President Washington's Indian War - by Wiley Sword (Paperback)

About the Book

Most impressive is the extent and depth of the author's research in primary and secondary sources. With extraordinary vividness Sword recounts the battles and the life in the American and Indian encampments, quoting from diaries, letters, and statements by American officers and soldiers as well as the accounts of their enemies, such as Little Turtle of the Miamis, Blue Jacket of the Shawnees, and Joseph Brant of the Iroquois. Nor does Sword neglect the activities and life-ways of Britain's traders, agents, and haughty commandants.

Book Synopsis

The first comprehensive history of the United States-Indian War of 1790-1795. The struggle for the Old Northwest Territory (modern-day Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan) was as vicious and bitter a conflict as any war in our history. The years from 1790 to 1795 may have been the turning point in Indian-white relations on the North American continent. At this time the Indians of the Ohio country-tribes such as the Miamis, the Shawnees, and the Ottawas-engaged in a last-ditch effort to stop the settlers who were moving west into the "Black Forest" wilderness of mid-America. President Washington assigned "Mad Anthony" Wayne to rebuild and expand the army, despite considerable domestic opposition. Most impressive is the extent and depth of the author's research in primary and secondary sources. Sword recounts the battles and the life of in the American and Indian encampments, quoting from diaries, letters, and statements by American officers and soldiers as well as their enemies, such as Little Turtle of the Miamis, Blue Jacket of the Shawnees, and Joseph Brant of the Iroquois.

Review Quotes

"Readers will find Wiley Sword's President Washington's Indian War an amazingly comprehensive, intriguingly complicated, and compellingly dramatic treatment of warfare between citizens of the newly formed U.S. and Indians in the Old Northwest during 1790-1795...Sword has compiled a detailed, vivid historical narrative of one of the major turning points in Indian-white relations on the North American continent."--American Indian Quarterly