Rattlesnake Colonel: Thomas Cresap, An American Paradox

Michael Maloney

Jul 2024 · Michael Maloney

About this ebook

Thomas Cresap’s life serves as a primer on Colonial American history. In addition to being at the forefront of the contentious border conflicts between the colonies of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, he played a part in the French and Indian War, Pontiac’s Rebellion, and the American Revolution as an officer in the Maryland militia. Cresap was an active member of the Lower House of the Maryland Assembly, the Committee of Observation, the Sons of Liberty, and the Ohio Company of Virginia. Few individuals did more, over such a long period of time, to further America’s westward expansion into the Ohio Valley than Thomas Cresap, and his personal relationships with many of the most influential men of his time helped shape the frontier. Despite all his positive contributions, Cresap was not always held in high regard by everyone. In Pennsylvania he was considered a quarrelsome and lawless ruffian known as the “Maryland Monster,” and many in the British army discounted Cresap as a “Rattlesnake Colonel.” However, settlers in Western Maryland regarded Cresap as a folk hero, and the Six Nations of the Iroquois affectionately called him “Big Spoon” for his generosity. In reality, Cresap was many things, including a frontiersman, soldier, trailblazer, ferryman, land speculator, trader, surveyor, politician, patriot, husband, and father. Drawn from Colonial land records, legislative proceedings, journals, and personal correspondence, Rattlesnake Colonel chronicles Thomas Cresap’s controversial life and narrates the complicated political and military conflicts of eighteenth-century Colonial America in a comprehensive yet understandable way.

About the author

Michael Maloney is a native of York County, Pennsylvania, and currently resides with his wife and beagle in Red Lion. Now retired, he was the Director of Technical Services for Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff / Lifetime Brands since 2005. Although he grew up in York, both his parents and many of his relatives are from Marietta and Mount Joy in Lancaster County.

After learning of a gravesite behind the Accomac Inn, his curiosity led him to research the Accomac ferry crossing, the town of Marietta,and the murder of Emily Myers at the hand of John Coyle, Jr. on Decoration Day, 1881. His love of local history inspired him to write his first book, Across the River, Murder at Accomac, released in 2012 for the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the borough of Marietta.

His second non-fiction book, Rattlesnake Colonel Thomas Cresap - An American Paradox, is a detailed biography of Thomas Cresap's contradictory and often controversial life on the frontier. Cresap's life experiences in Pennsylvania and Maryland are used to narrate the complicated political and military conflicts of eighteenth-century Colonial America in a comprehensive yet understandable way.