Simon Girty, Turncoat Hero: The Most Hated Man on the Early American Frontier
By Phillip W. Hoffman
345 pages, 6-1/2” X 9-1/2”, hardcover: $28.95
ISBN 978-0-9753667-6-9
Reviewed by Bill Scurlock
Simon Girty has piqued my interest since first reading about him in Allen W. Eckert’s The Frontiersmen over thirty years ago. I often wondered how such a friend of Simon Kenton’s could have gone over to the “other side” in America’s War for Independence. In Simon Girty, Turncoat Hero, Phillip Hoffman blazes a trail through the biases and legends of the frontier as he presents the man and his life in a realistic and well-rounded way.
By using primary source material, Hoffman shines a light on Girty’s upbringing among the Seneca, his activities as an interpreter and spy at Fort Pitt, his work for the British Indian Department and his family life. A major force on the frontier, Girty was respected and listened to by the Indians. Living his early years and coming to manhood while living with the Seneca had given Girty great empathy for the plight of the Indians as Americans pushed ever westward. He became one of their most powerful advocates and allies. It’s also easy to see why the Americans reviled him after he switched sides during the Revolution and began fighting along with the British-allied Indians.
Hoffman spent 17 years studying every detail of Girty’s life and times. By exploring microfilm, ledgers, military records, congressional records, newspaper and magazine articles, and dozens of early American and Canadian fiction and non-fiction works, Hoffman manages to strip away layer after layer of frontier prejudice and reveals a man of principle and courage. The author doesn’t present Girty as being above all wrong, but he does explain some of the motivations behind his actions.
I was totally engrossed by this story and by Hoffman’s excellent rendering of historical information. If you, too, have always wondered about the man behind the myth, Simon Girty, Turncoat Hero is a must read.
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