5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pontiac's Uprising Still of the Highest Significance, September 6, 2009
This review is from: Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America (Hardcover)
Between the French and Indian War and American Revolution exists, in the minds of most, a period of inactivity, a veritable dark age of United States history. That statement could not be farther from the truth as seen in David Dixon's tour de force account of Pontiac's Rebellion entitled Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America. Following seven years of conflict between the British and the French in the theatre of North America, Dixon argues that colonists were driven to a desperate call for revolution after three more vaunted years of Indian uprising.
Dixon uses the first chapter of his narrative monograph to describe the years leading up to Pontiac's Rebellion in the colonies, particularly highlighting the interactions between French, British, and Indian influences. Within the lengthy forty page chapter, Dixon successfully sets the table for Indian rebellion in his discussion of key events such as the Walking Purchase of 1737 and the young Virginian George Washington's journey into the Ohio River Valley. Influential characters on all sides including General John Forbes, Monacatootha, and Celeron de Blaineville.
The second chapter, entitled "A Colony Sprung from Hell," Dixon begins his analysis of the time period immediately following the Seven Years War and centers his narrative around several important geographic centers, most notably Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Allegheny, Ohio, and Monongahela rivers. Also during this section Dixon introduces, for the first time, Colonel Henry Bouquet. "Almost from the beginning of his service in America, Bouquet proved himself as a confidant and defatigable officer...He carefully detailed plans for conducting extensive campaigns in the wilderness..."(43)
Chapter three saw witness to the beginnings of a possible mobilization of forces against the potentially disastrous situation brewing in the American wilderness among its native tribes. Following a brief background on General Jeffrey Amherst, Dixon discusses the British military operations to Detroit as well as the Great Lakes region. "One might surmise that General Amherst would have been alarmed by the reports coming from the wilderness forst. After all, the few troops he had at his disposal were spread dangerously thin across the frontier."(100) It is not until chapter four that Dixon begins his examination of the Indian leader Pontiac and his call to arms for Indians to unite against their red-coated foes.
The fifth chapter is used to recount, in great, the true bore of Pontiac's Rebellion, particularly in the Pittsburgh area. Following the dispatch of Simon Ecuyer to command Fort Pitt, Seneca guerilla units systematically attacked a number of forts throughout Pennsylvania. Also the focus of the chapter was the beginning of Colonel Bouquet's doomed journey toward Fort Pitt, first traveling through Bushy Run Station. "The Bravest Men I Ever Saw," Dixon's sixth chapter, examined the Ambush at Bushy Run in great detail. It is in this section that Dixon claims "historians studying the Battle of Bushy Run have tended to downplay Bouquet's achievement..." (197) The final two chapters of Never Come to Peace Again explore the end of Pontiac's Rebellion and the subsequent events that followed. However, perhaps most fitting, is Dixon's subtle reiteration of his primary thesis, "They nourished deep-seated resentment not only against the Indians but also toward the provincial and imperial authorities that had failed to protect them. Buried deep inside this smoldering hatred and resentment lay the seeds of revolution."(243)
David Dixon was a true scholar and possessed a genuine passion for the intense study of history. A Professor of History at Slippery Rock University for nearly twenty years, Dixon acted as the curator and director of the Old Stone House, a nineteenth century pioneer inn located north of Butler, PA. After attending Slippery Rock University in pursuit of a B.S in secondary education and M.A in history, Dixon was awarded his Ph.D from Kent State University. Dixon is also the author of Hero of Beecher Island: The Life and Military Career of George A. Forsyth. Dixon passed away in July of 2008 and left a lasting legacy and a positive influence on both his students and colleagues.
Dixon cited a large number of primary and secondary sources in the completion of Never Come to Peace Again. Of the most notable, Dixon consulted the papers of several of his subjects including General Jeffrey Amherst and the letter of Colonel Henry Bouquet. When considering the newspaper that Dixon cited, the most prominent was the Pennsylvania Gazette. To better round out his use of sources, Dixon has also cited some French sources, particularly Les Sauvages Americains. Although there are some citations from secondary sources, the overwhelming amount come from original research done by Dixon.
Never Come to Peace Again is a triumph in the field of Colonial-Indian relations, particularly regarding warfare between the two rivals. While the period between the two wars is generally regarded as one of relative, uneventful peace, Dixon not only highlights the major conflict of the time period but places it into a sequence of events. In the way that he employs his sources and weaves his narrative, Dixon reinforces his primary thesis of rising discontent culminating at the end of Pontiac's Rebellion. As seen in Breen's Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of Revolution, discontent for the British government arose in many more places than just the urban commerce hotbeds of Boston and Philadelphia. Dixon's account of the events in the Ohio River Valley and farther west to Detroit only serves to underscore the far reaching grasp of revolution on the American colonies.
By forming his research into a riveting and historically grounded narrative, David Dixon dispels a number of myths about the time period between the Seven Years War and the American Revolution. Following years of war, Dixon provides ample information to soundly support his thesis of colonial discontent erupting into calls for revolution at the end of Pontiac's Rebellion.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book on "Pontiac's War" with the British, July 1, 2007
This review is from: Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America (Hardcover)
Finally, the third book that I have read on Pontiac's war with the British is a charm. Unlike one book that was a historical novel, and somewhat fantastic in its portrayals of what happened, and a more recent book that was a boring scholarly read, this one is believable, with many sources identified, and interesting to read. Some new ideas were also brought to light for me in reading this book. First, although this is known as Pontiac's War, Pontiac only led the attacks and siege of Detroit. And, this part of the war was not successful. He had no involvement with the taking of the other British forts, and towards the end of the war, he was despised by his fellow Indians, resulting in his murder at a young age. Second, at the end of this war, an uprising of settlers in the Allegheny region occurred that was a precursor to the American revolution. This occurred as a direct result of Pontiac's War showing the connection between this war and the Revolution. One of the highlights of the book is the battle of Bushy Run where Bouquet with a tired and sick army is attacked by the Indians, but through trickery defeats them, resulting in the only defeat of an Indian army by the British. There are a lot of these interesting anecdotes in this book highlighting a book that is well worth the read for an individual interested in the colonial period and the wars with the Indians.
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