The Allegheny Frontier
The Allegheny Frontier

Author: Otis K. Rice

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2014-07-15

Total Pages: 469

ISBN-13: 0813164389

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The Allegheny frontier, comprising the mountainous area of present-day West Virginia and bordering states, is studied here in a broad context of frontier history and national development. The region was significant in the great American westward movement, but Otis K. Rice seeks also to call attention to the impact of the frontier experience upon the later history of the Allegheny Highlands. He sees a relationship between its prolonged frontier experience and the problems of Appalachia in the twentieth century. Through an intensive study of the social, economic, and political developments in pioneer West Virginia, Rice shows that during the period 1730–1830 some of the most significant features of West Virginia life and thought were established. There also appeared evidences of arrested development, which contrasted sharply with the expansiveness, ebullience, and optimism commonly associated with the American frontier. In this period customs, manners, and folkways associated with the conquest of the wilderness to root and became characteristic of the mountainous region well into the twentieth century. During this pioneer period, problems also took root that continue to be associated with the region, such as poverty, poor infrastructure, lack of economic development, and problematic education. Since the West Virginia frontier played an important role in the westward thrust of migration through the Alleghenies, Rice also provides some account of the role of West Virginia in the French and Indian War, eighteenth-century land speculations, the Revolutionary War, and national events after the establishment of the federal government in 1789.

The Captives of Abb's Valley
The Captives of Abb's Valley

Author: James Moore

Publisher:

Published: 2012-12

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 9781782820406

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A tragedy of Virginian colonial frontier In the summer of 1786 a large war party of Shawnee Indians entered Abb's Valley, Virginia, and descended on the household of militia officer Captain John Moore which included members of his immediate family together with hired labourers. The family occupied a substantial log building and were well armed, so Moore believed that his family was well placed to fight off a small Indian attack. The nearest homestead was six miles away and Moore, relying on his own abilities, thought it unnecessary to follow the example of neighbours by taking refuge in the nearest fort. The attack achieved complete surprise and Moore was killed before he could reach the safety of the house. What followed was an appalling, but typical, Indian massacre of the colonial period frontier in the 18th century. Various family members, young and old, were slaughtered on the spot, the property was set alight and a substantial herd of livestock was taken. Surviving members of the Moore family were taken as captives to the Indian townships, several of them being murdered on the journey. Once the survivors reached the Indian village there followed another period of torture which for Mrs. Moore and a teenage daughter proved fatal. Two young women survived their ordeals to eventually be ransomed. The story of this notable frontier tragedy was written by James Moore, a son of Mary Moore, who was one of the two ransomed captives. This a vital account of the struggles endured by the early settlers of the American wilderness and will be of essential interest to anyone interested in the early history of the state of Virginia. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

Absentee Landowning and Exploitation in West Virginia, 1760-1920
Absentee Landowning and Exploitation in West Virginia, 1760-1920

Author: Barbara Rasmussen

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2014-07-11

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0813149355

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Absentee landowning has long been tied to economic distress in Appalachia. In this important revisionist study, Barbara Rasmussen examines the nature of landownership in five counties of West Virginia and its effects upon the counties' economic and social development. Rasmussen untangles a web of outside domination of the region that commenced before the American Revolution, creating a legacy of hardship that continues to plague Appalachia today. The owners and exploiters of the region have included Lord Fairfax, George Washington, and, most recently, the U.S. Forest Service. The overarching concern of these absentee landowners has been to control the land, the politics, the government, and the resources of the fabulously rich Appalachian Mountains. Their early and relentless domination of politics assured a land tax system that still favors absentee landholders and simultaneously impoverishes the state. Class differences, a capitalistic outlook, and an ethic of growth and development pervaded western Virginia from earliest settlement. Residents, however, were quickly outspent by wealthier, more powerful outsiders. Insecurity in landownership, Rasmussen demonstrates, is the most significant difference between early mountain farmers and early American farmers everywhere.

The Cambridge History of the American Civil War: Volume 1, Military Affairs
The Cambridge History of the American Civil War: Volume 1, Military Affairs

Author: Aaron Sheehan-Dean

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-10-31

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1108754643

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This volume narrates the major battles and campaigns of the conflict, conveying the full military experience during the Civil War. The military encounters between Union and Confederate soldiers and between both armies and irregular combatants and true non-combatants structured the four years of war. These encounters were not solely defined by violence, but military encounters gave the war its central architecture. Chapters explore well-known battles, such as Antietam and Gettysburg, as well as military conflict in more abstract places, defined by political qualities (like the border or the West) or physical ones (such as rivers or seas). Chapters also explore the nature of civil-military relations as Union armies occupied parts of the South and garrison troops took up residence in southern cities and towns, showing that the Civil War was not solely a series of battles but a sustained process that drew people together in more ambiguous settings and outcomes.