Into the American Woods: Negotiations on the Pennsylvania Frontier [Paperback]

James H. Merrell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 2000

"A stunning achievement. . . . A pathbreaking scholarly work by one of the nation's leading historians of the interaction between Native Americans and European newcomers in early America."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

James Merrell's brilliant book is an account of the "go-betweens," the Europeans and Indians who moved between cultures on the Pennsylvania frontier in efforts to maintain the peace. It is also a reflection on the meanings of wilderness to the colonists and natives of the New World. From the Quaker colony's founding in the 1680s into the 1750s, Merrell shows us how the go-betweens survived in the woods, dealing with problems of food, travel, lodging, and safety, and how they sought to bridge the vast cultural gaps between the Europeans and the Indians. The futility of these efforts became clear in the sickening plummet into war after 1750. "A stunningly original and exceedingly well-written account of diplomacy on the edge of the Pennsylvania wilderness."--Publishers Weekly Illustrations and maps

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Although the American West was ultimately won by killing nearly every Indian who got in the way, the initial contacts between native and Euro-American cultures were for the most part peaceful, defined by the social and geopolitical norms set by the land's original inhabitants. Into the American Woods examines how semiprofessional negotiators defined a "middle ground" in frontier Pennsylvania where schisms between Anglos and native Americans were temporarily appeased for mutual economic and political gain.

English colonial administrators, seeking to purchase land, establish trade, and avert conflict, became dependent on opportunists at the colony's edge, such as German entrepreneur Conrad Weiser, or trader George Groghan, to negotiate with the Delaware, Shawnee, Iroquois, and other regional tribes and bands. Uninterested in learning the ways of new arrivals, the native peoples sent sons of mixed European and Indian heritage or Christian converts to negotiate on their behalf. By trading wampum, using sign language, and scribbling pictographs, these go-betweens developed ambiguously effective means of bridging cultural divides. Negotiators, however, did not fully trust each other's intentions and maintained the prejudices of their own cultures. The French-Indian Wars lessened the effectiveness of councils or other forms of negotiation and tensions between Anglo and Native American civilizations intensified, culminating in the infamous "Paxton Boys" massacre of 1763. Each stage of Merrell's lively, extremely well-researched analysis is filled with colorful "woods lore"--anecdotes often comic in nature, focusing on the rampant alcoholism and bawdiness of frontier life--which illustrate the personalities of key negotiators, as well as the strategies and conditions by which White and Native America conversed in the early 18th century, an era when the wampum belt carried more power on the frontier than the flintlock. --John Anderson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Northwestern University history professor Merrell (The Indians of the New World) delivers a stunningly original and exceedingly well-written account of diplomacy on the edge of the Pennsylvania wilderness in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Readers of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales will remember characters like the Deerslayer?whites who lived on the edge of civilization, who adopted many ways of the Native Americans and thus were able to build bridges and negotiate peace across vast rivers of cultural difference. Merrell gives us portraits of the real-life Deerslayers. He also profiles their Delaware and Iroquois counterparts and shows how these early de facto diplomats were indispensable in constructing the "long peace" that reigned between Native Americans and colonists on the Pennsylvania frontier from the early 1680s through 1750. Merrell is at his best, though, when he shreds the myth?promulgated in Cooper's fiction and more recently in Kevin Costner's film Dances with Wolves?of the white wilderness men as advocates for Native Americans. As Merrell shows, these pioneers never lost their European prejudices. For them, getting along with the Delawares and Iroquois was only "a necessary step on the road to a brighter future, a time when those Indians would follow the forest into oblivion." Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (January 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393319768
• ISBN-13: 978-0393319767
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On Both Sides of the Council Fire, November 19, 2002

By 

D. Lemon "consumer" (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Into the American Woods: Negotiations on the Pennsylvania Frontier (Paperback)

The boundary that separated the territory of Pennsylvania's Indians and colonists indicated more than just a physical change in the landscape. The vast stretches of forest and mountain that encompassed the Pennsylvania woods designated a spiritual transformation between the colonial frontier and what Europeans considered the "hideous and desolate lands." The woods' edge marked the difference between order and disorder, darkness and light, and for many colonists it was a forbidding domain where the peoples and creatures were shunned. Likewise, for Indians, the margin between the Pennsylvania woods and what colonists haughtily termed "the inhabited parts," marked the divide between their world and one of mistrust and apprehension. Although there were overlapping notions among Indians and colonists about where the woods began and ended, both groups thought the darkness of that territory to be strange and unpredictable.

In his book, Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier, James Merrell explains the role and purpose of the individuals who straddled the divide between woods and clearing. More than that, these go-betweens, asserts Merrell, stood straddling Indian and colonial cultures in order to mediate a number of negotiations, land disputes, trade issues, and the occasional murder. Merrell's comprehensive discussion of the role of the cultural broker in colonial Pennsylvania during the "Long Peace" from 1680 to 1750 unravels not only the mystery behind eighteenth century frontier diplomacy, but also the curious life of the go-between. He takes the reader across that threshold between Indian and white ground in order to enter in and examine the frontier. It is his attempt to discover what it was like for the go-between to be the link between Indian and colonist, and to obtain a richer, fuller, and more colorful picture of the early American scene.

At the outset of his work, Merrell stresses the complexities involved with defining the go-between; picking them out of the crowd in America's border country can be difficult work for historians. Thus, the strength of this work lies in Merrell's ability to define nearly every aspect of the frontier experience, and pick the brain of Pennsylvania's go-betweens. He contends that not every trader, missionary, or convert was a go-between. Moreover, a role in state affairs did not necessarily give one the credentials that would distinguish him from the common man. Canasatego, an Onondaga, summed it up vividly, with a hint of sarcasm, when he explained to Pennsylvania officials in 1742 that negotiator Conrad Weiser "has wore out his shoes in our messages, and has dirty'd his clothes by being amongst us, so that he is as nasty as an Indian." Merrell expands on Canasatego's idea by explaining that the role of go-between entailed a certain amount of dirty work, both figuratively and literally; once the trip was made across unforgiving terrain to reach the far side of the frontier, the traveler still had the passage into another culture to look forward to. Merrell explains that the go-between was a shadowy figure that carried the letters but did not sign and seal them; who memorized the speeches inscribed on wampum belts, but did not draft them; who translated, but did hold the floor at councils. Essentially, this complex and necessary figure stood between the tables crowded with colonial and Indian officials to make sure that the liquor and talk flowed freely, but did not join the feast. A behind-the-scenes character, the go-between is not a figure of the past whose position in colonial society is easy to uncover.

In order to facilitate this laborious task of assessing the life and role of the cultural broker, Merrell chose to tap into a source that, he alleges, few scholars choose to probe. The numerous volumes of treaty minutes recorded for every official interaction between Indians and colonists reveal in great detail the demands placed upon the go-between. Every formal proceeding required an intermediary to perform a multitude of tasks, and in these documented accounts, Merrell has managed to illustrate the role of the go-between after a careful inspection of these sources. Also, in chronicling the life of the Pennsylvania frontier, Merrell does not take the conventional approach to telling history; his book takes on an unconventional role because he is dealing with exceptional characters. He starts and ends the book with what he calls woodslore, to offer a fresh view of historical sites and instances that might otherwise be common knowledge to the reader. While telling the stories of Jack Armstrong's murder in 1744 and concluding with the killing of Young Seneca George in 1769, Merrell systematically interweaves discussions about the recruitment of negotiators, their travels, talks, and treaties. By recounting the rough texture and gritty feel of the colonial frontier, Merrell proves himself to be an authority on the topic.

No detail is left out of this work, and no stone goes unturned throughout Merrell's journey into the minds and duties of the go-between. His argument is both convincing and original, his prose innovative and direct. More compelling is his approach to telling the history of Pennsylvania's frontier diplomats as pivotal players on the frontier who are often excluded from conventional historiography. Merrell tells the story from both sides of the council fire, on behalf of both Indians and colonists uniformly. Into the American Woods is not only a fascinating read, but also a fundamental and comprehensive resource for those investigating the role of the cultural broker.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding historical work but relevant to today, April 4, 1999

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[e-mail] (Berwyn, Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Colonial Pennsylvania (Hardcover)

This is a great read!

James Merrell explores the unique role that the "go-between" played in relations between Pennsylvania and the Native American nations in the early 18th century.

Forgotten people, like Andrew Montour and Conrad Weiser, come alive in this carefully documented, captivating account. Merrell traces how, notwithstanding the diplomatic efforts of the "go-betweens" of 18th century Pennsylvania, relations deteriorated from William Penn's "long peace" to the bloodiest conflicts to ever occur on the American frontier.

As I write this review, I am listening to news accounts of the NATO bombing of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. James Merrell says:

"Studying how negotiators handled the first two crises teaches valuable lessons in frontier brinkmanship --- not the deadly modern game of threats and bluffs hurled while teetering on the edge of a precipice, but an earlier version, where people tried to pull their world back from the abyss."

Into the American Woods appeals on a number of levels: to the student of American history as well as to the citizen seeking to understand a better way of diplomacy at the end of the 20th century.

Best of all, it is a "ripping good yarn," colorful and enchanting --- the type of book that you don't put down until early tomorrow morning.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ambiguous Legacy, February 19, 2005

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Theo Logos (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the American Woods: Negotiations on the Pennsylvania Frontier (Paperback)

William Penn, founder of the Pennsylvania Colony, was an idealist. He sincerely believed that all men, no matter how different, could live together in peace, and he based the Indian policy of his colony on that principle. A 1701 treaty between Penn's colony and the Conestogas Indians was typical; in it both sides pledged "that they shall forever hereafter be as one Head & One Heart, & live in true Friendship & Amity as one People." Penn went on to promise "for himself, his heirs and Successors, yt he and they will at all times shew themselves true Friends & Brothers to all & every one of ye Said Indians." In 1763, a copy of that document was found with the dismembered bodies of peaceful Indians, victims of the violent carnage wrought by the Paxton Boys, colonist enraged by the savagery of the French and Indian War on the Pennsylvania frontier. Yet between the founding of Penn's Woods and the war were over seventy years of Peace. This "Long Peace", the product of William Penn's idealism, was tenuously maintained only through the efforts of a remarkable group of men, both Indians and colonist, who moved between the two worlds. These negotiators were the go-betweens and interpreters of both language and culture that made Penn's dream of peace a practical reality for so long.

James H. Merrell's book thoroughly examines these negotiators and their world in fascinating detail. What sort of men became negotiators, the standing they had in their various communities, the hardships and challenges of the trails they traveled, their modes of communication (including the significance of ceremonies, wampum, and written treaties); all of this is explored in depth. Merrell draws on many case histories of specific negotiators, like Conrad Weiser, George Croghan, Christian Frederick Post, Andrew Montour, Shickellamy, Civility, and many others to sketch out the broader canvas of the life, motivation, and methods of negotiators on the frontier. He follows the broad arc of their rise to prominence, their pinnacle of success, and the slow unraveling of their effectiveness on into the ultimate failure of their craft in the outbreak of the French and Indian War and beyond.

Merrell focuses on the ambiguous nature of this frontier diplomacy. Though it served for many years to keep the peace in Pennsylvania, and though on the surface the negotiators seemed to be a perfect blending of the Colonial and Indian cultures, he points out the deep philosophical differences, and the fundamentally different goals of the Indian and Colonial negotiators. George Croghan may have taken on many Indian ways, and Moses Tatamy (called a settlement or "tame" Indian) may have dressed like a colonist and even practiced their religion, yet neither they, nor any of the negotiators, ever operated under a single, common shared vision. All remained firmly planted in the worldview of their birth, despite surface similarities, , and in this lay the key to the ultimate breakdown and failure of the negotiating enterprise.

Understanding the relationship that the Eastern communities had to their frontier is crucial to a proper understanding of the Colonial period, and I know of no other single book that gives such a clear, detailed, and fascinating account of that relationship. In addition, it is an invaluable source detailing the genesis of the French and Indian War, which started in the Pennsylvanian back woods. Over one hundred pages of notes make it a valuable source for discovering further areas of study as well. Any student of this period of American history should find Into the American Woods both enjoyable and immensely useful.

Theo Logos