Conquering the American Wilderness

by Chet, Guy

• ISBN13: 9781558493827
• ISBN10: 1558493824
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-01
• Publisher: Univ of Massachusetts Pr

Summary

A study of military tactics and strategy before the War of Independence, this book reexamines the conquest of the North American wilderness and its native peoples by colonial settlers. Historians have long believed that the peculiar conditions of the New World, coupled with the success of Indians tactics, forced the colonists to abandon traditional European methods of warfare and to develop a new "American" style of combat. By combining firearms with guerrilla-like native tactics, colonial commanders were able not only to subdue their Indian adversaries but eventually to prevail against more conventionally trained British forces during the American Revolution.

Yet upon closer scrutiny, this common understanding of early American warfare turns out to be more myth than reality. As Guy Chet reveals, clashes between colonial and Indian forces during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries did not lead to a reevaluation and transformation of conventional military doctrine. On the contrary, the poor performance of the settlers during King Philip's War (1675-76) an

Table of Contents

Illustrations	xi
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction	1	(6)
The Beginnings of a Colonial Military Tradition	7	(6)
Muskets and Bows	13	(25)
Military Degeneration and Victory	38	(32)
The Canadian Challenge	70	(30)
Administrators against the Wilderness	100	(42)
Conclusion: Military Science or the Art of War?	142	(7)
Notes	149	(40)
Bibliography	189	(14)
Index	203