This picture portrays Chief Agüeybana greeting Juan Ponce de leon on his arrival to Puerto Rico. The painting portrays a common scenario of the "first encounter" that occurred between the European explorers and the native populations. The artist literally painted a picture that shows a peaceful, innocent, and almost curious meeting between the two groups.

Main Idea to Calusa Research Paper

My research paper is written about the Calusa Indians and their interaction with the Spanish explorers. The Calusa have a complex society that mixes religion with their social hierarchy. Upon learning of this the Spanish want to save the Calusa and convert them to Catholics. Since the Calusa have been practicing their beliefs for centuries they refused to switch to the Spanish ways. This led to a series of confrontations between the natives and the European explores which ultimately resulted in the demise of the Calusa kingdom. The main idea of my research paper is to illustrate the first hand experiences the Spanish with the Calusa and how both parties reacted to the hostility. I want to show how The Calusa thrived as a people prior to the European settlers but slowing began to decline upon their arrival. An image that summarizes my main idea is as following:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/sflarch/image_conversion.htm
In this image, a Calusa leader is making contact with a Spanish missionary. This represents the paper well because their religious conflict is the start and eventually the end to the battles between them.

Florida and the Environment

So far, the main idea of my research paper is obviously, the environment in florida pertaining to european settlers in the 1600s. My argument states that The environment proved to be a difficult, yet crucial factor in determining the success of European settlers in Florida. One aspect of my paper that is not what one may expect is that i discuss the environment as more than simply a discussion of climate. The environment pertains to yes, weather - but also to wildlife and human beings that inhabit the area. This of coarse opens up a whole new dynamic to my paper, however fits in accordingly with my main idea.

Jackson and his Invasion of Florida

The main idea of my research paper is to prove how Jackson's split-second decision making skills and willingness to disobey his orders lead to the United States acquisition of Florida. Jackson went against his orders to invade Spain and consequently, made the Spanish sell it to the U.S. This picture is a good representation of my paper (Jackson at Pensacola):

Pensacola

This image represents my research topic on Pensacola. In the image Pensacola is located on the bottom right. The main idea of my research paper is the progression of Pensacola between 1690-1730. Pensacola was a location important to the three main imperial powers that was present to North America - Britain, France and Spain. The paper contains struggles that the Spanish faced during their time of settlement of Pensacola bay, the French's interests and capturing of the Spanish colony and other disputes for the precious location

Florida and the Civil War

This paper emphasizes Florida's role in the civil war and its position on slavery during the time after the Revolutionary War, leading up the the Civil War, and shortly after the ending of the Civil War. Although, Florida had only been a state for a seemingly short period of time they adopted the culture of the south and became prosperous and thrived because of it. Threatening to abolish slavery led them to take action and protect their way of life fighting alongside South Carolina, Georgia and others, those of which are Florida's sister states. The area of Pensacola, namely Fort Pickens and Pensacola Harbor, played the most important role in protecting their confederate soldiers. Not only men but women were also subject to the harsh nature of life during war and some women served as nurses in the infirmary, some of them were left to watch over plantations and slaves that were not directly apart of the war efforts. Florida was able to withstand the war efforts of the Union soldiers, more specifically at the Battle of Olustee which was the Union's last attempt to seize Florida, until the end of the war. Many people depict Florida to have played a small role in the Civil War but they actually played a role much larger than everyone suspected and examining that role is the highlight of this paper.

*The picture is of the Battle of Olustee.

Florida Cracker Cowboys

In my paper, I researched the Florida Cracker Cowboys. Florida Crackers were hard working, self-sufficient, and fiercely independent people who lived on the frontiers of Florida, living in places that were considered almost uninhabitable. The lawlessness of Florida's frontier was similar to the stories famous in the Old West. Cattle raising became a large industry after the Second Seminole War, and many Crackers became cowmen and cattlehunters. This nomadic, solitary lifestyle suited many freedom-loving Crackers in Florida. Cattle kings, ranchers who accumulated large herds and large sums of money, were also established in Florida, and they handed their ranches down through generations. Though ranches and cattle raising persist today, the cattle-raising lifestyle in Florida is slowly disappearing as Florida becomes more developed and civilization replaces open grassland.

The Bane of Racism

In my research paper on Florida, my main subject is on racism. Not just racism according to the Native American side, but on the part of the European side. More specifically my research paper will explain the cultures of both sides, compare and contrast the cultures and explain what contributed most to diplomatic failure. The European nations I will include in my paper are Spain, France and England. I will explain the nation's reason for exploring and settling in Florida, and their systems of trade, military, and law. I am going to strongly point out why the Europeans evolved from respecting the natives to detesting them as cruel savages. From a view of both sides, I will explain what terrible prejudice was encountered. I will explain the prejudice stemmed from European countries misunderstanding native culture, the European views on religion, ethics, and civility. I will explain the problems some Native Americans tribes had with mistrust, prejudice, and acceptance of peace from France. I will include why some of the behavior, customs, and manner of some native tribes were found to be revolting, and even intrusive in their point of view. I will also include the problem 1560’s France had with some thieving tribes and why it prevented further trust among their cultures. I will talk about the behavior, customs, dress, appearance, and values of the natives from their own cultural interpretations. Many nations such as France resorted to slavery, harsh punishments, and even killing in order to make the natives into more civilized people. That did ruinous destruction upon their culture and religion because the old, beautiful Native American values were lost in time as they grew more civilized by 1760’s Anglican society, losing their values by strict means of conversion.
I will thoroughly discuss the impact British law had upon the Native Americans, its discriminatory aspects, and disrespect it generated upon them as human beings. I will include the failed attempts by the Catholic Spanish in the 1510s-1560s to convert the pagan, matrilineal, and open Calusa and Timacuan tribes. I will include the early French trade and diplomatic expeditions and why diplomacy failed because of abuse of power, which included slavery and disobedience of the King’s word. All of the European nations failed to bring peace to the Native Americans because their cultural values clashed with the indigenous people. Natives were misunderstood as savages and animals, not caring human beings. But on the other hand, the natives failed to commit to peace offered by the French and sometimes acted with wild behavior towards settlers without considering the consequences of their actions. Here is an image depicting Columbus and his meeting with the Native Americans and his misunderstanding of who they really are.

This is Chief Osceola one of the great leaders of the Seminole Indian tribe.

William Bartram Secondary Sources

Secondary Sources
My first secondary source is an article entitled “The Creator’s Boundless Palace: William Bartram’s Philosophy of Nature. This source not only looks at Bartram’s most important work, Travels, but also at an unpublished treatise by him that is more centered on philosophy. Bartram’s theory of “divine monitor” is elucidated in detail. Metaphysics, civilization, nature, and morality are all discussed by showing the Travels and the unpublished work’s cohesive philosophy of nature.
Second is an article called “William Bartram, a Classical Scientist.” In this article, Richard M. Gummere argues that Bartram was not a proponent of Pantheism. Instead, Bartram is defined as a Neo-Platonist scientist. Neo-platonism, at least in Bartram’s sense, is essentially equated to deism.
Third is probably one of the most important of all my secondary sources. In “Encountering “the Other,” Eve Kornfeld discusses the preconceptions and racialization of Native American’s in the minds of American intellectuals. The narrative, according to Kornfeld, plays a central role in Othering, or describing someone as an “Other” because of race, gender, class, religion, nationality, or a combination of social categories. After providing numerous examples of this in American narratives prior to 1790, she discusses the role William Bartram played. I don’t want to give too much away here, but Kornfeld provides much of the evidence that will be used in my paper to argue with Murphree’s opinion on Bartram’s contribution to racialization.
The fourth is minimal and discusses differences found in different editions of William Bartram’s Travels and mentions the ramifications of such editing.
Thomas Hallocks “On the Borders of a New World” discusses different interpretations of Bartram’s Travels. Hallock influenced my paper with his description of Bartram as in, “a position at both the margins and center of a culture…” This helps, when used with Kornfeld’s article, to establish Bartram’s racialization as the only possible language but still used to subvert the preconceptions attached to these racialized images. The article also indirectly suggests Bartram’s pluralism.
My sixth source is next to useless. It is entitled “Swallowing the Evidence: William Bartram and the Limits of Enlightenment.” In this article, author Michael Gaudio critiques Bartram’s natural history drawings as works of enlightenment art. “The void,” or the dark, black and mysterious aspects of many of Bartram’s drawings, especially of plants, is understood in the context of race, along with other similar Enlightenment paintings. “Visibility of the world, natural and social, finds its limit in a void. (17)”. He relies more on art history then anything else and thus provides little influence on my paper.
Seven and eight can easily be described together. The first of these two is “The Quaker Background of William Bartram’s View of Nature,” by Larry R. Clarke, and the second is a response, coming a year later, entitled, “Clarke on the Quaker Background of William Bartram’s Approach to Nature,” by Bruce Silver. Clarke, as his title suggests, describes William Bartram’s philosophy of nature as derived from Quaker theology and philosophy. Silver, on the other hand, cites secular influences that could lead to the same intentions from Bartram. The Quaker influences Clarke cites are in no way suggest they are the only thing influencing Bartram. Besides the argument, Silver says, “The important fact is, however, that Bartram’s Travels is never overawed by the a priori beliefs that occasionally color it. Its originality overcomes its debts just as its core of solid observations overcomes its suspect preconceptions (510).” This is important for engaging a dialogue with Murphree and seeing why this paper has value.
Secondary source number nine is the book by Daniel S. Murphree entitled Constructing Floridians. Though it has already been mentioned, Murphree, in a small section on Bartram, argues that Bartram uses racialization and thus ends up contributing to racialization and adding new condemnations to the idea of the Native Americans. While some of his points are valid, like his claim Bartram uses racialized language and accounts (which is evident and impossible to argue against), others are the result of a misinterpretation of Bartram’s writing, feelings, and motives. Some of his claims are specious, but he also has his points. Without his work, I would not have been motivated to study Bartram’s work. Now that the research has been done, I feel like I have an interpretation of Bartram and his contribution through Travels that has more marks of validity.
My last secondary source is a small interpretive biography called Billy Bartram and his Green World. In this book, the narrative of Bartram’s Travels is interpreted and presented not solely by notes, but mostly in the form of biographical narrative. Fun, easier, and less detailed then the original, author Marjory Sanger does an excellent job in retelling the story of Bartram in an accurate yet entertaining fashion.

Most Interesting Primary Source

Of my primary documents the most interesting is the book Missons to the Calusa. This text is primarily translations from the first spanards interactions with the natives of Florida. It focuses on the Calusa Indians and their attempt to convert them. Most of the letters are written to the King informing him of the progress or troubles that are occurring in the new world. This book contains letters from the first explorers of the peninsula to the the very end of the Calusa, before they disappeared. It is interesting due to the fact it describes first had what the Spanish thought of the Indians. It gives me a real perspective of what they were like and hojavascript:void(0)w they treated the conquistadors.

Primary source

My most interesting primary source is the treaty of Payne's Landing. It is interesting because this is one of the many treaties the US Government used to manipulate the Native Americans to remove them from their homes and move them across the country to the reservation. This treaty deals with my topic because Osceola was present at the negations for this treaty. He was the main leader of the Seminole Indians in the Us Government's eyes and was the main reason the Indians refused the treaty agreements and refused to leave. This denial of the treaty lead to the Second Seminole War.

Native american population patterns

In writing my paper about how native americans used the environment around them in Florida, I found one source by J. Matthew Shumway, and Richard H. Jackson to be really helpful. The article goes over native americans

population patterns and covers the ones in Florida as well. This way I can see what native americans were where

and what they did in specific locations in Florida. Being able to read about their migration and population

patterns helps a lot with learning about the environment around them and how the environment in Florida affected

them and vice versa.

Primary Source

My most interesting primary source is Kingdoms Face to Face: French Mobile and Spanish Pensacola, 1699-1719, which is about the early years of Pensacola and Mobile. This article talks about the importance of both settlement for those imperial powers. Since both countries have territories down in the Caribbean it was a hot spot to have a settlement around the gulf coast. This source also just talks about a small period of time, which is good for my research because it narrows down the information that I need. This article also connects to my thesis, which is the importance of the location and why it was disputed.

Wild Florida the Way It Was

My most interesting primary source would be the book Wild Florida the Way It Was, about the cow hunters and cow huntresses of Florida. It's filled with narratives by cow hunters and cow huntresses themselves, those who were and still are involved in the cattle life in Florida. It's interesting, because it opens up a new world in Florida that I, personally, didn't really know anything about. During my research, it was one thing to read just information and facts about these Florida cowboys in a book, but another to read it from a first person perspective, by those who actually lived the life. Finding primary sources during my research was difficult, so I'm glad to have found this informative and interesting one. It shows how the business of a cow hunter was more than just a job, it was a way of life., a tradition that was passed down through generations.

The Florida Reader: Visions of Paradise from 1530 to the Present

Arrival, disgust, prejudice. That is what marks the greatest problems facing Florida history, even to this modern day. In Maurice O’Sullivan's and Jack C. Lane's The Florida Reader: Visions of Paradise from 1530, settlers of France saw the natives and misjudged them as ugly, savage, inhumane monsters. The natives misjudged the French settlers who were looking for peace as warmongers. One of the greatest examples of misunderstanding in this novel is incredible. For example,the natives resorted to "gift giving and kindness to Rene Laudonniere's men" (O'Sullivan, Lane 85).
After making a pact of peace with Chief Athore, the French returned, but the father of Athore; Satouriwa demanded war upon the French settlers looking for peace. It is apparent that Athore's father had disagreements with his son and was misguided, himself. He provoked war because he wrongly thought that the French were coming to attack him. Racism and prejudice is not only in European nations, but in some Native American cultures as well. This rightly proves that there are situations in which peace is impossible because of clan differences. Moreover, it is more closely related to a misunderstanding of culture and their differences. This misunderstanding is interesting because it is also shown by the Europeans who attempt to convert the disrespected natives into Catholicism. A clash between ideals rendered peace useless. It is interesting in this piece of literature how many times cultures and clans are disrupted just because of lack of effective communication. Conquistadors did not have the introspection or open mindedness to treat the natives as humans, rather like animals. However, in all fairness in encounters such as Laudonniere's, even prejudice was prevalent among the Native American Chief Satouriwa because of his mistake of assuming that the men under Laudonniere's command were looking for war, not peace. In history, the most interesting subject for me has always been understanding how one mistake of misunderstanding or mistrust would lead to prejudice, clan wars, and eventually decimation of a respected culture.

Primary Source

My most interesting Primary source would have to be documents collected from the Florida Historical Society. Ive been struggling to find sources in all honesty, and in many ways regret choosing the topic that i did. Maybe i am not looking in the right places, but I'm finding it difficult to find primary sources that pertain to the climate in Florida and more specifically its impact on a successful colonization of the new world. The sources i have found however, have been helpful. Documents ive found through the Florida Historical Society give insight as to how settlers were affected by unfamiliar climate patterns. This leads to the thesis of my paper, which argues the success of european settlers in america was dependent on their ability to adapt to their environmental surroundings.

Watercolours and Drawings

My most interesting primary source is a collection of William Bartram's drawings and watercolor paintings that he made during his travels. Its full title is William Bartram, 1739-1823 : watercolours & drawings, including those made on his travels in Carolina, Georgia, & Florida during the 1770s. I found the book thanks to WorldCat and received it about a week later through an interlibrary loan request. It was much better than I had anticipated it to be. It is not a small book with tiny drawings or anything like that. Instead, it is about three feet tall and two feet wide. The pictures are direct facsimiles from the London Natural History Museum collection of Bartram’s drawings. There are over twenty “plates” that were used for the production of the first edition of Travels. Almost all of these pictures can easily be found through Google, but seeing the image on paper just makes it seem more real.
A few of William Bartram’s drawings stand out as my favorites. The first is Bartram’s drawings of Alligators. It features two pictures of the lizards, both of which seem to show the alligator as smoother and more stream-lined than an actual alligator, almost as if it were a cross between an otter and a lizard. The most interesting aspect of these gators, however, is the smoke coming out of their noses. According to Bartram, the alligators were ferocious beasts that tried to eat him and let out huge roars. Most think he was writing poetry more than he was describing an actual animal on this occasion.
The other picture is a few pitcher plants around the scene with a snake catching a frog in his mouth mid-air. Again, whether Bartram actually saw this or not is in question. Regardless of actually seeing it, though, it is a wonderful and detailed illustration of an amazing natural event that anyone can imagine happening in their mind. His poetic license may outweigh his naturalist duty, but they are still spectacular drawings of the fantastic beauty inherent in nature.

Rose Cottage Chronicles

The most interesting primary source that I have thus far for my research paper is a compilation of letters and diary entries from the members of the Bryant- Stephens families who lived in Florida during the time in which the Civil War took place. This source is interesting because although it is only taken from a select number of people it captures what the whole area is going through at the time. The struggles of these families, the women watching their sons and their husbands go off to fight against their own country, being under pressure from the Union are all things that everyone in Florida was going through at the time that the war was taking place. These letters highlight the tragedies that continue to happen over and over again worsening as the war escalted farther and farther into Florida and the Unions attempts to seize control of Florida become stronger. This is the most interesting primary source because you get a first hand account of what the people are going through and how it takes a toll on their lives and their families. It is also a good source beause there is more than one letter and more than one diary entry so you can follow how the war affects people over almost the entire duration of the war.

Secondary sources

I will discuss the secondary sources in my paper discussing racism in the Florida south. The majority of my secondary sources consist of academic journals. The majority of my sources such as Cheek, Gary C., Jr. "Creeks and Southerners: Biculturalism on the Early American Frontier." American Indian Quarterly 32.2 (2008): 226-9 discusses racism in the south in a Native American and European perspective. This kind of first and third person perspective is important in my sources in order to give the reader an understanding of the culture and an insight into the reality of the Native American culture. The main point of my secondary sources is to show what went wrong in terms of both cultures and give reasons why both cultures were too different from each other in order to reach a cultural understanding. I want to explore by using my secondary sources the reasons why the Europeans regarded the Native Americans as inferior, unintelligent, and barbaric. This racism may give me insight in my sources why the King and Queen of Spain's twisted form of Catholicism wreaked havoc upon their people, and eventually, the Native Americans. I will use sources describing both sides in order to provide strong evidence of racism from both sides of the Europeans and the natives. I want to reach a point with my sources a reason why both sides felt unnecessary hatred for each other. In order to understand the cultural disrespect the countries of France, England and Spain felt towards the natives, I will use examples from Murphree, Daniel S. Constructing Floridians. 1st ed. Florida: University Press of Florida, 2006 in order to illustrate my point. I will describe the situation each European nation in Florida struggled with concerning their settlement in Florida, their first thoughts of the natives and reasons why they worsened. I will have to have a deep understanding of the European culture in my sources in order to describe the deep seated hatred the Europeans felt. I will find examples why Catholic conversion failed and why it escalated to war against pagan religions in which deviated from the core of Christianity’s beliefs. I will describe the attempts the French had with fur trade and negotiation, and the attempts the British had at civilizing and educating the Native Americans and why that ultimately failed. That is what i will include from my sources in my research paper.

Secondary Sources

I am putting a research paper together on the subject of Florida's role in the civil war. More specifically Pensacola in the civil war, some of the roles of women in the civil war, and also The Battle Of Olustee which is one of the important battles of the civil war that occured in Florida. I have three or so books that highlight Florida as a whole in the civil war process. I also have two other books that are dedicated specifically to the area of Pensacola and the war efforts that went on there including their forts and some of their major generals. I also have one book that is totally dedicated to the Battle of Olustee including how it started and the effect that it had on Florida and also the civil war and how it was named one of the most influential battle of the civil war. There are also books on women during this time and what jobs they were assigned during the civil war and also how they were looked upon and what was expected of them from their male couterparts.

Secondary Sources

Because my paper is on the Florida cracker cowboys, I have some sources about cracker culture, and the cracker cowboys in particular. For instance, a book about Jacob Summerlin, who was considered "Cracker King," and It's No Bull!, about the "taming" of Florida country. However, I also have some sources on how the cowboy culture continues today, although it is slowly disappearing. Despite attempts to continue the cowboy tradition in Florida, with cattle ranches, rodeos, and cattle drives, the cattleindustry in Florida, and therefore the cowboy culture, is growing weaker as more and more land in Florida becomes developed. Though there are still cattle ranches in Florida, and still self-called "cracker cowboys," there is a continuous fear that this way of life will soon be nothing more than part of Florida's past.

Secondary Sources

I am doing my research project on The Calusa Indians, more specifically their interaction with the Spaniards. The Calusa were one of the most aggressive and powerful tribes in Florida. They lived in South Florida and lived by fishing and hunting. They had a complex government system and but had no use for agriculture. This civilization was one of the first visited by the Spanish. The Spanish thought they were extremely aggressive people and tried civilizing them by converting them to Catholicism. Two of my secondary sources are websites. They are "The History of Shelling on Sanibel Island" and "South Florida Archaeology and Ethnography at the Florida Museum of Natural History." These two websites give background information on the Calusa. It describes how they lived and used the land to survive. Its a good source because it allows me to describe what kind of people the Calusa were. Missions to the Calusa Is a book describing the missions trips the Spanish took to the Calusa to convert them. This is a good secondary sources because its full of primary sources that are letters from the spanish describing their trips to the Calusa. At first I found it difficult to find my sources. But after I began to find a few, the rest followed because they were all built around another.

Field Report

I found writing a field Report about 'Mad' Anthony Wayne to be fairly standard. As to most reports, it required a great deal of research. Although there is abundant information about Wayne at Fort Ticonderoga I found his plan for Mount Defiance to be a little more difficult. There were plenty of images for a power point. However I am also worried that a majority of the class will cover the same topics during the presentation. I hope I have found new information not discussed with other groups. It is inevitable that some information will overlap, this I will just have to understand. I am trying to condense the information so the presentation only lasts 10 minutes. I happened to overlook the time while finishing the last aspects of the report. I was trying to make sure everything was up to par.

Field Report

The field report has been difficult, to say the least. The challenges that i've been facing are the fact that there is an immense amount of information about the battle, and in the text by Ketchum. In addition, Colonel Pierce Long plays an important role in the battle, as do all soldiers - however there is not a lot of information available on him. I was not even able to find a picture. I don't mind giving oral presentations, and I feel that i have a good amount of subject matter to discuss without being repetitive in respect to the other groups. Ill keep this post short, becuause I still have a few finishing touches to add, and would like to be well rested to present. 

John Adams and the field report

John Adams though being an important part of congress at the time of the fall of Ticonderoga, doesn't have that much information written about him revolving around Ticonderoga. This made the report a little difficult. I found enough information to draw conclusions and prove my points but it was difficult to integrate it the right way because I had so little to work with. Luckily he had letters published to his wife Abigail that helped my case a lot. Overall the field report was difficult but doable.

Major General Friedrich Adolphus Riedesel

I found the field report to be a fairly simple process and a basic research report. There was not a very large extent of detailed information about the Major General Riedesel in Saratoga , however it laid out a basic foundation for my research and the information in the book as a whole was very useful. At first, my partner and I struggled to understand exactly what was necessary to be included in our report. There is generally a lot of information out there about the Saratoga Campaign, Fort Ticonderoga, and biographical information about Riedesel. Our question was specifically asking us to focus on the Major General's feelings towards General Burgoyne and the state of the german troops during his campaign. This was were most of the focused research was directed and we tried to get specific details. After we felt we had covered our main focus, we laid out a general biography of the Major General, his campaign history in the American Revolution, the German soldiers part in the American Revolution, and the general history of the Saratoga campaign. It was not difficult to find sources about the subject with all of the research databases and references that are offered in the library.

Major General John Burgoyne

Major General John Burgoyne was one of the main characters in the book. There was a lot of information about him and his campaign in Saratoga. The problem was that me and my partner did not plan accordingly. We were one of the first ones to present and we did not prepare as well as we should have. Many written accounts on Burgoyne has been published and picking the right one was the hard part of researching. Many of them just glanced over his life some went on every detail and some was concise with their information. We made a powerpoint presentation but it there was technical difficulties so we were limited with the visuals that we could have shown. Overall, I thought it was an okay presentation and me and my partner could have done better.

Major General Riedesel

This report was really difficult, because Riedesel, although a figure in both the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the battle of Saratoga, wasn't as featured as some other figures. However, the library had a few interesting books on both him and his family that helped a lot. One book, Baroness von Riedesel and the American Revolution, was really interesting because it told a lot of the events from the book Saratoga through the eyes of General Riedesel's wife, including the letters she wrote to people like the general and her mother, back in Europe. It also gave details of the beginnings of both Riedesels, giving us a background for the general to work on, and what happened to the Riedesels post-Saratoga. It was really interesting to see the battles and the hardship from the eyes of a non-soldier, but someone who was still very much involved in what was happening. It's just amazing how this woman followed the campaign all the way from Canada to Saratoga, with three children! Another great book was Memoirs of Major General Riedesel, which held letters and journals from the general himself, which gave insight into his thoughts of the events going on around him.

Colonel Pierce Long

The field report was a difficult process. The person I had was in a sense a non mentionable in the overall l history of the battle of Saratoga so finding out his story and making it 6 pages was a difficult task. Colonel Pierce Long was not really famous so even finding out his role in the battle was difficult. Also there was only one prompt question asked so that made it even more difficult. In fact Colonel Long is so “un Famous”, which is not a word, that he is only mentioned once when you search him on Google, or any other database researching tool. Primary and secondary sources to the book Saratoga were out of the question. Usually he was only mentioned as the colonel to someone who joined the New Hampshire regiment. Overall, the process was alright I just wish that the person I was doing the field report on was a little easier to find information for. The impression I got from the colonel was that he was a pushover who could not lead his regiment. The made the Americans seem ignorant and dumb and if the Americans didn’t win the battle of Saratoga he would be partly to blame because he really messed up. He was careless and lost people and provisions which were both necessary items at the time.

Colonel Jeduthan Baldwin

Initially coming into this project I did a substantial amount of complaining and bickering when we actually confirmed when the papers and the presentations for the project were due. After I came to the relaization that I had no other choice but to do the project it actually was not all that bad. The pros to the project were that Ketchum's book was an easy read and it wasn't as monotonous as history books usually are, the fact that the presentation only had to be ten minutes made it alot easier to compile, and the fact that it was a group project made the task a whole lot easier because the work was able to be split up. The cons of the project I would have to say is the fact we only had four days to complete the project (although I can't complain because some of the groups only have two days to prepare the paper and the presentation and other people's group members were not able to help them at all on the paper or the presentation), and finding other sources for the paper made it more difficult but not to the point that it was stressful. Another plus about this project was that I had the best group partner!! (Go Meredith) and also that the bulk of the presentations got pushed back to Monday so that gave more time to stress about it and who doesn't like to stress? Hahaha. It wasn't all that bad we researched the figure and then wrote the paper and after doing that we created a powerpoint so in the end it wasn't all that bad of an experience.

William Bartram Primary Source

My paper topic is William Bartram and the contribution he made to the racialization of Native Americans during his travels through the southern United States. One main primary source is his book, Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida. In this book, he documents his travels and everything he sees or discovers. I picked this source because it was authored by the man this paper intends to research. There are plenty of interpretations of his work, but the topic of racialization in the way he described Native Americans must be looked at through his own words first. Besides this, the book also tells us about what his main objectives were and his possible biases. The book not only includes his representations of Native Americans, but also includes descriptions of animals and plants that had probably never been seen by Bartram’s American and European readers. As a work of Natural History, at least according to Bartram, the work was meant to record and provide a window to the natural world that Bartram saw throughout the newer regions in the United States. There are many editions of Bartram’s Travels, but this one is a direct facsimile of the version first published in London in 1792. I hope that because of this direct transfer, Bartram’s thoughts will be less skewed then later interpreted editions.

Anthony Wayne: A flawed hero

The field report was not easy, I have to admit. I had to do extensive research in order to find the right materials for my project. I had to find the right type of citations, which took work, but I found citations in which were accurate to the character's personality, his family life, ambitions, tactics, mistakes, and heroics. When I present on Monday with my partner, Phillip Hoffman, I will include the Fort Ticonderoga situation and the Mount Defiance problem. I did find that Brigadier General Anthony Wayne was motivated by the belief that his men should be treated fairly, but be well prepared. One of his biggest flaws was his pride and occasional anger. He verbally sparred with authority such as the Continental Congress for positions he viewed as fair and just. He often ordered a court-martial for war tactics such as St. Clair's in which he viewed as incompetent at strategy and planning, or his failure at Fort Ticonderoga. Along with those views, he personally felt that he was right, including situations such as his loss at Fort Ticonderoga on July 5, 1777. He and General Arnold failed to think that Mount Defiance could be equipped with cannons and did not claim it. The British in return, under General Burgoyne, devised a plan to move cannons across the mountain. For his overlook of details, it resulted in a loss. He was also known to be a disciplinarian, for good and for bad. Because he was a disciplinarian, he sometimes chastised men he viewed as incompetent or uneducated. Some of his troops even rebelled against him. He intensely did not like the chaotic situation at Fort Ticonderoga and was glad to be relinquished of command in that area. In spite of these flaws, he was an excellent tactician, leader, and had a brilliant mind for the right strategies. He got along well with George Washington and was so trusted by him that he became his Commander in Chief of the American Army. He was known to be fair to his men and did his best to provide with them the best training, discipline and fairness they deserve. He died from the gout in 1796, while returning to his home in Philadelphia from a Detroit military post. A famous, strange, and disturbing legend surrounds his burial.

Giving Slow Birth

I've sadly had a rather difficult extenuating circumstances in terms of this particular project. Without going into any embarrassing or unnecessary detail, I was forced to cancel interactions with my assigned partner and take on this workload myself as of yesterday afternoon. This meant significant extra research, and synthesis of a wholly new and original essay. Luckily, I received an extention, and am doing the best that I can with it, despite the fact that certain previous obligations mean that I am actually out of town for the weekend. It is stressful to say the least, but that is enough venting for one blog post. As far as the actual process of designing my Field Report, I started with the context. That is, my person is Major General Arthur St. Clair, and my prompt deals with the challenges he faces in accomplishing the mission he has when first taking control of Fort Ticonderoga. For me, that means limiting my presentation almost exclusively to this pre-battle period of time, and my research paper can only touch on it at most. The focus all around needs to be on those initial problems. there are pros and cons to this. We have all been using Ketchum's book as a basic foundation to build the rest of our research on. To cull together relevant information out of that work is essentially to study perhaps a dozen pages out of one of the earlier chapters, and confine myself there. On one hand, this simplifies the organization of my points, and I can focus my outside research on enforcing these points (which I have done). On the other hand, it means that I need to stretch my research a lot farther if I hope to even try and make six-page minimum required.