Seldom does a book come along with the appeal and interest of Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania 1753-1758. With Pennsylvania's Provincial Quaker controlled pacifist government slow to react to the mounting tension from Indian attacks and the ongoing French and Indian War on its wilderness borders, pressure was growing from frontier settlers for protection on Pennsylvania's western borders. Unwillingly, Pennsylvania began an extensive program of military action culminating in the building of forts on its frontier. By 1756 more than a dozen forts garrisoned by paid PA troops marked for the first time a boundary between white frontier settlements and a hostile wilderness. It was the beginning of a sense of independence.
But this book is about more than the frontier forts built by Pennsylvania! It is about all the frontier forts occupying Pennsylvania's soil. It's about the French invasion, their forts and claims to Pennsylvania. It's about Virginia and the Ohio Company and the three forts erected on Pennsylvania soil in Virginia's unsuccessful opposition to this French invasion into the Ohio Valley. And certainly, it's about the British takeover of fort building and frontier protection in the southern and western parts of the province in the latter half of the 1750's.
For the period covered by this volume, each fort is allotted a separate section, and where necessary the account is carried beyond the year 1758 in order to round out the story. Additionally, the histories of some forts as previously known must be corrected and amplified in the light of new information. Although much of the interest in the frontier forts, and especially those built by Pennsylvania, has been regional or local; these forts were in fact essential parts of organized and inclusive military undertakings and cannot be dealt with either adequately or accurately without some knowledge of overall military systems and the current political atmosphere of the time. Similarly, this book includes background accounts of the Indians and their place in the regional history of the 1750's. Even during the F&I War, when opposing European built forts and fought battles, it was the Indian raids and in subsequent years Indian warfare that became a familiar and characteristic aspect of frontier life.
Together, these erected monuments to our early history have long held a strong historical and romantic appeal to our shared sense of history. On the historical scene, these frontier forts stand as relics marking the close of the day of unarmed colonists and friendly Indians and the beginning of an era of frontier conflicts and troubled Indian relations. It is to these strong-willed adventurers who presided over this era of frontier conflict, troubled Indian relations, and our eventual independence that this book is dedicated. We admire your courage, we honor your determination and we appreciate your not giving up. May you rest in peace!
Hunter is considered by many historians, both past and present, to be the greatest Pennsylvanian writer/historian of the 20th century. His attention to detail, his unique writing style, and his love of history is reflected in this book. There is no more asked for book by our customers than Mr. Hunter's book and it certainly must be one of the top 10 all-time books about early PA history.