Discoveries of America: Personal Accounts of British Emigrants to North America during the Revolutionary Era

by Edited by Barbara DeWolfe , Foreword by Bernard Bailyn

• ISBN13: 9780521385428
• ISBN10: 0521385423
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-09-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Discoveries of America is a collection of personal letters written by eighteen of the thousands of British emigrants who came to North America in the fifteen years preceding the onset of the American Revolution. These accounts are rare: few letters sent by emigrants during the colonial period exist. The letters reveal the motivations, experiences, characteristics, and emotions of these people, who populated America at a crucial time in its history, and provide new insights into the mechanisms of the British-American migration, especially the organization of personal networks of family and friends.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix	(2)
Preface	xi	(4)
A Note on Selection	xv	(4)
Editorial Procedures	xix
INTRODUCTION	1	(37)
NOVA SCOTIA	38	(50)
Narrative of Charles Dixon	38	(6)
Letter of James Metcalf	44	(3)
Letter of Luke Harrison	47	(4)
John Robinson and Thomas Rispin, A Journey through Nova Scotia	51	(37)
MIDDLE COLONIES	88	(61)
Letters of James Whitelaw	88	(20)
Alexander Thomson, News from America	108	(14)
Letters of Hugh Simm	122	(27)
CHESAPEAKE	149	(21)
Letters of John Campbell	149	(9)
Letters of David Duff	158	(6)
Letter of Thomas Feilde	164	(6)
NORTH CAROLINA	170	(17)
Letters of Alexander McAllister	170	(13)
Letter of Alexander Campbell of Balole	183	(4)
SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA	187	(32)
Letters of Alexander Cumine	187	(11)
Letters of George Ogilvie	198	(8)
Letters of Thomas Taylor	206	(4)
Letter of Baikia Harvey	210	(2)
Letter of Hester Wylly	212	(7)
Index	219