The American Revolution in the West is often neglected from the overall history of the conflict, though it had a significant impact on how it was conducted. Larry Nelson, assistant professor of history at Bowling Green State University, discusses this important component of the war by examining American ambitions in the Old Northwest, the vast uncharted region north and west of the Ohio River; the political goals of the Continental Congress within that region; and the role of Virginia militia leader George Rogers Clark in bringing those aims to fruition.
About the Speaker
Larry Nelson holds a Ph.D. in American history from Bowling Green State University. He worked for the Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) for nearly twenty-five years as the site director at Fort Meigs State Memorial. Following his retirement, he joined the history faculty at Bowling Green State University as an assistant professor. Throughout his career with the Ohio Historical Society, he participated in numerous archaeological investigations of late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century military sites, including Fort Laurens and Crawford’s Defeat. He has also contributed to or appeared on many PBS and History Channel productions, including the Emmy-nominated History Channel presentation First Invasion – The War of 1812. An authority on the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley frontiers, his books include A Man of Distinction among Them: Alexander McKee and the Ohio Frontier (Kent State University Press, 1999); A History of Jonathan Alder: His Captivity and Life with the Indians (University of Akron Press, 2002); and The Sixty Years’ War for the Great Lakes, 1754-1814 (Michigan State University Press, 2010) with fellow historian David C. Skaggs. His most recent book, published by the Michigan State University Press, is entitled, To Your Posts!: A Documentary History of Fort Meigs.