THE OLD NEW YORK FRONTIER
This is true in eminent degree of the missionaries, of whom very little has been heretofore written, and by the above-mentioned writers, nothing. It is true in large degree of the Border Wars, the real origin and motives of which, especially on the side of Brant and his Indian followers, as well as the full details affecting this frontier, the author believes he has here more clearly set forth. In fact, by combining the new material with the old, it has now become possible to prepare a continuous historical record of the valley, covering the period from our day back to the years when the feet of white men first followed the Indian trails of the Susquehanna, almost three centuries ago.
But there are limitations which seem destined always to exist. Beyond certain dates, those of about two hundred years ago, the historical explorer has at times little more to guide him than isolated facts, and his imagination, as he seeks to find a way about in the dim twilight of Indian legend and scattered lore. It is not until the close of the seventeenth century that he is well assisted by illuminating records.
Previous to the Revolution, the growth and spread of settlements in America had been extremely slow everywhere. More than a century elapsed after Columbus found the New World, before Hendrick Hudson discovered the stream that bears his name. A still longer period passed away before the Pilgrims disembarked from the Mayflower. When permanent settlements were first planted in
this frontier in the Revolution be clearly understood. Stone saw some of the papers, but many others seem never to have passed under his eyes. A fuller list of authorities, the majority of which were unknown to earlier writers, will be found in the bibliography at the end of this volume.
