Unsettling the West

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.