Good evening and welcome to tonights lecture. After the lecture, there will be a q a and book signing. The views of the author do not viewsarily represent the of the museum or the state of new york. We present Glenn Williams tonight who will present dunmores war the last conflict of the colonial american area. Aboutthe author of a book the campaign against the air courier and holds a phd from the university of michigan. I would now like to welcome him. Glenn thank you for that kind introduction. I have to add you heard up i worked on military history. This was done on my own time. It does not reflect the center ,f military history views either. I would like to thank the museum and the sons of the revolution for inviting me here. I love coming here. I talked your once before but every time i come to new york city i always try to find at least one reason, one connection. As you can see, the talk is about dunmores war. It is james dr. John murray, the fourth earl of dunmore. Not John Dunsmore is a painter who i see a lot of pictures of around here. For, l it dunsmores dunsmores war. I want to draw your attention to the cover art. The name of it is reprisal. Because she is very gracious in letting us use is for the cover art and as you go through the talk you may get the connection through her art and part of the storyline. I will point up there. There. There are several misconceptions about dunsmores war. You have probably heard some of them. I am lucky and then i wrote a 400 page book about a war that only lasted six months. When you hear about it, especially in recent literature, these are some things that come out. It was motivated only by racism against native people, fought mainly as a land grab by settlers. The indians were peaceable. Virginia was the aggressor. That it was nothing more than a british attempt to diver and attention from the coming revolution. I also wanted to address some myths about the virginiacolonial militia. You hear most about talking about the revolutionary war is they fought indian style. Hopefully i will dispel some of those during the talk or you can read the book. You can also ask me during the q a. Lets talk a little bit about what is going on in the colonies. You heard about the proclamation line of 1763. What did it say . Pretty much. The royal proclamation was an arbitrary line drawn from the head orders of the waters that flowed toward the atlantic westward, reserved for the indians has their Hunting Ground. Does anybody know the very next sentence . Did anybody ever read the proclamation . With the very next line says . How will our future be known . Glenn colonists referred to it as a ministerial line because they thought the kings ministers had done it in his name without telling him end of the king only knew it would he would correct the situation. You see that a lot. The colonists thought it would just be temporary. I will not go through the prerevolutionary era but we know the constitutional crises that were going on after the french and indian war leading up to the start of the American Revolution. That was a couple of them there. Whichclaratory act essentially means parliament in the british empire. The towns had to give revenue duties. Massachusetts and virginia pretty much led colonial resistance to these laws. It is kind of interesting. If all heard taxation without representation, but a lot of places that use that fail to explain what it really meant. It did not mean colonists wanted a seat in parliament. That was probably the last thing they wanted. The colonial general assemblies took the place in the 13 sovereign colonies and they sought the lower houses of the assembly. The house of burgesses, and virginias case, as taking the place of the house of commons. Government,nt spending bills, revenue bills have to start and the lower house. In washington or was that, in virginia it was a house of burgesses. Just a note on the map, this follows the proclamation line of 1763. Basically an obituary line. We will see how it got basically and arbitrary line. We will see how it got started. Who has heard of lord dunmore before . Not to be confused. How many have seen the portrait of him . What is it . What is he wearing besides i kilt . How many times have you seen a captain in the scottish regiment of foot guards or Something Like that . It is not that. This is his Political Campaign poster, for lack of a better word. It was done after he was out of the army and reflects his status as a representative of scotland and the house of lords. So he is a member of the house of lords in this. People say, no he is in the army. British officers do not wear that. He would not be wearing a kilt. He was not in the highland regiment. Basically, and import duty raised money. The proceeds of the tax were to go to pay royal officials, which was contrary to what the colonists wanted. The only leverage they had was the house of burgesses paid their salary. That was kind will wait the British Parliament to get around that. That he was in the house of lords when those duties were in effect. When the motion was made to repeal the townsend duties in march 1770, he was the guy that stands up in parliament and seconds the motion to repeal, saying americans, if left to themselves, would soon be quiet. If you know about the townsend duty, it was repealed on march 5, 1770. Anybody know what else happened on that date . The boston massacre. An interesting juxtaposition of events. So he is an house of lords, gets elected to be the representative of the royal colony of new york. In 1770 he comes here and is part of his inaugural address he says the constitution has been fixed. He is talking about, it was an unwritten constitution and the british empire, the weight it is supposed to work and is now fixed is that spending bills start in the lower houses of assembly. He is also the highest ranking royal governor and the colonies. People say, does that mean he ran over the other governors . No. In the ranks in the british empire, or ill is like third or fourth down from the royal family. That is what they mean by highestranking. The highestranking title that he has. In march, he is notified that he is going to be the governor of her junior. And he likes new york. He is having a good time. Maybe because he was awake and a bachelor maybe because he was and a bachelor. Then, it was not considered unethical or a breach of decorum to make money on the side when you were in politics. That is why people went into it. Virginia is the most populous and was prosperous to on the continent. You reluctantly accepted. He dragged his feet. He was notified in march, showed up in september. He was given a good welcome. He was pretty popular when he was in virginia. In williamsburg, you are all familiar with the governors palace, it was his official residence. This is what the capital looked like in 1771, 1774. In williamsburg. The one that is there now, a reproduction, is actually a reproduction of the one that went down i think in that 1730s. This is from the digital collection of the library. Lets go back to virginia. Virginia is colonial charter for the king, from sea to sea. As other colonies formed, some of the borders got changed a little bit. Virginia encompassed all of what is in present West Virginia, kentucky, ohio, indiana, illinois, michigan, wisconsin, and parts of minnesota. And thoseer genia days. You can see the proclamation line is taking a chunk out of it. In 1768, was realized that a lot of colonists already lived west of the proclamation line. They had to do something. They had to readjust the boundaries. So the lords of the board of trade in england sent instructions to the two superintendents of indian affairs, sir William Johnson and another, to negotiate with the two indian policies. In north, that would be the iroquois confederacy and in the south, the cherokee. They were to hold these treaties, readjust the boundaries. You had people moving across to see what they could do. The one in north was held at fort stanwix, presided over by sir William Johnson and the six nations of europe walked. Six nations of your quad iroquois was powerful at the time, and they tried to dictate to the others by right of conquest. They also claim their territory by right of conquest. In the late 17th century, they waged a war first against fellow and they turned against the Algonquin Indian nations and destroyed most of them and took their land as well. They claim that territory is theirs. Some of the nations they conquered are still there. Anyone familiar with conrad . A pennsylvania indian agent. He wrote a good explanation of the relationship between the indian nations and what america, he said the iroquois were the most powerful. He goes on to explain how they did it. He said they first conquered, not first, but they conquered the delaware sent by them into their confederacy because they beat them in battle. He said they figuratively took off their bridge cloths and put petticoats on them. Talk sternly to them, they call them women. When they talked nation then they called them nephews. In turn they were called uncles. That was the subordinatesuperior relationship. The time of the french and indian war, the iroquois let them settle on the north bank of the ohio river. They said, you can live there but you are under our dominion. The shawnee mortally hated them. This is the dynamic at the time. The treaty of fort stanwix negotiated a p or change that lineup boundary. They redraw the line between open settlement and what is still reserved for the indians starting at fort stanwix down the susquehanna, wesbanco susquehanna, down the confluenceast the the the monongahela on down ohio to the tennessee river, which is actually off the matter. Quite a bit of territory. Were talking about all of this here. In the south, jon stewart with the cherokee negotiates a different treaty. Treaty does not change the boundary too much in the south but when it gets to the north carolinavirginia boundary it goes to the headwaters of the river and down to the confluence with the ohio river. This area is now part of iroquoisif you count forces. It did not count very well with the virginias. Right ofm it under a conquest. They make a good case it is there and that the cherokee never owned or presumed to own any of it. So they have to renegotiate the treaty. Two years later, stewart called together the cherokee leaders and they negotiated the new treaty. This time at a place called lock harbor. It moves the boundaries west to theholston river to a long river and north and east to the mouth of a canal on the ohio river. So it now takes up this area. They only have to actually convene withy mapmakers, the British Indian department, so forth, and they find out this arbitrary line goes through some rough terrain that nobody is going to know where the boundary is. The indian say, it is not good for hunting anyway. So they agree to draw the line further west. It is called the cherokee grant of 7072. The line now does from long island on the holston to the river,ers of kentucky also called the louisa river and down the ohio. So this was the treaty line, the ministerial line. What had been Hunting Ground in virginia is now part of virginia. The only problem is, that your the iroquois never bothered to include the tribes that used it is Hunting Ground in the negotiation. Delaware had nothing to say about it, but the shawnee resented it very much. They really had a problem with both the british and the six nations. Onle all of this is going dunmore is very supportive of western expansion. He wants to love those soldiers that served in the french and indian war to claim their allow those soldiers that served in the french and indian war to claim their land grants. Remember, tens of thousands of people already living here. So they established counties and Everything Else. What am i forgetting quote this is the proclamation line. The fort stanwix treaty line. This is the Hard Labor Creek line. This is Hard Labor Creek. Baber and this is the cherokee grant. On top of all this, the Loyal Company of ohio gets a bright idea of establishing 14 colonies. Where do you think it is going to be . It is going to be what is now West Virginia and maybe part of kentucky and maybe a little but a pennsylvania. What is that encroaching on . Virginia. In london,ve backers philadelphia, Everything Else. Luckily it never gets ratified by the council. Lets talk about lord dunmore. As governor of virginia, with of commission and letter instruction, these are some of his prerogatives as governor. He appoints all the officers and the militia. He can raise as many regiments of militia and regulars as c deems necessary. Necessary. The militias not a voluntary operation. Rangingmpress equipment from boats and Everything Else. He is mostly that governor, the administrator of the militia. Has the power of county ofin the virginia. He can arm, muster, train, bring into service militia and others. He is the duty to suppress rebellions, repel invasions, order militia to go where he wants. He can issue letters of mark and reprisal to privateers. He can impose martial law during wartime and anything else i commander can do in the colony a commander can do in the colony during wartime. The legislature has the power of the purse. They enact the law that governs the militia. The Court Martial system and Everything Else. During wartime, they can make rules for everything how you deserters. Additional laws, the acts for making provisions against invasions and insurrections. The operational guidelines for the militia. Most of all, they are the ones that pass the law that raises taxes to pay for troops. How many of her that americans did not want to be for tax and that was the reason for the American Revolution . No. Province,taxes to the county, king. Payproblem was colonists taxes to the province, county, king. The problem was they did not want to pay taxes to the General Assembly. Then, these are the guys that run the bullish on the daytoday operations. Commanders of the militia within their county. In the duty like the governor to command, arm, levy, muster, equip. They can raise and march anywhere and the county and they can help neighboring counties. The ones that make sure their soldiers have the proper arms and ammunition of the time and it is always in good order. They exercise a certain amount of discipline. Is one that a lot of people are surprised to hear because were used to hearing about the wherehusetts militia officers are elected. In virginia, that was not the case. New it they established a county, it was divided into 10 geographic areas called companies. Then the chief militia officer selected the commanders of those companies. Every ablebodied military age male was in that company. A 50man county could up 300 guys. It was military, not tactical. He would get together with captains of those 10 Companies Said they would select the lieutenants and intense. Then they selected the corporals and the captains and the malicious musicians. They elected their own officers. What did the militia law say . By law, the militia included all ablebodied white males between the ages of 18 and 60. You hear about joining the militia. No. You did not join. The only time they joined was when they needed volunteers and if they did not get enough, they drafted them. They were all given a fire log, bayonet, something they kept that their home. A bayonet. You have heard americans did not know how to use bayonets. A cartridge box, if you lived on the frontier you could substitute a rifle. And a tomahawk for a bayonet. Some were exempt. The clergy of the church of england and if you others. That was the biggest class of people that do not have to belong to the militia. Others did not have to participate by the usually had to do something. Ofe do buying of five sets equipment for the poor men in the company. They had to do drills on a regular basis. They were called together at least once he or for general muster, usually at the county courthouse. Usually in the springtime. County commanders, private musters, usually have their own home and they mustered usually four times a year. Says a a company, one battalion. The important thing was it was not a parttime job. They did not get paid. They did not have paid unless they were called up for at least six days. If they were called to active duty they did get paid and that was at the discretion of the General Assembly. When it came to fighting, a lot of companies in the tidewater area had to follow doctrine. The further you got to the frontier, they brought out and developed bush fighting. That was not just adopting indian methods and techniques. That included following the laws in europe for small unit warfare and they combined them with some techniques and methods they mightve learned from indian fighting indian enemies and they developed something entirely new which they called bush fighting or skirmishing. So is not fighting like indians was fighting indians. Several kinds of specialized units, how many of you have seen the Spencer Tracy movie . Nobody . Classic. Well, it is nothing like that, ok . [laughter] when they attacked st. Francis mission in the middle of the night and all that kind of stuff. They were strictly frontier defense. Raised by their counties while they were on active duty for sometimes one year. They got paid by the counties. The county court was one that opposed the taxes on everybody else to raise some. It was collected by the sheriff. During some major emergencies like the french and indian war they could be called into Colonial Service when the General Assembly would pay them and they might be used anywhere in the colony, but still in the colony, not owing into enemy territory. They first always looked for volunteers but they were dropped what they needed. What they draft needed. They were exempt from paying taxes when they were on duty. Had somebody called scouts, similar to rangers. Working in tactical companies. 35 guys. The main job of the rangers was war partiesd find heading into the settlements and either intercept or ambush them as they went o