Notes on the settlement and Indian wars of the western parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania, from 1763 to 1783, inclusive

Joseph Doddridge

“This work is the production of a gentleman, who was reared in the wilderness, and was intimately acquainted with the whole subject on which he writes; it is drawn from original sources, and almost entirely from personal observation. Brought up in the wilderness, the inmate of a cabin, Dr. Doddridge spent his whole life in the midst of those dangers and vicissitudes which made up the life of the borderer, and he has detailed a variety of minute circumstances, which render the book exceedingly valuable. It is one of the original authorities, and although erroneous in some respects, we have every reason to believe is in the main correct; and scarcely a subsequent production relating to Indian Wars, can be picked up, that does not give extracts, or make assertions based on ” Doddridge’s Notes,” and most frequently without acknowledgement of the source from which their valuable item is taken. This work and “Wither’s Chronicles,” a work of like character and equal merit, have long been considered of primary importance in collections of books relating to America, and especially to those relating to the Ohio Valley.” - Peter G. Thomson, ***A Bibliography of the State of Ohio*** (1880)