October 28, 2019

The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West (2019)
By David McCullough

I expected a tale about the settlers who rode west in covered wagons in the late 1800's - but got a very different story.  David McCullough brings his usual skill to chronicle the settlement of the Northwest Territory via some fascinating characters and through a very accessible narrative.

Shortly after the new Unites States of America and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, Congress agreed to settle the Northwest territory (land ceded by Great Britain that will eventually become Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin) through land grants awarded to Revolutionary War veterans.  Surprisingly, it is a Massachusetts minister, Manassah Cutler, who undertakes the task of petitioning the new congress to establish the territory as a bastion of freedom of religion, free universal education and prohibition of slavery.  The following year (1788) Gen Rufus Putnam leads the first band of pioneers, where they settle the first town town across the Ohio River, Marietta, Ohio.  Cutler's son Ephraim joins the pioneers, eventually joining the state legislature where he champions public education including initiating legislation to found the Ohio University.  Carpenter/architect Joseph Barker designs and builds not only houses and public buildings but also ships that will steam down the Ohio River.  Dr Samuel Hildreth is an early town physician and naturalist who also publishes several histories of Marietta and its citizens.  It's clear that these men (and their wives) were gifted, committed to serving their neighbors and their God, and in the right place at the right time.

McCullough includes a list of colorful secondary characters, too, including the wealthy Harman Blennarhassett and the wily Aaron Burr.  He also alludes to several tragic encounters with native Americans -- whose land was being overtaken -- a travesty noted by several British travel writers, but apparently not questioned by the American settlers.