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Book Reviews
March Into the Endless Mountains: The Beginnings of War on the Western Frontier of America.
By Ray Ward. (Waverly, N.Y.: Weldon Publications, 2006. Pp. 353. $19.95 paperback.)
Reviewed by James K. Somerville, Associate Professor of History Emeritus, State University of New York at Geneseo.
| This fast-paced novel of the American Revolution chronicles the turbulent events of 1778–79 along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania and New York. During these years, British regulars, Loyalist Rangers, and Seneca and Mohawk Indians launched devastating attacks on frontier settlements and militia, burning towns and villages and massacring or carrying off their inhabitants. The book depicts military forays, pitched battles, wilderness ambushes, Indian confabs, Loyalist intrigue in Philadelphia, and a few (awkward) love scenes; it concludes with a dramatic description of preparations for the Sullivan Expedition, which was to lay waste Indian territory. The author, a World War II veteran and native of the Susquehanna region, uses historical episodes to frame his narrative. Most of his characters are real, if embellished, figures (e.g., the landlord-merchant-Patriot-turned-Loyalist Samuel Willis), with a few being essentially fictional (such as the militia Lieutenant Levi Brady). If the dialogue and some of the experiences of individual actors have necessarily been invented, Ward's intimate knowledge of the geography and communities of the Susquehanna area during these years, together with his familiarity with Indian customs and practices, provide a firm historical grounding for the people and events he describes. |
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The author acknowledges the help of several individuals in the preparation of his novel, but, given his detailed understanding of the Susquehanna country and its bloody history during a part of the American Revolution, it is unfortunate that he did not provide a brief account of the written sources he utilized; one need not be a pedant to mention a few of the more important documents and published works consulted. Except for a brief reference to materials relating to the Tory spy Samuel Willis, there is no indication what writings Ward may have examined. Also, because the particular towns, forts, block houses, and rivers Ward describes are crucial to the unfolding of the story, either a single comprehensive or a series of small maps pinpointing their locations would have strengthened the book's clarity and authenticity; the "Ancient map of unexplored Indian lands" reproduced on the back cover is not particularly helpful. |
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Despite these shortcomings (and a few verbal slips: "pragmatic" and "corpus delecti" are not eighteenth-century terms), March into the Endless Mountains captures the tensions and conflicts that for two years traumatized the people on the Susquehanna frontier. |
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