Girty

Richard Taylor

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780813180380
  9780813180557
• eBook ISBN:
  9780813180397
• Topic: Littérature
• Subtopic: Histoire des débuts de l'Amérique

Along with Benedict Arnold, Simon Girty was one of the most hated men in early America. The son of an Irish immigrant, he was raised on the western Pennsylvania frontier but was captured by the Senecas as a teenager and lived among them for several years. This able frontiersman might be seen today as a defender of Native Americans, but in his own time he was branded as a traitor for siding with First Nations and the British during the Revolutionary War. He fought fiercely against Continental Army forces in the Ohio River Valley and was victorious in the bloody Battle of Blue Licks.

In this classic work, Richard Taylor artfully assembles a collage of passages from diaries, travel accounts, and biographies to tell part of the notorious villain's story. Taylor uses the voice of Girty himself to unfold the rest of the narrative through a series of interior monologues, which take the form of both prose and poetry. Moments of torture and horrifying bloodshed stand starkly against passages celebrating beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Throughout, Taylor challenges perceptions of the man and the frontier, as well as notions of white settler innocence.

Simon Girty's bloody exploits and legend made him hated and feared in Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley, but many who knew him respected him for his convictions, principles, and bravery. This evocative work brings to life a complex figure who must permanently dwell in the borderland between myth and fact, one foot in each domain.

Table of contents

• cover GIRTY
• half title page GIRTY
• title page
• copyright page
• dedication
• Preface
• Introduction
• GIRTY
• Late Summer, 1756
• John Turner
• Vita
• An Estimate of What Girty’s Life Has to Teach Young Readers
• Girty Contemplates the World of Letters
• BUTLER
• Fort Pitt
• The Meadow
• The Cave
• The Squaw Campaign: February, 1778
• March 27, 1778
• Meeting Kenton, Chillicothe
• Saving His Bacon a Second Time:
• Simon (Butler) Kenton: An Interview
• ON THE OHIO
• The Cabin
• The Ohio River Valley
• ROGERS (The War)
• Ambush on the River, 1779
• The Narrative of Capt. Robert Benham
• Ft. Laurens
• Big Bone Lick
• November 1, 1779: First Snow
• The Hard Winter
• A Stirring of Leaves
• Portrait of Thayendanegea
• Brant
• The Massacre at Gnadenhutten
• A Warning
• Declension
• Col. William Crawford (1732-1782)
• From “Account of the Capture and Torture of Col. William Crawford as reported by Dr. John Knight”
• Simon Girty to William Crawford at the Stake (from a poem by Frank Cowan)
• Dr. John Knight
• Speeches brought by Simon Girty from the Six Nations to Detroit Feby 7th.
• Girty Addresses the Grand Council of the Tribes at Chillecothe, Ohio, before Marching on Bryan’s Station
• Girty the Provocateur
• Bryan’s Station
• Wm Calk’s Journal
• Wounded at Bryan’s Station
• Blue Licks
• The Knob
• ESCAPE
• A Progress Report
• Girty’s Vision of the Future
• Convergence
• Mad River
• Catherine Malott
• Simon Girty the Outlaw: An Historical Romance by Uriah Jones
• Girty’s Town
• Haven
• Tracker
• The Trail
• Cottonwood
• Jacob Lewis
• Orville Hobbs, 1796
• Catherine Girty
• 1812
• Reconciliation
• The Porch
• Daniel Workman
• Transitions
• Basics
• CREDITS & SOURCES
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR