Treaties and Treacheries - The Early Years of the Revolutionary War on America's Western Frontiers, 1775-1778

By Gavin K. Watt

Watt’s previous works have concentrated on the events of the American Revolutionary War in lower Quebec, upstate New York and Vermont. In this new book, he ventures west and south to examine the conflict out of Detroit across western Pennsylvania and the Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky territories that was hugely complicated by the colonists’ incessant encroachment onto First Nations’ lands.

Treaties & Treacheries examines the war’s first four years when political control of the northwest region remained uncertain. Thereafter, the United States dominated, as Britain abandoned attempts to rule the region and withdrew support of her many Indigenous allies. At war’s end, many of the region’s Anglo-loyalists settled in western Ontario, while the Indigenous inhabitants and the majority of the Canadiens — many of whom had supported the Crown - accepted United States’ ascendancy and remained in their pre-war settlements.

Contents include:

• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: A World War
• Chapter One - No Resting Place for Us: “Our Lands are Covered by White People”
• Chapter Two - Belts of Peace and War: “Upheaval on the Western Frontiers”
• Chapter Three - Injurious to the Interest of the United States: “Take Up the War Hatchet”
• Chapter Four - Tumult Throughout the Frontier Settlements “A World-Wide Conflict”
• Chapter Five - Wyoming Valley Destroyed; Boonesborough Stands Firm “Extirpate the Indians”
• Chapter Six - Governor Hamilton’s Little Enterprise “Not committed a single act of cruelty”
• Appendix One: Detroit Volunteers [Return of the Miltia of the settlement of Detroit, August 1, 1782]
• Appendix Two: Native Confederacies, Affiliations and Alliances; Prominent Native Personalities
• Appendix Three: Return of Hamilton’s Enterprise
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index Click here to browse the INDEX

Details:

• 254 pages
• 6 X 9"
• Softcover - Perfect Bound
• Cover image: A painting 12”×16”, oils on wood panel entitled The Wyandot Shaman, “He Sees Many Visions.” He wears a Weeping Eye pendant. Painting by Alan Fitzpatrick of Wheeling, West Virginia.
• Cover layout: Chris Armstrong
• Book design and layout: Jane E. MacNamara, Toronto
• Illustrations, Photographs (frontispiece in colour, remaining images in B & W)
• Appendices
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Published by Global Heritage Press, Ottawa, September 2021
• ISBN 9781772401851 (softcover)

Reviews of Gavin K Watt's works:

• Author John Riley (The Once and Future Great Lakes Country—An Ecological History) wrote, “It is an extraordinary compilation of so much detail related to those years that it seems likely to become the permanent go-to volume on the subject.”
  
  
• M.J. Wind commented, “Spectacular. Leave it to Gavin Watt to get the point across with dash. The book is very well researched and the research shows in the writing. We are introduced to many people is such a way that you feel you can shake their hand. The events mentioned are told with such passion that you can feel the action taking place around you. It is real".
  
  
• Matthew Dziennik of the British Journal of Canadian Studies wrote, “Watt offers a compelling account of the struggle on the Canadian frontier at a time when Britain had largely given up on the war in the northern colonies…. It contains an extremely impressive array of details and is focused, exciting and very readable".

• This lengthy book represents ‘the end of an era’, as author Gavin K. Watt is retiring from further research and writing after an astonishing fifteen books. Recognized as an authority on the American Revolution and the Northern Department in particular, he has been practically in a league of his own. For those who have known Gavin either personally or through his books, there is the sense that this final book should be a special farewell...and it is. ....... As with Gavin’s other books, this one features extensive notes, a fulsome bibliography and an index- all indications of dedicated research. This book demands the full attention of the reader, and that attention given is rewarded amply. As with Gavin’s earlier books, this is another not to be missed. - - Review by Peter Johnson UE, President, Bay of Quinte Branch, United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada

• Watt answers the questing why mount a major effort against the Six Nations in particular? .... In his new book, “Treaties and Treacheries - The Early Years of the Revolutionary War on America Western Frontiers, 1775-1778,” Watt delves into the “incredibly complex,” worldwide conflict of 1779, which had sprung from America’s four-year revolt. - - Review by Mark Pavilons, King City Sentinal, Nov 14, 2019 (page 14)

• Rolland Miner reported, “Gavin Watt is one of the foremost writers and experts on the important contributions of the Loyalists who supported the Crown in the war.”

• Alan Fitzpatrick wrote, “Gavin Watt’s intimate and complete grasp of the American Revolution in the north… is unrivaled; and makes his book a thoroughly compelling read.”

• Carl Benn noted, “I am most impressed with the depth of his research and the quality of his analysis of a range of important themes…. As is typical of Mr. Watt’s several books on the revolution, this is a thoroughly researched effort, marked by a mature analysis that corrects many misconceptions and errors and that will remain the standard assessment for years to come"
  
  
• After reading this manuscript, Christian Cameron commented, “I love the inclusion of these full primary source documents…. The things I’m learning here— fascinating…. This is an excellent history and I wish I’d had it years ago.”