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The Sixty Years' War for the Great Lakes, 1754-1814. Edited by David Curtis Skaggs and Larry L. Nelson. (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2001. Pp. xxvii, 414. Maps. $49.95.)
David Curtis Skaggs and Larry L. Nelson have performed a great service to the field of mid-America studies. As I have encountered in my own research on the military in the early republic, there is precious little out there that addresses this rich area of studies. Building on the body of frontier and border history of fine scholars such as Francis Jennings, Ian K. Steele, and John Mack Faragher, The Sixty Years' War for the Great Lakes is the fruits of the labor of a score of talented historians who are helping to lay the foundation for a better understanding of the importance of this region and time period in North American history. The coeditors have assembled a showcase of individuals whose expertise in a multitude of fields (Native-American history, naval and military history, diplomatic history, political history, frontier history, religious history, cultural history, and biography) is brought to bear on this subject.
The work breathes life into significant historical figures otherwise relegated to the footnotes of history. Charles E. Brodine Jr. puts forth an outstanding thesis in his study of the Swiss colonel cum British frontier commander, Henry Bouquet, whose victory at the Battle of Bushy Run in 1763 signaled a reverse course from Braddock's devastating defeat at the Battle of the Wilderness to a point in history where "the British army [finally adapted] successfully to the demands of fighting in the American wilderness"(44). Charles-Michel Mouet de Langlade is the subject of Michael A. McDonnell's essay. This half-French, half-Ottawa soldier served as a liaison between Europeans and Native Americans. His service on behalf of the French in the French and Indian War and later with the British during the American Revolution presents a fascinating perspective on the multiple...