Virginia's Indiana Territory (Now in West Virginia)

This pamphlet (which has been variously attributed to Anthony Benezet, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine) was

prepared by Samuel Wharton, as is attested by P.E. Du Simitière in his note-books preserved

 in the Library of Congress.

 It relates to a large tract of land within the limits of the present state of West Virginia, granted by the Indians in 1768

 to certain traders, including Wharton, and called by them "Indiana." The present pamphlet printed 1781 is an

enlargement of one published by Wharton in 1776.

In 1768 Wharton attended the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. There Wharton represented a group of merchants, known as the

 "suffering traders", whose trade goods were destroyed during the French and Indian War and Pontiac's Rebellion. As compensation for their losses,

 the Iroquois granted the "suffering traders" a tract of land making up about a fourth of modern West Virginia. This land, known as Indiana—unrelated

 to the later state of the same name—would cause him nothing but trouble for the next twenty years.

In 1782 and 1783 Wharton was a delegate to the Continental Congress. Many of his efforts there seem to have been quiet negotiations aimed at gaining

 recognition for his western land holdings. These did not avail, and he returned to Delaware. The entire claim came to naught when the Congress

passed the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware ceded all western claims, and his tract was confirmed as part of Virginia.

This is an able retelling of life and death on the 18th-century frontier of colonial Virginia (now mostly West Virginia), Pennsylvania, and the Ohio Territory.

Most of the narrative focuses on the intensely violent period on the frontier from the beginnings of the French and Indian War through the end of the century. Mr. De Hass' coverage includes General Braddock's ill-fated expedition to Ft. Necessity, Indian hatred of the British, the formation of Virginia's land companies, Lord Dunmore's campaign, numerous atrocities on all sides, the victories of George Rogers Clark and Anthony Wayne, and the relinquishment of Indian titles to much of the land in question.

The final quarter of the work consists of biographical sketches of the leading actors in the Border Wars.