Maryland and the French and Indian War

Book excerpt: Before the start of that war, there were some disputes between the colonies, and one involved Thomas Cresap. Cresap, who later lived at Long Meadow north of Hagerstown before he moved west to Old Town in Allegany County, was running his ferry on the Susquehanna in 1730. He was located a few miles south of the 40th parallel, which was to be the boundary between William Penn's land of Pennsylvania and the Calverts' colony of Maryland. The book is full of maps, of excerpts from letters, of drawings of the main characters and of battle strategies. It details the frontiersmen's struggles with Native Americans and the cruelties each inflicted on the other.