Timothy Horsfield's Papers : chiefly on Indian affairs of Pennsylvania, 1733-1771.

[1733-1771]

1 online resource (2 volumes) + 2 volumes of tables of contents

Description: The Timothy Horsfield Papers offer a window onto the tumultuous history of north-eastern Pennsylvania during the 1750s and 1760s. Centered in the region around Bethlehem, Pa., where Horsfield was justice of the peace, the collection is comprised largely of correspondence and related documents between Horsfield, William Parsons, and provincial and military authorities. The collection spans the period from 1733 to 1771, with the bulk from the late 1740s to the early 1760s. It includes particularly important and vivid information on the Indian assaults on the region in 1756 and 1757, and the military and diplomatic response. The majority of the letters in the previous Horsfield Papers were written during the critical months of October 1755 through August 1756, when north-eastern Pennsylvania was embroiled in violence. There are several depositions and letters that describe the attacks on the community of Brethren at Gnadenhütten. There is also another, somewhat smaller clutch during the summer and fall of 1763 and scattered letters at other times. Concerned with local defence, the raising of militia, intelligence on Indian movements, and forging contacts with Indian allies, the network of previous Horsfield's correspondents included some of the most prominent figures in provincial Indian affairs, including Benjamin Franklin, Richard Peters, Conrad Weiser, governors Robert Hunter Morris, William Denny, and James Hamilton, and Moravian men of influence such as August Gottlieb Spangeberg and David Zeisberger. An equally prominent assemblage of Native Americans appears in the collection, including Delaware chief Teedyuscung, Lewis Montour, Kolapeeha, and the Mohawk Sachem, Jonathan. The supremely violent events of the late fall 1755 are particularly well documented, including letters and several depositions relating to the Indian attacks at Penns Creek in October and Gnadenhutten in late November. The latter event underscores a running theme in the collection: the complex web of relations between Christianized (Moravian) Indians, the Moravian brethren, English settlers, and non-Christian Indians.

Manuscript.
Description: The Timothy Horsfield Papers offer a window onto the tumultuous history of north-eastern Pennsylvania during the 1750s and 1760s. Centered in the region around Bethlehem, Pa., where Horsfield was justice of the peace, the collection is comprised largely of correspondence and related documents between Horsfield, William Parsons, and provincial and military authorities. The collection spans the period from 1733 to 1771, with the bulk from the late 1740s to the early 1760s. It includes particularly important and vivid information on the Indian assaults on the region in 1756 and 1757, and the military and diplomatic response. The majority of the letters in the previous Horsfield Papers were written during the critical months of October 1755 through August 1756, when north-eastern Pennsylvania was embroiled in violence. There are several depositions and letters that describe the attacks on the community of Brethren at Gnadenhütten. There is also another, somewhat smaller clutch during the summer and fall of 1763 and scattered letters at other times. Concerned with local defence, the raising of militia, intelligence on Indian movements, and forging contacts with Indian allies, the network of previous Horsfield's correspondents included some of the most prominent figures in provincial Indian affairs, including Benjamin Franklin, Richard Peters, Conrad Weiser, governors Robert Hunter Morris, William Denny, and James Hamilton, and Moravian men of influence such as August Gottlieb Spangeberg and David Zeisberger. An equally prominent assemblage of Native Americans appears in the collection, including Delaware chief Teedyuscung, Lewis Montour, Kolapeeha, and the Mohawk Sachem, Jonathan. The supremely violent events of the late fall 1755 are particularly well documented, including letters and several depositions relating to the Indian attacks at Penns Creek in October and Gnadenhutten in late November. The latter event underscores a running theme in the collection: the complex web of relations between Christianized (Moravian) Indians, the Moravian brethren, English settlers, and non-Christian Indians.

Online resource; title from PDF table of contents caption (LLMC Digital, viewed January 17, 2023).

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