Submitted photo of The Torture Tree from The Sullivan Expedition.
Press Release:
Submitted photo of Rob Thompson
Western New York author Rob Thompson, after nearly two years of painstaking research has completed, what he declares as his most difficult of projects.
The Sullivan Expedition is considered by many to be the most significant military campaign of the American Revolution. The expedition was seen by George Washington as a necessity for ridding the colonial frontier of the Indian threat, and from the assaults by the infamous Butler’s Rangers. Washington’s controversial method was to clear western New York of the Indians by destroying their crops and villages forcing thousands of Native Americans to seek refuge from the British at Fort Niagara.
Under the leadership of Maj. Gen. John Sullivan and aided by Gens. Clinton, Maxwell, and Hand, nearly 5,000 men crossed the western Finger Lakes destroying over fifty Indian settlements and burning thousands of acres of crops, The most well-known event of Sullivan’s Expedition occurred near Conesus Lake: the capturing and horrific torture of two men Lt. Thomas Boyd and Sgt. Michael Parker.
Chapters include the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy (the Huedensee), the life of Mary Jemison, the “White Woman of the Genesee,” the headaches endured by George Washington caused not only by Sullivan but others within the structure of the Army, and the controversial topic of genocide.
“Regrading genocide, I present the facts of the expedition, and though I express my personal view I encourage the reader to make their own determination based upon the facts I present. If one thing is learned it’s that at one time in all of human history regardless of race, ethnicity or religion all men have been victims of and perpetrators of hate.”
This compilation of archived material is greatly enhanced by in-depth research is a fine, easy-to-read book and one that will certainly encourage further study by all who read it. One point of enjoyment is the introduction of numerous historical tid-bits such as the life of riflemen Timothy Murphy, the legend behind the run of Adam Helmer, Daniel Shays of the Shays Rebellion (buried in Conesus New York) and the myth behind the lost cannon.
On Saturday, September 23, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Holland Land Office Museum there will be a signing of Behold and Blush-The Sullivan Expedition, The Linden Murders Solved, Twisted Tree Final Word on the Linden Murders, and Candles in the Rain (the story of the 1997 Genesee County Janet Rippel cold case).
Submitted photo of the reburial of Mary Jemison from The Sullivan Expedition.
Submitted photo of the reburial of Mary Jemison from The Sullivan Expedition.
Submitted photo of a map of the expedition from The Sullivan Expedition.
