Conrad Weiser's journal records the first official journey into the Indian country west of the Alleghenies, undertaken at the instance of the English colonies in August and September of 1748. Weiser's purpose was to carry to the tribesmen on the Ohio, a present from the Pennsylvania and Virginia authorities. This most prominent Indian agent in the management of Indian affairs during the later French wars records information of historic proportion.

For 15 years, George Croghan was involved in every important Indian negotiation on the frontier and his marked success in terminating Pontiac's War is told in his journals replete with unexpected incidents. The first parts of the journals deal with the period of English progress in 1750 as Croghan was on the Ohio enroute to the Shawnee towns and Pickawillany and the next season as he outwitted Joncaire on the Allegheny. The four succeeding documents are concerned with the period of hostility to the English in 1754, when he was on the Ohio after Washington had passed.

The last two journals are the longest and most important, that of 1760-61 is concerned, with his trip to Detroit via Lake Erie in the company of Rogers Rangers, and their return by land to Pittsburgh. The journals of Frederick Christian Post begin when he was first sent out as an official messenger to the hostile Indians, among whom he succeeded in securing a kind of neutrality; a venturesome expedition into the area of Fort DuQuesne, whose French commandant offered a price upon his head. The second journal was undertaken to carry news of the treaty of Easton (Oct. 1758) and pave the way for General Forbes's advance. This "plain German" missionary, upheld by a sense of duty and complete trust in God, kept a diary of his journey day to day. Captain Thomas Morris accompanied Bradstreet (1764) on his expedition to Detroit. Being dispatched from Cedar Point on a mission to the French in the Illinois country, Morris was arrested and tortured at the Ottawa village at Maumee Rapids. He saw Pontiac, went to Fort Miami, narrowly escaped being burned at the stake, and finally made his escape through the woods to Detroit. Journals of his experiences upon the Maumee are one of the most thrilling episodes in our early western history.

(cover has changed from one pictured above)
328 pages, hardcover, $49.95