11.28.10

The Chosen

Posted in Books and Audiobooks at 6:10 pm

I have enjoyed most of the things Stirling and Drake have put out (c’mon, Drake is an ex-11th ACR guy so he’s got an automatic in). This is one of the books I keep as I cycle through paperbacks and jettison most of those I dislike or don’t care to read again.

Raj Whitehall and his computer pal have now reunited their planet (Bellevue) and are extending their reach to the stars in an attempt to recreate the Federation of Man. In this part of the saga, two young boys handle a “meteorite” that is in the process of being shipped to a new location on the planet Visager. Through this physical contact, Center has made some type of connection to their brains and can not only communicate with them, but also allows them to communicate with one another mentally and with the avatar of Raj Whitehall. (OK, so this is science fantasy.)

Civilization on Visager broke down into several competing societies on one large horseshoe shaped island and another smaller island. The bad guys, known as the Chosen, were defeated in an earlier conflict and booted off the main island to the smaller one. They have created a militaristic society with the goal of reuniting Visager under their control. If you have read any part of the Draka series you will be familiar with the tenets of this dysfunctional country. Several other countries exist in semi-harmony on the main island continent and all have turned their face away from the long term Draka… I mean Chosen… threat.

The two boys represent agents of change and are guided through their lives by Raj and Center, the computer.They become industrialists and developers of technology on their planet under Center’s guidance. Their long term planning allows the Chosen to be defeated in a series of wars that wrest away the initiative from the Chosen.

I enjoyed the book mainly because it has a lot of military action in it and I think the underlying idea is fun. More important, it takes place in a 1915 to 1925 type technological environment so the era is not one I am completely familiar with and gives me a break from other wars in which I am interested. I think it shows how one can take this period and construct ImagiNations out of it that could be fun to build up and in which to game.

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08.02.07

King of the Khyber Rifles

Posted in Books and Audiobooks, Colonials at 7:03 pm

King of the Khyber Rifles by Talbot Mundy is a real period piece! The hero, Athelstan King, is a British Intelligence Service officer in India during the early 1900s. The mission given to him by his superiors is to prevent an uprising on the Northwest Frontier. In the course of the adventure he disguises himself as a native, comes across his brother, gains access to a hidden mountain fortress, penetrates to the heart of the revolt and (almost) gets the girl. If you enjoy Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert Howard, then this novel is for you! I can’t go into too much detail as it will spoil the plot but it is a fast-paced adventure yarn. You can make two or three scenarios for Northwest Frontier gaming from this: a fortress besieged, infighting between Pathan tribes, and full blown revolt on the frontier with random reinforcements attacking British columns or railway teams.

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04.16.07

Patriotic Fire

Posted in Books and Audiobooks at 9:00 am

Those of you who are my age (roughly 53) will appreciate this story. When my wife was younger (under 10), one of her favorite songs was the Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton. Nobody knows why she liked it, but she and her parents all claim that she wore out several records playing that song! She used to march around her room singing it!

This is another one that I listened to on books on tape from Simply AudioBooks. I find it difficult at times to listen to historical books on tape as it is hard to get mental pictures of the main protagonists that I can carry through the book and get the story straight. This is not a scholarly historical work, starting out as a story about Groom’s search for information on an ancestor that was mentioned in dispatches at the battle. It is, however, a superb narrative history.

Groom begins by discussing what drove him to look for his ancestor’s story. He then sets up the Battle of New Orleans in the context of the War of 1812 and other events occurring in Europe and the Americas. This takes up about 4 CDs worth of material. By necessity, much of the story centers around Andrew Jackson. I can’t help but conjure up a picture from the movie with Charleton Heston and Yul Brenner when Jackson’s old friend/assistant/batman, Mr Peavey turns to Jackson in the middle of a stressful meeting and says, “drink your milk, Andy, it will help you sleep…” or words to that effect. For some reason, Groom never mentions this incident! Whether one likes Jackson or not, much of the credit for the American success rests on his shoulders. The other individual who played an important role in the battle was, ironically, Jean Lafitte, a privateer/pirate/businessman. Lafitte and his brother were suppliers of much of the munitions used by the Americans at the battle, even though Lafitte had been approached by the British to support their efforts against New Orleans.

The presentation of the battle is well done and the reader (listener) gets a good appreciation of what conditions the soldiers of the period had to labor through. Conflicts in command, and critical decisions are also well presented and discussed in as fair a manner as possible when there are conflicting stories.

Since the book was on CD, I could not look at footnotes as I sometimes do, but in the final segment of the book, Groom goes into a detailed discussion of sources. The contradictory nature of primary sources is laid out and Groom discusses why he chose what he did. What is of particular value is Groom’s argument for the authenticity of Lafitte’s memoirs that have been the subject of much heated debate. He lays out the historiography behind them and in the final analysis, claims that he does accept them as having been written by Lafitte.

All in all, this is a rollicking good story about a pivotal event in American history and worth the time to peruse in paper or listen to on CD. It was so inspiring that I may even add a Baratarian battery to one of my nation’s forces.

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04.03.07

The Wars of Robert the Bruce

Posted in Ancients, Books and Audiobooks at 12:10 pm

I first read The Bruce Trilogy back in the late 70s when I was stationed in Germany. I did not know much about the period as my focus was on the Napoleonic and gunpowder eras so I started with a novel to perk my interest. The story came in three separate books then and I remember having difficulty finding the last one as I got it through the military library system. Ten years later my mother went to visit my brother in Scotland and asked me what I wanted her to bring back. This was small enough for her to bring back in her luggage (my mother packs heavily and went to play golf, so I didn’t think she’d have time or space for more!)The first volume starts with Edward Plantagenet deposing John Baliol as King of Scots and bringing Scotland under his personal rule. Robert Bruce, a 22 year old Earl, slowly grows disenchanted with the English King and is torn between his duty to Scotland and his oaths to Edward. William Wallace rises in rebellion and the story revolves initially around Bruce’s reactions to Wallace’s rebellion. Once Wallace is betrayed and executed, Bruce becomes one of the joint Stewards along with John Comyn, his archenemy. Tranter covers the changes in Stewards and the events leading up to the death of Comyn at the hands of Bruce or his supporters (Tranter lays the murder at the feet of one of Bruce’s supporters although Bruce dirks Comyn in a chapel). Robert Bruce assumes the crown and begins his war to free Scotland. The story ends with Bruce’s defeat at the siege of Perth.The next volume begins with Bruce’s departure from his wife and child and the beginning of his guerrilla war in the style of William Wallace. The book ends with the battle of Bannockburn. The final volume covers the post-Bannockburn period to Bruce’s death and ends with a nice vignette on James Douglas on Crusade.

Tranter’s view of Robert Bruce can be summed up in the description of the reading of Edward II’s settlement terms with the Scots:

And so it was that the son of the man [the Lord of Northumberland] who had hectored, lectured, reproved, deceived, and harried the Bruce on so many occasions through the years, had to read aloud the words which were the justification and coping-stone of the hero-king’s thirty years of striving and suffering, indeed of his entire career….

I enjoyed a number of things about the books. Not being familiar with the era, I found to my surprise that I could keep track of the major players, their personalities and contributions. Tranter’s personalization of each character made them come alive for me. The only glaring shortcoming was a lack of maps to keep me oriented. I found that I had to keep referring to the map in volume one and three to figure out who was doing what where. All in all a highly recommended series, particularly if you can balance it out with another book on the Bruces.

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03.19.07

7YW Bibliography

Posted in 7YW, Books and Audiobooks at 10:26 am

I was searching the internet for a review on a set of rules and found this on TMP from 2004. I pulled it out and reformatted it for general use. The author was Steve Bruce. His email to me is as follows:

I don’t have any problem with you putting that up on your site. Its actually part of an old bibliography from the history I wrote a few years back on British, French, Spanish and Indian Colonial history 1700 to 1774. Also wrote a full rule set with army lists for all the various conflicts, points picks or random generation basis, plus if I recall correctly orders of battle with named officers for over 500 battles and skirmishes.

I never got around to publishing any of it as real work took over my life unfortunately.

General & campaign histories

• Battle for a Continent. H. Bird. Oxford University Press 1965.
• The French and Indian Wars. The Story of battles and forts in the wilderness. Edward P. Hamilton. New York 1962.
• Navies in the Mountains. Harrison Bird. NY. Oxford University Press 1962.
• Lake Champlain and Lake George. Frederic Van De Water. Ira J. Friedman Inc 1969
• The French And Indian War 1754-1763, The Imperial Struggle for North America. Seymour I Schwartz. Simon and Schuster Academic Reference Division, 1994.
• Guns at the Forks. Walter O’Meara. University of Pittsburg Press. 1979.
• Empire of Fortune. Francis Jennings. New York: Norton, 1988.
• Montcalm and Wolfe. Francis Parkman. Boston: Little, Brown, 1909.
• A Set of Plans and Forts in America. Reduced from Actual Surveys. John Rocque. London: Mary Rocque, 1763
• The British Empire before the American Revolution. Vols. 1 – 8. Lawrence Henry Gibson. New York: Knopf, 1930 – 1961.
• Quebec 1759, the siege and the battle. C. P. Stacey. The Macmillan company of Canada Ltd. Toronto. 1959.
• Braddock at the Monongahela. P.E. Kopperman. University of Pittsburgh Press 1977.
• Atlas of Early American history. Lester J. Cappon.
• Betrayals; Fort William Henry and the Massacre. Ian K. Steele. New York. Oxford University press 1990.
• Siege 1759. The Campaign against Niagara. Brian Leigh Dunnigan. Old Fort Niagara Association. Old Fort Niagara Assoc. 1986.
• Uniforms of the Seven Years War. John Mollo & Malcolm Mcgregor. Blandford Press 1977.
• The Wilderness War. Allan W. Eckert, Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1978
• British maps of colonial America. William P. Cumming, University of Chicago. 1974.
• The colonial civilisation of north America. 1067 – 1763. Louis B. Wright. Eyre & Spotswood Ltd. 1949.
• The Indian Wars. Robery Utley & Wilcomb Washburn, American Heritage Publishing 1977.
• The General History of the Late War : Containing it’s Rise, Progress, and Event, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America 5 Volumes. John Entick. E. and C. Dilly, London, UK 1764-66
• A Compleat History of the Late War, or Annual Register of its Rise, Progress, and Events in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America 2 Volumes. J. A. Wright. David Steel, London, UK 1765
• The History of the Late War in North-America, and the Islands of the West-Indies, including the Campaigns of 1763 and 1764 with His Majesty’s Indian Enemies. Thomas Mante. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1772.

Indian Histories

General

• The Indians of the western Great Lakes. W. Vernon Kinietz. University of Michigan Press. 1940.
• Warpaths. Invasions of North America. Ian K. Steele. Oxford University Press. 1994.
• The middle ground. Indians, Empires and Republics in the Great Lakes region, 1650-1815. Richard White. Cambridge University Press 1991.
• Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History. Edited by: H. Tanner, A. Hast, J. Peterson, R. Surtees. Newberry Library. Norman. University of Oklahoma Press 1987.
• Wilderness Politics and Indian Gifts. The Northern Colonial frontier 1748 – 1763. W. R. Jacobs. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln 1950.
• Adairs History of the American Indians. Ed. Samuel Cole Williams. NY. Prom Press. 1973.
• American Woodland Indians. Michael G. Johnson and Richard Hook. Osprey Publishing London 1988.
• Sketch Book ’56 Vol. 4. Indian Allies. Ted Spring 1991.
• True Stories of New England Captives. C. Alice Baker. Heritage Books. 1990.
• 500 Nations. Alvin M. Josephy Jr. Alfred A. Knopf. New York 1994.
• A Century of Dishonour: The Early Crusade for Indian Reform. Helen Hunt Jackson. 1881.
• American Indian Tomahawks. Harold Leslie Peterson, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York, NY 1971
• “A Kind of Running Fight”: Indian Battlefield Tactics. Leroy V. Eid, The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, 71, 2, April 1988.
• “National” War Among Indians of Northeastern North America. Leroy V. Eid, The Canadian Review of American Studies, 16, 2, Summer 1985. Delaware, Shawnee & Ohio tribes
• Shawnee! James H. Howard. Athens. Ohio University Press 1981.
• King of the Delawares: Teedyuskung 1700 – 1763. Anthony F.C. Wallace. Philadelphia 1945.

Iroquois & Mingo

• The Iroquois Restoration: Iroquois Diplomacy on the Colonial Frontier 1701-1754. Richard Aquila. Detroit: Wayne State University Press 1983.
• The Canadian Iroquois and the Seven years war. D. Peter Macleod. Dundurn Press. Toronto & Oxford. 1996.
• The Trail of the Iroquois Indians. G. Elmore Reaman. Frederick Muller Ltd. London 1067.
• Lords of the Valley. Sir Willaim Johnson and his Mohawk Brothers. F.W. Seymour. New York and London 1930.

Potowatomis & Ottawa

• The Potowatomis: Keepers of the Fire. R. David Edmunds. Norman. University of Oaklahoma Press 1978.
• History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac and the war of the North American tribes against the English colonies after the conquest of Canada. Vols 1 & 2. Francis Parkman. Lttle Brown 1851.
• The Siege of Detroit: the journal of Pontiacs Conspiracy. Milo Milton Quaife. Lakeside Classics. Chicago. R.R. Donnelley and Sons 1958.
• Abenaki, Etchemins & Micmacs. The Abenakis and their History. Rev. Eugene Vetromile. New York. James B. Kirker. 1866.
• Micmacs and Colonists; Indian white relations in the maritimes 1713-1867. L.F.S. Upton. Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press 1978.
• The Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-1800 War, Migration, and the survival of an Indian people.
• Colin G. Calloway. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman and London 1990.

Cherokee, Caddo, Choctaw, Creek, Natchez and Chickasaw

• The Caddo Indians of Louisiana. C. H. Webb. Baton Rouge. Louisiana
• Archaeological Survey & Antiquities commission. 1986.
• On the convergence of Empire; the Caddo Indian confederacies 1542 – 1835.
• Foster Todd Smith. New Orleans. Tulane University 1989.
• Historic Indian tribes of Louisiana. From 1754 to the present. Fred B. Kniffen. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. 1987.
• Louisiana. Ed. Alice Forties. XV Century historical Assoc. 1914.
• The Louisiana Historical Quarterly. Vol. 18. No. 4. Oct. 1935.
• American Indians of the Southeast. Michael Johnson and Richard Hook. Osprey 1995.
• History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians. H.B. Cushman. New York. Russell and Russell. 1972.
• The Chickasaws. Arrell M. Gibson. University of Oklahoma Press 1971.
• The History of the Chickasaw Nation. James H. Malone. Morton & Company 1922.
• The Creek frontier. David H. Corkran. Norman. University of Oaklahoma Press 19??
• Old Frontiers, the story of the Cherokee Indians. John Brown. Arno Press & the New York Times. 1971.
• The Cherokee Frontier. 1740-1762. David H. Corkran. Norman. University of Oaklahoma Press 1967.

Western Tribes

• The Imperial Osages. G. C. Din & A. P. Nasatir. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press. 1983.
• The Fox Wars. Edmunds and Peyser. University of Oklahoma Press. 1939.
• American Plains Indians. Jason Hook and Richard Hook. Osprey 1985.

French & Canadian forces and perspectives

• Montcalms Army. M. Windrow. Osprey Publishing 1973.
• La Marine: The French Colonial Soldier in Canada 1745-1761. Andrew Gallup, Donald F. Shaffer. Heritage Books, Inc. Bowie, Maryland 1992
• Adventures in the Wilderness: The American Journals of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, 1756-1760. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville. Edward P. Hamilton, ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1964.
• Jesuits and Savages in New France. J.H. Kennedy. Hamden Connecticut, Archon Books 1971.
• New France the last phase. 1744-1763. George Stanley. Toronto 1967.
• The Seven Years war in Canada 1756 – 1763. Compiled by Sigmund Samuel. Toronto. Ryerson press 1934.
• Montcalm’s Correspondence. Anonymous, The Report of the Public Archives of the Dominion of Canada for the Year 1929, F. A. Acland, Ottawa, Canada, 1929.
• Bougainville, Soldier and Sailor Maurice Thiery, Grayson and Grayson, London, UK 1932
• Montcalm, The Marvelous Marquis. Meriwether Liston Lewis, Vantage Press, New York, NY 1961
• An old frontier of New France. 2 Vol. Frank H. Severance. New York. Dodd Mead & Co. 1917.
• Canada, the war of the conquest. Guy Fregault. Trans. M. Cameron. 1969.
• Louisbourg: a Key to a continent. F. Downey. Prentice Hall 1965.
• Royal Fort Frontenac. Compiled & Translated by Richard A. Preston. Ed. Leopold Lamontagne. Pu. Champlain Society. Toronto 1958.
• Colonial Mobile. P.J. Hamilton. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston 1910.
• Annals of St. Louis in its early days under the French and Spanish dominations. F. Billon. Arno Press / New York Times.
• Louisbourg from foundation to fall. 1713-1758. J.S. McClennan. The book room 1978.
• The French Soldier in Colonial America. Rene Chartrand. Museum restoration service. Ottawa 1984.
• Glorious Old Relic. The French castle and old fort Niagara. Brian Leigh Dunnigan. Old Fort Niagara assoc. 1987.
• French Infantry Regiments. 1740-1762. R.D. pengal 1982.
• The Lace Wars. Parts 1&2. L.&F. Funcken. Ward Lock. 1977.
• Historical Atlas of Canada. Vol. 1. Toronto Canada. R. Cole Harris. University of Toronto Press 1987.
• Acadia; the geography of early Acadia to 1760. Andrew Hill Clark. Madison Milwaukee & London. University of Wisconsin Press 1968.
• Louis XV’s Army. Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. Rene Chartrand and Eugene Leliepvre. Osprey 1996 & 1997.
• Canadian Military Heritage Vols. 1 & 2. Rene Chartrand. Art Global Inc. 1995.
• Memoirs on the Late war in North America between England and France. Pierre Pouchot. Michael Cardy. Ed. Leigh Dunnigan. Old Fort Niagara Assoc. New York. 1994.
• Memoir of a French and Indian war soldier. “Jolicoeur” Charles Bonin. Ed. Andrew Gallup. Heritage Books Inc. 1993.
• The Ancien Regime. French society 1600-1750. Pierre Goubert. Orion Books. London. 1979.
• The French armies in the Seven Years war. Lee Kennett. Duke University Press. Durham. 1967.
• Sketch Book ’56 Vol. 2. The French Marines. Ted Spring 1991.
• Costume in New France 1740 to 1760. A visual dictionary. Suzanne and Andre Gousse. La Fleur de Lyse. 1997.
• Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 2 1741 – 1770. University of Toronto Press. 1974.
• The Battle of Restigouche. Judith Beattie & Bernard Pothier. Canadian Historic sites. No. 16.
• Mississippi, a History. John Ray Skates. W.W. Norton & Co. Inc. New York 1979.
• Spanish American Frontier. A.P.Whitaker. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1927.
• A Campaign of Amateurs: The Siege of Louisbourg, 1745, Raymond F. Baker, Canadian Historic Sites, Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History, # 18, National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs, Ottawa, 1978.
• An appearance of strength The Fortifications of Louisbourg. Bruce W. Fry, Studies in Archaeology, Architecture and History, National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada, Environment Canada, 2 Vols.
• The Soldiers of Isle Royale, 1720-45, Allan Greer, History and Archaeology #28, National Historic Parks and Sites, Parks Canada, Environment Canada, 1979 ( Ministry of Supply and Services Canada 1979)
• Officers of Isle Royale (1744) Accommodations and Biographical Summaries. A.J.B. Johnston, Manuscript Report Number 270, Parks Canada, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, 1978.
• Sergeant Koller in Peace and War, Louisbourg Portraits: Life in an eighteenth-century garrison town. Christopher Moore, Macmillan of Canada, 1982.
• Social Structure and Life in Louisbourg, in Canada: An Historical Magazine, Volume 1, Number 4, Robert Morgan and Terrence D. MacLean, June 1974, Published Quarterly by Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, Limited in Association with McMaster University.
• Study of Military Costume at Louisbourg. Gilles Proulx, Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, In-House Report, May 1971.
• A Loose and Disorderly People: British Views of the French Canadians of the Upper Great Lakes, 1760-1774. Kerry A Trask. Voyageur Magazine, The Historical Review of Brown County and Northeast Wisconsin, Vol. 5, Number 2, winter, 1988/89.
• The French Army in America Edward P. Hamilton, Museum Restoration Service, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 1967
• French Arms Drill of the 18th Century, 1703-1760 J. A. Houlding, Museum Restoration Service, Alexandria Bay, NY 1988
• The Soldier Off Duty. Francois Miville-Deschenes, National Historic Parks and Sites, Environment Canada, Parks Service, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 1987
• The Garrison of Quebec. Gilles Proulx, National Historic Sites, Parks Service, Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 1991.
• A Different Kind of Courage: The French Mililtary and the Canadian Irregular Soldier during the Seven Years’ War. Martin L Nicolai, Canadian Historical Review, 70, 1, 1989.
• American Colonial histories and forces
• Dictionary of American Biography.
• Arms for Empire. A Military History of the British colonies in North America. 1607-1763. D.E. Leach. The Macmillan Company 1973.
• An enquiry into the causes of the alienation of the Delaware and Shawnee Indians from the British interest. Charles Thompson. London. J. Wilkie 1759.
• Fort Johnson. Historic structure report. Preservation League of New York. Sept-Oct. 1982.
• French and Indian cruelty. Peter Williamson. Thoemmes Press 1996.
• The Population of British Colonies in America before 1776. A survey of Census data. Rupert V. Wells. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press 1975.
• Dawnland Encounters. Indians and Europeans in Northern New England. Colin Galloway. University of New England. Hanover & London.
• Colonial America. A History. Richard Middleton. Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1996.
• Sketch Book ’56 Vol. 5 The women of the French war era. Ted Spring 1991.
• The Most Extraordinary Adventures of Major Robert Stobo. Robert C. Alberts. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965.
• That Dark and Bloody river. Alan W. Eckert. Bantam Books. 1995.
• Journal of Nicholas Cresswell, l774 -1777. Cresswell, Nicholas. Dial Press, Norwood MA., 1924.
• The northern colonial frontier. 1607 – 1763. Douglas Edward Leach. Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. 1966.
• Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783 Harold L. Peterson, Stackpole Co., Harrisburg, PA 1956
• Round Shot and Rammers Harold L. Peterson, Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA 1969
• The Early American Way of War: Reconnaissance and Appraisal. Don Higginbotham, William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series, 44, 1.
• Anglo-American Methods of Indian Warfare, 1676-1794. John K. Mahon, Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 45, 1958.
• Colonial Warfare in North America. Edward P. Hamilton, Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 80, 1969.
• Sails and Steam in the Mountains : A Maritime and Military History of Lake George and Lake Champlain Russell P. Bellico, Purple Mountain Press, New York, NY 1992
• Roots of Conflict: British Armed Forces and Colonial Americans, 1677-1763. Douglas Leach

Rangers

• The battle on Snowshoes. Bob Bearor. Heritage Books. 1997.
• Robert Rogers of the Rangers. John R. Cuneo. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959.
• Reminiscences of the French War. Major General John Stark. Luther Roby. Concord NH. 1831.
• Sketch Book ’56 Vol. 1 Rogers Rangers. Ted Spring 1991.
• Sketch Book ’56 Vol. 3 Highlanders and Provincial rangers. Ted Spring 1991.
• Journals of Major Robert Rogers. Robert Rogers. London: n. p., 1765.
• North & South Carolina & Georgia
• Colonial Forts of South Carolina. 1670 – 1775. Larry E. Ivers. Columbia SC 1970.
• An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia. Hewatt 1779
• British Drums on the Southern Frontier. The Military organisation of Georgia 1733 – 1749. Larry E. Ivers. University of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill. 1974.
• Militiamen, Rangers and Redcoats. The military in Georgia 1754-1776. James M. Johnson. Mercer University Press. Georgia 1992.

Maryland and Delaware

• French and Indian war. Roster of Maryland troops. 1757 – 1759. Maryland Historical Magazine. Vol. 5. 1910.
• Colonial Delaware, a history. John M. Munroe. KTO Press. Kraus Thompson Organisation Ltd. Millwood NY 1978.
• Delaware Archives Military Volume 1. Public archives of Delaware. Mercantile Printing Co. 1911.
• Colonial Soldiers of the South. Murtie June Clark. Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc. 1983.

Virginia

• The Old Dominion at War; Society, Politics & Warfare in Late Colonial Virginia. Titus, James. Colombia, S. C. : University of South Carolina Press, 1991.
• New Light on Washington’s Fort Necessity. J. C. Harrington. Richmond: Eastern National Park and Monument Association, 1957.
• Major General Adam Stephen and the cause of American liberty. Henry M. Ward. University Press of Virginia.
• Duty, Honour or Country. General George Weedon. Harry M. Ward. American Philosophical Society. 1979.
• Chronicles of Border Warfare. Alexander Scott Withers, Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Company, 1895. Reprinted by the McClain Printing Company, Parsons, West Virginia, 1994.
• The Extraordinary Adventures of Major Robert Stobo. Robert C. Alberts, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1965.
• Contrecoeur’s copy of George Washington’s journal for 1754. Donald H. Kent (ed). Eastern National Parks and Monument Association, 1989.
• Washington. Douglas Southall Freeman, New York, Macmillan Publishing Co., 1968.
• Virginia and the French and Indian Wars. Hayes Baker-Crother. Chicago 1928.
• The Virginia Frontier, 1754-1763. Louis K. Koontz. Baltimore 1925.
• The Journals of Major George Washington. Washington, George. Williamsburg, Virginia, 1754.
• Virginia’s Colonial Soldiers. Lloyd Dewitt Bostruck. Baltimore Geneolgical Publishing Co. Inc. 1988.
• Christopher Gist’s Journals with Historical, Geographical, and Ethmological Notes and Biographies of His Contemporaries. William M. Darlington, ed. Pittsburgh; n. p., 1893.
• Fort Cumberland. Allan Powell, Parsons WV, McClain Printing Co., 1989.
• The Journal of Major George Washington. Reprinted facsimile Williamsburg VA.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1959.
• The Writings of George Washington. Ed. John C. Fitzpatrick. Washington D.C., 1931- 44. Compiled by Peter Koch. 1994.
• An Extract from a Journal kept by An Officer in the Army under Col. Andw. Lewis on the expidition against Our Enemy Ohio Indians. Colonel William Fleming.
• Battle of Point Pleasant October 10, 1774. Livia Nye Simpson-Poffenbarger.

Pennsylvania

• Forts on the Pennsylvania Frontier 1753-1758. William A. Hunter. Harrisburg 1960.
• The Settler’s Forts of Western Pennsylvania. John DeMay.
• The First Rebel. N. Swanson, Farrar & Rinehart, 1937.
• Pennsylvania Provincial Soldiers in the Seven Years War. R.S. Stephenson. Pennsylvania History.Vol. 62, No. 2 (Spring 1995).
• Pennsylvania Provincial Soldiers in the Seven Years War. Matthew Ward. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, (April 1995).
• Order, Discipline, and a few Cannon: Benjamin Franklin, the Association, and the Rhetoric and Practice of Boosterism. Sally F. Griffith. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, (April 1992)
• The Pennsylvania Men of the American Regiment. William A. Foote. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, (January 1963).
• Connecticut & Rhode Island
• Rolls of Connecticut men in the French and Indian war 1755 – 1762. Vols. 1 & 2. Connecticut Historical Society. Heritage Books 1993.
• Israel Putnam, Pioneer, Ranger, and Major-General. William Farrand Livingston, The Knickerbocker Press, 1901.
• War and Society in Colonial Connecticut. Harold E. Selesky, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT 1990
• Rhode Island in the Colonial Wars. A list of Rhode Island soldiers and sailors in the old French and Indian war. 1755 – 1762. Howard M. Chapin. Providence Historical society 1918.

Massachusetts & Nova Scotia

• Freemen, Freeholders, and Citizen Soldiers: An Organizational History of Colonel Jonathan Bagley’s Regiment, 1755-1760. Brenton C Kemmer. Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie Maryland 1997
• Redcoats, Yankees and Allies. Brenton C. Kemmer. Heritage Books. 1998.
• A Peoples army. Massachusetts soldiers and society in the seven years war. F. Anderson. University of North carolina Press. 1984.
• Massachusetts Officers in the French and Indian wars. 1748 – 1763. Edited by Nancy S. Voye. Society of Colonial wars of Massachusetts. 1975.
• Massachusetts officers and soldiers in the French and Indian wars. 1755 – 1756. Ed. David K. Goss & David Zarowin. New England geneological Society. 1985.
• The History of Massachusetts. The Provincial Period. John Stetson Barry. Boston 1856. Phillips Sampson and co.
• Commonwealth History of Massachusetts. Vol. 2 . Ed. Albert Bushnell Hart. The States History Company. 1928.
• Nova Scotia’s Massachusetts. 1630 – 1784. George A. Rawlyk. McGill Queens University Press. Montreal and London 1978.
• Why Did Colonial New Englanders Make Bad Soldiers? Contractual Principles and Military Conduct During the Seven Years War. Fred Anderson, William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series, 38, 1981.
• A People’s Army: Provincial Military Service in Massachusetts during the Seven Years’ War. Fred Anderson, William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series, 40, 1983.

New Jersey

• The Story of the Jersey blues. Col. C. Malcolm B. Gilman. Trenton Printing Co. 1962.
• History of the Oranges to 1921. Vol. 1. David Lawrence Pierson. Lewis historical publishing Co. 1922.
• Laws of the Royal Colony of New Jersey 1746-1760 Vol. III. Bernard Bush. New Jersey Archives. Series 3. NJ State Library. Bureau of archives & history. Trenton NJ. 1980.
• New Jersey in the Colonial Wars. An Address Before the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New Jersey at the University Club, New York by The Hon. Richard Wayne Parker. December 19, 1919.
• Origin and Sketch of the “Jersey Blues” Proceedings of the Historical Society of New Jersey. William H. Benedict. New Brunswick. N. J.
• The French-and-Indian War Fort in Sussex County. Proceedings of the Historical Society of New Jersey,” Vol. XIII, No. 2 (April 1928) Sussex County Sesqui-Centennial September 2, 1903. Ed. Jacob L. Bunnell

New York

• Muster Rolls of New York Provincial troops 1755 – 1764. E. F. De Lancey. Heritage Books. 1990.
• Mohawk Baronet: Sir William Johnson of New York. James T. Flexner. Boston: Little, Brown, 1959.
• Fort William Henry – a history. Stanley M. Gifford. Bullard Press. Glen Falls. 1955.
• Relief is greatly wanted. The battle for Fort William Henry. Edward J. Dodge. Heritage Books. 1998.
• Old Fort Edward. William H. Hill 1929.
• Crown Point. T. D. Titus. Crown Point State historic site. 1993.
• Joseph Frye’s Journal and Map of the Siege of Fort William Henry, 1757. James L., Kochan, ed., The Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum, 15.
• An Eyewitness Account by James Furnis of the Surrender of Fort William Henry, August, 1757. William S., Ewing, ed., New York History, 42, 1961.
• A Message to Fort William Henry: An Incident in the French and Indian War. Wilbur R. Jacobs, Huntington Library Quarterly, 16, 1953.

New Hampshire / Vermont / Maine

• A House of hewen timber. Fort Western on the Kennebec. Jay Adams. Fort Western Museum. 1990.
• Lovewell’s Men. Ezra Stearns, NEHG Register Vol. 63, July 1909.
• The Adventure of Captain Lovewell. Frederic Kidder NEHG Register Vol. 7, Jan. 1853.
• Pigwacket. George Evans, Conway, N.H. Historical Society 1939.

British forces, histories and perspectives

• Amherst Papers, 1756-1763, The Southern Sector: Dispatches from South Carolina, Virginia and His Majesty’s Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Edith Mays.
• Amherst and Canada. Louis des Cognets Jr. Princeton New Jersey 1962.
• Wolfes Army. Robin May and G. A. Embleton. Osprey Publishing 1989.
• Military Affairs in North America, 1748 – 1765: Selected Documents from the Cumberland Papers in Windsor Castle. Stanley M. Pargellis. New York, 1936; reprint, New York, 1969.
• Writings of General John Forbes relating to his service in North America. John Forbes. Arno Press 1938.
• An Historical Journal of the Campaigns in North America for the years 1757, 1758, 1759 & 1760. 3 Volumes. Captain J. Knox. 43rd Foot. Greenwood Press. 1968.
• An Accurate and Authentic Journal of the Siege of Quebec, 1759. By a Gentleman in an eminent Station on the Spot. London: J. Robinson, 1759.
• An Authentic Account of the Reduction of Louisbourg, in June and July 1758. By a Spectator. London: W. Owen, 1758
• A History of the 15th (East Yorkshire) Regiment. Robert J. Jones. Unpublished, by kind permission of the Regiment.
• Ever Glorious. The story of the 22nd Cheshire Regiment. Bernard Rigby. Unpublished. By kind permission of the Regiment.
• Ill Starred General. Braddock of the Coldstream Guards. Lee mcCardell. University of Pittsburgh Press. 1958.
• The Bloodybacks. The British serviceman in North America. Reginald Hargreaves. Rupert Davis 1968.
• Wolfe at Quebec. Christopher Hibbert. Longmans Green 1959.
• Lord Loudoun in North America. Stanley Pargellis. Archon Books 1968.
• Britains Sea Soldiers. A History of the Royal marines. Col. Cyril Field. R.M.L.I. Lyceum Press 1924.
• Braddock’s Defeat: The Journals of Captain Robert Chomley’s Batman; The Journal of a British Officer; Halkett’s Orderly Book. Charles Hamilton. ed. Norman, Oklahoma, 1959.
• Records of the Royal Scots. Leask & McCance 1915.
• History of the Royal Corps of Engineers. Vol 1. Whitworth Porter. Reprint 1951. Published by Institution of Royal engineers.
• The History of the Northamptonshire Regiment 1724-1934. Lt. Col. Russell Gurney. Gale and Polden Ltd. 1935.
• The Journal of Jeffery Amherst. J.C. Webster. Ed. Toronto. Ryerson Press 1931.
• History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. 2 volumes. Major Francis Duncan. London Murray 1874.
• An Historical account of the expedition against the Ohio Indians in the year 1764. William Smith. London T. Jeffries 1766.
• The History of an Expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1755 under Major – General Edward Braddock Winthrop Sargent, ed. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1855.
• King George’s Army. Vols. 1, 2 & 3. Stuart Reid and Paul Chappell. Osprey 1995 & 1996.
• British redcoat. Stuart Reid and Richard Hook. Osprey 1996.
• Redcoats along the Hudson. Noel St. John Williams. Biddles Ltd. 1997.
• A History of the uniforms of the British Army. Vols. II, III & IV. Cecil C. P. Lawson. Kaye & Ward. London. 1966.
• An historical memoir of the 35th Regiment. Richard Trimen 1873.
• History of the 12th Regiment. E.A.H. Webb. 1914.
• The Royal North Lancashire Regiment. H.C. Wyley. 1933.
• Records of the 40th Regiment. R.H.R. Smythies 1894.
• The Story of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Sir Henry Newbolt. 1915.
• A History of the Royal Sussex Regiment. G. D. Martineau. 1955.
• Historical Records of the 43rd Regiment. R.G.A. Levinge. 1868.
• Historical records of the 28th Regiment. F. Brodigan 1884.
• Cap of Honour. Story of the Gloucestershire Regiment. D.S. Daniel 1951.
• The Kings Royal Rifle Corps.
• The Battle of Restigouche. Ed. Commodore C. H. Little. Halifax. 1962.
• Tried and Valiant, the 55th Regiment.
• Mad is he? The character and achievements of James Wolfe. Duncan Grinnel-Milne. Bodley Head Ltd. 1963.
• James Wolfe, man and soldier. W.T. Waugh. Louis Carrier & Co. 1928.
• A Journal of the Expedition up the River St. Lawrence; Containing A True and Particular Account of the Transactions of the Fleet and Army, From the Time of Their Embarkation at Louisbourg ‘Til After
• the Surrender of Quebec. By a Sergeant-Major of Gen. Hopson’s Grenadiers. Boston November 1759.
• Fit for Service: the Training of the British Army, 1715-1795. J. A. Houlding, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK 1981
• British Light Infantry in the Eighteenth Century. J. F. C. Fuller, Hutchinson & Co., London, UK 1925
• The British Army of the Eighteenth Century. H. C. B. Rogers, Allen and Unwin, London, UK 1977
• Redcoats in the Wilderness: British Officers and Irregular Warfare in Europe and America, 1740-1760. Peter E. Russell, William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series, 35, 4, 1978.
• Factors Behind the Raising of the 80th Foot in America. John R. Cuneo, Military Collector and Historian, 11, Winter 1959.
• The Adaptation of the British Army to Wilderness Warfare, 1755-1763. Daniel J. Beattie in Adapting to Conditions: War and Society in the Eighteenth Century. Maarten Ultee, University of Alabama Press, University, AL 1986

British Highland forces, histories and perspectives

• The Black Watch. Eric & Andro Linklater. Barrie & Jenkins. London 1977.
• Sketches of the Highlanders of Scotland. Col. David Stewart of Garth. Reprint of 1822 edition. 2 vols. John Donald, Edinburgh 1977.
• Officers of the Black Watch. 1729 – 1986. Ed. J.L.R. Samson. Samson books 1989.
• Broadswords and Bayonets. Ed. Robert G. Carroon. Society of Colonial Wars in the state of Illinois. 1984.
• The Fraser Highlanders. J.R. Harper. Historical Publications, the society of the Montreal Military and Maritime Museum.
• 18th Century Highlanders. Stuart Reid and Mike Chappell. Osprey 1993.
• The Black Watch at Ticonderoga and Major Duncan Campbell of Inverawe. Frederick B. Richards. New York Historical assoc.
• Regimental Routine and army administration in North America in 1759. Extracts from company order books of the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment. Ed. Col. R.F.H. Wallace. Army Historical research. 1994.
• Sketches of the Character, Manners and Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland; with details of The Military Service of The Highland Regiments. Major-General David Stewart, Vol I & II, (1825), Edinburgh.
• Historical Record of the Forty-Second, or, The Royal Highland Regiment of foot: Containing an account of the formation of six companies of Highlanders in 1729, which were termed “The Black Watch”, and were regimented in 1739; and of the subsequent services of the Regiment to 1844. Richard Cannon, Adjutant General’s Office (London, 1845)
• An historical account of the settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America prior to the peace of 1783; together with notices of Highland regiments and biographical sketches. John Patterson MacLean. (Cleveland, 1900)
• The New Highland Military Discipline. George Grant. (London: 1757) reprint (1967)
• The Official Records of the Mutiny in the Black Watch, 1743. (London: 1910)

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03.06.07

Savage Wilderness by Harold Coyle

Posted in 7YW, Books and Audiobooks at 1:36 pm

I have to admit that this came out as a book I will probably not read again. The premise is interesting, the setting is wonderful, the execution is tepid. I think that part of the problem lies in the fact that the book pretty accurately describes the warfare of the period – Indian raids, guerilla style warfare, not a lot of larger scale battles. I originally picked this up to give me a few ideas for my Old School Wargaming campaign and I have picked up a few items I can use. Small artillery pieces, coehorn mortars, earthworks, possibly even some of the French irregulars or Roger’s Rangers will now play a part in the campaign I have been working on elsewhere.I notice that on Amazon, the book is listed used for $0.07 – yeah, that’s no typo. I would pay more than that if I had to read the book… in paperback… but wouldn’t keep it on my shelf afterwards. Get it from the library like I did.

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03.05.07

Simply AudioBooks

Posted in Books and Audiobooks at 9:55 am

I have placed a link to Simply AudioBooks on the site. I listen to or read a lot of books over the course of a week. I listen to audiobooks while I paint and it seems to make me more productive (more than likely because I am sitting at my painting desk as opposed to playing computer games!) I got clued into Simply AudioBooks in late 2005 and have been a subscriber since then.

There are several programs they offer, but I am on the rental plan and will offer my comments on that. I use the 2 sets out at a time plan. I could use the 3 out at a time plan but that’s more money than I want to pay. The plan I use is about $24.95 a month if you pay on a monthly basis but is $20.95 a month if you subscribe yearly (which is what I do). Turnaround time on the audiobooks is about 4-5 business days from Texas. If I get ahead of the shipments, I will go to the local library and get an audiobook to listen to in the interim.

There are two reasons I use Simply AudioBooks rather than the library:

1) I have listened to all of the books I care to from our library so need more variety,
2) CDs from the library are generally treated badly by patrons and I have been forced to return several as they will not play in my CD player (I have a small one on the desktop I use when painting – that way I don’t have to get up to change them.)

I am very satisfied with the Simply AudioBooks service. I can get unabridged books from them as oppose to the abridged ones at the library. I listened to about 50 shipments last year which works out to about one a week. This works out to about $4.80 a CD. Beats the price of a movie and increases my painting productivity. You can sign up for a 15 day free trial (worth 2-3 sets of CDs) using the link below.

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02.25.07

March to the Stars

Posted in Books and Audiobooks at 11:31 am

I started this series in the wrong direction by listening to the final volume first (one of the problems in belonging to an audio club and having to list alternates). The story centers around the third heir to the throne of Earth. He is a young, spoiled, miscreant who was sent to an out-of-the-way part of the Empire by his mother the current ruler. While on the trip, forces on Earth stage a coup and take over control of the government. Roger’s starship is destroyed and he and the marine detachment that is guarding him are forced down on a backwater planet. The story revolves around the struggle of this group to get to a spaceport on the planet and back to Earth to save the Empire.

The series would be good background for a series of science fantasy games. By that I mean that there is technology in the book that may or may not be possible scientifically. The marines have access to high-tech weapons but limited ammunition supplies. The natives have numbers and some very talented warriors but not much in the way of technology. The marines, therefore, have to downscale back to the gunpowder age and bring the natives up to this level. A number of the technological items are pretty clever – translation devices, nannites that can transform local flora and fauna into substances that the human body can use, and so on. There are also a number of large battle sequences on Marduk (the planet), Earth, and in the space around Earth.

It’s a good book and a good series. Four books was too long, however, and it could have been successfully done in two. It’s a good set to listen to while painting, but probably not fast moving enough to listen to in the car.
Audio book version

Paperback version

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02.14.07

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen

Posted in Books and Audiobooks at 12:46 pm

There are some books I tend to read over and over. Although this is a republished version of H. Beam Piper’s works, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen is the lynchpin of this collection. How can you not like a story that has a definite good guy who helps a family in distress, and gets the girl at the end of the story!

For those not familiar with the Paratime concept, Piper has developed a race of humans that have discovered the secret of parallel dimensions and, more importantly, the ability to travel between them. The society had exhausted the resources of its world and is now an extra dimensional parasite feeding off of others. To maintain the Paratime secret and prevent unscrupulous exploitation of other dimensions, the Paratime Police were organized to keep tabs on activities outside of the home dimension. During one of the transitions between dimensions, Calvan Morrison was picked up accidentally by a Paratime Police shuttle and deposited in a parallel dimension that has technology which was current around our mid-1600s. (Kalvan was from 1950s earth.)The period Kalvan is dumped into is dominated by a gunpowder theocracy, Styphon’s house, which holds the secret of manufacturing. Gunpowder is doled out to the Great Houses (ruling families/nations) as Styphon’s house desires. The area in which Kalvan lands is under Styphon’s ban and is facing invasion. Our hero, who paid attention in high school and college chemistry, knows the secret and the remainder of the book shows what a challenge this is to Styphon’s house. There are a couple of solidly written battle scenes and the limitations of the military science of the age are on display.The second book in the series, Great King’s War, has not been available for some time except in used bookstores. (Mine has had the binding come apart and I hold it together on the bookshelf with a couple of rubber bands!) Now it is available in hardback along with the two successor volumes from Hostigos.Com. I have yet to purchase these, however, as they come in around $55 USD since they are self-published by the author. Even used they remain in the same price range as computer books.

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01.25.07

Peshawar Lancers

Posted in Aeronef, Books and Audiobooks at 11:51 am

I own the hardback version of this book and have read it several times since it was released. I enjoy the settings in which Stirling’s works take place and this is no exception. Peshawar Lancers (PL) is set in a world with technologies at about the level of the early 1900s. A comet/asteroid struck the earth a little over a hundred years before and devastated the earth. Society in Europe, North America, and Britain almost ceased to exist and only a few major powers still remain – the New British Empire based out of India, Russia based out of Samarkand, the Caliphate covering swaths of the Middle East, France based out of North Africa, and Nippon based out of China. Each manages to maintain their hold over vast segments of their original empires, but the societies in each have changed. England and France remain European style civilizations heavily influenced by their new locations but Russia has embraced the devil (literally). The Peacock Angel is the god the Russians worship and they practice the dark rites one would expect along with it. All in all, it’s a perfect setting for Victorian Science Fiction using any set of rules (my recommendation, of course is The Sword and the Flame) or Aeronef.

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