Customer Reviews

Bloody Mohawk: The French and Indian War & American Revolution on New York's Frontier

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It is understandable that many `serious' readers of History are put off their feed by an author's reliance, acknowledged or not, on secondary sources. Few things are more disappointing to a buff than to buy a book, look forward to cracking it, and then, upon doing so, experiencing that creeping `been here, done that' realization. The best example of this phenomenon that readily comes to this reader's mind is Winston Groom's "A Storm in Flanders" which, however well-intentioned and admittedly of value to neophytes, offers nothing new to the serious WW I reader. The flip side of this phenomenon, of course, is that such a compendium (if that's not too grudging a word) can be very worthwhile if the author is able to reassemble the threads of what has been written before and weave them into a meaningful and compelling narrative.

Richard Berleth has done so brilliantly in "Bloody Mohawk." Author Berleth sets out to tell the story of the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars as conducted and experienced in New York's Mohawk Valley with a singularity of purpose and geographic fidelity that I believe would be warmly applauded by the authors he unabashedly borrows from. Having been born in Schenectady, now living in Lake George, and having made it my business over the last few decades to read all the histories I could find of these wars as conducted and experienced in Central New York, I think I'm in a reasonably good position to judge his effort, and I find it first-rate.

Berleth holds an English lit Ph.D., and it shows. He can spin a yarn with the best of them, but there's much more. He's manifestly a fine historian in his own right, as evidenced by the fact that I've read multiple descriptions of the people and events with which he treats and found his accounts as fresh and intellectually invigorating as of they were the first I had come upon. Particularly impressive to me was his ability to maintain his focus on the valley and not be seduced into following the exploits of a particularly fascinating character wherever they led or offering his own version of pivotal events such as the French siege of Fort William Henry in 1757 or 1777's Battle of Saratoga. Indeed, he mentions them only in passing and only in relation to the valley and its actors to the extent they were involved in them. The knowledgeable reader loses nothing by these omissions but rather gains new perspective on how these events related to the valley and its inhabitants.

Finally, Author Berleth does an absolutely terrific job of summarizing the `afterward,' the ineffably sad and for a time seemingly hopeless period following the Revolution when the valley's principal actors played out their roles, none more pathetic than the fate of the once-dominant Iroquois confederation, now broken into aimless fragments by their misplaced reliance on at least some whites' integrity and their inability to take advantage of their geographic and military hegemony before they were figuratively, and then literally, buried by white settlement.

So, even if you've read your Parkman, Anderson, and Flexner, don't dismiss this wonderful effort. As far as I'm concerned,"Bloody Mohawk" is proof positive that secondary sources can make for prime reading.

The Mohawk River Valley is the only significant, natural passage through the 2,000 mile long Appalachian Mountains. For over 200 years, the Iroquois League controlled this strategic thoroughfare, and thus all trade with the interior of the continent as far west as the Mississippi River. European settlement came after the close of Queen Anne's War when Britain encouraged Germans from the Palatinate to begin settling in the valley after 1713. The first English settlers came in 1738 under William Johnston, the man who would ultimately destroy the Iroquois League during the French and Indian War. It was Johnson who would contend with the Dutch inhabitants at Albany as events led up to the American Revolution.

Three different wars in the course of 200 years left their mark on this critical passage. French, English, American and Native Americans would make this strategic corridor the most heavily contested real estate on the North American continent. The most savage Native American battles were fought here, with massacres making Custer's Last Stand looking like child's play. Through the Mohawk and the Lake Champlain valleys Britain would defeat France during the French and Indian War. During the American Revolution more men died in the little known Battle of Oriskany than in any other battle, including Saratoga, Yorktown and Bunker Hill. The carnage was simply appalling. In the end, thousands of Loyalists, including the remaining Iroquois, were uprooted and driven into Canada, never to return. And only 40 years later, the completion of the Erie Canal would forever change trading patterns on the North American Continent making New York City the preeminent mercantile center of our Nation and, ultimately, of the world. This is a most amazing story and Richard Berleth's Bloody Mohawk chronicles these wars and the evolution of these events.

I haven't read a book this good in a long, long time. I have always had an interest in the development and settlement of early America's northeast frontier and while the author claims there is really nothing new here, I strenuously beg to differ. I found Richard Berleth's approach to the history of the Mohawk Valley and its contiguous early American thoroughfares provided a clearer and more succinct understanding of the region's early history than any previous work I have enjoyed. Bloody Mohawk is so good it makes you want to vacation here in order to better understand the terrain and then reread this book for an even better level of understanding.

I found this work a remarkable achievement.

Picking up this book i wasn't sure what to think. I was intrigued by the topic but I normally have trouble getting motivation to read any book. Upon reading it I was immediatly hooked. This book is incredibly informative, and this is coming from someone who has read about the revolution, the iroquois and the history of new york state over the coarse of several years. it opened my eyes to the true history of the mohawk valley in such a way that left me begging for more. this book was also incredibly interesting, even exciting, something that no history book before or after has managed to do. The detail in the history mixed with the exceptional writing style has made this one of the greatest and most informative books i personally have ever read. I think this book could and should make this into a movie, it is that amazing. i recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a part of history that has been incorrectly lost in time.

I live in New York Mills, the heart of the Mohawk Valley, only five or six miles from Oriskany; just down the valley from Johnson Hall, near the Oneida Indian Territory, ten miles or so from Fort Stanwix, etc. Indeed, I picked this book up on a visit to Fort Stanwix in Rome, while taking some friends there. I didn't expect to learn much, but boy was I mistaken. This is an excellent book, what one would call a page-turner. I even took it into restaurants to read while I was eating! It grabs the attention from page one, and keeps it going until the end. Oddly enough, even though I live and went to school in the area, much of the history of the French and Indian War and the Revolution pertained to Saratoga, the battles around New York, White Plains, and so on. It was interesting to learn something new. This book obviously took a great deal of research. Take it from someone who lives in the middle of the Mohawk Valley, this is a fine read, especially if you live in the area or are familiar who Schoharie, Herkimer, Oriskany, Schuyler and the surrounding country where all these events took place.

Berleth's focus is strictly the Mohawk River environs but within those parameters he fashions a story embellished with significant details...facts I have never heard or read before. My only wish was he had included a bit more about the Franco/British conflicts. However, his treatment of the American Revolution in the Mohawk Valley almost makes up for the shortcoming.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in this side theater of the Revolution. Berleth supplies facts and character studies in excellent detail without falling into romantic or idealistic chasms. As a native of the Mohawk Valley (ages ago) I have the advantage of knowing where locations are that he refers to. For those with little knowledge of the area the paucity of maps will detract from the stories.

I found this book to be well written, and especially suited to those with a specific interest in the Mohawk Valley of New York or those looking for a broad introduction to frontier culture and warfare on the colonial New York frontier. Those already well-read on early frontier history will not find much new material here. In my opinion, a more chronological approach than that used by the author would be less confusing for the reader.

I had driven through the Mohawk River Valley many times on the New York State Thruway, and had a fair knowledge of American history, but only when I read this book did I realize what civilizations had been built in central New York only to be totally destroyed by the conflicts of the American Revolution. Berleth writes a gripping story that moves inexorably from the French and Indian Wars to the civil war that was the American Revolution. He shows how the native American systems of governance were borrowed by the thinkers of the enlightenment only t be re-borrowed by the Founding Fathers - who then destroyed as best they could that same culture. The tragedy of what white Americans did to each other in the Mohawk River Valley is matched equally by the tragedy of how the native Americans fought and killed each other.

Besides the sadness of the story he tells, though, Berleth also paints memorable portraits of the many heros and villains, English, Irish, American, and native MAerican, who played important roles on the two major wars. His fine writing makes their stories stay with you long after you finish reading. Highly recommended.

I bought this hoping to learn more about the Mohawk valley and history, and it did not disappoint. It is well researched and very well written. Enjoying it thoroughly. I am part Mohawk indian by descent, and this book has really opened my eyes regardint the early history of or nation. They should make a movie from it, otherwise the public will still believe the nonsense misinformation fed to us in grade and highschool

I was very disappointed in this book, as the quality was no good. The book fell apart upon reading. I will think twice before ordering any books from Amazon.