What is the setting of The Rifle by Gary Paulsen?

The Rifle spans several centuries, beginning in 1768 in western Pennsylvania with gunsmith Cornish McManus, just prior to the American Revolution. The eventual owner of the Rifle, John Byam, becomes caught up in the American fight for independence, and this section of the novel ties the fictional story of the Rifle to a larger nonfictional historical event the reader is undoubtedly familiar with, as is common in historical fiction.