The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution

UC-Davis historian Alan Taylor is one of my very favorite authors (his "William Cooper's Town" is on my mental all-time top-ten list), so I was waiting very impatiently for my classes to finish this spring in order to start his newest book. "The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution" did not disappoint.

Taylor's subject is one which has been rising in historical esteem and interest in recent years, helped along through excellent work by James Merrell, Colin Calloway and others. Taylor jumps ambitiously and enthusiastically into the debate over the nature of border conflict and Indian history during the Revolutionary period, and this book contributes much to the scholarship. Taylor argues show more convincingly that the Iroquois tribes of what is now central/western New York and southeastern Ontario province worked diligently to keep control of their lands, first by playing the British off the Americans, then by playing the federal government off the government of New York State.

Perhaps the most important insight Taylor offers is that the Iroquois tribes understood the nature of settlement, and sought to arrange leases and/or private sales of their lands to chosen buyers, rather than allowing governments to purchase large tracts and divide it up. This method, they hoped, would create a friendly buffer zone between themselves and the flood of white settlers, thereby allowing the preservation of Indian culture and space.

Taylor effectively utilizes Mohawk chief Joseph Brant and missionary Samuel Kirkland as his case studies, returning to their lives throughout the book at opportune moments. It is a depressing read to no small degree, as it portrays the insatiable hunger of the settlers for more land in the most accurate if unflattering of lights. While "The Divided Ground" lacks some of the narrative style of Taylor's earlier works, it is nonetheless an important book covering a fascinating topic; I recommend it highly. show less

Shorter Alan Taylor: "Man, the Iroqouis got screwed, didn't they?".

Most of this story is actually post-Revolution: "Indians, settlers and the northern borderland of the New Republic" perhaps.

Extremely thorough in telling the story of the Indians and European desendents in what became NY state and northern PA before, during, and after the American Revolution. The book presents the Indian side (the Six Nations) of the history and how their lands figured in building NY as it is, as well as how the European desendents took control of the Indian lands. Important people as well as events are studied. Taylor also wrote a very thorough book on Cooperstown, so he is "the Man" on 18th and 19th century upstate NY history.