Ground, 363n94; dunmore to dartmouth, 24 dec. 1774, dhdW 371, 376.

  dunmore’s superiors ultimately approved his conduct: david, Dunmore’s New World, 93.

  chapter 3

  1. cornstalk and William russel , speeches, n.d., chalmers; Thomas cresap to lord dun-

  more, n.d., chalmers; daniel Boone to richard henderson, 1 apr. 1775, in Boonesborough: Its

  Founding, Pioneer Struggles, Indian Experiences, Transylvania Days, and Revolutionary Annals,

  ed. george W. ranck, Filson club publications no. 16 (louisville, Ky: Filson club, 1901), 168–

  69; dunmore, message to house of Burgesses, 5 June 1775, aa4 2:1189– 90; russell to William

  Fleming, 12 June 1775, rUO 15– 16; Oconestoto to Virginia convention, 24 June 1775, rVri 3:219;

  michael a. mcdonnel , The Politics of War: Race, Class, and Conflict in Revolutionary Virginia

  (chapel hill: University of north carolina press, 2007), 49– 74; James corbett david, Dunmore’s

  New World: The Extraordinary Life of a Royal Governor in Revolutionary America (charlottes-

  ville: University of Virginia press, 2013), 94– 95.

  2. James Wood, diary, 24 June, 9, 18, and 31 July 1775, rUO 34, 39, 42, 57– 58 (“all deter-

  mined,” 57); cresswell 64– 65 (“full of indians”); James rogers, information, 24 sept. 1775,

  rUO 70.

  3. patrick griffin attributes such fluctuations in violence to the changing role of state au-

  thority in the region. Only effective state institutions, he suggests, could have restrained indians

  and colonists from slaughtering one another: American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolu-

  tionary Frontier (new york: hill and Wang, 2007). griffin’s argument jars with chronology. if

  state influence tended to restrain violence, and its absence encouraged it, then one would have

  expected violence to peak in 1775 and 1776, when provincial governments fell apart and revolu-

  tionary governments were in their infancy. yet these years of political upheaval yielded relative

  peace in the west. By contrast, the years that brought large- scale warfare— 1774 and 1777— also

  brought renewed government attention.

  4. matthew elliot to commissioners, 31 aug. 1776, morgan 2:19– 20 (“indian War”); com-

  missioners to committee of congress, 25 sept. 1776, aa5 2:511– 13 (“spirited conduct,” 513); com-

  missioners to county lieutenants, 31 aug. 1776, rUO 190– 91
; mmd 332.

  5. george morgan to dorsey pentecost, 16 Feb. 1777, morgan 1:35 (“great hopes”); “treaty

  with Western indians,” 15 sept. 1775, rUO 27– 32; speech to the mingos, 27 Oct. 1776, yeates.

  6. William preston to dunmore, 10 mar. 1775, rUO 3– 4 (“valuable & extensive”); John

  Brown to preston, 5 may 1775, rUO 10 (“new found”); Josiah martin to earl of dartmouth, 12

  nov. 1775, Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, ed. William l. saunders (raleigh, nc:

  p. m. hale, 1886– 1907), 10:324, documenting the american south, http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/

  index.html (“such adventurers”); advertisement, Virginia Gazette (dixon and hunter), no. 1265, 4 nov. 1775, [4]; henderson, journal, may 1775, Boonesborough, 177 (“set of scoundrels”), 174– 75;

  george rogers clark to Jonathan clark, 6 July 1775, grc 8:9– 10; cresswell 59, 60; John mack

  Faragher, Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer (new york: holt, 1992), 106–

  9; stephen aron, How the West Was Lost: The Transformation of Kentucky from Daniel Boone to

  198

  notes to pages 71–75

  Henry Clay (Baltimore: Johns hopkins University press, 1996), 59– 62, 65– 67; eric hinderaker,

  Elusive Empires: Constructing Colonialism in the Ohio Val ey, 1673– 1800 (new york: cambridge

  University press, 1997), 198, 199, 205– 6; claudio saunt, West of the Revolution: An Uncommon

  History of 1776 (new york: W. W. norton, 2014), 17– 28.

  7. transylvania proprietors, petition, 25 sept. 1775, Boonesborough, 216 (“general cause”);

  henderson, journal, apr.– may 1775, ibid., 172– 77 (“set of scoundrels,” 177); James hogg to hen-

  derson, Jan. 1776, ibid., 224– 29; Thomas perkins abernethy, Western Lands and the American

  Revolution (new york: russell and russel , 1959).

  8. cresswell 38– 40, 59, 60 (“never sold,” 60); James nourse, “Journey to Kentucky in 1775,”

  Journal of American History 19, no. 2– 4 (1925): 122, 256– 58 (“no bread,” 258); John clark to Jona-

  than clark, 12 aug. 1776, grc 8:17 (“the least dread”); henderson, journal, mar.– July 1775, and

  henderson to proprietors, 12 June 1775, Boonesborough, 169– 80, 184– 93; george rogers clark to

  Jonathan clark, 6 July 1775, grc 8:10; hinderaker, Elusive Empires, 197– 99. according to cress-

  wel , news of a nearby indian attack reached him near the fal s of the Ohio on 6 June: cresswell

  59. i have found no other evidence supporting this rumor. nourse, cresswel ’s companion at the

  time, mentioned no attack in his own journal. richard henderson, writing from Boonesbor-

  ough on June 12, stated that no one had attacked the Kentucky colonists since march, and hen-

  derson’s journal mentions no attacks through July. The rumor that cresswell recorded was likely

  a warmed- over account of the march attacks.

  9. James harrod et al., petition to the Virginia convention, received may 1776, Boonesbor-

  ough, 243 (“gentlemen stiling”); [levi todd], “transactions in Ky. from 1774 to 1777,” n.d.,

  draper 15cc:158; Kentucky inhabitants, petition, 15 June 1776, grc 8:11– 13; committee of West

  Fincastle, petition, 20 June 1776, Boonesborough, 244– 47; executive council of Virginia, jour-

  nal, 12 aug. 1778, FaUO 126; aron, How the West Was Lost, 68– 73; hinderaker, Elusive Em-

  pires, 199– 206; honor sachs, Home Rule: Households, Manhood, and National Expansion on the

  Eighteenth- Century Kentucky Frontier (new haven, ct: yale University press, 2015), 27– 40.

  10. “treaty Between Virginia and the indians at Fort dunmore (pittsburg) June, 1775,” Vir-

  ginia Magazine of History and Biography 14, no. 1 (July 1906): 61.

  11. West augusta committee, resolutions, 16 may 1775, rVri 3:137– 40 (“oppos[e] the invad-

  ers,” 138); William Thompson to James Wilson, 28 June 1775, case 4, box 15, generals of the

  revolution, gratz (“prevent”); Valentine crawford to george Washington, 24 June 1775, ser. 4,

  gWp (“leaky Boat”); petitions, Feb. 1775, pa 4:603– 12; letters, may 1775, pa 4:622– 29;

  Westmore land county, resolutions, 16 may 1775, aa4 2:615– 16; st. clair to penn, 25 may 1775,

  pa 4:628– 29; “treaty Between Virginia and the indians,” 61– 63; committee of the Western Wa-

  ters of augusta county, speeches, 26 June 1775, rVri 3:229– 30; James Wood, diary, 9 July 1775,

  rUO 37– 38; percy B. caley, “The life adventures of lieutenant- colonel John connol y: The

  story of a tory,” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 11 (1928): 99– 104; James patrick mc-

  clure, “The ends of the american earth: pittsburgh and the Upper Ohio Valley to 1795” (ph.d.

  diss., University of michigan, 1983), 275– 93, 325– 26; daniel p. Barr, “contested land: competi-

  tion and conflict along the Upper Ohio Frontier, 1744– 1784” (ph.d. diss., Kent state University,

  2001), 300– 305, 309– 10.

  12. cresswell 79 (“quarreling”); arthur st. clair to John penn, 15 sept. 1775, scp 1:361– 62;

  indian commissioners, report, 24 sept. 1775, rVri 4:140– 41.

  13. The documentary record reveals little about this woman, not even her name. One of

  Butler’s allies called her a “cursed whore”: aeneas macKay, unaddressed, 31 Oct. 1775, case 4, box

  13, generals of the revolution, gratz. she was likely the same woman who had visited Butler in

  notes to pages 75–79

  199

  jail the year before, only to be “drummed all round the town” by connol y’s allies: st. clair to

  penn, 25 aug. 1774, aa4 1:684. given the many unknowns, perhaps the best label is the most

  ambiguous: she was Butler’s friend.

  14. The documentary record is little kinder to susanna connol y than to her unnamed an-

  tagonist. according to one male visitor, she had “all the gesture & conduct of a s[er]p[en]t.” he

  added that “one s. g. was suposed to be much in her good graces”: prevost 138, 130.

  15. mackay, unaddressed, 31 Oct. 1775, case 4, box 13, generals of the revolution, gratz;

  mackay to James Wilson, 8 nov. 1775, in “notes and Queries,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History

  and Biography 29, no. 3 (1905): 369– 70; ephraim douglass to James Wilson, 21 nov. 1775, in

  “correspondence of the revolution,” Historical Register: Notes and Queries, Historical and Gene-

  alogical, Relating to Interior Pennsylvania 2, no. 1 (1884): 58– 60; margaret pearson Bothwel ,

  “devereux smith, Fearless pioneer,” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 40, no. 4 (Winter

  1957): 277– 91.

  16. d. Barr, “contested land,” 301– 5. The reciprocal arrests continued until at least June

  1776: pentecost to committee of safety, 4 June 1776, rVri 7:361; Jasper yeates to James Wilson,

  30 July 1776, in “notes and Queries,” 359– 60.

  17. pittsburgh traders like Butler often depended on the labor and social networks of what

  the missionary david mcclure called a “temporary wife,” most (but not all) of whom were in-

  dian women: mcclure 53– 54. colonists’ description of Butler’s friend as a “woman” rather than

  “squaw” suggests that they perceived her as white, but they might have said the same about

  countless light- skinned people who, thanks to intermarriage and adoption, belonged to shaw-

  nee, delaware, Wyandot, or haudenosaunee families.

  18. cresswell 60 (“wilderness country”); crawford to Washington, 24 June 1775, gWp

  (“indens towns”); treaty record, 10 Oct. 1775, rUO 99 (“our negroes”); nourse, “
Journey to

  Kentucky,” 256.

  19. Westmoreland county, resolutions, 16 may 1775, aa4 2:615 (“military body”); preston to

  William christian, 1 may 1775, rUO 8– 9 (“Just returns”); West augusta committee, resolu-

  tions, 16 may 1775, rVri 3:137– 40; st. clair to penn, 15 sept. 1775, scp 1:361– 62; pentecost, let-

  ters, nov. 1776, rUO 212– 14, 219– 21; John canon to William harrod, 7 dec. 1776, rUO 222;

  mcdonnel , Politics of War, 92– 94; Francis s. Fox, “pennsylvania’s revolutionary militia law:

  The statute That transformed the state,” Pennsylvania History 80, no. 2 (spring 2013): 204– 14.

  20. John pendleton Kennedy, ed., Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1773– 1776

  (richmond: Virginia state library, 1905), 282– 83 (“settle the accounts”); Third Virginia con-

  vention, proceedings, 11 aug. 1775, rVri 3:418 (“poor Widows”); report of northern claims

  commissioners for dunmore’s War, n.d., and edmund pendleton to robert carter, 1 dec. 1776,

  rVri 5:35– 36. For subsequent claims, see proceedings of the Fifth Virginia convention, 15, 19,

  and 24 June 1776, rVri 7:512, 550, 592. For total payments, see rVri 5:38– 39n16. For itemized

  payments and equivalencies, compare pittsburgh payrol s, 1775, accession 41, rg #1, Virginia

  colonial government records, library of Virginia, miscel aneous reel 78, microfilm; and West

  augusta public service claims, 1775, accession 25, rg #1, Virginia colonial government re-

  cords, library of Virginia, miscel aneous reel 78, microfilm.

  21. inhabitants of grave creek to William harrod, and agreement to serve in the militia, 2

  Jan. 1777, rUO 224– 25. For shepherd, see West augusta public service claims, 1775, 16– 17.

  22. inhabitants of clinch river Valley, petition, [June 1776], rVri 7:362– 63. For the county

  committee’s response, see proceedings at Fort chiswel , 11 June 1776, rVri 7:442.

  23. mackay to James Wilson, 20 nov. 1776, case 4, box 13, generals of the revolution, gratz

  200

  notes to pages 79–84

  (“artfull insinuations”); captains of mackay’s Battalion, petition, 16 Oct. 1776, yeates (“remote”);