Carolina in Crisis

 

The dramatic conflict that transformed South Carolina’s politics and culture on the eve of the Revolutionary War

Carolina in Crisis tells how the French and Indian War played out in the South and the legacies it left behind.

Drawing on eighteenth-century newspapers, correspondence, and Indigenous speeches, this highly acclaimed narrative restores the experiences of Cherokees, settlers, and the enslaved, reconstructs key raids, pitched battles, and the siege of Fort Loudoun, and traces how diplomatic failures and racial enmity sparked a fierce conflict with long-lasting reverberations.

Along the way, readers meet Cherokee leaders, government officials, future revolutionaries, an enslaved messenger, soldiers, settlers, and many others whose lives intersected during the fateful Anglo‑Cherokee War.

Told from multiple perspectives, the book shows how Cherokee military success and frontier instability alarmed South Carolina’s coastal elite, intensified fears of slave revolt, and widened the rift between colonists and imperial authorities.

Richly sourced and vividly told, Carolina in Crisis offers a fresh, multi‑voiced interpretation of a pivotal moment that reshaped the Southeast.

🥇 Winner of the George C. Rogers Jr. Award🥇

 
 
Praise for Carolina in Crisis

“This is without a doubt a defining contribution on the Anglo-Cherokee War of 1759–1761 and how it shaped the intertwined histories of Anglo, Cherokee, and African peoples.”

—David L. Preston, author of Braddock’s Defeat

“Daniel J. Tortora’s Carolina in Crisis is an original and insightful work with impressive scope. That the author is able to synthesize from such a vast array of sources a coherent and engaging narrative is truly extraordinary.”

—Jim Piecuch, author of Three Peoples, One King

“Illuminating and impressive. . . . A welcome addition to the history of the early American South.”

—Journal of Southern History

“Tortora breaks new ground. . . . Such insightful analysis places this work in the company of modern classics about the coming of the American Revolution.”

—Reviews in American History

“Daniel J. Tortora has given us a superbly written account of Anglo-Cherokee relations during the Seven Years’ War. . . . Scholars of the period should take note.”

—South Carolina Historical Magazine

“Compelling. . . . Engaging. . . . Moving beyond the diplomatic and military narrative at the heart of his study, Tortora . . . [makes] a strong case for the broad significance of the Anglo-Cherokee War.”

—The Historian

“This well-written and impressively researched volume offers an intriguing synthesis of an oft-overlooked aspect of the French and Indian War.”

—Journal of American History

“Tortora’s book should become a mainstay in the scholarship of the colonial era.”

—Ethnohistory

“The best history of the Seven Years’ War along the South Carolina frontier. . . .”

—Redcoat Images

“[Tortora] incorporates an incredible swath of records, sources, and documents. . . . [His] history of a Carolina in crisis . . . provides new and exciting avenues for historians and literary scholars.”

—Southern Studies

“Tortora has produced a well written, strongly analyzed and important text in both the history of the Cherokee and more broadly the revolutionary era South.”

—Tennessee Historical Quarterly

“[Provides] a valuable and welcome addition to the historiography of this conflict. . . . An enlightening narrative.”

—North Carolina Historical Review

“Tortora makes a compelling case for the need to take the actions, thoughts, and cultural underpinnings of Indian peoples (in this case the Cherokee) more seriously. . . . This book is an important and thought-provoking read.”

—West Virginia History

“An engaging read. . . . Offers a compelling argument for reconsidering the significance of the Anglo-Cherokee War in the Revolutionary Era.”

—Journal of Military History

“Tortora crafts a unique account of an area generally overlooked. . . . The end product is a rich and rewarding addition to the historiography of early American warfare.”

—New Books in Military History

History podcast interviews for Carolina in Crisis

If you’d like to learn about my in-progress or future publications relating to the French and Indian War in the South, eighteenth-century South Carolina, or Native American history, please send me a quick message and ask me to add you to my list.

Author Appearances

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