by Rob Harper
tionary army of, 79; seven years’ War and,
ence on, 109; hurons as alternate name for,
7, 8; U.s. constitutional convention and,
xi; migration of, 6; moravians captured by,
165; “whiskey rebellion” crushed by, 170– 71
132; as Ohio indians, xi; peace negotiations
Wayne, anthony, 170, 171
with continental army, 115– 16; phratries
Welapachtschiechen, israel (delaware), 13,
of, 12; rebel colonists and, 82, 93
109, 113, 129, 133, 134; gnadenhütten massa-
cre and, 138, 139, 140; as go- between and
yellow creek, 53, 54
peacemaker, 114, 120; pursuit of diplomatic
yellow creek massacre, 54– 55, 61
recognition and, 128; “straight- armed
man” title, 108
Zeisberger, david, 93, 108, 112, 117, 120; amer-
West, peggy, 99
ican invasion of Ohio Valley supported by,
West augusta, district of, 18, 51
110, 111, 114; diaries of, 196n31; as pro-
Westmoreland county, penn., 18, 78, 101, 102,
american informer, 95, 110, 130– 31; Wyan-
105, 107, 125
dots and, 109, 110, 132
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Acknowledgments
This book exists because many, many people and institutions have given me
their time, encouragement, advice, criticism, friendship, money, and love.
much of what may be praiseworthy in these pages can be attributed to them;
all errors and omissions are my own. expressed in ful , my gratitude would
add a chapter to the text. a few pages must suffice.
The project germinated in the late 1990s, when i moved to columbus,
Ohio, and house- sat for my great- aunt, dorothy robinson schaffner, who
had recently moved into a nursing home. dorothy had researched our family
history for decades, and i was eager to learn. While combing through her
notes, and peppering her with questions, i noticed that our ancestors’ migra-
tions into and across Ohio corresponded closely with the United states’ dis-
placement of native nations from their land. i began to wonder about what
brought about that transformation. a few years later i began studying early
american history— a field i knew almost nothing about— with a vague no-
tion of researching eighteenth- century Ohio. For nudging me down this long
road, i first thank, and honor the memory of, aunt dorothy.
The late Jeanne Boydston made this project possible. i will always be
grateful for her keen criticism, boundless curiosity, exacting standards, and
steady encouragement. i strive, throughout my professional life, to live up to
the standard she set.
among so much else, Jeanne advised me to read the work of, and later
make the acquaintance of, drew cayton, a founder of the subfield i had so
unreadily entered. drew encouraged me to write the book and offered in-
valuable suggestions for improvement. in the years that followed, he contin-
ued to challenge me to think more creatively about both eighteenth- century
Ohio and the larger enterprise of writing history. his scholarly accomplish-
ments were paired with kindness, humility, and generosity toward his col-
leagues. like Jeanne, we lost drew far too soon. his influence permeates this
book.
248
acknowledgments
Throughout this project, i have enjoyed exceptional y generous financial
support. The U.s. department of education’s Jacob K. Javits Fellowships pro-
gram funded four years of research and writing. The andrew W. mellon
Foundation and the american council of learned societies awarded me two
year- long fellowships, enabling me to turn a mare’s nest of research notes into
the beginnings of a book. i was fortunate to spend the latter fellowship year
in residence at the institute for research in the humanities at the University
of Wisconsin– madison (UW). i am grateful to susan Friedman and the com-
munity of irh fellows who welcomed and encouraged me throughout that
year. i completed most of the remaining research, and drafted much of the
final text, during a year- long national endowment for the humanities fel-
lowship at the huntington library. i am immensely grateful to the hunting-
ton staff for their hospitality and support. i thank the research director, steve
hindle, for his interest in and feedback on my work, and his dedication to
nurturing a supportive and inspiring scholarly community. i and my book
benefited immensely from formal and informal conversations among a won-
derful y collegial cohort of huntington fellows. i am especial y grateful to
matt Babcock, alison games, Fred hoxie, Jacob lee, samantha seeley, isaac
stephens, and Valerie traub for their thoughtful comments on my work, and
to matt, sarah grossman, aurelio hinarejos rojo, Julie Orlemanski, and
sandra rebok for our magnificent hikes in the san gabriel and santa monica
mountains.
at madison, i enjoyed the support of an outstanding group of scholars,
including chuck cohen, susan Johnson, ned Blackhawk, and the late neil
Whitehead. i am especial y grateful to chuck and susan for their detailed
feedback on my writing and their ongoing support of me and my work after
Jeanne’s passing. The UW history department collectively taught me the in-
terdependence of methodological rigor, conceptual sophistication, and clear,
effective writing. i owe particular thanks to the late paul Boyer, Bill cronon,
suzanne desan, colleen dunlavy, steve Kantrowitz, Florencia mallon, James
schlender Jr., steve stern, and Thongchai Winichakul. at UW, i was also able
to participate in the activities of the committee on institutional coopera-
tion’s american indian studies consortium (cic- aisc), which gave me an
invaluable introduction to that field. i thank lucy murphy and John sanchez
for the chance to take their respective cic- aisc seminars at the newberry
library’s d’arcy mcnickle center.
i conducted research for this book at the carnegie library of pittsburgh,
the darlington memorial library, the Filson historical society, the historical
acknowledgments
249
society of pennsylvania, the huntington library, the indiana historical soci-
ety, the library company of philadelphia, the newberry library, the William
l. clements library, and the Wisconsin historical society. i owe more than i
can say to the many librarians, archivists, and other staff who helped me find
my way through these rich collections. For funding my research travel, i
thank the clements, the cic- aisc and the mcnickle center, the Filson, the
mellon Foundation, UW, the University of Wisconsin– stevens point
(UWsp), and the Wisconsin chapter of the national society of colonial
dames of america.
i am grateful for the opportunity to try out arguments and receive feed-
back at scholarly conferences and seminars hosted by the american society
for ethnohistory, the cic- aisc, the mcnickle center, the Filson institute,
the historical society of pennsylvania, the mcneil center for early ameri-
can studies, the Omohundro institute for early american history and cul-
ture, the so
ciety for historians of the early american republic, the tanner
humanities center, and the Western historical society. i thank these organi-
zations, the conference organizers, the commentators, and my co- panelists
for making these experiences possible.
While working on this project, i published related articles in the William
and Mary Quarterly and the Journal for Genocide Research. i thank their edi-
tors and staff and the anonymous reviewers for their feedback and support. i
also thank both journals for permission to include some content from these
articles in this book. portions of chapters 1 and 2 will appear in a chapter of
Borderland Narratives: Exploring North America’s Contested Spaces, 1500–
1850, edited by glenn crothers and andrew Frank, forthcoming from the
University press of Florida. many thanks to glenn and andrew for this op-
portunity and to eric hinderaker for his feedback on the chapter.
in January 2010, i had lunch with dan richter and Bob lockhart to dis-
cuss whether my project would be suitable for publication by the University
of pennsylvania press. i am grateful for their initial interest in the project,
and much more so for their advice, encouragement, and patience during the
many years since. Both read early draft chapters and helped me refine the
book’s argument and organization. Bob’s editorial input has been insightful,
considerate, candid, and always focused on producing the best possible book.
i also thank the press’s anonymous reviewers and the faculty editorial board
for their fruitful suggestions, as well as paul dangel for creating the maps and
alexander trotter for compiling the index.
i owe a great deal to my students and colleagues at UWsp. i am very
250
acknowledgments
grateful for the help and support of library staff there. my colleagues in the
department of history and international studies released me from teaching
responsibilities during two year- long fellowships, and they supported my
work in countless other ways. i particularly thank tobias Barske, Valerie
Barske, susan Brewer, mike demchik, gar Francis, Brian hale, Jerry Jessee,
Theresa Kaminski, nancy lopatin- lummis, Brad mapes- martin, Kate
moran, camarin porter, neil prendergast, greg summers, and lee Willis for
their advice and their encouragement of my research and writing. i am grate-
ful to the late sal y Kent for her unwavering willingness to pop into my office
to chat about ethnic cleansing and genocide. For indexing, i received finan-
cial support from the University personnel development committee’s publi-
cation Fund program and from my department’s Faculty development Fund.
i am especial y grateful for the opportunity to work with UWsp students,
who challenge and inspire me daily. i owe particular thanks to veterans of my
research methods seminar, from whom i have learned at least as much as
they have from me, and those in my Fall 2015 revolutionary america course,
who read and provided feedback on two chapter drafts.
This book would not have been possible without the support and encour-
agement of a long list of friends and colleagues. in addition to those men-
tioned above, i thank miriam axel-lute, Jenne Bergstrom, rebecca Brannon,
rebecca Bryan tel , Joanne Budzien, greg dowd, lisa Ford, michael goode,
John hall, lawrence hatter, Jennifer hol and, Jennifer hull, Jill Kapla, sami
lakomäki, dee lawrence, Jacob lee, Wayne lee, gladys mccormick, re-
bekah mergenthal, alyssa mt. pleasant, elizabeth dilkes mullins, nick mull-
ins, david nichols, hannah nyala, lindsay O’neil , michelle Orihel, david
preston, honor sachs, Bethel saler, susan sleeper- smith, stacey smith, John
smolenski, susan gaunt stearns, Kathryn tomasek, stewart West, and the
late helen tanner. i am particularly grateful to steve Volk for introducing me
to academic history and encouraging me to pursue this career.
above al , i thank the robinson and harper families, and particularly molly
harper, Katie harper Jerstad, and peder Jerstad, for their lifelong love and sup-
port. i owe the greatest debts to my parents, gordon and Jill harper, and my
grandparents, the late les harper, marjorie harper, John robinson, and pauline
robinson. This book is for them.