Books published by American History Press

Based on an astonishing true story, and backed by years of meticulous research, leads us back in time to July 22, 1648, when the murder of a four-year-old girl took place under suspicious circumstances in Playne Dealing, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Plymouth Colony. William Bradford, the governor at the time, made little mention of this incident and its aftermath in his detailed journal, which has triggered both suspicion among historians and varying theories about the event ever since. The brutal murder of Martha Bishop, daughter of Alice Martin Clarke Bishop and her husband Richard, was an act of severe violence. Investigators arrived upon the scene to find Martha and her surroundings covered in blood, with a trail leading up a ladder to Martha's body, hacked with "diverse gashes" across the neck with a large knife. Alice openly confessed to the crime and was tried, sentenced, and executed within three months-the first and only woman in Plymouth Colony to be hanged.How could something so dreadful take place in the supposedly idyllic world of the Pilgrims? The possibilities are seemingly endless, but Donna Watkins attempts to narrow them down by delving into the origins and history of the Separatist movement, following the Pilgrims across England to their temporary home in Holland, and finally to their settlement in America. She provides details of daily activity in the colony in order to help us gain an understanding of the residents' lifestyle and beliefs, and the pressures of survival in Pilgrim society that may have played a role in Martha's sad fate.While not all questions surrounding the incident have been definitely answered, reflecting on what happened that morning in 1648 in Playne Dealing and the reaction of both Governor Bradford and the Pilgrim community provides a rare opportunity to shed new light on Plymouth and its residents. There are many hypotheses regarding Alice's motives, but it is the author's hope that this reflection on her experience within the Pilgrim colony may lead to a fuller understanding of both our nation's early history and the rigors of life during the time period.You may be wondering- Why this story? Why now? The year 2020 is the 400th anniversary of the founding of Plymouth Colony, a time for introspection and reflection on our national character. Alice is the author's ninth great-grandmother through her daughter Damaris. That Alice and Martha are family members has given her a sense of compassion for them both. While there can be little doubt that Alice committed the crime and, at least within the Pilgrims' set of values and beliefs, deserved her harsh punishment, the author feels she merits a defense and an attempt at explanation. The result is

In this first-ever biography, historian Robert Thompson tells the dramatic story of the life and death of William Crawford, a legendary figure from the violent world of the American colonial frontier, and a man recognized as a martyr by many Americans. Writing what has been described as a ';compelling narrative,' the author shines light on a man who was once a legendary figure in American folklore and history.A pioneer farmer, surveyor, and soldier, Crawford was also an ambitious opportunist who befriended young eighteen-year-old surveyor George Washington, thereby initiating a relationship that would last for over thirty years. The two men eventually became business associates, with Crawford hoping to reap wealth through Washington's land speculation schemes in the Ohio Country.Crawford would also serve under Washington as a soldier, taking part in some of the momentous events that shaped the future of America. He enlisted in Virginia's militia at the outset of the French and Indian War, rising to become a captain under Washington's command. Crawford was with Washington when he ambushed French troops in the Pennsylvania forest, an act that sparked a global war with France, and he was with Washington again along the Monongahela River when General Braddock's British army met with disaster. Later, Crawford would join the patriot cause, leading a Virginia regiment with Washington during two great battles of the American Revolution.It was the fighting against Native Americans that would determine Crawford's ultimate fate. Following a brutal massacre of almost one hundred peaceful Christian Delaware men, women, and children by American militia at a small village called Gnadenhutten, the American commanding general at Fort Pitt asked Crawford to return to duty. An expedition against the Native American stronghold along the Sandusky River was being planned, and the general needed a commander who would not allow another Gnadenhutten to occurthat someone was William Crawford. Crawford had come to abhor genocidal tactics such as those used at Gnadenhutten, and he agreed to assume command despite strong doubts that the expedition could succeed. The expedition's plan called for almost five hundred mounted militia volunteers to cross two hundred fifty miles of the Ohio wilderness in secret to make a surprise attack against a foe whose skilled, brave warriors were outraged by what had happened at Gnadenhutten. Crawford's doubts proved to be all too sound.As the unruly, undisciplined militia volunteers made a slow advance across the Ohio Country, they were observed and followed by Native American scouts. With no possibility of surprise, Crawford unknowingly led his men into an ambush by a powerful force of Delaware and Wyandot warriors. Withdrawing to an isolated patch of forest on the broad Sandusky Plains that became known as Battle Island, he and his men fought a hopeless battle for almost two days. As water and ammunition ran low, Crawford ordered a daring night escape attempt. But his plan for a rapid but orderly retreat quickly became a rout as hundreds of volunteers galloped off into the darkness in a cowardly attempt to save themselves.Crawford was taken captive by the Delaware, who wrongly blamed him for the atrocity at Gnadenhutten. He was put on trial, where he was defended by a Native American ally and a former friend of Crawford's, the infamous renegade traitor Simon Girty. Girty mounted an able defense as the trial took dramatic twists and turns.William Crawford was sentenced to die by fire at the stake for a crime he did not commit, and one he had sought to prevent from happening again. His story is now recounted in an insightful manner that presents new information and a clearer picture of who William Crawford really was, both as a man and a military leader.

Drawing on his years of experience as a history professor and longtime guitar dealer, author Jay Pilzer leads us on an entertaining and thoughtful journey through the fascinating, diverse, and sometimes wild history of the guitar in America. Viewed through the broad scope of the American experience, this retrospective cleverly melds together such unexpected guitar-related subjects as the Tulip Mania of 1636, the swaying hips of hula girls in Hawaii, and what really powered Jimmy Hendrix's Stratocaster at Woodstock.

In the summer of 1909, an emotionally and physically exhausted industrialist from New Jersey named Harriet White Fisher sought tonic by touring the world in a motorcar. She purchased a state-of-the art Locomobile and embarked on a remarkable journey with her driver, maid, butler and dog, exploring places where no man, woman or domesticated house pet had ever ventured. Whether camping in the wild or relaxing at the posh palaces of royal families, this brave band of unlikely travelers met new challenges on each day of their trip. Called the Anvil Queen, Iron Woman, Princess from the Land of Promise, A Lady of Great Consequence, and the Female Napoleon, /it> wherever she went, Harriet and her loyal entourage captured the curiosity and imagination of a fascinated public, attracting legions of fans and friends and opening the minds, hearts and highways on four continents.

The settlement of the Ohio River Valley was a bitter contest between Native Americans who had inhabited that region for centuries and settlers from the east eager for new land and opportunity. Micajah Callaway's life story is a perfect backdrop to expand on the series of historic incidents that unfolded around him during these exciting and dangerous times. From the vantage point of an ordinary man caught up in the middle of an extraordinary chain of events, the author, his direct descendant, has described the battles, broken treaties, politics and intrigues that characterized the relationships between the conflicting parties on both sides. Born near Lynchburg in Bedford County, Virginia, Micajah's family included Uncle Richard and brother Flanders, both of whom were members of Daniel Boone's famous trailblazing party that cut the Wilderness Road into Kentucky and founded Fort Boonesborough in 1775. In the Spring of 1777, Micajah ran away from home to join a militia company that marched to the relief of Fort Boonesborough. He then enlisted in Captain Daniel Boone's Kentucky County militia company that was captured by Shawnee Chief Black Fish and his warriors while they were making salt at the Lower Blue Licks. Daniel Boone and Micajah were subsequently adopted into the Shawnee Nation. While Boone escaped to return to Kentucky, Micajah lived on with the Shawnee for several years, learning their language and customs in the process. He later returned to his former world and served as a scout and interpreter for Brigadier General George Rogers Clark, Major General Richard Butler, and Major General "Mad Anthony" Wayne. As a result, Callaway became an active participant in the ensuing diplomatic negotiations and treaties that took place with the Shawnee Nation during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Striving for accuracy and authenticity, the author has included a series of thirty detailed maps, photographs and artwork to help the reader visualize the stage on which this drama took place. This unusually well-researched and balanced account will be savored and enjoyed by readers who want an understanding of the issues encountered on both sides of the struggle for the Ohio River Valley. They will gain a thorough and objective view of the history of this area, and a greater sympathy and understanding for the survivors of the brave Shawnee Nation.

Rocks, Riddles and Mysteries: Folk Art, Inscriptions and Other Stories in Stone, by Edward J. Lenik Archaeologist and author Ed Lenik is widely known for his expertise in northeastern Native American rock art. In the course of his travels and research, he has encountered many strange and curious historical rock and stone carvings and structures, some of which may be regarded as Indian, but the majority of which by his reckoning are "white guy" art. This book describes those sites and objects and the fascinating stories behind their creation. Puzzling, captivating, and at time bewildering, these historical curiosities include faces, animals, designs, patterns and scenes carved on rocks through New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The author has personally probed and researched each site in some detail, learning when it was first noticed and what the local people had to say about why it was there and who carved or painted it. Tourist attractions? Boy Scout art? Idle play among quarry workers? Archaeological fraud? Hebrew inscriptions? Outsider art? Norse runes? You can decide, since a "See For Yourself" section invites you to visit the sites that are publicly accessible so that you may draw your own conclusions. Lenik, a Registered Archaeologist, is a past president of the Archaeological Society of New Jersey and the Eastern State Archaeological Federation. As Honorary curator of archaeology at Bear Mountain's (New York) Trailside Museums, he is a well-known speaker and hike leader in northern New Jersey and southeastern New York., Designed to be used in the field, or as an enjoyable read in the armchair, this guide will transport the reader on an adventure of discovery, visiting curious places, looking at mysterious rocks and hearing the stories they have to tell.

King Charles I of England granted the Calvert Family a charter for the Colony of Maryland in 1632. Forty-nine years later, in 1681, Charles II awarded the Penn Family a similar charter for Pennsylvania. However, the ambiguity of the language and lack of precision in both grants sowed the seeds of dispute over a sixty-nine mile parcel of land between the 39th and 40th degrees of North Latitude. Had the Calverts prevailed, part of the City of Philadelphia would now be in Maryland, and had the Penns succeeded Baltimore would today be in the state of Pennsylvania! Arguments between the opposing parties dragged on for more than half a century before the English Courts finally issued a decree: Neither the Calverts nor the Penns would prevail; the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania would be a line of latitude located fifteen miles due south of the most southern point in the city of Philadelphia. As a result, in 1763 two British mathematicians and surveyors-Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon-were commissioned to accurately survey and mark the 244- mile boundary between the two colonies.We all have referred to the resulting Mason Dixon Line in casual conversation as the line that divides Pennsylvania and Maryland, or perhaps as the line between the free and slave states during the Civil War. But what do we actually know about Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, and why is an imaginary line named after them? Author Jack Layton decided to find out. Over the course of several years he literally walked the line, recording his observations and taking revealing photographs along the entire route. The results-informative, entertaining, ironic and amusing-form the heart of this book. Luckily for us, Charles Mason was a meticulous man who kept a detailed journal of his remarkable experiences in the New World. Mr. Layton used his daily record, kept during the three years that he and his partner spent traipsing through the mountains and valleys of America, as the backbone for this book, with liberal use of direct quotations. Amazingly, some of what the men saw and described has not changed much in the intervening two-and-a-half centuries, while other sights would not be recognizable at all today. Enjoy a trip back to colonial America. Join Jack Layton as he takes a walk in the footsteps of history, following the path blazed by two men whose names and the boundary they surveyed are today a household word-the Mason Dixon Line!

"A Great Conveniency, a Maritime History of the Passaic River, Hackensack River, and Newark Bay" describes the role that riverine and coastal navigation played during the development of northern New Jersey. Commencing in the early 1600s with the European exploration of the local waterways, it relates how rivers facilitated early settlement and expanded the highway network into the hinterlands. Landings developed at Acquackanonck (Passaic), Bound Creek, New Bridge (New Milford), and Old Bridge (Oradell), and the towns of Belleville, Hackensack, Little Ferry, and Paterson depended on river traffic for commerce. River proximity allowed British forces to raid the area during the American Revolution, and Americans used whaleboats and other local craft to retaliate. There is a detailed examination of nineteenth century cargoes such as bricks, coal, fertilizers, and lumber. The exports from the Meadowlands - cedar logs, hay, and wild game are also cited. River craft used on the waterways are also part of the story, and locally built ships and boats, dugouts, canal boats, galleys, schooners, sloops, steamboats, periaugers, and tugboats are all explained, with numerous accompanying illustrations. The changes that urbanization brought to the rivers and bays are investigated in sections devoted to the expansion of New York s harbor and the rise of Port Newark and Elizabethport. Other chapters explore how suburban growth created new opportunities for canoeing and yachting. Carried to the present day, the book describing the efforts by the EPA and other environmental agencies, including river clean, landfill capping, and development of riverside parks."

Profit in silk and spices lured them into Arctic straits, but the chilling reality of the Little Ice Age blocked their passage. And so Henry Hudson and his mutinous crew turned westward armed with vague charts and supposed sightings of the Indian Ocean across a narrow sandy isthmus. Upon their arrival, crowds of curious Manhattans greeted them in canoes made from tree trunks. Dressed in animal skins and mantles woven of turkey feathers, they offered corn, beans, oysters, tobacco, hemp, grapes and pumpkins in trade for cloth, metal tools and trinkets. Mining contemporary sources, historian Kevin W. Wright has carefully reconstructed the native world that Henry Hudson encountered during his fateful voyage of 1609. In so doing, he dispels the fog of nineteenth and twentieth century myths to rediscover the North Americans of the Middle Atlantic Coast. Describing their original homelands and culture in great detail, he brings the panorama of culturally diverse native societies to life. These were truly the First Americans, inclined to live "almost all equally free." Could their natural democracy lie at the heart of the American spirit? The Hudson Quadricentennial marks the birth of the Dutch colony of New Netherland upon the Hudson and Delaware Rivers and the dawn of history for Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut. But as early as 1656, Dutch commentator Adriæn van der Donck wondered how Christopher Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci could have discovered "a country that was never lost?" Through these pages readers step back in time for a visit with ancient Algonquian and Iroquoian communities of Native Americans, including the original Manhattans, the Minisinks of Bachom's Country, the Lenape of the Schuylkill estuary, the Mahicans, Susquehannocks, Mohawks and others whose names have been lost in the mists of time. "1609: A Country That Was Never Lost" includes a bibliography, extensive end notes, and a very comprehensive index. It is destined to become a classic resource for anyone who enjoys Native American culture and history, especially in the New Jersey and New York areas.

William Baby was born in the Duff-Baby house, Sandwich Towne, on April 13, 1812.The Ontario Heritage Foundation (Ontario Heritage Trust) has declared the Duff-Baby house a historic site and has carefully restored it for public viewing and enjoyment.Chiefs Tecumseh, Pontiac and Splitlog have all walked its halls, as have Generals Brock, Harrison, Hall and Colonel Proctor. One of these people may indeed be the ghost that is said to walk the halls today. This book takes place at the end of the period in Upper Canada's life referred to as "The Foundation of British Canada."The stories in this book continue with the next phase: "The Middle Period: Ships, Colonies and Commerce 1815 to 1867." It was a time for what is now the Province of Ontario to establish a "Canadian" (as interpreted as a lessening of dependence on British ways) political form of representative government. The Honorable Jacques Baby and his brother Francois were the most powerful and influential people in the British Detroit region. Their status led to some serious concerns in the middle period, because the citizens of the Canadas wanted to abolish the British class system. The Baby family represented this system, and were part of the "Family Compact" who ruled at the time. The 1837 Rebellion destroyed this system forever, and initiated many changes in the framework of society. Many of the stories you will read in the text reflect on this era of our country's growth. William in particular was a product of his father's upbringing, and was an upper class gentleman of wealth and importance. He tried a variety of methods in order to preserver his wealth while prospering in the community, and this narrative includes accounts of his many ventures. For instance, the chapter entitled "An Old Time Breeze..." shows his occasional lack of good judgment as we read of the mutiny of his captain and crew from his ship Tecumseh during its voyage from Albertville to York. The story "An Old Family Legend" gives the details of how the Hon. Jacques Baby was bribed by the British government in order to turn in Chief Pontiac. In another chronicle, we learn that William Baby's father, Jacques, was held captive in his own home during the War of 1812. General William Henry Harrison, who later became the United States' "One Month" President, used the mansion as his headquarters while the United States briefly held Essex County as their own. The Family Compact in Ontario, The Rebellion in 1837, and the housing of the prisoners in the windmills are other stories that will have you cheering for the residents of Essex County. William Baby and his friends were important investors in the town of Olinda, the industrial heartland of the area as well as the largest community in Essex County in its day. It is now a deserted town, as one can learn from the entertaining book "Tour Olinda: Essex Counties only Ghost Town." In this volume you will read the unique story of the Jesuit Pear tree, located on the front lawn of the Baby house, and relish the account of how the Baby family protected a man (Andrew) from the bounty hunters in "The Runaway Slave." In "A Journey to Little York," we meet the eccentric old Colonel Talbot during an encounter that lends us a glimpse into William Baby's true motivations. As the narration takes us to York, we learn how William's brothers launched the Mackenzie Rebellion, in "The Destruction of W. Lyon McKenzie's Press." Not to be forgotten is the description of "The Visit of the Prince of Wales to Detroit in September 1860." Souvenirs of the Past, first printed in 1896, includes a variety of first hand accounts from an earlier period of our Canadian history.These short stories (and accompanying sketches) are presented in a readable, enjoyable format with unforgettable characters and scenes from the past."

New Jersey has recently been hailed as the "Crossroads of the American Revolution." This is a fitting designation, given that General George Washington spent the majority of his time in the colony, and engaged the British in several decisive battles within its borders. In fact, a large portion of the War for Independence may be said to have been won in the counties of Middlesex, Somerset, Monmouth and Mercer, where shifting loyalties and local resistance on both sides presented a constant challenge to the combatants. Have all physical vestiges of the Revolution vanished from the Garden State? Not at all. In fact, the reader will be pleasantly surprised to discover that many historic sites still do exist, places that offer us a genuine glimpse into the Spirited War of the times. Donald Peck and his companion Jane Doherty lead us on an in-depth tour of many of these Midland sites, each interpreting the facts from their individual point of view. As historian and psychic, they provide a fresh analysis of events that took place in the area, along with explanations of the personalities involved in them. The result is a very readable and exciting narrative, one that affords us an entirely new perspective on the past that surrounds us. Besides George Washington, readers will discover that other Revolutionary War heroes were associated with Central New Jersey, among them Benjamin and William Franklin, John Adams, Aaron Burr, Nathaneal Greene, Charles Lee, and the Marquis de Lafayette. Numerous battles also took place on its soil, including Washington's Retreat across New Jersey in 1776, the crucial Battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth in 1776-1778, the Battle of Springfield in 1780, and the celebrated march to victory with the French, led by the Comte de Rochambeau, in 1781. New Jersey's truly was the "Crossroads of the American Revolution," and A Spirited War will prove it!