Ohio History Journal

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Book Reviews

Book Reviews

 

 

 

Men of the Western Waters: The Taking of Americas First West, 1781-

1794. By Dale Van Every. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1956.

[x]??244p.; maps, illustrations, appendices, bibliography, and index.

$4.00.)

This volume will be of great interest both to that portion of the general

public which enjoys reading history and also to the student who pursues

history as a vocation. It is based upon a wide reading of the best works of

scholars in the field, and makes no pretense of having delved into the

sources. It covers the period 1781-94, and its scene of action is located in the

Ohio River Valley, where for over a decade was waged one of the bloodiest

of all Indian wars in American history. Basically, it covers the same general

period covered by Theodore Roosevelt in his four-volume Winning of the

West and merits a place beside it.

The "Men of the Western Waters" were the pioneers who after the

American Revolution sought a home and wealth west of the Appalachian

highlands. It is open to question, however, as to whether these settlers

were the "first Americans" and whether this region was the "first West."

Long before 1781, American settlers had opened the earliest West east

of the Appalachians.

After the Revolution ended at Yorktown, thousands of pioneers followed

the old trails and rough pioneer roads across the Appalachian highlands.

Many veterans received a bonus in the form of a land grant. The prize avail-

able was well described by Franklin: "The great country back of the Appal-

achian Mountains, on both sides of the Ohio, and between that river and the

Lakes is now well known . . . to be one of the finest in North America,

for the extreme richness and fertility of the land; the healthy temperature

of the air, the mildness of the climate; the plenty of hunting, fishing, and

fowling, the facility of trade with the Indians; and the vast convenience

of inland navigation." Rich or poor, the settlers all were imbued with the

spirit of land speculation. Dreaming that even if they had to bear the scars

of the wilderness, working with horny hands of toil, living in poverty,