William Trent: Factor of Ambition

On December 1st, 1784, along a cold and wintry Fourth Street in Philadelphia, Major William Trent sputtered his last breath surrounded by friends and family and soon became forgotten in history.

The son of a Philadelphia shipping merchant and the namesake for the capital of New Jersey, Trent's own legacy as a gentleman, throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century was always remembered for his controversial role at Fort Pitt in "gifting" smallpox blankets to the Indians that early su...