Independence LostIndependence Lost

In an entirely new, global perspective on the Revolutionary period, Kathleen DuVal reveals personal stories such as that of Irish trader Oliver Pollock, Scottish plantation owners James and Isabella Bruce, and Creek leader Alexander McGillivray for whom the American Revolution was more complicated than the issue of colonial independence. These individuals, their communities, and nations weighed their options, deciding based on personal interests whether independent states or loyal British colonies would best serve them as neighbors, let alone future rulers. DuVal explores how so-called American independence affected the lives of those living on the edges of British colonial America, such as slaves, Indians, women, and the colonists of other European nations and finds that the war left some much more free than others.

For most of its duration, the outcome of the Revolutionary War was far from certain. DuVal brings us to a region on the edge of the war where it seems that everyone was hedging their bets-the Gulf Coast. As the British tried to hold onto the thirteen rebelling colonies that would eventually be the nascent United States, their loyal colony of West Florida was left vulnerable to Spanish invasion from the west. With the British stretched thin fighting two wars, the clashing empires found enemies and allies for whom loyalty was a calculation more than a feeling.

Story Locale- 18th-century Gulf Coast region