The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Winning of the West, Volume One
by Theodore Roosevelt

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Title: The Winning of the West, Volume One
From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1769-1776

Author: Theodore Roosevelt

Release Date: April 7, 2004 [EBook #11941]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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PRESIDENTIAL EDITION

THE WINNING OF THE WEST

BY

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

VOLUME ONE

FROM THE ALLEGHANIES TO THE MISSISSIPPI

1769-1776

WITH MAP

This book is dedicated, with his permission
to FRANCIS PARKMAN

To whom Americans who feel a pride in the pioneer history
of their country are so greatly indebted

"O strange New World that yit wast never young,
Whose youth from thee by gripin' need was wrung,
Brown foundlin' o' the woods, whose baby-bed
Was prowled roun' by the Injun's cracklin' tread,
And who grew'st strong thru shifts an' wants an' pains,
Nursed by stern men with empires in their brains,
Who saw in vision their young Ishmel strain
With each hard hand a vassal ocean's mane;
Thou skilled by Freedom and by gret events
To pitch new states ez Old World men pitch tents.
Thou taught by fate to know Jehovah's plan,
Thet man's devices can't unmake a man.

* * * * *

Oh, my friends, thank your God, if you have one, that he
'Twixt the Old World and you set the gulf of a sea,
Be strong-backed, brown-handed, upright as your pines,
By the scale of a hemisphere shape your designs."
--LOWELL.

PREFACE.

Much of the material on which this work is based is to be found in the
archives of the American Government, which date back to 1774, when the
first Continental Congress assembled. The earliest sets have been
published complete up to 1777, under the title of "American Archives,"
and will be hereafter designated by this name. These early volumes
contain an immense amount of material, because in them are to be found
memoranda of private individuals and many of the public papers of the