Customer Reviews

Fort Pitt Museum and Park (Pennsylvania Trail of History Guides)

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I did not like this book because it is obvious that the author did not do any research in certain parts but simply repeated the misinformation that other authors have used before him.For example,he states that Braddock arrived with two regiments that were at full strength when they were not.They actually had to recruit colonials,one of whom was Thomas Fausett.He only briefly mentions the Battle of Grant's Hill, which was a significant battle that was fought on the museum's property,and most of his information concerning this battle is incorrect.Dixon states that several buildings that served as sentinel posts were burned in a nightime raid.When in reality,a first person account by one Lt.Alexander Robertson of the 77th states that only one building was burned,and that was used for storage.Somehow the flames were soon extinguished however.Burning the sentinel posts with the sentinels still inside would tend to make them quite irate one would think,and thus ruin the element of suprise.There are no accounts of guardhouses being burned anywhere.I gave the same criticism to the author of the Osprey French & Indian War book(Daniel Marston) for exactly the same reason(Check it out in my other reviews).These brave soldiers who have fallen at Braddock's & Grant's defeats have no Arlington National Cemetery nor memorials to honor them.They lie in unmarked graves that are known only to God.We can at least honor them by telling their story correctly.At the end of the day,the author can always say "Heh,I just made a fast buck off of the War For Empire 250th."

This is a great book for anyone interested in this period and region and the book is accurate. As for the regiment strength under General Braddock see Paul Kopperman's "Braddock at the Monongahela" p. 14, it notes that troops were rectruited in America to enhance the regiment's strength. As for the account of Grant's Defeat, everybody knows there are often many accounts of historical events that have conflicting information. Dixon chose information that appears in most accounts of the battle (and Grant's account as well), not just a single individual.