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April 30, 2017

1.07 – Arthur St Clair: Worst. General. Ever.

1.07 – Arthur St Clair: Worst. General. Ever.

Year(s) Discussed: 1789-1792

While Congress deliberates on the course of the nation in New York, settlers in the frontier were forging ahead with their own future beyond the Appalachian mountains. In this episode, we look at the development of territories in the west and discuss how the Washington administration prioritized affairs in the region. The military’s role in the area is discussed at some length including the not-so-stellar outcomes of two campaigns against native peoples in the Northwest Territory and what impact this would have on the administration and the nation.

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Show Notes

Achenbach, Joel. The Grand Idea: George Washington’s Potomac and the Race to the West. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.
Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2000.
Barnhart, John D, and Dorothy L Riker. Indiana to 1816: The Colonial Period. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana Historical Bureau & Indiana Historical Society, 1971.
Booraem, Hendrik, V. A Child of the Revolution: William Henry Harrison and His World, 1773-1798. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2012.
Bordewich, Fergus M. The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016.
Calloway, Colin G. The Victory With No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American Army. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Cayton, Andrew R L. “’Separate Interests’ and the Nation-State: The Washington Administration and the Origins of Regionalism in the Trans-Appalachian West.” The Journal of American History. 79:1. Jun 1992. p. 39-67.
Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. New York: Penguin Press, 2010.
Davis, Edwin Adams. Louisiana: The Pelican State. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1961 [1959].
Dolin, Eric Jay. Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America. New York and London: W W Norton & Co, 2010.
Eid, Leroy V. “American Indian Military Leadership: St. Clair’s 1791 Defeat.” The Journal of Military History. 57:1. Jan 1993. p. 71-88.
Furlong, Patrick J. “Problems of Frontier Logistics in St. Clair’s 1791 Campaign.” Selected Papers from the 1983 and 1984 George Rogers Clark Trans-Appalachian Frontier History Conferences. 23 Mar 2011. http://npshistory.com/series/symposia/george_rogers_clark/1983-1984/sec6.htm. [Last Accessed: 4 Apr 2017]
Jackson, Donald. Thomas Jefferson & the Stony Mountains: Exploring the West from Monticello.
“Josiah Harmar.” Ohio History Central. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Josiah_Harmar. [Last Accessed: 5 Apr 2017]
Larson, Edward J. The Return of George Washington, 1783-1789. New York: HarperCollins, 2014.
Puls, Mark. Henry Knox: Visionary General of the American Revolution. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Smith, William Henry, ed. The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair, Soldier of the Revolutionary War; President of the Continental Congress; and Governor of the North-Western Territory with his Correspondence and other Papers, Volume II. Cincinnati, OH: Robert Clarke & Co, 1882.
Warner, Michael S. “General Josiah Harmar’s Campaign Reconsidered: How the Americans Lost the Battle of Kekionga.” Indiana Magazine of History. 83:1. Mar 1987. P. 43-64. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/rt/printerFriendly/10767/15243.
Washington, George. “6 October 1789, to Arthur St Clair.” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 21, 2017, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-04-02-0097. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 4, 8 September 1789 – 15 January 1790, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 140–144.] [Last Accessed: 19 Mar 2017]
Washington, George. “19 Nov 1790, to Henry Knox.” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified March 30, 2017, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0323. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 6, 1 July 1790 – 30 November 1790, ed. Mark A. Mastromarino. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, pp. 668–670.]
White, Leonard D. The Federalists: A Study in Administrative History. New York: Macmillan Co, 1948.