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

by Guy Chet

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 colonial magistrates to address the shortcomings of their military forces through a greater reliance on British troops and imperial administrators. Thus, as the eighteenth century wore on, growing military success in the New England colonies reflected an increasing degree of British planning, administration, participation, and command.

The colonies' military and political leadership, Chet argues, never rejected the time-tested principles of European warfare, and even during the American War of Independence, the republic's military leadership looked to Europe for guidance in the art ofcombat.

Genres: History

Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

Reviews

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book examines warfare in the Colonial Northeast. I chose to go on ahead and double major in both European and United States history since I only needed four extra classes to do so. I am wildly uninterested in United States history for the most part. This particular time period of United States history does not interest me in the least. I found this book to be terribly boring. It was required reading for the Colonial America class I am taking. If you are into this type of thing, you may really enjoy this book. I am not trying to discourage anyone from reading it, I just personally did not find that it held my interest whatsoever.