Girty

by Richard Taylor, Ted Franklin Belue (Introduction)

Along with Benedict Arnold, Simon Girty was one of the most hated men in early America. The son of an Irish immigrant, he was raised on the western Pennsylvania frontier but was captured by the Senecas as a teenager and lived among them for several years. This able frontiersman might be seen today as a defender of Native Americans, but in his own time he was branded as a traitor for siding with First Nations and the British during the Revolutionary War. He fought fiercely against Continental Army forces in the Ohio River Valley and was victorious in the bloody Battle of Blue Licks.

In this classic work, Richard Taylor artfully assembles a collage of passages from diaries, travel accounts, and biographies to tell part of the notorious villain's story. Taylor uses the voice of Girty himself to unfold the rest of the narrative through a series of interior monologues, which take the form of both prose and poetry. Moments of torture and horrifying bloodshed stand starkly against passages celebrating beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Throughout, Taylor challenges perceptions of the man and the frontier, as well as notions of white settler innocence.

Simon Girty's bloody exploits and legend made him hated and feared in Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley, but many who knew him respected him for his convictions, principles, and bravery. This evocative work brings to life a complex figure who must permanently dwell in the borderland between myth and fact, one foot in each domain.

198 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Richard Taylor is a professor of English and currently serves as Kenan Visiting Writer at Transylvania University. A former Kentucky poet laureate, he is the author of six collections of poetry, two novels, and several books of non-fiction, mostly relating to Kentucky history. A former dean and teacher in the Governor's Scholars Program, he was selected as Distinguished Professor at Kentucky State University in 1992. He has won two creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and an Al Smith Creative Writing Award from the Kentucky Arts Council. He and his wife Lizz own Poor Richard's Books in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Reviews

[Patrick Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many have never heard of Simon Girty, I was lucky enough to have heard of him because I come from an area he spent some time in. Girty was an enigma and history has not treated him well. Many thought of him in his time as a valiant warrior with rough edges who was instrumental in opening the frontier with his knowledge of the local Indians. He gained this knowledge watching his father killed and he and his brother were kidnapped and raised in local tribes. His life took him from central Pennsylvania west throughout the Ohio Valley country and on to Canada long before the United States was formed.

As an adult even more contemporaries thought of him as a traitor to his country, a walking devil and one of the most despised men, and outlaws, in the frontier region. He ran with the Indians, he fought against and for the British at different times. Before Benedict Arnold he was the most known traitor in the country and even after Arnold it could be debated. But most of his story was lost to history.

This is a small book that tells his story, not from his viewpoint but, by piecing together stories told about him and other's opinions of him. Both friends, enemies and relatives have a part in this book and what arises from the book is the same confusion as to who the man really was. He had a good side but he certainly had an evil and treacherous side. He was a tough man equal to living in the tough times and areas he lived in. He had to be.

Simon Girly, patriot, traitor, warrior, Indian, white, father, husband, thief, murderer, soldier, drunk, scout, translator, friend and enemy. What evolves while reading the book is a portrait of all of the above. A man who lived on his own terms and was never led by another's lead but by his own will alone.

Someone to be admired? Or despised? Read the book, the choice is yours to make. I look forward to a time when there is a more in depth book that may come out on this man.

[Kalah Vera · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book to learn more about my ancestor Thomas Girty. There was very little about him specifically and the format was all over the place. Just a book of exerpts from other books and articles really.

[Ricky Orr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an interpretation of many of the events surrounding Simon Girty, based on the author's research. Girty was despised by his contemporaries in the Ohio River valley and Northwest Territories because he sided with the Indians and with the British during the many conflicts after Americans began to migrate west of the Appalachian mountains.