Revolution on the frontier: did the Declaration of Independence matter out there?

Historians have occasionally remarked that upon hearing the news at the outbreak of the American Revolution, many frontiersmen shrugged their shoulders and got back to business. The demands of day-to-day life may have kept men from flocking East to join the fighting, but eventually, the "destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions" set forth in the declaration would impact everyone along the frontier...
00:00 - Independence Hall!
00:10 - The Sound of Liberty 🔔
Video Introduction
00:18 - Introduction
00:42 - Philadelphia's Colonial Gardens
01:07 - Posing the Question
01:26 - Frontier in the Declaration
01:54 - Experiencing Politics Firsthand
02:20 - Did People Care?
Background Information
02:41 - French & Indian War
03:51 - Intertribal Treachery
04:42 - Dunmore's War
05:24 - Neutral Frontier Tension
06:00 - Cornstalk's Murder
06:58 - Setting the Scene
War on the Frontier
08:00 - Fort Pitt
08:24 - Forts Henry & Randolph
08:37 - Boonesboro
08:48 - Harrodsburg
08:57 - Logan's Station
The Result of Frontier Conflict
09:19 - Stalemate Period
09:50 - Fate of the Ohio Territory
Conclusion
10:19 - Conclusive Answer: Yes!
10:44 - Politics Lived Out
11:12 - Concluding Remarks
This video is a part of my 18th-Century Question & Answer series, available as an ever-developing playlist on my channel landing page and in the 'playlists' tab. In this playlist, I take questions posed in comments sections throughout the channel and answer them with the aid of significant research and by incorporating my own experiences as a historical interpreter. Feel free to ask other questions in the comments section- your question might be the subject of my next video!
Language set forth in the Declaration of Independence, like the phrase "merciless Indian savages," reflects the sentiments of the time, not my own. I have the utmost respect for America's indigenous people and carry a genuine reverence for those who fought honorably against impossible odds during the period described in this video. A reference to "the Indians," and another to "Indian raids," is meant only to capture the broad stereotype that was leveled towards Native Americans during this time period, as reflected in the Declaration itself. Despite directly quoting antiquated- and offensive- phraseology, I believe I have accurately conveyed my respect for those on both sides of the frontier conflicts mentioned in this video while maintaining the authenticity of our nation's Declaration of Independence and the sentiments expressed therein.
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[@FrontierTradingCompany]

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[@jamesvatter5729]

Great stuff! You summed up thousands of pages of historical reading. Well done.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thanks for watching, I appreciate your comment!

[@wyattgardner7999]

Excellent history lessons. My family help settle Fort Harrod and are buried there. I grew up hearing stories that my Grandmother told me about the Fort and our family when I was a kid. You are a good storyteller of early American history; thanks

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Very neat family connection! Thanks for watching, I appreciate the comment.

[@JohnClarke808]

I'm glad I came across your channel. I've always been into the frontier and woodsman. I lost interest, now that I found the channel today I'm ready to get back into it. Thanks

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Awesome, I'm happy I could help rekindle a passion. This is a great time period to learn about! Thanks for your comment.

[@72buffaloman]

Great stuff! Love the content and the format. In this crazy world just the fact that a young man like yourself is passionate about keeping important history alive is an awseome thing!

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thanks so much, I appreciate the comment!

[@hammerhound168]

Wow ! You have expanded my understanding of a almost forgotten segment of our history. TY.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thanks for watching!

[@martinmeltzer2696]

Some of the militia that fought in Dunsmore's War, were, not long after, busy chasing him out of Virginia and onto a British warship in the Potomac! This was an informative overview of the Revolutionary War West of the Appalachians. George Rogers Clark's successful campaign in the region, enabled the Americans to maintain the slimmest of toeholds and influence with the local Tribes. (Although, the negotiations in Paris that ended the war... also had a lot to do with it, as well.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Great tidbit about the militia from Dunmore's War! Seems like that was pretty common during the period. I guess things get pretty hectic with the various European powers, tribes, and colonists all interacting with one another!

[@martinmeltzer2696]

@@FrontierTradingCompany Yeah! When you throw in the Spanish in Florida and Louisiana....all the way up to St. Louis, all of the Native Tribes... with their own objectives, AND the Colonists... that were not above using sharp elbows on their fellow Colonies (Pennsylvania was none to happy to have settlers from Connecticut come in and set up shop in what they considered to be their territory. New Hampshire would only participate if New York would renounce all claim to the Green Mountains, etc.. Then all of the newly minted States had to come to terms with the vague Colonial Charters that claimed dominion, "from Sea to Sea"! Things got real complicated, real quick!

[@michaeldunwoody3629]

Fascinating! And I thought I was a student of History....

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Haha, thank you for this comment. We are all students of history! The past informs the present, which impacts the future... I'm just happy to help share what I know of the past, in hopes that it will inspire a more thoughtful present, and ultimately yield a brighter future. Thanks for watching :)

[@tumbleweed6658]

Very well done I love how you you put your focus on how the Native Peoples played in the American story of independence. Its sad how they were forced to pick sides when all any body really wants is to live in peace.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thank you- very sad indeed. Much of the conflict along the frontier was instigated by British-backed Native tribes. The history of Native Americans is an absolutely crucial part of American history as a whole, but unfortunately it is often overshadowed by other events. Thanks for watching and I appreciate the comment!

[@charlesmaximus9161]

@Tumbleweed66: With all due respect, it is a bit naive as well as anachronistic to impose postmodern notions of utopian egalitarianism onto peoples of the past, no matter their ethnic extraction. There were indeed peaceful “natives” (I was born on this continent as were my grandparents and theirs before them; am I not also “native”?). But there were also warring tribal nations and confederacies who ate, slept, and breathed perpetual conflict. The Mohawk, to give one example, were anything but peaceful. War wasn’t always conducted as revenge for previous acts of aggression. It could be, of course. But hostilities could also be impersonal and seemingly without justification. Modern folks, especially pompous, urban academics, seem to not want to accept this at all. They seem hellbent on reducing everything to this depthless comic bookesque crusade of the Indians fighting some kind of defensive racial war against the “greedy whites”. But real life is never that simple. People are complicated and conflict abounds whenever and wherever people take up space; ethnic distinctions, although significant, are rarely a sole factor. I might also add that the story of Euro-Indian relations in North America is not so accurate when seen through a purely racial lens. The Indians were as diverse and distinct from each other as Europeans, and they fought amongst each other far more frequently than against the French, British, Spanish, or Dutch. A Cayuga isn’t an Abenaki. A Seneca is not Arapaho. Even within tribal nations there is sometimes bitter rivalry; the northern and southern Cheyenne peoples literally hated each other to the core, despite being from the same tribal nation. I feel that this oversimplified take on their story allows for unnecessary politicisation, which is rather insulting and degrading to their people, as it would be for anyone.

[@michalurbanful]

I've just bumped into your channel and it's great. I really like watching this kind of historical/reenactmen stuff from the North American frontier. Keep up the good work. Regards from the Czech Republic.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thank you! I believe you are only the second person to comment that they are not from the US. Great that you're watching and I appreciate the comment!

[@MorgansRaiders23]

An outstanding presentation. It really underscores how convoluted the whole frontier was between the French and Indian War and all the way through the American Revolution. I have studied the 8th Pennsylvania a bit and their role in western Pennsylvania/ eastern Ohio, but never realized the many layers of conflict going on in the territory.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thanks for watching and I appreciate your comment! Very convoluted out there indeed.

[@sodapop9mm562]

I am so happy that i have found this channel. This was just such wonderfully put together video!! Great job and thanks!

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thank you very much! I appreciate your comment!

[@rebeccaback3287]

Excelente presentación! Glad that you take pride in our Constitution! David Back.

[@robertgriffin9840]

A wonderful presentation. My 4Xgrreat-grandfather fought in Col Crawford's army of 1782 and rwo years later sailed down the Ohio from Fort Pitt to the Wabash, then up that river to the White River, where the family holdings eventually grew into Decker, Indiana, just south of Post Vincent, today's Vincennes.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thank you! It's good to hear you are connected to your heritage.

[@charleslamica5123]

Please keep doing this good work. The history of the 18th century frontier is nearly forgotten today. This stuff is no longer taught in our schools. We've dumbed down our history classes, and in some cases, changed the history to fit modern social and political agendas. I enjoy that you present facts, without taking sides and without apologies. Your approach to history reminds me of the excellent books written by Allan Eckert.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Eckert's work "The Frontiersman" got me into this hobby years ago, so that is some very high praise. Thank you! More videos to come!

[@juliebarnett9812]

This is great work. I really enjoyed your video about the clothing of the time on the Frontier. I love your period-correct outfit. I'm sharing your channel to get you more followers. You're doing some good stuff.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thank you so much! Sharing the channel means a lot to me- I work hard to make sure my content has an opportunity to reach as many people as possible but I can only do so much. My goal is to spread a passion for 18th-century American history. Thank you for helping me fulfill my vision! Means a lot.

[@juliebarnett9812]

@@FrontierTradingCompany God be with you, brother.

[@Tadicuslegion78]

A Couple weeks ago I finished Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. And then last year Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West, 1765-1776 by Patrick Spero. The general conclusion I take away is it really depending on location and who were the community leaders AND whether or not it was an area known for Indian conflict/unrest from the frontiersmen because of factor X whether because of squatters moving in on Indian land/crooked white merchants/bad land deals or Indians being the aggressors. And, again only having read these two books, it appears that the Frontier was its own war that just so happened to tie to the War for Independence because it was a messy guerilla war of frontiersmen vs Indians with the handful of British Regulars posted out west stuck in their forts so they gave generous incentives for the Indians to fight plus the tribes own grievances at the frontiersmen. And it looks like news from the East about the big events of the Revolution did eventually make it out west, usually weeks or months after BUT the frontiersmen were more concerned about all those tribes lurking out in the woods than an army of redcoats marching down the Wilderness Road

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Agreed! I think this is a fair conclusion on all counts.

[@landho4k330]

Very informative thanks

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thanks for watching! Appreciate the comment!

[@ElMachoMucho]

You deserve waaaaaaay more views

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thanks! I'm humbled by the following I already have. I'm just creating the videos I would like to watch, and I'm happy to see others aligning with that vision.

[@a.z.6725]

I just came across your videos. Being a history buff myself, I really appreciate your knowledge, especially about NW Ohio. I live in Toledo and was wandering about the area that you were camping in your videos. Was that public land, and if so, where? Great videos and knowledge. Keep it up!

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Thank you! This is private land owned by the Boy Scouts of America (now Scouts BSA). I got my start at a scout camp and occasionally stop by and get out into the backcountry there to film. Great to have someone from the NW Ohio area on my channel, thanks for stopping by!

[@drscharmer]

Awesome job! Please consider doing a video on the second siege of Ft Henry and the evidence supporting the legend of Betty Zane. Col Shepherd was the Commandant over Col Zane during this battle. Col Shepherd was also the original owner of my 1760 stone farmhouse in Shepherdstown WV.

[@mandoman3042]

Thank you for teaching our History, unfortunately most Americans do not know their history.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

I'm honored to share what I can. Thanks for the comment!

[@mikegrossberg8624]

Was the Mohawk Valley, in upper New York, considered "the frontier"? Thinking of the depredations there caused by Butler's Rangers and their indian allies

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

To my understanding it was- I believe about a third of the population in the Mohawk Valley were killed and another third fled or re-identified as Loyalists to avoid the fate of their neighbors... a rough place, for sure. I am making a note to try and incorporate some more NY history in a future video. Appreciate your comment!

[@mikegrossberg8624]

@@FrontierTradingCompany I spent a couple of years re-enacting a civilian scout for a Butler's Rangers unit(I couldn't wear the brimless leather helmet that was regulation; I sunburn real easy, and needed to have my face protected)

[@timcooke9933]

There are a lot of definitions for the word “frontier.” My favorite is an area contested by two, or more, parties that is securely controlled by none. By that definition, the frontier was constantly moving; an amorphous zone that (in the case of the British colonies) moved westward as the coastal area was settled. To answer your question, at the time of the American War of Independence, I would consider the Mohawk Valley still the frontier. It was filling with more British and Dutch farmers, so it wasn’t long before the Indians had been pushed so far out that the area was no longer contested, and thus, no longer the “frontier.”

[@haroldconner2645]

Excellent! You could be a university history professor

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Haha, thank you! I give it my best but I'm afraid I'm not quite that good!

[@lusolad]

The history of everyday folk can be interesting. Thank you for talking about it. Maybe you could do other videos? On Logan, Kenton, or Boone.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Oh, someday! I don’t have nearly the expertise to put together an original presentation on the lives of these names, but someday I will!

[@timelesstruth1181]

Well done!

[@WyomingTraveler]

A good historical overview, about a year ago I made a video on fort Harrod Kentucky. In your conversation about the Kentucky settlements I think you forgot to mention Bryan Station. The frontiersman also played a major role in the war in the east by their victory at Kings Mountain, South Carolina. Period

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Very true, thanks for pointing those out. This is a very, very broad overview, and I know I skipped a lot. You have given me some good topics for future videos, though, so I appreciate that!

[@WyomingTraveler]

@@FrontierTradingCompany i’m glad I gave you food for thought. I am very interested in the colonial frontier. Unfortunately being here in Wyoming there’s not much I can do in the way of colonial frontier videos except when I go east as I did at fort Harrod. I know you did the video on Colonel Crawford and I’m not sure how interested you are in colonial frontier history. But the over the mountain man at Kings Mountain is an interesting topic. They literally came out of nowhere defeated the British and then disappeared again. Son did however take part in the battle of Cowpens. Looking forward to more videos from you.

[@generoush3823]

Read The Frontiersman about Simon Kenton, great book and it really goes over what was happening in the west during those turbulent years

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

It's one of my favorites! Appreciate the comment and great to see another fan of Eckert's work!

[@Real11BangBang]

Oh yeah it did.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

👀👍

[@charlesmaximus9161]

Well done! I love how you illustrate the social and political atmosphere of this period without trying to superimpose silly 21st century pseudo-academic “woke” politicisation onto this very specialised historical subject. You simply present the history as it happened and for that I admire your work. The Midwest, from what I can tell, seems to really value their regional history and takes great care to preserve it’s dignity. I live in southern New England, where conflicts like the Pequot War and the southern theatre of King Philip’s War happened. Unfortunately, our rich, regional history is swiftly being eroded away by pompous “woke” urbanites from Harvard, Amherst, etc. seeking to redefine these complicated territorial wars as some kind of oversimplified racial war between ethnic groups. Many a precious monument stands defenceless in their political crosshairs. Statues to colonial women like Hannah Dustin and monuments to the great Myles Standish, as well as other colonial folk heroes have all either been altered, removed, or are on the list and awaiting removal. Thankfully, there are a few obscurer ones that they have not yet discovered, and I only pray it stays that way until this absurd social trend of insanity passes. I wish you all the best and I thank you for upholding our story of the Ohio frontier! God bless you and yours.

[@timwarnecke9889]

Wonder if this is still taught in public schools?

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Wasn't taught in mine! Trying to preserve it in the best way I know how to. Can only hope that I am doing the history justice.

[@WKUHilltopper]

It was in my school, but that was nearly 5 decades ago. Simon Girty still had a bad rap. LOL

[@juliebarnett9812]

🤣🤣🤣 Was it ever?

[@timwarnecke9889]

@@juliebarnett9812 was in my school, but I'm old

[@juliebarnett9812]

@@timwarnecke9889 I'm no spring chicken, but the only education we received was a week studying the Pilgrims and Indians. It was like 4th grade and we SURE didn't discuss how the people felt about the Declaration of Independence.

[@concretecowboy4212]

👍💯🇺🇸

[@randallledgerwood3949]

Just found! I am in BOwling green Ky , we’re are you located !

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

I was recently in BG, KY, for a rifle building class at WKU! You have a beautiful city. I live and film in Northwest Ohio.

[@History_Coffee]

Philadelphia, come for the history, stay because you got 15 parking tickets and your car was booted.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Haha! Fortunately, I didn't have any issues with that!

[@wadelomax7621]

Can you bump your volume up some

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

I have learned a lot about audio since making this video and can promise better quality in the future! Thanks!

[@anidaralopez5676]

Maybe you are, but if not....you should be an American History teacher in public school.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

I appreciate that, it means a lot. I am in college but I am not studying education!

[@McGintyNHD]

There's a lot lacking here. The role of the Frontier in the AWI is significantly more active than you're giving it credit for. Parts of Virginia's frontier were the first to be willing to break away from the Crown, and the contributions made by frontiersman in the eastern theater starting in 1775 with the beeline March, were significant. You've also lost a lot of the nuance of the war in the west. In many ways the approach of the Americans, particularly virginians, was intensely antagonistic and expansionist.

[@FrontierTradingCompany]

Great points! Thanks for watching. Your comments sound well informed, and as an amateur college student looking for mentorship, I'd be happy to chat more via email if you feel that you could be a value-add for any future content. My address is [e-mail].