Reuben Gold Thwaites

#2

"Daniel Boone was an important historical figure before, during and after the American Revolutionary War. He was born on November 2, 1734. In his long life of 86 years, America went from a mostly unexplored backwoods wilderness that was a British colony to a settled and developed area. Probably the most important single accomplishment of Daniel Boone was his development of the Cumberland Gap as the only direct transit route through the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to Kentucky. Daniel Boone explored the gap, made the gap wider and helped immigrants reach it. By 1800, 200,000 immigrants had crossed the Cumberland Gap to reach Kentucky. At a time when there were no roads and only Indian trails, Daniel Boone crossed back and forth so many times it is hard to keep count. Daniel Boone traveled as far west as Nebraska. He traveled by horse or by foot. He was a businessman and a politician. He served in the Virginia state legislature. He went broke many times. He was a man of peace who tried to avoid conflicts but nevertheless was involved in battles with the Indians and with the British during the French and Indian Wars and the American Revolutionary War."--Amazon.com.

#3

2006

This volume represents Thwaites’ understanding of Wisconsin history in his maturity, after many years of research. That research included his study of a large mass of documents from France that became available around the turn of the century. By the time he wrote this book, Thwaites’ views had changed about French and British influence on the 19th century development of Wisconsin. He now considered that even though Great Britain had dominated Wisconsin from 1760 to 1815, the longer-term British influence on the state was fairly negligible. Instead, as the title indicates, Thwaites thought that when the New England yankees arrived, Wisconsin was still French in many ways. He also stresses in this volume the major cultural and political impact of European immigrants, particularly the Germans, who arrived during the formative years of Territorial government and early statehood.