The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830 (History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier) [Hardcover]

R. Douglas Hurt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996 | Series: History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier

Nowhere on the American frontier was the clash of cultures more violent than on the Ohio frontier. First settled by migrating Native Americans about 1720 and later by white Americans, Ohio became the crucible which set Indian and military policy throughout the region. There, Shawnees, Wyandots, and Delawares, among others, fought to preserve their land claims. A land of opportunity, refuge, and violence for both Indians and whites, Ohio served as the political, economic, and social foundation for the settlement of the Old Northwest.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Hurt has fashioned a vivid panorama of the transitional years when Ohio evolved from a raw frontier territory to an established province of an ever-expanding nation. As the buffer zone separating the colonized East and the uninhabited and unexplored West, Ohio afforded limitless social, economic, and political opportunities for daring and eager adventurers migrating from the eastern seaboard. Unfortunately, this dramatic demographic shift provoked a violent cultural and military clash between Native Americans and white settlers. The formulation and implementation of a harsh Indian policy that inevitably resulted in the removal and relocation of the Native American population from the territory enabled the newcomers to forge a comfortable and prosperous society rooted in agriculture and industry. Compelling regional history. Margaret Flanagan

From Kirkus Reviews

Hurt (Agricultural History and Rural Studies/Iowa State Univ.) draws a plodding timeline in prose, tracing the conquest and settlement of Ohio by Native and then European Americans. Before 1720, Ohio was mostly uninhabited. Only the Erie ``Cat Nation,'' Iroquoian-speaking Indians who lived along Lake Erie, occupied even a small part of the vast territory. When the lucrative and insatiable European appetite for beaver pelt exhausted the supply further east, however, Indian trappers from the Five Iroquois Nations attacked the Erie and gained control of their rich beaver source. The first whites to venture into the area were fur traders and missionaries, the former group plying the Indians with liquor and teaching them English, often swear words, while the missionaries attempted to save the Indians' souls. Many of the Indians did in fact convert to Christianity, although it didn't protect them from the brutality of their white neighbors. In one particularly gruesome incident, Christian Delaware Indians sang hymns as more than 90 men, women, and children were taken in groups of two and three and slaughtered by their American captors. Many broken treaties later, the Ohio territory was settled by an odd mixture of refined New Englanders and rough-and-ready frontiersmen, which made for an unusual--and uneasy--social mix. Eventually, however, the people of Ohio developed into a settled and fairly prosperous group, and the frontier continued westward. This isn't an inherently boring subject; in fact, it is filled with both harrowing and amusing aspects. But Hurt presents it as a litany of names, dates, and places--and sometimes crops, livestock, and diseases--with precious little of either analysis or drama. (20 b&w photos, 5 maps) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 445 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press; 1St Edition edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253332109
• ISBN-13: 978-0253332103
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #509,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid survey of the frontier period in Ohio's history, September 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830 (History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier) (Hardcover)

R Douglas Hurt has provided us with a solid survey of Ohio's history from its first settlement to the end of the frontier period. He manages to cover the various Indian tribes and their unique problems in dealing with the white man. He covers the economic developments, the process of urbanization, the religious differences, the cultural differences of the early settlers as well as the conflicts between Britain and the United States and how they affected the people (including the Indians)of the Ohio country. In later years Hurt discusses the political struggles between the Federalists and Republicans which ultimately led to statehood during the Jefferson administration. He ends by detailing the conflicts between the Republicans and the Jacksonian democrats and what the conflicts meant to the people of the Ohio frontier. His discussion of canal building is also informative.

One can find a wealth of detail here about particular regions and towns and how they grew and developed. The book, however, cannot be awarded five stars as Hurt's writing style is very matter-of-fact and (although he points out that the Western Reserve was slow to develop) the northeastern section of the state is given little attention. All in all, however, a book well worth reading for anyone interested in Ohio history or the development of the Northwest Territory.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Informative and frustrating in equal measure, November 28, 2005

By 

Joel Jacobsen (New Mexico USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830 (A History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier) (Paperback)

There's a great deal of information here. That's the good news. The bad news is that the author (or perhaps his publisher) seems undecided about whether the book is a popular or a scholarly history. The plain-vanilla writing style is typical of professors who live in dread of being suspected of writing for a -- shudder! -- general audience. Furthermore, the narrative is not strictly chronological, and no attempt is made to explore the personalities of the (fascinating) individuals mentioned. All signs of scholarly history.

Yet the book is entirely lacking in the ordinary scholarly apparatus. There are no notes. The bibliographic essay, while full of titles, doesn't relate specific titles to specific chapters, much less to specific bits of information. The reader simply has to take it on faith that the quotations, etc., are accurate, making the book useless to future scholars in the field. Furthermore, no attempt is made to suggest different interpretations, or to provide an overview of the historical literature. (Parkman's name doesn't once appear.)

The best way to describe the book is as the raw data for a really good popular history. Or perhaps as a non-scholarly survey of recent scholarship. It's neither fish nor fowl, neither particularly fun to read nor useful to specialists. Which is a shame, because the story it tells would be fascinating in the hands of a more engaging writer.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed information in a readable format, September 8, 2011

By 

cbest - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830 (History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier) (Hardcover)

In seeking background information to use in developing an early 1800s character for first person interpretation for our historical society, I happened upon this book in my sister's library. Although I have lived in Ohio for most of my life and am well-acquainted with its political history, I was lacking in details of home and farm life as well as specific information about the character and trials of the individuals and companies that first settled in the Ohio Country. I found a wealth of satisfying information in this book, all of which I've used to flesh out my character whose family moved into Ohio in 1802. As a member of the First Families of Ohio, I am happy to have found such an informative and readable book to increase my knowledge of my home state. I can now consult my own copy of the book purchased for my personal library through Amazon.com.