What do you think?
Rate this book
Through So Many Dangers: The Memoirs and Adventures of Robert Kirk, Late of the Royal Highland Regiment
Robert Kirk served with the 42nd and 77th Highland Regiments in North America during the French and Indian War and Pontiac's Rebellion. From Niagara Falls to Newfoundland, from the Carolina's to the Mississippi, he covered some five thousand miles by foot, canoe, whaleboat, and transport ship. By the time he returned home after 10 years of "service truly critical," our roguish hero had not only been captured by Shwanee Indians but hat become an accomplished frontier man. Personal narratives by private soldiers are the rarest of all sources for this war; it's a unique first-hand account. Fully annotated by Ian McCulloch and Timothy Todish and illustrated with paintings by Robert Griffing. The introduction is by noted British historian Stephen Brumwell.
- GenresHistory
174 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Ian Macpherson McCulloch
11 books2 followersIan Macpherson McCulloch is a Lieutenant-Colonel (retired) in the Canadian Army and the author or editor of a number of books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 12, 2018
The core of this book is the memoir of an ordinary British soldier who fought in North America during the Seven Years’ War (I understand that in the US and Canada this conflict is known as the French and Indian War). It’s quite rare to get the voice of a common soldier from as far back as this.
In the 18th century it was apparently commonplace for “memoirs” to be heavily plagiarised from other sources, so this book contains a longish but very worthwhile introduction in which historian Stephen Brumwell explains why most, though not all, of Kirk’s account can be regarded as genuine. I won’t go into the full arguments, but they are well researched and persuasive.
It seems that the author’s surname was actually “Kirkwood” rather than “Kirk” (he has a reason for shortening it). He hailed from the town of Ayr in south-west Scotland, but somehow enlisted in a Highland Regiment, the 77th of Foot. Of the 1,060 men of the regiment’s rank and file, Kirkwood was one of 59 described as “Lowland Scotch”, as opposed to actual Highlanders.
The title of the book is taken from the second sentence of the text, in which Kirkwood says he wishes to testify to “the providential care of the Almighty, in bringing me through so many dangers”, and he certainly did have an adventurous time of it. He participated in a botched attack on Fort Duquesne (on the site of present day Pittsburgh), which ended in a rout. Wounded in the leg whilst trying to flee, he was overtaken by four Shawnee warriors, allied to the French. He was taken prisoner and “adopted” by one of the Shawnee, who had a brother recently killed in battle.
“It is a custom amongst them, as I afterwards learned, that when the father, brother or other relation falls in the war, the next prisoner taken by the son or brother of the deceased, is adopted in his place.”
Kirkwood absconded from the Shawnee and participated in the raid on the Indian village of St. Francis, on the St. Lawrence, led by Major Rogers of “Rogers’ Rangers” fame. The raiding party suffered great hardship on their return journey and I was startled by a very matter of fact description on page 67 of the book. His later travels took him as far as Detroit and New Orleans, and he participated in the Battle of Bushy Run, a fiercely fought encounter during “Pontiac’s rebellion”.
The book has an unusual layout, measuring 11 x 9 inches/28x 22 cm. Probably this is to accommodate a number of striking illustrations by artist Robert Griffing. The artist projects an image of nobility in relation to both the Highland soldiers and the Native American warriors. The front cover has his imagined scene of Kirkwood’s capture. Links to a couple of the other images are below:
https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Lif...
https://lordnelsons.com/gallery/front...
The book is also full of additional information from the authors and whilst these notes are valuable they appear in the middle of the text, so have a tendency to break up the narrative. Also I had to break off a number of times to consult an atlas. I have a broad knowledge of North American geography but was stumped by references to the Muskingum River or the location of Ogdensburg, NY (to mention just two).
I wouldn’t say this was my favourite narrative from this period, but it’s still an absorbing read, and I think would be worthwhile for anyone interested in the late colonial period in America.
In the 18th century it was apparently commonplace for “memoirs” to be heavily plagiarised from other sources, so this book contains a longish but very worthwhile introduction in which historian Stephen Brumwell explains why most, though not all, of Kirk’s account can be regarded as genuine. I won’t go into the full arguments, but they are well researched and persuasive.
It seems that the author’s surname was actually “Kirkwood” rather than “Kirk” (he has a reason for shortening it). He hailed from the town of Ayr in south-west Scotland, but somehow enlisted in a Highland Regiment, the 77th of Foot. Of the 1,060 men of the regiment’s rank and file, Kirkwood was one of 59 described as “Lowland Scotch”, as opposed to actual Highlanders.
The title of the book is taken from the second sentence of the text, in which Kirkwood says he wishes to testify to “the providential care of the Almighty, in bringing me through so many dangers”, and he certainly did have an adventurous time of it. He participated in a botched attack on Fort Duquesne (on the site of present day Pittsburgh), which ended in a rout. Wounded in the leg whilst trying to flee, he was overtaken by four Shawnee warriors, allied to the French. He was taken prisoner and “adopted” by one of the Shawnee, who had a brother recently killed in battle.
“It is a custom amongst them, as I afterwards learned, that when the father, brother or other relation falls in the war, the next prisoner taken by the son or brother of the deceased, is adopted in his place.”
Kirkwood absconded from the Shawnee and participated in the raid on the Indian village of St. Francis, on the St. Lawrence, led by Major Rogers of “Rogers’ Rangers” fame. The raiding party suffered great hardship on their return journey and I was startled by a very matter of fact description on page 67 of the book. His later travels took him as far as Detroit and New Orleans, and he participated in the Battle of Bushy Run, a fiercely fought encounter during “Pontiac’s rebellion”.
The book has an unusual layout, measuring 11 x 9 inches/28x 22 cm. Probably this is to accommodate a number of striking illustrations by artist Robert Griffing. The artist projects an image of nobility in relation to both the Highland soldiers and the Native American warriors. The front cover has his imagined scene of Kirkwood’s capture. Links to a couple of the other images are below:
https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Lif...
https://lordnelsons.com/gallery/front...
The book is also full of additional information from the authors and whilst these notes are valuable they appear in the middle of the text, so have a tendency to break up the narrative. Also I had to break off a number of times to consult an atlas. I have a broad knowledge of North American geography but was stumped by references to the Muskingum River or the location of Ogdensburg, NY (to mention just two).
I wouldn’t say this was my favourite narrative from this period, but it’s still an absorbing read, and I think would be worthwhile for anyone interested in the late colonial period in America.
October 16, 2017
An excellent historical memoir of an 18th century Scots recruit fighting in a Highland unit in North America during the French & Indian War. Captured by the Shawnee at Fort Duquesne, he lives among them for almost a year, until he can escape and walk back across the Appalachian Mountains to a colonial settlement to rejoin his unit. He fought in numerous battles, waged many campaigns, learned a few languages, and worked with many famous historical figures, ending up on the final campaign to close out the Seven Years War, striking the colours at Fort DeChartes along the Mississippi river in 1665. All places & battlefields I've either already been to, or want to go to. This memoir is a bit of a historical treasure, since it is one of very few written by a line trooper from that period. Great accompanying illustrations also.
March 6, 2021
Having read a few other books by Purple Mountain press about this time period, I decided to give this one a try. I had never heard of Robert Kirk, but his story is an interesting one. He served in the French and Indian War and later the Pontiac Rebellion, taking part in several major campaigns. He was captured by Fort Duquesne (modern day Pittsburg) and spent time as a captive of the Shawnee. He was later involved in the fall of Fort Ticonderoga, the Fall of Quebec, and later, The Battle of Bushy Run.
Going on the narrative alone, I would give this four stars. Kirk misremembers lots of things, and openly plagiarizes one Baron de Lahontan, a French writer of seventy years earlier! So about twenty percent of the book isn't Kirk's. Apparently this was more common in the late 1700s than it is now. But the editors that put this book together did a wonderful job with it. There's plentiful notes explaining many of the details Kirk left out, and informative appendices that give you mini biographies of the layers involved. They even put de Lahontan's writing in bold, so you can tell the two apart. As a whole it is an interesting historical narrative with some great scholarship and research around it. Would recommend for fans of colonial American or military history.
Going on the narrative alone, I would give this four stars. Kirk misremembers lots of things, and openly plagiarizes one Baron de Lahontan, a French writer of seventy years earlier! So about twenty percent of the book isn't Kirk's. Apparently this was more common in the late 1700s than it is now. But the editors that put this book together did a wonderful job with it. There's plentiful notes explaining many of the details Kirk left out, and informative appendices that give you mini biographies of the layers involved. They even put de Lahontan's writing in bold, so you can tell the two apart. As a whole it is an interesting historical narrative with some great scholarship and research around it. Would recommend for fans of colonial American or military history.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews