Rustic Warriors : : Warfare and the Provincial Soldier on the New England Frontier, 1689-1748 / / Steven Eames.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Eames, Steven,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2011]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: Warfare and Culture ; 10
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

The early French Wars (1689-1748) in North America saw provincial soldiers, or British white settlers, in Massachusetts and New Hampshire fight against New France and her Native American allies with minimal involvement from England. Most British officers and government officials viewed the colonial soldiers as ill-disciplined, unprofessional, and incompetent: General John Forbes called them “a gathering from the scum of the worst people.” Taking issue with historians who have criticized provincial soldiers’ battlefield style, strategy, and conduct, Steven Eames demonstrates that what developed in early New England was in fact a unique way of war that selectively blended elements of European military strategy, frontier fighting, and native American warfare. This new form of warfare responded to and influenced the particular challenges, terrain, and demography of early New England. Drawing upon a wealth of primary materials on King William’s War, Queen Anne’s War, Dummer’s War, and King George’s War, Eames offers a bottom-up view of how war was conducted and how war was experienced in this particular period and place. Throughout Rustic Warriors, he uses early New England culture as a staging ground from which to better understand the ways in which New Englanders waged war, as well as to provide a fuller picture of the differences between provincial, French, and Native American approaches to war.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Maps -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The New England Provincial Soldier -- Part I: Warfare on the New England Frontier -- 1. The Initiation of War and the New England Military System -- 2. Garrisons -- 3. Provincial Forts -- 4. Scouts -- 5. Expeditions -- 6. Stores of War -- Part II. The Provincial Soldier -- 7. Recruiting -- 8. Officers -- 9. Battle Drill and Fighting Spirit -- 10. Battle Experience -- 11. The Wounds of War -- Afterword -- Notes -- Index -- About the Author