Conquering the American Wilderness: The Triumph of European Warfare in Colonial Northwest

Description

Challenges longstanding myths about the nature of warfare in early America; 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) and King William’s War (1689-1697) prompted colonia