Customer Reviews

Bayonets in the Wilderness: Anthony Wayne's Legion in the Old Northwest (Campaigns and Commanders)

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"Bayonets in the Wilderness" tells you all you could want to know about Anthony Wayne's Ohio campaign of 1793-94. "Bayonets" is an incisive critic of Wayne and his command. The book presents and excellent description of conditions and circumstances of army life during the campaign. Of particular interest were incidents of dueling, desertion, and debauchery. Personally, I would have enjoyed reading more about events preceding Wayne's campaign. The narrative begins with around ten pages on St. Clair's defeat. There was also very little about the Ohio Indians in the book, though Gaff was no doubt limited in his resources. Worth reading for those interested in the frontier, Ohio, or George Washington's presidency.

Anthony Wayne's campaign to win the Old NorthWest in post-Revolutionary time. The author includes personal accounts by the soldiers and officers, and weaves contemporaneous historical facts into the narrative for a full look into the man that Anthony Wayne was and the obstacles that he faced leading the legion into the wilderness.
The personal touches are what make this book compelling. I was emotionally drawn to the good-byes that white and Indian captives made to their "adoptive" families after the signing of the Treaty of Greeneville.
I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where cultural references to Mad Anthony are plentiful. (As a matter of fact, I attended Wayne High School, where our mascot was the General himself, atop a horse). It was great to read an objective, factually-sound account of this important historic figure.

Alan Gaff's latest book (June 2004) on Major General Anthony Wayne's campaign in the Northwest Territory (1792-1796) is the best attempt to date to synthesis this most extraordinary time in American history. Mr. Gaff makes a welcome departure from past authors of this campaign and uses many first-person accounts; chiefly from journals, diaries, daily orders, contemporary newspapers and military records. This book is very enjoyable to read and flows nicely, although some chapters leave the reader hanging, most likely the result of overzealous editors. In his book Gaff neither demonizes nor glorifies General Wayne as many authors have done in the past. He lets the reader form an objective opinion of Anthony Wayne based on the evidence. Military historians will find it hard to not be awed by the military genius of this patriotic general. Genealogists will also find this book interesting since it mentions many of the "common" soldiers who worked, fought and bled on this campaign. This book will have special appeal to scholars of Pennsylvania and Ohio history as well as the fourteen other states that Wayne's officers recruited in for the Legion of the United States. A thoroughly enlightening book highly recommended for scholars of the post-Revolutionary Era.

As a writer researching Wayne's Legion, I was overjoyed to learn of this new book. It's precise, detailed, and exhaustively researched from primary documents. Not a quick or easy read, but very valuable if you want to know all about Wayne's campaign and how it unfolded. By far the best of all the books on the subject!

As someone that is a student of The Legion of the United States It was fantastic to have a new book on this forgotten campaign. With the first hand accounts you can really get into the minds of the people that fought in the Legion. I highly recommend this book to any students of the military arts, not just historians but modern military personnel.

Bayonets In The Wilderness: Anthony Wayne's Legion In The Old Northwest. Author: Alan D Gaff. 440 pages. 2004.

This book was a birthday present from my wife. Most people are familiar with the American Revolution and then they bring up the War of 1812. The US Army however small and insignificant was not dormant in the intervening 29 years. In fact on the US Army flag there are two campaign streamers for this period: Miami 1790-1795 and Tippecanoe 1811.

This book covers the end of the Miami Campaign. Given that when most people hear Miami they think of Florida they may be surprised to learn that the Miami people and campaign occurred primarily in modern day Ohio. At that time Ohio was dead center of what was called "The Northwest Territory". The United States had been ceded by the UK in the 1783 Treaty of Paris all those lands extending to the Mississippi River. However on the Northwest Frontier expansion and settlement was hindered by geography, and British intrigue. The British were actively supporting and agitating the various American Indian peoples to oppose US expansion and remain loyal to the crown. The British retained and garrisoned forts in lands they had ceded to the USA in the Treaty of Paris. These forts remained unthreatened by US forces due to a weak US military structure and an active and aggressive screening operation conducted by American Indians. The British provided intelligence, arms, material, and rhetoric to the American Indians to achieve these goals of instability along the frontier. The motivation for the British was to protect Canada from US expansion by diversion, keep the US occupied in its own sphere rather than in competition among the nations of the world. Perhaps though the biggest reason for instability was to maintain Britain's control of the lucrative fur trade ongoing in this region. The golden age of the Voyageurs and the fur trade was still an ongoing concern, especially in this area and into northern Minnesota with its Grand Portage base which extended the range of the fur trade out to the Rocky Mountains.

The methodical campaign conducted by Anthony Wayne and the Legion of the United States would end British intrigue and shatter unity among the American Indians until the era of The Little Big Horn. The after effects of this campaign were far reaching even though it is mostly neglected.

This book was written to fill in the gaps and provide a baseline for future studies of this era. The book itself relies heavily on primary source documents. I was told by some who were familiar with this book that it was overly tedious. This book is very focused on providing as complete a record across the spectrum of US participants as possible in a relatively short space. Though the title references Anthony Wayne the focus of the text is on the Legion itself. Besides the usual homage paid to leaders this book goes further and tells the story of many of the private soldiers and militia members who made up the Legion. It also spends a fair amount of time telling the story of the contractors who provided the primary logistics for the Legion and its campaign. It is perhaps in the detailed accounts of these minor actors that this book gets its reputation for tedium.

But it is in these detailed accounts of the minor actors that we learn more about the inner Anthony Wayne and his character than we do in his pronouncements or correspondences with his peers or superiors. For the casual reader this may detract from the readability because the details are embedded into the over all text rather than being separated into their own chapters as would be expected in a social history text. For the reader trying to follow the bid ideas and main points this is not a good book.

The book is very good at explaining the experience and actions of the Legion but it does have two glaring omissions. The omissions are related to context. The first is that there could have been more explanation or evaluation about the legacy of both the Legion and it exploits. What was provided was extremely limited and while the reader will learn a lot about the Legion and what it did while it was doing it, the reader will be at a bit of a loss trying to explain why it really matters across several spectrums. In a very real sense I understand that an entire book could be written about the legacy of the Legion and its exploits and perhaps two or three chapters at the end of this book would have sufficed.

The other great omission is two-fold. This comes before the Legion itself takes to the field. There is scant little about how the situation developed to the point where Anthony Wayne was called on to build and deliver. A better understanding of the two previous failed campaigns and perhaps a grounding in the effects of Sullivan's 1779 campaign with a focus on Broadhead's Expedition in support of that campaign would be helpful. In addition to this a discussion I would have appreciated a more detailed explanation of why the Legion structure was chosen, and what it was meant to do in relation to an overall defense posture for the United States. A combined arms task force organization of this sort is very similar to the concepts of the modern modular force though it is modularized and combined at a much smaller command level than it is today.

Even with these two generalized omission of context the book is a good scholarly tool for the study of this period in US history. Of related interest the original commission signed by POTUS George Washington for Major General Anthony Wayne for this period is on display at Anthony Wayne's ancestral home Waynesborough, located in Paoli, PA.

This book is packed full of information about this war that I didn't imagine existed from what I found (or didn't find) in other publications. This author has created a wonderful account of this seldom mentioned war, which was actually a turning point in American history, and saved it from forget. I think this book should be an education text on this war. I couldn't put it down!

Excellent detail to a rarely so deeply investigated subject. Very interesting for the more seriously interested reader about General Anthony Wayne and the creation of the first seriously disciplined, and strategic U.S. Army created to decimate the will of the native american tribes organized to intimidate and stop the westward movement of American settlers in the northwestern territory of the youthful United States government of the 1790's.

This is the only book out there with an amazing amount of information on a little written chapter in American History. This book is a "must" for any true historian that sets the stage for the War of 1812 and the settling of the Old Northwest.
Kudos to Mr. Gaff! Thank You!