Notes, primarily of interviews, made by Draper from 1841 to 1868 during his intensive search for historical materials. Volumes 1 S through 26 S are in chronological arrangement by year from 1843 through 1868, but many of Draper's earliest notes and interviews, 1839–1845, are in 27-33 S.
Includes material on Indian wars, including Dunmore's War, 1774; expeditions against the Cherokee in 1776, 1788, and 1793; Crawford's campaign, 1782; John Logan's Shawnee expedition, 1787; the Great Miami treaty, 1786; the Nickajack campaign, 1794; a battle between the Potawatomi and Stephen Cole's party, 1810; Henry Dodge's expeditions of 1812 and 1814; and Indian attacks and captivities in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Also includes material on the Revolutionary War in Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and the Mohawk Valley, and the battles of Point Pleasant, Monmouth, King's Mountain, and Blue Licks, activities of spies, St. Clair's defeat, and Clark's Illinois campaign.
Material on the War of 1812 includes descriptions of the Chicago massacre and battles of Frenchtown, Raisin River, and Thames. Also includes information on early settlement in Missouri and Kentucky, the state of Franklin, Shays' Rebellion, the upper Mississippi River, Prairie du Chien (Wisconsin), the Rock River valley (Illinois and Wisconsin), Indian traders at Milwaukee (circa 1800), and Hugh F. Bell's recollections of game hunting and cooking in Kentucky (circa 1795), with instructions for making a bearskin coat.
Persons interviewed include Seneca Indians at the Cattaraugus Reservation (New York); Nathan Boone, son of Daniel Boone, and his wife, Olive Van Bibber Boone; Simon Girty's daughter, Sarah Munger; and Simon Kenton's son, William M. Kenton. Includes excerpts from Benjamin Van Cleve's manuscript biography, from Nathaniel Hart's journal of Anthony Wayne's 1794 campaign, and copies of Wayne papers for 1792-1795. Individuals noted as subject terms below are discussed in the interviews.
Also includes information on the Lewis family of Virginia, and on the Musick, Renfroe, Todd, and Wetzel families, and genealogical information for the Boone, Bryan, Callaway, Girty, Kenton, Munger, Sevier, and Van Bibber families, and for the families of John Cuppy, Thomas Dickerson, Silas Hedges, Henry Jolly, and Spencer Records.
Maps include Kaskaskia (Illinois), portions of Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and the Tippecanoe battleground.
