| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Spanish Pilot |
Posted - July 26 2005 : 10:02:59 PM
What do you think about the book: William A. Hunter. Forts on the Pennsylvania Frontier (1753-1758). ? Thank you. |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| SgtMunro |
Posted - August 16 2005 : 7:35:41 PM
Well Lass, I do believe the spelling is more an attempt at using phonics to shorten the written word. For instance, Cha8anons could be pronounced 'Sha-Eight-anons', which would be fairly close to how a Delaware might say "Shawnee". It is just a therory of mine, but modern peoples are not the first ones to use phonetic abbreviations in writting, for intance 'RU' (are you?) or 'D8' (date) used in 'text-talk' (You can tell I have teenagers), are not as new as one may think...
Your Most Humble Servant,
The Sarge
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| Bookworm |
Posted - August 16 2005 : 08:02:43 AM
I've finally started reading "Forts on the Pa. Frontier," and it is, as Sgt. Munro promised, a very good read and very informative. So informative, in fact, that I've encountered two things I've never seen before:
1) the use of the numeral 8 in spelling, for example, "Cha8anons" (Shawnees) and "Sonont8ans" (Senecas). I'm familiar with the use of "f" for "s" in colonial times, but can any of our more knowledgeable students of the era explain this use of 8 for me?
2) references to Englishmen fighting for the French, for example, "Thomas Forbes . . . served with a French detachment that set out from Montreal at Easter [1754]" for Fort de la Riviere aux Boeufs. There was also a reference to an Englishman, whose name I can't recall, who fought with the French and then deserted and joined up with the English. No doubt in any war you'll find citizens of one side who fight with the other, but does anyone have information on why this might have happened in this particular struggle? |
| SgtMunro |
Posted - July 27 2005 : 08:20:47 AM
Seamus is right, Montgomery's work is a wee bit more thorough, and covers the forts of Pennsylvania through out the 18th century. Hunter's book is a very good read, and adequate source for the period of 1753-1758. The advantage goes to Hunter, since his work his readily available as a reprint through Wennawoods Publishing (Scott Wenning is a friend of Seamus', I do believe...). Another work worthy of looking for is Drums In The Forest by Stotz & James (Also recently reprinted in paperback for the 250th); found within is the section entitled Defense In The Wilderness, which gives an excellent account of frontier fort building techniques.
Of course, if you do not mind shelling out over $65 for a coffee-table sized book, you could always get the reprint of Stotz's Outposts Of The War For Empire. Now this is a very excellent work which includes Charles Stotz's now famous illustrations of the most renown forts of Pennsylvania. Personally, I think it is well worth the money.
A sidenote; several years ago I managed to secure a copy of the 1916 edition of Montgomery's work (Both volumes) for under $70. There are copies out there, but one must shop around. Then again, the hunt is as thrilling as the find...
Your Most Humble Servant,
The Sarge
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| Seamus |
Posted - July 27 2005 : 05:59:55 AM
Good resource. There is another one, same subject, much earlier, more complete in many ways, available online:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/1pa/1picts/frontierforts/frontierforts.htm
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