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Winning of America #4
The Wilderness War: A Narrative
The Wilderness War is the eagerly awaited fourth volume in Allan W. Eckert's acclaimed series of narratives, "The Winning of America." The violent and monumental description of the wrestling of the North American continent from the Indians. Two hundred fifty years had elapsed since the Five Nations, the greatest of the Indian tribes, ceased their continual warfare among themselves and banded together for mutual defense. Their union had created the feared and formidable Iroquois League; their empire stretched from Lake Champlain, across New York to Niagara Falls. Theirs was a remarkable form of representative government that presaged our own, and their wealth lay in the vast, beautiful lands abundant with crops. As warriors they were unsurpassed - even the depredations of the recent French and Indian War could not diminish their prowess. But by 1770, the white men living in their land were fighting among themselves again, and war came once more to the Iroquois land.
496 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1978
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713 people want to read
About the author
Allan W. Eckert
80 books293 followersAllan W. Eckert was an American historian, historical novelist, and naturalist.
Eckert was born in Buffalo, New York, and raised in the Chicago, Illinois area, but had been a long-time resident of Bellefontaine, Ohio, near where he attended college. As a young man, he hitch-hiked around the United States, living off the land and learning about wildlife. He began writing about nature and American history at the age of thirteen, eventually becoming an author of numerous books for children and adults. His children's novel, Incident at Hawk's Hill, was a runner-up for the Newbery Medal in 1972. One of his novels tells how the great auk went extinct.
In addition to his novels, he also wrote several unproduced screenplays and more than 225 Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom television shows for which he received an Emmy Award.
In a 1999 poll conducted by the Ohioana Library Association, jointly with Toni Morrison, Allan W. Eckert was voted "Favorite Ohio Writer of All Time."
Eckert died in his sleep on July 7, 2011, in Corona, California, at the age of 80.
Eckert was born in Buffalo, New York, and raised in the Chicago, Illinois area, but had been a long-time resident of Bellefontaine, Ohio, near where he attended college. As a young man, he hitch-hiked around the United States, living off the land and learning about wildlife. He began writing about nature and American history at the age of thirteen, eventually becoming an author of numerous books for children and adults. His children's novel, Incident at Hawk's Hill, was a runner-up for the Newbery Medal in 1972. One of his novels tells how the great auk went extinct.
In addition to his novels, he also wrote several unproduced screenplays and more than 225 Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom television shows for which he received an Emmy Award.
In a 1999 poll conducted by the Ohioana Library Association, jointly with Toni Morrison, Allan W. Eckert was voted "Favorite Ohio Writer of All Time."
Eckert died in his sleep on July 7, 2011, in Corona, California, at the age of 80.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 27, 2016
This is the fourth in Allan Eckert's Winning of America Series, though chronologically it picks up immediately following the second volume.
My relationship with these books is somewhat odd. I read the first entry, The Frontiersman, simply because I was always fascinated by the fact it was sold at Barnes & Noble wrapped in plastic. What was so special about this book, I wondered, that would lead to its encasement?
Now that I've read it, I'm assuming the reason it was plastic-wrapped was because someone special ordered it, and then decided they didn't want it.
I liked the first book because of its focus, it's evocation of the early American frontier, the subtle hewing to the Campbell-esque tropes of the hero's journey, and its vivid bursts of violence. I've kept with the series because I like to finish what I start. However, at this point, I will fully admit that I'm only looking to be shocked.
Eckert is a fairly serious, dry writer. Though he has "novelized" history in shaping it as a narrative, he never writes anything that isn't supported by the historical record. He doesn't break any new ground, though he is refreshingy interested in the Indians' side of the story, and takes great pains to fully present their culture, their leaders, and the context in which they lived and acted.
But the reason I keep delving into these pages is for those moments in which Eckert stops being a serious historian and moonlights, if only for a couple paragraphs, as a pulpy, blood-thirsty dime-store novelist. It's like a cross between Francis Parkman and Quentin Tarantino and it gives me a cheap thrill.
Wilderness Empire tells the story of the fall of the Iroquois nation during the American Revolution. In telling this story, it inhabits ground broken by Walter D. Edmonds' Drums Along the Mohawk.
We start with the birth of Thayendanegea, a Mohawk chief known to whites as Joseph Brant. From there, we jump to the Mohawk Valley at the start of the American Revolution. This part of the story is the slowest. We are treated to the death of William Johnson, the British superintendent of Indian affairs, and learn that there is no one as uniquely competent to take his place. There are many, many scenes in which a man (there are no women characters, at all, in the entirety of this book) reads a letter, ponders said letter, and then writes a letter in turn.
Thankfully, just as despair sets in, things get moving. General Barry St. Leger and his Indian allies lay siege to Fort Stanwix. American militia under General Nicholas Herkimer go to relieve them. Herkimer's men are ambushed by John Butler and Joseph Brant at the frightfully violent battle of Oriskany. Following this battle is a number of frightful slaughters, including the Cherry Valley Massacre and the Wyoming Valley Massacre in Pennsylvania.
I'd never heard of the Wyoming Valley, so this section of the book was most interesting to me. It's also the only place where Eckert edges close to relishing the macabre violence endemic to the frontier. For the most part - to my disappointment - Eckert avoids dwelling on the brutality and tortures (baby eating, heart ripping, etc.) that first drew my prurient interest. However, he can't resist the character of Queen Esther, an Iroquois woman who vowed revenge upon the whites for the loss of her son. She achieved her vengeance by using a tomahawk to split the skulls of a dozen or so American captives. (Today, you can still visit Queen Esther's rock, which is the reputed location of these executions. Apparently, the rock is located along Susquehanna Avenue in Wyoming, Pennsylvania. I can't wait to tell my wife about our next vacation!)
Eventually, with the settlers reeling from their losses, General George Washington decides to unleash a little ethnic cleansing ("the immediate objects [of the expedition:] are the total destruction and devasation of [the Iroquois':] settlements"). He sends General John Sullivan and an entire army to wipe the Iroquois out of the history books. Sullivan was unable to destroy the Iroquois in battle, but he torched some 40 villages, including food stores, crops, and houses. This effectively ended the great Iroquois confederation, which had been tweaking republican government while European peasants were still squalling for rights under their hereditary monarchs.
Despite Eckert's claims to the contrary, he has a definite pro-Iroquois bias. This rubbed off on me, and for a time, I was actually cheering for the Iroquois to beat back the invading settlers. Such a bias is harmless. I mean, they're the underdog. Cheering for the whites would be like cheering for Muncie Central to beat tiny Milan in Indiana high school basketball.
Reading one of Eckert's books puts you on a doom carousel. You start with a fascinating, noble Indian tribe, and you end with that tribe utterly bereft, bloodied, and scattered to the winds. The story is tragic, yet the (white American) reader is in the strange position of having benefited from the Indians' defeat. It's hard to reconcile the inevitability of the Indians' demise with the shameful means that were used to achieve those ends. (And not to get all Kissinger/realpolitik on anyone, but the fate of America's Indians was sealed the first time a white man set foot on these shores).
I suppose that's why everyone (except me, apparently) loves Avatar. For once, the Indians get to win, and we can shuck our guilt and cheer.
My relationship with these books is somewhat odd. I read the first entry, The Frontiersman, simply because I was always fascinated by the fact it was sold at Barnes & Noble wrapped in plastic. What was so special about this book, I wondered, that would lead to its encasement?
Now that I've read it, I'm assuming the reason it was plastic-wrapped was because someone special ordered it, and then decided they didn't want it.
I liked the first book because of its focus, it's evocation of the early American frontier, the subtle hewing to the Campbell-esque tropes of the hero's journey, and its vivid bursts of violence. I've kept with the series because I like to finish what I start. However, at this point, I will fully admit that I'm only looking to be shocked.
Eckert is a fairly serious, dry writer. Though he has "novelized" history in shaping it as a narrative, he never writes anything that isn't supported by the historical record. He doesn't break any new ground, though he is refreshingy interested in the Indians' side of the story, and takes great pains to fully present their culture, their leaders, and the context in which they lived and acted.
But the reason I keep delving into these pages is for those moments in which Eckert stops being a serious historian and moonlights, if only for a couple paragraphs, as a pulpy, blood-thirsty dime-store novelist. It's like a cross between Francis Parkman and Quentin Tarantino and it gives me a cheap thrill.
Wilderness Empire tells the story of the fall of the Iroquois nation during the American Revolution. In telling this story, it inhabits ground broken by Walter D. Edmonds' Drums Along the Mohawk.
We start with the birth of Thayendanegea, a Mohawk chief known to whites as Joseph Brant. From there, we jump to the Mohawk Valley at the start of the American Revolution. This part of the story is the slowest. We are treated to the death of William Johnson, the British superintendent of Indian affairs, and learn that there is no one as uniquely competent to take his place. There are many, many scenes in which a man (there are no women characters, at all, in the entirety of this book) reads a letter, ponders said letter, and then writes a letter in turn.
Thankfully, just as despair sets in, things get moving. General Barry St. Leger and his Indian allies lay siege to Fort Stanwix. American militia under General Nicholas Herkimer go to relieve them. Herkimer's men are ambushed by John Butler and Joseph Brant at the frightfully violent battle of Oriskany. Following this battle is a number of frightful slaughters, including the Cherry Valley Massacre and the Wyoming Valley Massacre in Pennsylvania.
I'd never heard of the Wyoming Valley, so this section of the book was most interesting to me. It's also the only place where Eckert edges close to relishing the macabre violence endemic to the frontier. For the most part - to my disappointment - Eckert avoids dwelling on the brutality and tortures (baby eating, heart ripping, etc.) that first drew my prurient interest. However, he can't resist the character of Queen Esther, an Iroquois woman who vowed revenge upon the whites for the loss of her son. She achieved her vengeance by using a tomahawk to split the skulls of a dozen or so American captives. (Today, you can still visit Queen Esther's rock, which is the reputed location of these executions. Apparently, the rock is located along Susquehanna Avenue in Wyoming, Pennsylvania. I can't wait to tell my wife about our next vacation!)
Eventually, with the settlers reeling from their losses, General George Washington decides to unleash a little ethnic cleansing ("the immediate objects [of the expedition:] are the total destruction and devasation of [the Iroquois':] settlements"). He sends General John Sullivan and an entire army to wipe the Iroquois out of the history books. Sullivan was unable to destroy the Iroquois in battle, but he torched some 40 villages, including food stores, crops, and houses. This effectively ended the great Iroquois confederation, which had been tweaking republican government while European peasants were still squalling for rights under their hereditary monarchs.
Despite Eckert's claims to the contrary, he has a definite pro-Iroquois bias. This rubbed off on me, and for a time, I was actually cheering for the Iroquois to beat back the invading settlers. Such a bias is harmless. I mean, they're the underdog. Cheering for the whites would be like cheering for Muncie Central to beat tiny Milan in Indiana high school basketball.
Reading one of Eckert's books puts you on a doom carousel. You start with a fascinating, noble Indian tribe, and you end with that tribe utterly bereft, bloodied, and scattered to the winds. The story is tragic, yet the (white American) reader is in the strange position of having benefited from the Indians' defeat. It's hard to reconcile the inevitability of the Indians' demise with the shameful means that were used to achieve those ends. (And not to get all Kissinger/realpolitik on anyone, but the fate of America's Indians was sealed the first time a white man set foot on these shores).
I suppose that's why everyone (except me, apparently) loves Avatar. For once, the Indians get to win, and we can shuck our guilt and cheer.
June 5, 2011
Outstanding series about when the frontier was east of the Mississippi. A history lesson written as narrative.
March 2, 2020
While this book was as meticulously annotated as the previous three in the series, it somehow left me flat. Perhaps it was because of the gruesome descriptions of torture and mutilations that seem to fill every third page. I get the idea already! The book could have been shortened considerably with a little constraint on the author's part.
Also, the book would be most appealing to those familiar with western New York and northern Pennsylvania. A large number of the annotations are concerned with place names, and correlating the 18th century names with the current ones.
As another reviewer pointed out, the book could be suitably subtitled "The End of the Iroquois Confederation." I concur, and the Iroquoian history was the high point of the book for me.
Also, the book would be most appealing to those familiar with western New York and northern Pennsylvania. A large number of the annotations are concerned with place names, and correlating the 18th century names with the current ones.
As another reviewer pointed out, the book could be suitably subtitled "The End of the Iroquois Confederation." I concur, and the Iroquoian history was the high point of the book for me.
July 5, 2014
Allan Eckert writes novels that are so factually detailed and absorbing you feel as if you have just taken a graduate level history course with a super engaging professor. This is the fourth novel of his that I have read in his Narratives of America series. Published in 1975 this book was one of the most popular books available for America’s Bicentennial. The subject was timely in that it dealt with the American Revolution on the Northwest frontier; the frontier at that time being western New York and Pennsylvania. It is largely the story of Joseph Brant, a Mohawk Chief and leader of the Iroquois League who remained loyal to the British Crown and fought the American Continental Army. The book is classic Eckert, often reading like a history text with footnotes, countless characters and numerous maps but still it reads easy. I actually thought it was less violent and disturbing than was “The Wilderness Empire” or “The Conquerors” but there remains plenty of scalping, skinning and decapitating and all of it painstaking researched. What I appreciate about Eckert is his refusal to whitewash any of the historical record whether it paints Iroquois, Oneida, Mohawks, Tories, Continentals, Quakers, Canadians, or English well or not each incident of kindness or depravity is documented. It is fiction that is as thought provoking as works of philosophy. What is good? What is evil? Do the ends justify the means? Is there such a thing as a civilized war? Are there or should there be any lines not to cross? Would not crossing those lines cost lives or save them? Does it matter? We all know how it turned out; General George Washington unleased destruction on the Iroquois from which they never recovered. American won her independence, and the rest is history. This is fantastic storytelling by an amazing American writer.
June 9, 2019
A good subtitle for this book would be "The End of the Iroquois." Plot summation: it's the American Revolution and the Iroquois (most of them) decide to side with the British. They support the siege of Ft. Stanwix in the Saratoga campaign, take part in the battle of Oriskany (think Drums Along the Mohawk), and commit, with their Tory friends, the massacres of the Wyoming Valley (Penn.) and Cherry Valley (N.Y.). George Washington, more than a little miffed over this, sends an expedition against them to conduct a "scorched earth" campaign, which is tellingly effective.
Major characters are Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant), John Butler (Tory leader; my ancestor served under him), and John Sullivan, Continental Army. The thoroughly researched and endnoted details are many and make for good history; the dialog and thought patterns are suppositional. That's right: made up; hence this and the others of the Narratives of America series are novels. With 507 pages of text, it won't be a short read and is probably best for people with a real interest in these events. I didn't like the maps, finding them hard to read.
Much of the book is a play-by-play of Sullivan's punitive expedition, mainly the obstacles (nasty terrain) it had to endure along the way. There are some fairly gruesome happenings luckily without illustrations except formed in the readers' own minds.
Major characters are Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant), John Butler (Tory leader; my ancestor served under him), and John Sullivan, Continental Army. The thoroughly researched and endnoted details are many and make for good history; the dialog and thought patterns are suppositional. That's right: made up; hence this and the others of the Narratives of America series are novels. With 507 pages of text, it won't be a short read and is probably best for people with a real interest in these events. I didn't like the maps, finding them hard to read.
Much of the book is a play-by-play of Sullivan's punitive expedition, mainly the obstacles (nasty terrain) it had to endure along the way. There are some fairly gruesome happenings luckily without illustrations except formed in the readers' own minds.
December 26, 2018
At times I felt that Eckert was giving me quite a bit more detail than I needed, but I enjoyed the narrative. Life on the frontier in the late 18th century was hard enough without the threat of violent and painful death from others. Encroachment on someone's land is settled in court today, but it was settled with brutal finality by the contestants themselves at that time. I selected this book because my great-great-great-great-great grandfather served with Morgan's Rifles in the campaign against Burgoyne and in Sullivan's campaign against the Iroquois. It helped give me a bit of perspective on what his life must have been like during those 3 tumultuous years. I have also read Eckert's "Dark and Bloody River" because I'm an Ohio boy, but that was before I joined Goodreads.
March 14, 2020
It took me a minute to get into it (Joseph Brant wasn't a super interesting figure in history to me, but it's still important to know about him), but about the third chapter in, it snagged me and I ended up really loving it! Definitely recommend.
December 7, 2020
Not as captivating as the others, but God damn, I am just as mad at what the colonists did to the Native people of this land.
September 24, 2025
Another well-researched and detailed history by Allan Eckert with a novelists flair for lively storytelling. Eckert is a master of the early American genre.
September 8, 2022
Another excellent Book by Allan Eckert . This is a must read for students of the History of these United States.
September 28, 2008
The Wilderness War is the fourth and final book in the Winning America Series. This wasn't my favorite Eckert book, who wrote my favorite book of all time (The Frontiersmen). I guess it was like reading about the Titanic...you know how the story is going to end before it begins.
The Wilderness War deals with the Western Front of the Revolutionary War. America was not only fighting the British for independence, it was fighting the Iroquois Nation. Wilderness War picks up where Wilderness Empire leaves off. (the second book in the series)
Wilderness War has so many references, that had me flipping to the back of the book, that it got a bit tedious. There is just more information to reference from this time period compared the other three books.
Wow, what a series of great books.
The Wilderness War deals with the Western Front of the Revolutionary War. America was not only fighting the British for independence, it was fighting the Iroquois Nation. Wilderness War picks up where Wilderness Empire leaves off. (the second book in the series)
Wilderness War has so many references, that had me flipping to the back of the book, that it got a bit tedious. There is just more information to reference from this time period compared the other three books.
Wow, what a series of great books.
April 30, 2013
This book has been on our home library shelves for a long time, and this was the last of the Eckert narratives I read.
I enjoyed the readable style of Eckert, and there are more than 400 amplification notes for more detail. Eight pages of principal sources and ten pages of index make this suitable reading for a student of history who may need to clarify information for papers. This is the story of a forty-year time period 1740-1780, set mainly in upstate New York and Pennsylvania; a story that begins with the birth of Thayendanegea, known also as Chief Joseph Brant and ends with the report to Congress by Major General John Sullivan about "the greatest expedition ever to be mounted against the Indians of North America to this time."
I recommend this book to mature students of history for Eckert includes depictions of violence and torture.
I enjoyed the readable style of Eckert, and there are more than 400 amplification notes for more detail. Eight pages of principal sources and ten pages of index make this suitable reading for a student of history who may need to clarify information for papers. This is the story of a forty-year time period 1740-1780, set mainly in upstate New York and Pennsylvania; a story that begins with the birth of Thayendanegea, known also as Chief Joseph Brant and ends with the report to Congress by Major General John Sullivan about "the greatest expedition ever to be mounted against the Indians of North America to this time."
I recommend this book to mature students of history for Eckert includes depictions of violence and torture.
November 15, 2007
Fascinating historical fiction. I love this series, though it's a bit of the old, "Scottish Chiefs" style of writing that deifies the main character. Really great books to read before traveling through Ohio and Kentucky especially. All the town names make sense and it ties you to the past. This book follows Simon Kenton as a contemporary of Daniel Boone, his more famous friend. A good story and a neat way to learn about the history of the region.
December 2, 2013
Eckert shows some restraint with this one, which isn't nearly as violent as the previous two in the series. I'm not sure if that's because he didn't have as much non-fiction torture porn to relate in this account or if he had just personally gotten a little tired of it. There's probably still enough to satisfy his admirers' bloodlust, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the focus shifted off of the horrors of the war somewhat.
January 1, 2020
Fantastic and satisfying book about the Iroquois alliance with Great Britain during the American Revolution and the frontier warfare that led to their own ruin upon the successful completion of the Sullivan Clinton Campaign against their homeland in 1779. Totally engrossing and nearly impossible to put down. I loved every page. What a great book in a great series. (Book 4 of 6)
March 23, 2008
This is called historical narrative. Not quite history, but not fiction. Whatever, it is a compelling story of the struggle between England and France in the 1760's when the Iroquos confederation and other Indian tribes had the ability to influence events.
February 15, 2015
This fourth book of the series focused on the Iroquois League and its role in the Revolutionary War, in particular the American campaign against the British and Indians in western New York and Pennsylvania. Very much like the other books in the series - well researched and compelling reading.
August 30, 2012
This is the important Revolutionary War history of Upstate New York. Sullivan's Trail made my hometown Horseheads possible.
July 20, 2013
Very informative about a violent time of which most Americans have limited knowledge. Glad I wasn't born into that era.
July 1, 2016
awesome book
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews