First published 2018
Colin Calloway examines George Washington through his relationships with Native American leaders across his career. The author argues that Washington understood what most Americans have forgotten: the new Republic's success depended on acquiring Indian land, not just grand ideals of independence. Calloway traces Washington's interactions with Native leaders like Shingas, Tanaghrisson, Guyasuta, Joseph Brant, Cornplanter, and Little Turtle throughout his roles as surveyor, Virginia Regiment soldier, Continental Army commander, and first president. The book shows how tribes including the Iroquois Confederacy, Lenape, Miami, Creek, and Delaware played central roles in the nation's founding story. Calloway demonstrates the complexity of relationships between America's most powerful founding father and Native leaders whose influence declined as Washington's grew. The biography restores First Americans to their rightful place in the foundational narrative, showing how their stories intertwined with Washington's rise and the nation's birth during a tumultuous century of change.
Genres: biography, history, native-american, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, historical-figures
Setting: United States, Iroquois Confederacy, Lenape, Miami, Creek, Delaware
Period: 18th Century, American Revolution
620 pages · Hardcover · Oxford University Press