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White frontiersmen skirmish with native warriors.
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Northumberland
writer releases 7th book
in Pa. Frontier Series
John L. Moore of Northumberland,
Pa., has announced the publication of “Boats, Bullets & Bears,” the seventh
book in his Pennsylvania Frontier Series.
The 48-page volume contains true
stories of real people caught up in the struggles that took place all along the
Pennsylvania frontier throughout the 1700s. The stories in this non-fiction book are set
mainly in the valleys of the Delaware, Susquehanna, Juniata and Ohio rivers.
The author and self-publisher said that
the opening chapter details the violent death of Jack Armstrong, a
rough-and-tumble frontier trader whose business practices antagonized one
Indian too many during the 1740s. He and two men who worked for him traveled
into the woods in early 1744 and never came out again. Word soon crossed the
frontier that all three had been murdered. Obscure, but richly detailed
documents tell how and why Iroquois Indians living along the Susquehanna at
present-day Sunbury developed evidence that exposed the Native Americans
involved in Armstrong’s killing.
Other chapters tell how:
–The Philadelphia jury in Margaret
Mattson’s 1683 witchcraft trail delivered a split verdict. She was acquitted of
bewitching her neighbors’ cows, but found guilty of being known as a witch. William
Penn, who presided over the trial, let Margaret go home after her husband and
son posted a bond for her “good behavior.”
– Moravian missionaries who traveled along
the Susquehanna River’s West and North Branches during a famine in 1748 found
many Indians sick with smallpox and suffering from starvation. The people in
one native town were boiling tree bark for food. In another village they were
cooking grass.
– Early in the French & Indian War, an
influential Iroquois chief known as “The Belt of Wampum” urged Pennsylvania
officials to build a fort on the Susquehanna River at the native town called Shamokin,
present-day Sunbury. “Such Indians as continue true to you want a place to come
to and to live in security,” The Belt said in early 1756.
– Frances Slocum, a small girl kidnapped by
Indians from her home along the Susquehanna River during the America
Revolution, spent most of her adult life as a Miami Indian. In 1839, her
brother Joseph and his daughters traveled from Pennsylvania to Indiana to visit
her. They traveled by stage coach, canal boat and horse-drawn railroad during
their 19-day journey west.
Anecdotes throughout the book
describe how Native Americans and Europeans hunted bears, ate bear meat, and
used bearskins for blankets and mattresses.
Moore, a veteran newspaperman, said
he employed a journalist’s eye for detail and ear for quotes in order to write
about his long-dead subjects in a lively way. He said the book is based on 18th
and 19th century letters, journals, memoirs and transcripts of official
proceedings such as interrogations, depositions and treaties.
Professional storyteller
The author is also a professional
storyteller who specializes in dramatic episodes from Pennsylvania’s colonial
history. Dressed in 18th century clothing, he does storytelling in
the persona of “Susquehanna Jack,” a frontier ruffian. Moore is available on weekdays,
weekends and evenings for audiences and organizations of all types and sizes.
Moore has participated in several
archaeological excavations of Native American sites. These include the Village
of Nain in Bethlehem, Pa.; the City Island project in Harrisburg, Pa.,
conducted by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; and a
Bloomsburg University dig in 1999 at a Native American site near Nescopeck, Pa.
He also took part in a 1963 excavation conducted by the New Jersey State Museum
along the Delaware River north of Worthington State Forest.
A retired newsman, Moore’s 45-year
career included stints as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal; as a Harrisburg-based
legislative correspondent for Ottaway News Service; as managing editor of The
Sentinel at Lewistown, Pa.; as editorial page editor and managing editor at The
Daily Item in Sunbury; and as editor of the Eastern Pennsylvania Business
Journal in Bethlehem, Pa.
List of previous books
Moore’s previous books, all self-published and all part of
his Pennsylvania Frontier Series, include:
“Cannons,
Cattle & Campfires”
“Pioneers,
Prisoners & Peace Pipes”
“Rivers, Raiders
& Renegades”
“Settlers,
Soldiers & Scalps”
“Traders,
Travelers & Tomahawks”
“Warriors, Wampum & Wolves”
List of retailers
Many of Moore’s books are available at these Pennsylvania bricks-and-mortar
locations:
Bethlehem:
The New Street Book Shop
The Old Library Shop Book Store
Bloomsburg:
The Cloak and Dragon Bookstore
Burnham:
Friendship Bookstore
Easton:
The Sigal Museum
Kempton:
Dixon’s Muzzleloading Shop
Lewisburg:
Mondragon Bookstore
Natural Food and Garden Store
Harrisburg:
Dauphin County Historical Society
Fort Hunter Mansion and Park
Montoursville:
Lyon Camping and Supply
Muncy:
The Muncy Historical Society
Northumberland:
Norry Pharmacy
Youngs Sporting Goods
The Joseph Priestley House
Paxinos:
Masser’s Country Style Restaurant
Red Rock:
Red Rock General Store
Selinsgrove:
D.J. Ernst Books
Sunbury:
Northumberland County Historical Society
Williamsport:
Otto Book Store
Thomas T. Taber Museum
On the Internet
Amazon.com
AbeBooks.com
BookFinder4u.com
For
information about Mr. Moore’s storytelling programs and books, please contact:
John L. Moore
552 Queen
Street
Northumberland, Pa. 17857
(570)
473-9803 Email:
tomahawks1756@gmail.com
