Black Boys

Fort Loudoun Revisited

A visitor returns to a familiar scene to refresh his memory, he looks for once familiar landmarks, and he notes, with approval or regret, whatever changes have come about. An armchair revisitation to Fort Loudoun has been on the whole reassuring. Since I wrote about it sixteen years ago, the fort has not been neglected.

James Smith and the Black Boys: Rebellion on the Pennsylvania Frontier, 1763-1769

Discontent and resistance against royal authority was found throughout the frontier and urban centers of pre-Revolutionary America. In an attempt to examine the defiant Pennsylvania frontiersmen, this paper will investigate a small portion of the life of one Pennsylvanian, James Smith, during the years he spent as leader of the rebellious "Black Boys."