French and Indian Cruelty? The Fate of the Oswego Prisoners of War, 1756-1758

This article examines what happened to approximately 1,200 prisoners of war taken by the French and their Indian allies at the British post Fort Oswego in August 1756. Their experiences illuminated the contrast between traditional methods of warfare in colonial America and the new rules of war being introduced by European armies fighting in the French and Indian War. Although European armies claimed to treat POWs more humanely than Native Americans, their supposedly civilized rules of warfare actually increased the suffering of the Oswego prisoners

The Ohio Company and the Meaning of Opportunity in the American West 1786-1795

Founded in 1786 by former officers of the Continental Army to promote an orderly expansion of American society westward, the Ohio Company soon succumbed to the desire of many of its investors to make money. The aims of settlement warred with the desire to make a profit through land speculation; eventually the company dissolved, a casualty of its inability to reconcile the varied interests of shareholders and to manage westward development

What About That Pursuit of Happiness?

On the Fourth of July, many Americans will take the opportunity to read the Declaration of Independence. It is a long document, but the passage that is most likely to stir feelings of patriotism comes early, at the start of the second paragraph: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. [excerpt

Featured Piece: 1619, 1776, 2023

This year’s featured piece was written by Timothy Shannon, a professor in the History department. Professor Shannon teaches early American, Native American, and British history at Gettysburg College and serves as the faculty adviser for the Gettysburg Historical Journal. His research focuses on Native American-European relations in eighteenth-century North America

The Seven Years\u27 War in New York State: Introduction

Ask the average person on the street about the Seven Years\u27 War and you are likely to get a blank stare. Try again, only this time call the conflict The French and Indian War and you might get a faint smile of recognition. Take a different approach: ask random strangers their opinion about The Last of the Mohicans. Many will tell you they loved it, although they will more likely be thinking about Daniel Day-Lewis than James Fenimore Cooper. Such has been the fate of one of the most important events in early history. In 2004, the 250th anniversary of George Washington\u27s surrender at Fort Necessity passed quietly, recognized mostly by historians, reenactors, and local institutions in southwestern Pennsylvania already familiar with the story. A year later, the anniversary of Braddock\u27s Defeat passed under similar circumstances. The coming years will bring similar anniversaries at places whose names evoke North America\u27s colonial past: Ticonderoga, Niagara, Louisbourg, and Quebec. Museums, historical societies, and various other organizations have launched symposia, conferences, and exhibits to honor the occasion, and there is even a PBS television production scheduled for broadcast in early 2006. But no single event commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Seven Years\u27 War in America is likely to capture national interest in the way the Bicentennial did in 1976 or Ken Burns\u27s Civil War series did in 1990. [excerpt

Atlantic Lives: A Comparative Approach to Early America

Atlantic Lives offers insight into the lived experiences of a range of actors in the early modern Atlantic World. Organized thematically, each chapter features primary source selections from a variety of non-traditional sources, including travel narratives from West Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The fully-revised and expanded second edition goes into even greater depth in exploring the diverse roles and experiences of women, Native Americans, and Africans, as well as the critical theme of emerging capitalism and New World slavery. New chapters also address captivity experiences, intercultural religious encounters, and interracial sexuality and marriage.With classroom-focused discussion questions and suggested additional readings accompanying each chapter, Atlantic Lives provides students with a wide-ranging introduction to the many voices and identities that comprised the Atlantic World.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1152/thumbnail.jp

Queequeg\u27s Tomahawk: A Cultural Biography, 1750-1900

Since the colonial era, the tomahawk has served as a symbol of Indian savagery in American arts and literature. The pipe tomahawk, however, tells a different story. From its backcountry origins as a trade good to its customization as a diplomatic device, this object facilitated European-Indian exchange, giving tangible form to spoken metaphors for war, peace, and alliance. The production, distribution, and use of the pipe tomahawk also illustrated contrasting Indian and European notions of value and utility in material objects, exposing the limits of such goods in promoting cross-cultural mediation and understanding

The World that Made William Johnson

Readers of the Atlantic Monthly may have been taken aback when they received their December 2006 issue of that venerable journal of American arts and letters. In a pitch more appropriate to People or some other celebrity magazine, the Atlantic offered a list of The 100 Most Influential Americans of All Time, and right there on the cover, posing as eye-candy for the intelligentsia was none other than #1 himself, Abraham Lincoln, the sexiest most dead American alive, or something like that. Had the high brow finally gone low brow? Had pop culture\u27s fascination with list-making found a new frontier? What sort of cross promotion on the History Channel or (God forbid) the E! Network would we be seeing next- America\u27s Top Ten Recessions or The 100 Biggest Presidential Fashion Disasters ? Fortunately, none of that has come to pass (at least not yet), but for those of us in the history business, the list did make for some interesting reading. As one might expect, the Founding Fathers were well-represented in the top ten: George Washington (#2), Thomas Jefferson (#3), Alexander Hamilton (#5), and Benjamin Franklin (#6) were all there, as was a dark horse candidate, the Federalist judge John Marshall (#7). But the farther along I read, the more disappointed I became. Where were all the great colonial Americans? Who was there to represent the era between Columbus and the Founding Fathers, almost two centuries\u27 worth of American history? Some of the figures in the top ten were born in the colonial era, but they were obviously on the list because of their accomplishments in the Revolutionary and Early National periods. One had to read practically to the end of the list before coming to a figure whose claim to fame was undeniably anchored in the colonial experience: Jonathan Edwards at #90, sandwiched between two other names- Walter Lippman and Lyman Beecher- likely to elicit a yawn or shrug from today\u27s John Q. Public. This indignity is compounded by the fact that the panel of experts who compiled the list included Gordon S. Wood and Joyce Appleby, two doyens of early American historians. [excerpt

Featured Piece

This year the General Editors decided to create a feature piece to show our appreciation for the History Department. We selected four professors from the faculty to answer a question about history: what figure/event/idea inspires your interest in history? Reading their responses helped give us insight into the thoughts of these brilliant minds and further help us understand their passion for the subject we all share a common love and interest in. We hope that you enjoy reading their responses as much as we did. The four members of the faculty we spoke with are Dr. Timothy Shannon, Dr. Ian Isherwood, Dr. Jill Titus, and Dr. Scott Hancock

Memory B cells and CD8⁺ lymphocytes do not control seasonal influenza A virus replication after homologous re-challenge of rhesus macaques.

This study sought to define the role of memory lymphocytes in the protection from homologous influenza A virus re-challenge in rhesus macaques. Depleting monoclonal antibodies (mAb) were administered to the animals prior to their second experimental inoculation with a human seasonal influenza A virus strain. Treatment with either anti-CD8α or anti-CD20 mAbs prior to re-challenge had minimal effect on influenza A virus replication. Thus, in non-human primates with pre-existing anti-influenza A antibodies, memory B cells and CD8α⁺ T cells do not contribute to the control of virus replication after re-challenge with a homologous strain of influenza A virus