Independence lost : lives on the edge of the American Revolution

Independence lost : lives on the edge of the American Revolution

1st ed.

New York : Random House, 2015.

xxvi, 435 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 25 cm.

973.3 D984 2015

(OCoLC)893016508

Global perspective on the revolutionary period, Kathleen DuVal reveals personal stories such as that of Irish trader Oliver Pollock, Scottish plantation owners James and Isabella Bruce, and Creek leader Alexander McGillivray for whom the American Revolution was more complicated than the issue of colonial independence. These individuals, their communities, and nations weighed their options, deciding based on personal interests whether independent states or loyal British colonies would best serve them as neighbors, let alone future rulers. DuVal explores how American independence affected the lives of those living on the edges of British colonial America, such as slaves, Indians, women, and the colonists of other European nations and finds that the war left some much more free than others. DuVal brings us to a region on the edge of the war where it seems that everyone was hedging their bets--the Gulf Coast. As the British tried to hold onto the thirteen rebelling colonies that would eventually be the nascent United States, their loyal colony of West Florida was left vulnerable to Spanish invasion from the west--Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [357]-423) and index.
Contents: The place and its people. The Gulf Coast ; Payamataha ; Alexander McGillivray ; Oliver Pollock and Margaret O'Brien ; James Bruce and Isabella Chrystie ; Petit Jean ; Amand Broussard -- What to do about this war? Independence in Creek and Chickasaw countries ; To fight for Britain? ; To fight for Spain? -- The Revolutionary War. Inspiring loyalty ; A wartime borderland ; The Spanish siege of Pensacola -- The paradox of independence. Nations, colonies, towns, and states ; Independence gained or lost? ; Confederacies -- Republican empires and sovereign dependencies.
L2015M83

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