Vignettes

"In the autumn of 1742, amidst the uncharacteristically gentle waves of the Atlantic Ocean, a cry of new life rattles the planks of the Mary William. Surrounded by the faces of her parents, Thomas and Jane, and those of her siblings, John, Thomas, and Betsey, Mary Jemison takes her first breath. The ship is bound for Philadelphia, but the Jemison patriarch is accustomed to rural Irish farmland, and he finds that he’s unable to withstand the pressures of city life. Shortly after arriving, he joins up with other Presbyterian Scots-Irish families and pushes further west—towards the frontier of the English colonies, and into Iroquoian territory. The Jemisons settle near South Mountain, along Marsh Creek; they clear the land for husbandry, and live peacefully for nearly a decade, alarmed only occasionally by the wildlife—“the midnight howl of the prowling wolf, or the terrifying shriek of the ferocious panther.” Then, one warm morning in the spring of 1755, shortly after the dawn of the French and Indian War, a group of Frenchman and Shawnee natives take captive the Jemison family, and Mary’s life is altered forever."

Rowan A Byrne

B.A. English 2017

Millersville University

"The spark of the French and Indian War occurred in the strangest of places, on a British ship off the coast of Florida. A Spanish officer searching the ship cut off the ear of the ship’s captain, a man named Robert Jenkins. Thus, the War of Jenkin’s Ear began, engaging the British Empire in a series of wars against France and Spain that were fought around the world, but more importantly, in Pennsylvania. In an effort to maintain claims in North America and draw British troops away from England, France engaged various Indian groups, most embittered by the loss of their land, to strike the English settlements.

The major concern of Pennsylvania was the strengthening of Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh, by the French. An unsuccessful attempt to take the fort was made by the young George Washington of Virginia. A second attempt to take the fort was made by British General Edward Braddock in July of 1755. His defeat let loose a series of devastating Indian raids spearheaded by French soldiers and Delaware Indians. Although Braddock’s defeat and the subsequent splitting of his supplies between the French and Indian forces encouraged the Delaware to raid for goods, their fight was primarily motivated by an attempt to keep their land. "

Bradley Auker

B.A. History 2016

Millersville University