Breaking The Backcountry: Seven Years War In Virginia And Pennsylvania 1754-1765 [Paperback]

Matthew C. Ward (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“In gripping detail, [Ward] tells the story of a decade of devastation and settler-refugee flight produced by the war and its aftermath. . . . His engrossing writing style and crisp analysis should appeal to general readers as well as advanced history students and college professors. . . . Brings to life all the protagonists on America’s western frontier.” 
--History: Reviews of New Books

"Seamlessly combining military, social, diplomatic, and Indian history, Ward persuasively demonstrates how the war ‘fundamentally transformed both colonies.’ . .  highly relevant to academic, public, and classroom discussions of the war’s meanings and legacies.”
--PA Magazine of History and Biography

“Ward ably explains life in the backcountry, the demographics of provincial armies (including a comparison of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts soldiers), the intricacies of Native American diplomacy, the politics of colonial government, and military actions in the Ohio Valley. Scholars interested in rural life, military and social history, and Native American studies should welcome this book.”
--Commonwealth

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press; 1 edition (October 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822958651
• ISBN-13: 978-0822958659
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Focus on the Frontier, May 2, 2005

By 

Theo Logos (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking The Backcountry: Seven Years War In Virginia And Pennsylvania 1754-1765 (Paperback)

Historians of the Seven Years War have often neglected to give much attention to the waging of that war in the backcountry of Pennsylvania and Virginia, preferring instead to concentrate on the conquest of Canada. Most of the set-piece, European style battles of that war happened in Canada or New York, and the conquest of Canada is generally viewed as the most important accomplishment of that war in North America. Yet it was in the backcountry of Pennsylvania where this first truly global war started, and its causes lay in the dispute between the English settlers of Virginia and Pennsylvania with the French over control of the rich country of the Ohio River Valley. And no area of North America suffered more from that war than did the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Matthew Ward has taken on this oft neglected subject, and has given us an excellent book detailing the war as it was fought in the backcountry.
Ward opens by detailing the disputes between the Pennsylvanian and Virginian colonist with the French power in Canada over who had rightful claim to the Ohio country. He touches on the winter journey of young George Washington on his unsuccessful diplomatic mission to the French at Fort LeBoeuf, and his even more disastrous military expedition and defeat at the Great Meadows the following year. (Washington's ill-fated expedition is often cited as the unofficial beginning of the Seven Years War.) He then moves on to the disaster of Braddock's expedition and massacre, which marked both the official beginning of the war, and the beginnings of several years of savage, bloody raids on the backcountry, raids that nearly depopulated the entire frontier.
The war in the backcountry was not a war of set-piece battles, but one of small, guerilla style raids by bands of Indians, sometimes accompanied by French soldiers. They were repeatedly able to strike settlements quickly, wreck maximum damage, and retire before any resistance could be organized. In some instances, they engaged in psychological warfare, by purposely leaving mutilated bodies of women and children to horrify and terrorize the colonist. (This was a novel development, deviating from traditional Indian warfare, where women and children were valued as captives and generally not killed.) In this manner, the French and Indians, though numerically inferior to the English colonists, were able to devastate the Pennsylvanian and Virginian frontiers.
Ward goes into great detail over the problems these two colonies had in forming any kind of effective military resistance to these raids on the backcountry. Neither colony had any previous military tradition, as both had enjoyed long periods of peaceful relations with their native neighbors. In addition, the population of the frontier was fragmented over issues of race and religion, had developed few community binding institutions, and had no clear elites who could naturally step into roles of military leadership. In Pennsylvania, the problem of organizing an effective defense force also ran up against the pacifistic beliefs of the Quakers who dominated politics in that colony.
Ward does an outstanding job of holding a historical magnifying glass to the situation of the backcountry between Braddock's massacre and the successful Forbes expedition that finally came to terms with the Indians and chased the French from the forks of the Ohio River, effectively ending the war along the frontier. He also deals with the troubled relations between the English and the Indians after the establishment of Fort Pitt at the forks, and ends with Pontiac's Uprising, that Indian war that was the post script of the Seven Years War.
If your primary interest is in the history of the regions covered in the book, then `Breaking the Backcountry' can be appreciated as a stand-alone book. If, however, your principal interest is in the Seven Years War, I would recommend reading it as a supplement, after reading a book that gives the full sweep of that war. `Crucible of War'. By Fred Anderson is an excellent place to begin to discover the big picture of that war.
`Breaking the Backcountry' effectively puts a focus on an often overlooked but crucial aspect of the first great global war. It is well written, carefully researched, and I enthusiastically recommend it.

Theo Logos

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Seven Years' War in PA and VA, January 24, 2006

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking The Backcountry: Seven Years War In Virginia And Pennsylvania 1754-1765 (Paperback)

Matthew Ward has written an excellent account of the Seven Years' War as it played out along the frontier of Pennsylvania and Virginia. He begins with a chapter on the development of the backcountry (roughly the area west of the Susquehanna River in PA and the Upper Shenandoah Valley region of VA) and how events there became a struggle of occupation between the French and English, especially as they played out through the trade relations both countries developed with the Indians. Population soared in this area during the 1700s, and settlers' visions went beyond the Appalachians to the Ohio Valley.

Ward discusses the effects of the fur trade, the frontier attitudes and how they differed from those of urban dwellers, and the question of who would control the Ohio Valley as important concerns in setting the stage for conflict. Of course, he tells of Braddock's expedition and defeat and how that unleashed a great number of raids and depredations against the settlers in the Cumberland and Shenandoah Valleys. The western settlers in PA had much difficulty getting the Quaker rulers in Philadelphia to appreciate the tremendous bellicosity that existed between them and the Indians (under French control), and their need for supplies, weapons, even soldiers to prevent all of central PA from being totally evacuated. Hundred of people were being killed and much property destroyed. Sometimes settler groups took matters into their own hands to defend themselves or protest against what they considered an uncaring government (the Paxton Boys). Ward covers all of this carefully and insightfully.

The Forbes expedition to recapture Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) is dealt with, especially the controversy over which route to take, the old Braddock Road up from Cumberland, MD, or a new road through central PA (the latter was chosen, over the protests of Virginian George Washington, because it was shorter and forded fewer streams). After the British took firm control of the Forks of the Ohio, Indian relations broke down, fueled by the French. This led to Pontiac's rebellion, a last-ditch effort by the Indians to expel the English; one by one the British forts began to fall until only three remained standing (Niagara, Detroit, and Ft. Pitt). The backcountry was in flames once again. Col. Henry Bouquet led a force across Forbes's old road to Ft. Pitt, and a few miles short of it fought a battle at Bushy Run with a large contingency of Indians; Bouquet's victory stabilized events until a larger force could be raised and sent into the Ohio Valley the next year (1764) to put the conflict to rest once and for all.

The book is scholarly and academic, but it's not dry. I found his focus on Virginia and especially Pennsylvania to be informative and fascinating. The war as it played out in PA is of particular interest to me, so I found Ward's book most welcome and enlightening. There aren't too many surprises in his account, no grand revisionist theories, just straightforward history related wisely and with style. Highly recommended.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent History, June 3, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Breaking the Backcountry: The Seven Years' War in Virginia and Pennsylvania, 1754-1765 (Hardcover)

Matthew Ward's interesting and informative book is a meticulously researched social and military history of the Seven Years' War. It will be of special interest to those who live in those parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia that in the mid-18th century were part of the "backcountry" where most of the fierce fighting took place. Social, economic, and religious divisions among the inhabitants of the backcountry play a prominent role in this story as does the diplomacy between various Indian tribes and the British and the French. British military ineptness along with the scandalous treatment of the Indians by greedy colonial landowners and unscrupulous British agents are central themes of the book. As students of American history know, this fascinating conflict between the British and French (and their native American allies) generated issues that led directly to the American revolution of 1776. If you want to read one book on the Seven Years' War, this is a good place to start.