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This is a comprehensive study of the life of Zebulon Butler, a participant in the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, and the intercolonial confrontations known as the Yankee-Pennamite Wars. Butler migrated to Pennsylvania in 1769 and soon became the military and civil leader of the Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania. During the Revolutionary War, he served in one of the most dangerous theatres of the war-the isolated Susquehanna frontier of Pennsylvania-where the struggling settlers were subject to Indian-Tory attacks and the hostility of the Pennsylvania government. After the war, Butler sought peace with the Pennsylvania authorities and exercised a steadying influence on the Wyoming community. When the longstanding land controversy between Connecticut and Pennsylvania again erupted in civil war and sparked a separate state movement encouraged by Ethan Allen, Butler counseled peace and assisted Timothy Pickering in the establishment of Luzerne County.
List of contents
Foreword
Preface
Illustrations
The Early Years: 1731-1769The Family Background
The French and Indian War: 1756-1762
Farmer, Merchant, Trader: 1762-1769
The Pre-Revolutionary Years: 1769-1775Background: The Conflicting Claims
The First Yankee-Pennamite War: 1769-1771
Growth of the Wyoming Settlement: 1772-1775
The Second Yankee-Pennamite War: 1775
The Revolutionary Years: 1776-1781New Dangers: 1776-1778
The Battle of Wyoming: 1778
The Hartley Expedition: 1778
The Sullivan Expedition: 1779
In Command at Wyoming: 1779-1780
Along the Hudson: 1781
The Post-Revolutionary Years: 1782-1790The Decree of Trenton: 1782
The Third Yankee-Pennamite War: 1783-1784
The Establishment of Luzerne County: 1785-1786
The Confirming Act: 1787
Reaction, Rebellion, and Repeal: 1787-1790
The Later Years: 1787-1795County Official: 1787-1792
Retirement: 1792-1795
Epilogue: 1795-1807Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
JAMES R. WILLIAMSON is a retired U.S. Army officer and retired Professor of History and Business, Gwynedd-Mercy College. Presently, he is Adjunct Professor of History and Political Science at the University of Scranton and Adjunct Professor of History and Business at Wilkes University. He coauthored Zebulon Butler: Hero of the Revolutionary Frontier (Greenwood Press, 1995).
