Indian Peter is the remarkable story of Peter Williamson, who, in 1743 at the age of 13, was snatched from an Aberdeen quayside and transported to the burgeoning American colonies to be sold into indentured servitude. Unlike many others who found themselves in similar circumstances, Peter was fortunate to be bought by a humane man who left him money when he died, enabling him to buy his own farm after marrying. According to Peter's own account, his farm was attacked in 1754, during what became known as the French and Indian War, and he was captured by the Indians, who forced him to travel with them as a slave. After escaping, he joined the British Army to fight the French and their Indian allies but his regiment was forced to surrender and he was taken to Canada as a prisoner of war. When he was eventually freed, Peter made his way back to Scotland and tracked down the men who were behind his initial kidnapping. He accused them publicly and took them to court in a landmark case that exposed the scandal of slave trading. Once settled in Edinburgh, Peter became a publican, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. He developed Edinburgh's first Penny Post system, launched a weekly magazine and shamelessly exploited his experiences for profit. Brimming with action and adventure, Indian Peter is a true-life tale of abduction, war and courtroom drama. It is an inspiring story of courage, fortitude and one man's determination to survive against seemingly insurmountable odds.

"A fast-moving tale of courage, cruelty, hardship, and savagery."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette In North America's first major conflict, known today as the French and Indian War, France and England--both in alliance with Native American tribes--fought each other in a series of bloody battles and terrifying raids. No confrontation was more brutal and notorious than the massacre of the British garrison of Fort William Henry--an incident memorably depicted in James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. That atrocity stoked calls for revenge, and the tough young Major Robert Rogers and his "Rangers" were ordered north into enemy territory to exact it. On the morning of October 4, 1759, Rogers and his men surprised the Abenaki Indian village of St. Francis, slaughtering its sleeping inhabitants without mercy. A nightmarish retreat followed. When, after terrible hardships, the raiders finally returned to safety, they were hailed as heroes by the colonists, and their leader was immortalized as "the brave Major Rogers." But the Abenakis remembered Rogers differently: To them he was Wobomagonda--"White Devil."

Part of a six-title set on Scottish thought and culture in the late 18th-century, this book reveals personal visions of the thought of this period. William Smellie, Edinburgh printer and natural philosopher, left behind a rich archive of correspondence and manuscripts.

Liberté? Egalité? Fraternité? Or just plain gall? In this provocative and brilliantly researched history of how the French have dealt with the United States, John J. Miller and Mark Molesky demonstrate that the cherished idea of French friendship has little basis in reality. Despite the myth of the “sister republics,” the French have always been our rivals, and have harmed and obstructed our interests more often than not. This history of French hostility goes back to 1704, when a group of French and Indians massacred American settlers in Deerfield, Massachusetts. The authors also debunk the myth of French aid during the Revolution: contrary to popular notions, the French did not enter the war until very late and were mainly interested in hurting their rivals, the British. After the war, the French continued to see themselves as major players in the Western hemisphere and shaped their policies to limit the growth and power of the new nation. The notorious XYZ affair, involving French efforts to undermine the government of George Washington, led to an undeclared naval war with France in 1798. During the Civil War, the French supported the Confederacy and installed a puppet emperor in Mexico. In the twentieth century, Americans clashed with the French repreatedly. The French victory over President Wilson at Versailles imposed a short-sighted and punitive settlement on Germany that paved the way for the rise of fascism in the 1930s. During World War II, Vichy French troops killed hundreds of American soldiers in North Africa, and diehard French fascist units fought against the Allies in the rubble of Berlin. During the Cold War, Charles DeGaulle yanked France out of NATO and obstructed our efforts to roll back Soviet expansion. The legacy of French imperial power has been no less disastrous. The French left Haiti in a shambles, got us into Vietnam, and educated many of the world’s worst tyrants at their elite universities, including Pol Pot, the genocidal Cambodian dictator. The fascist Baath regimes in Iraq and Syria are another legacy of failed French colonialism. Americans have been particularly irritated by French cultural arrogance—their crusades against American movies, McDonalds, Disney, and the exclusion of American words from their language have always rubbed us the wrong way. This irritation has now blossomed into outrage. Our Oldest Enemy shows why that outrage is justified.

An account of his first official mission, made as emissary from the Governor of Virginia to the commandant of the French forces on the Ohio, October, 1753-January, 1754.

Four essential accounts of war in the New World This book will be a joy to all those-academic and casual-who have an interest in the Seven Years War as it was fought in America in the middle of the eighteenth century-the conflict we now know as the French and Indian War. These narratives are too packed with action and incredible events to give details here. They are all shorter works which, without companions, would have been unlikely to see publication individually, but joined together the reader can immerse himself in the times and be enthralled by the voices of those who experienced these momentous times. Here are Rogers, Israel Putnam and other famous Rangers who weave their presence and deeds through each account. Here are the Provincials and the Regulars-the Royal Americans and the Highlanders. Here are Fort Bull, Fort William Henry, Crown Point and Ticonderoga. Here are Monroe, Amherst, Howe, Johnson and many others. This is the experience of war against the French and their fierce Indian allies in the deep woods of the American Frontier. Raids, ambushes, flights, captures, ordeals and escapes fill all the pages of this truly indispensable book!

A transcript of the 1758 edition of Peter Williamson's book French and Indian Cruelty which recounts his kidnapping from Scotland and transportation to America, where he was sold as a slave. His capture by Indians and service as a soldier in the French and Indian Wars. Includes a new foreword which provides an account of his remarkable life following his return to Scotland.