Samuel Marquis is a professional hydrogeologist, expert witness, and the award-winning author of “Empire and Frontier,” “Captain Kidd,” “Blackbeard: The Birth of America,” and “Soldiers of Freedom.” The ninth-great-grandson of legendary privateer Captain William Kidd, he has written a total of 13 nonfiction history and historical fiction books, covering the period from colonial America through WWII. Born and raised in Colorado, Marquis and his wife live in Louisville, CO, where they raised their three children.
SunLit: You’ve done several books on American history. What steered you to the 17th century conflicts and alliances among colonists, native tribes and the English and French empires?
Samuel Marquis: The foundation for the research in “Empire and Frontier” came from writing a biography of my ninth-great-grandfather, the legendary New York privateer Captain William Kidd. The bottom line is when I wrote “Captain Kidd,” I had so much interesting material about King William’s War, the First French and Indian War fought over control of North America in the 1690s between the English and French, that I had to move north from New York City where Kidd lived and sailed to the Albany Indian frontier.
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Both “Empire and Frontier” and “Captain Kidd” attempt to bring to life colonial New York, King William’s War, and Leisler’s Rebellion from 1689 to 1701, but from far different vantage points. While “Empire and Frontier” explores the First French and Indian War and the Covenant Chain alliance between the English and the Haudenosaunee (Five Nations of the Iroquois), “Captain Kidd” recreates Kidd’s life in New York with his wife, Sarah, his privateering voyages fighting the French and hunting down pirates, and his political struggles with the British Crown in London.
The two books can, thus, be considered companion volumes since they both feature King William’s War and many of the same historical figures; yet, they have a significantly different narrative emphasis as well as distinctive primary characters as England and France battle for possession of North America during the global conflict.
SunLit: King William’s War isn’t a slice of history most people are familiar with. Why does it matter? How would you place it into the context of the broader sweep of early American history?
Marquis: The first major European war fought on North American soil, King William’s War was the first of the four major clashes between England and France for control of North America. The conflict was bloody, destructive, and tragic as English and French armies and their Indigenous warriors swept across the New York and Canadian frontier to annihilate the opposition, burn down their settlements, and seize prisoners to restock Native populations.
One of America’s most important conflicts, it set the stage for the cycles of war and peace and the military strategies and tactics of the two European empires for the next 75 years, up to the American Revolution, as well as between the US and British during the Revolution and War of 1812. In the end, it was the Iroquois who won in the epic struggle of King William’s War, due to the Grand Settlement of 1701, which allowed the Five Nations to gain long-term security and independence until the Revolution by securing treaties of neutrality with the English and French in future wars and protecting hunting and fur-trading rights.
“Empire and Frontier”
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SunLit: You tell this story from multiple points of view. First, tell us the significance of the Dutch-American leader Peter Schuyler.
Marquis: Colonel Peter Schuyler is considered the “George Washington” of the late 17th and early 18th centuries because he played a pivotal role as a bold military leader against America’s enemy at the time, the French, cross-cultural diplomat, promoter of peace, and what today we would today call a “Native American rights activist.”
Like Washington, he wore many hats during his lifetime. Not only was he the mayor of the principal frontier outpost of Albany, but he served as commissioner of Indian Affairs, a New York governor’s council member, and commander of the New York militia. Fluent in Dutch, English, and Mohawk, he led joint Anglo-Iroquois military expeditions against New France (French Canada) and was respected and beloved by the Haudenosaunee (Five Iroquois Nations), who referred to him as “Brother Quider.”
Few characters in American history have shown greater bravery on the battlefield or political nimbleness than Schuyler during King William’s War fighting the French. He bridged deep political and cultural divides and brought Indigenous and Euro-American parties together due to his evenhanded temperament, strong diplomatic skills, and collaborative nature with the Iroquois.
SunLit: Two Indigenous figures also figure prominently. Why were the perspectives of Lawrence the Mohawk and the female Mohawk-Dutch interpreter Hilletie van Olinda so important to the story?
Marquis: All my American history books are written through multiple points of view based on real-life historical figures. Because the northeastern Indigenous tribes are central to the history of the United States and Canada, I wanted to make sure to tell the story of King William’s War not only from the perspective of Colonel Peter Schuyler but from the point of view of the courageous Mohawk war captain and statesman Lawrence of the Wolf Clan and the invaluable Mohawk-Dutch interpreter and stateswoman Hilletie van Olinda.
It is important to me to tell their stories because they are true heroes that every American and Canadian should know about and they are critical to an accurate recreation of colonial-era Iroquoia and New York. They worked closely with Schuyler and the Anglo-Dutch of Albany to defeat the French. At the time, Catholic France was regarded as an absolutist monarchy and arbitrary power antithetical to the John-Lockean democratic republicanism enjoyed by England, which possessed both a king and Parliament.
By telling the story of King William’s War through multiple viewpoints — balancing the perspectives of Schuyler with the Indigenous and female voices of Lawrence and Hilletie — I have tried to present the conflict in a new, more accurate, and multifaceted light.
Hilletie van Olinda is particularly important because she was a respected working woman in the colonial era and a Native American. Born into the Mohawk Wolf Clan and living her first 19 years as a Mohawk, Hilletie van Olinda served more than 22 years as an English government translator, paid religious document translator, and Mohawk language instructor to incoming Protestant ministers.
In an age when women were seldom acknowledged for their accomplishments, she earned a professional salary as the official interpreter of New York Province and won the praise of esteemed Iroquois headmen, Colonel Peter Schuyler, and the Anglo-Dutch leadership of New York. Both the Iroquois and Anglo-Dutch greatly valued her as a cross-cultural liaison, interpreter during councils, and diplomatic messenger combating the French during King William’s War.
SunLit: How did Schuyler cultivate trust with the Haudenosaunee, the Five Nations of the Iroquois? And how did his success differ from the circumstances that produced myriad conflicts with native tribes over the centuries to come?
Marquis: The American-born Dutchman Peter Schuyler cultivated trust with the Haudenosaunee because he grew up with them as well as the Mahicans (the correct tribal spelling), knew them well, and understood their world. Like Hawkeye in “The Last of the Mohicans,” Schuyler learned to hunt and track at an early age and to speak in the Mohawk tongue, in addition to mastering Dutch and English.
He also learned early on to patiently listen to Indigenous peoples, to understand and appreciate their rituals, and to sympathize with them as human beings. This early interaction on equal and synergistic terms allowed him to gain their trust and work hand in hand with the Haudenosaunee throughout his life.
Although the Dutch were aggressive mercantilists with a nose for profit, their approach to the New World was far different from the bellicose and imperialistic English, French, Spanish, and the later westward-expanding American settlers of the era of Manifest Destiny from 1775-1890. Due to the strong Dutch belief in trade partnerships, Peter Schuyler and his fellow Dutch Americans of the Albany frontier advocated for fair treatment in political and commercial dealings with the Iroquois and other Indigenous tribes, fought alongside them as equals in battle against the French, placed a high premium on maintaining peace with them, and helped mediate between rival Native factions to reduce conflict.
The subsequent generations of American settlers from 1775-1890 were not progressive and tolerant like the Dutch and were more like the Indian-killing Puritans of New England, who waged “holy war” against the “heathens.” Puritans believed the Iroquois and other Native American tribes were godless, sexually licentious, and bloodthirsty “savages,” who disrespected the Sabbath by worshiping animal spirits and should be exterminated just like satanic Catholics and Muslims.
Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Dutch were more attuned to Age of Enlightenment moral values than both the Puritans and the frontier settlers of the Western American frontier during the era of Manifest Destiny. Custer may have died for our sins — but “Brother Quider” Peter Schuyler didn’t, because he was trusted and beloved by the Iroquois, Mahicans, and other northeastern tribes.
SunLit: You had a very real connection to the subject of your historical book “Captain Kidd” through family lineage. Did you find any similar connections for “Empire and Frontier” that influenced your work?
Marquis: There are many connections between the lawful privateer commander Captain William Kidd and Peter Schuyler and other historical figures in the book because both Kidd and Schuyler were popular and respected in New York. Captain Kidd is in “Empire and Frontier,” but he has a smaller role.
Kidd was a friend of both Peter Schuyler and Schuyler’s brother-in-law Robert Livingston, who, like Kidd, is in both “Captain Kidd” and “Empire and Frontier.” The fur-trading merchant, troop quartermaster, and Indian Affairs agent Livingston was the one who coaxed Kidd to undertake his pirate-hunting expedition to the Indian Ocean that turned the “trusty and well-beloved Captain Kidd” of King William III of England into the “most notorious arch-pirate” of all time. So, my research on Captain Kidd is what ultimately made me dig deep into the history of Peter Schuyler, the George Washington of the late 17th century.
SunLit: This historical era was a time when the American identity was still being shaped well before the American Revolution. How did Schuyler’s alliances with the Iroquois contribute to that identity?
Marquis: Schuyler was decades ahead of his time in his respect for Native diplomacy and sovereignty. When he helped sustain the fragile Covenant Chain alliance between English colonists and the Haudenosaunee, he not only blocked French ambitions in the region but shaped the political and military landscape of the American frontier for the next 100 years.
By the time of his death in 1724, New York and northeastern America were no longer defined by Lenape, Mahican, or Mohawk history, Dutch versus English, Calvinist as opposed to Anglican, or wealthy versus poor. While each of these ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic strands remained important, pluralism, trading partnerships, collaboration, and cross-cultural coalitions were the new order of the day.
By this time, social, political, and economic connections and alliances were forged in the City and Province of New York that cut across ethnicity, race, religion, and political affiliation, and in the process, formed a distinctive “American” character.
SunLit: There’s been an effort by many institutions to recognize the significant roles that Native American history plays in American history writ large. How does “Empire and Frontier” fit into that awakening to a long-ignored perspective?
Marquis: I think the key to writing heroic American stories like “Empire and Frontier” that resonate with both progressives and conservatives is by telling them from multiple points-of-view without passing judgment on the historical figures except for how they would be viewed by their contemporaries.
In “Empire and Frontier,” I have worked hard to recount King William’s War from the perspective of Lawrence the young Mohawk war captain and diplomat and Hilletie van Olinda the interpreter, as they are two of the most unique and unforgettable Indigenous figures during the conflict. Lawrence serves as Schuyler’s compatriot on the battlefield, working for and navigating the survival of his people, while the biracial Mohawk-Dutch woman Hilletie is the key translator of the English Crown and New York government as well as a diplomatic go-between, using her language skills and cultural fluency to mediate between the Iroquois and English.
Across a decade of war, espionage, and political intrigue — from the 1689 Leisler’s Rebellion and 1690 Schenectady Massacre to the climactic Grand Settlement of 1701 — the intertwined stories of Schuyler, Lawrence, and Hilletie reveal both the human cost and triumph, as well as the political complexity, behind one of early America’s most consequential alliances.
SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?
Marquis: Putting together the 60 pages of Endnotes and Bibliography (at 9-point font so really 90 pages). It was a lot of work. But “Empire and Frontier,” while a fast-paced narrative nonfiction read, is ultimately a scholarly work so that’s why I had to put in the time. And thank God my lovely wife Christine helped me big time!
SunLit: What do you want readers to take from “Empire and Frontier”?
Marquis: I want readers to know that “Empire and Frontier” is the quintessential American tale of people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds working together as one — just like in WWII, which was won by Yankee soldiers from New York, Colorado, California, and Virginia and the Navaho code talkers of the U.S. Marine Corps hailing from Arizona.
With King William’s War and the Grand Settlement of 1701, Colonel Peter Schuyler, Lawrence the Mohawk, Hilletie van Olinda, and their contemporaries in New York Province and Iroquoia forged a distinctive “American” character. We are a nation of multicultural immigrants coming together as one democratic entity, and while Native Americans are our proud “First Nation” Americans, no group’s identity is more important than any other in America and the sum of what we are together is much greater than any individual group.
One of the most intriguing aspects of “Empire and Frontier” and late 17th century America is that multiethnic New York and other more tolerant colonies were already moving toward democratic, meritocratic ideals and a rejection of Old-World notions of monarchy and bloodline-driven nobility. But the collision of cultures, religions, and classes did not result in a “melting pot.”
Rather, Schuyler, Lawrence, Hilletie, and their contemporaries blazed a new trail. Through their tireless efforts, they served as the building blocks for not merely the New York we know today but a new, multiethnic, and democratic United States of America — the first nation in world history founded expressly on the principle of freedom and the first to lead a successful mass rebellion against imperialism and colonialism.
SunLit: You’ve got another book delving into one of the less-examined facets of early American history coming out next year. Tell us about “Franklin’s Sea Warriors.”
Marquis: My newest book, “Franklin’s Sea Warriors: The Founding Father and his Patriot-Pirate Navy That Won the American Revolution,” will be published in May 2027. The book is the true story of Benjamin Franklin and his formidable squadron of Continental Navy seamen and American privateers, who fought in the European theater of operations attacking British shipping and coastal cities.
In the process, they played a decisive but largely unknown role in winning the Revolution. Our rebellion against Mother England was not merely a colonial uprising, but a global conflagration with many key battles waged in European waters. Through masterful diplomacy and daring exploits, Franklin and his Patriot-Pirate Navy helped ensure that imperial France became an ally, took the fight to the Goliath British Empire, turned the British people against their government, and won the epic struggle.
In the process, they changed human history for the better by unleashing a new spirit of political freedom, one that led to the French Revolution, abolitionist societies, and widespread slave revolts. “Franklin’s Sea Warriors” reminds us that the seaboard of Western Europe was a theater of operations during the Revolution that was every bit as critical to ultimate victory as Bunker Hill, Trenton, Saratoga, and Yorktown. This major historical work finally puts these Continental Navy seamen and privateers on equal footing with Washington’s Continental Army and America’s state militias, where they properly belong.