Samuel Marquis, "Empire and Frontier: Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Valiant Iroquois in King William's War: 1689-1701" (Pegasus Books, 2026)

Empire and Frontier: Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Valiant Iroquois in King William's War: 1689-1701

(Pegasus Books, 2026) by Samuel Marquis presents a

powerful episode of early American history, revealing the very human

story of friendship and alliance between Colonel Peter Schuyler and the

Iroquois during King William’s War (1689–1701). Like Philbrick’s Mayflower and Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon, this new book reveals how fragile alliances and cross-cultural diplomacy changed the course of empires in North America.

At the heart of the book is Peter Schuyler, a Dutch-American

mayor of Albany, Indian Affairs commissioner, and militia colonel who

earned deep trust among the Iroquois. Decades ahead of his time in his

respect for Native diplomacy and sovereignty, Schuyler helped forge and

sustain a fragile alliance between English colonists and the

Haudenosaunee (Five Nations of the Iroquois) during a decade of brutal

warfare. That alliance, known as The Covenant Chain, not only blocked