Ill-Fated Frontier: Peril and Possibilities in the Early American West

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By Samuel A. Forman

Published July 21, 2021

In 1789, General David Forman and several Princeton-affiliated family members planned to start a plantation colony in Natchez, then part of Spanish West Florida. Ill-Fated Frontier tells the story of what followed: immediate conflict between the white settlers, enslaved people, Spanish colonists, and the Native Americans who had lived there for generations.

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The February 2026 cover of PAW, featuring a photo of Joseph Nye.
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