Christopher Gist

by David B. McCoy

In American colonial history, no individual did more to bring about the early expansion west of the Appalachian Mountains into the Ohio Country than did Christopher Gist. In his fifty-four years, Christopher Gist was first a merchant and businessman in Baltimore, Maryland. He then became a Maryland Ranger, a surveyor, trapper, and trader. In 1750, Gist made two trans-Appalachian explorations for the Ohio Company of Virginia. In 1753 he accompanied George Washington to the French Fort, LeBoeuf (Waterford, PA), with a message demanding the French to leave the area claimed by the King of England. Shortly thereafter, he ser-ved as scout for General Edward Braddock and was present at Braddock's defeat. In his last years, Gist served as a De-puty Agent to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the Southern Department. As pointed out by author Christian Wig, the “frontiersman [Christopher Gist] resembled Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett and all our frontier heroes rolled into one” (Wig, 2004).


Contents

Christopher Gist

Appendix Extracts from the History of Cincinnati and the Territory of Ohio by Adolphus E. Jones

Appendix Extracts from Chapter 3, The of Ohio by
Richard Elwell Banta

Appendix Christopher Gist Timeline

123 pages, Paperback

First published May 9, 2013

About the author

David B. McCoy grew up in the “Cleveland Street Hood” of Elyria, Ohio, and recently retired from 32 years of teaching social studies. He earned his history teaching degree from Ashland University and his graduate degree from Kent State University. David’s work at Kent explored the influences of socialization on personality development.

Since 1979, David has run Spare Change Press, which in recent years has focused on publishing poetry chapbooks. He is the author of six books available from Amazon.com* and barnesandnoble.com:

The Geometry of Blue (poetry). Print only.*
Voices from Behind the Mask (poetry). Print only.*
The Tao of Libertarianism. Print and eBook.
The Academy, a short book of fiction. EBook only.
Minimalist guide to picking high yield dividend stocks. EBook only.
A Short History of Hilton Head Island. Ebook only.

Reviews

[Phillip Mclaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

At last an online history of Christopher Gist

An important figure in the events leading up to the French and Indian War, Gist was the person to accomplish surveys and investigations for the Ohio Company and Virginia.
Well done volume.