A History of the Indian Wars with the First Settlers
Item #79741
[SANDERS, Daniel, Clarke]. A History of the Indian Wars with the First Settlers of the United States, Particularly in New-England. Montpelier, Vt.: Wright & Sibley, 1812. 319pp. 12mo. Contemporary calf, gilt label. Boards rubbed and a bit scuffed. Text tanned, light foxing and soiling throughout, occasional horizontal tears into text. Trimmed close at outer margin, sometimes with loss of a few letters. Contemporary ownership inscriptions in pencil and ink on front and rear endpapers. Good plus. A rare work on the history of the early wars with Native Americans on the New England frontier, written by the first president of the University of Vermont. Beginning with the earliest interactions of white settlers and native populations, Sanders carries the tale all the way through General Hull's surrender the year this was written. While none too kind to Native Americans, this book was one of the earliest to outwardly criticize the attitudes of colonial New Englanders towards indigenous populations. "This book aroused bitter criticism because of its strictures on colonial bigotry and cruelty to the natives..." - Streeter. Bibliographers long told the story of its suppression to only a handful of copies, but while there certainly were bitter reviews and the work is quite rare, more recent bibliographers (notably Marcus McCorison in VERMONT IMPRINTS) have suggested that rumors of its wholesale destruction were greatly exaggerated. It is now considered one of the best overall histories of American frontier conflict. The author, Daniel C. Clarke, was a Massachusetts native who became a teacher and preacher after graduating from Harvard. As the first president of the University of Vermont, he was also its sole instructor for the first six years, personally attending to every course, maintaining the buildings, and even performing much of the groundswork himself. Tragedy struck Clarke in 1812, when the college was forcefully taken and converted into a barracks by American military forces: "Sanders at this time was almost overwhelmed with misfortunes: his book, A HISTORY., published anonymously at Montpelier in 1812, had aroused bitter criticism because of its strictures on colonial bigotry and cruelty to the natives; his wife was a victim of occasional attacks of insanity; five of his eight children had recently died in an epidemic. Now.
Price: $2,750.00