This Virginia History Blog assembles four reviews related to Early and Late Colonial Virginia warfare, both English colonial civil war and Anglo-Amerindian conflicts.
For those interested in reading more deeply into mid-1600s Virginia, beyond the previously reviewed Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia by Warren M. Billings which was one of our top 300 titles, we now note two books of primary documents, “Papers of Sir William Berkeley” and “Wiseman’s Book of Record” which specifically relates to Bacon’s Rebellion.
“The First Way of War” is a military history describing the development of English colonial warfare against Amerindians, “Cultures in Conflict”, another previously reviewed top 300, studies the French and Indian War. “Never Come to Peace Again” describes Pontiac’s Rebellion as a bridge between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, and “Indian and European Contacts in Context” shows new anthropological insights to the contact period.
Wiseman’s Book of Record
Michael Leroy Oberg edited Samuel Wiseman’s Book of Record: The Official Account of Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia, 1676-1677 in 2005, reprinted in 2009. It is available at Lexington Books and online new and used.
An appalled King Charles II formed a royal commission of three to investigate the events surrounding Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia and its aftermath in 1677. It depicts the dangers of indiscriminate war with Native Americans, the political and military crisis of internal rebellion, Governor Berkeley’s repressive efforts to restore order, and the deteriorating relationship between the revengeful Berkeley and the Commissioners seeking to restore royal governance, satisfy the grievances of rebelling colonists and conclude an Indian peace.
The commission was authorized to issue warrants, indictments and pardons. There were gaping differences between perceptions held by the Governor versus his enemies, and these were formally documented in “The Commissioners’ Narrative”. Thirteen petitions of grievances against the royal governor are documented from various county courts across the colony. “The Treaty of Middle Plantation” meant to restore peace with the regions Amerindians is included along with the facsimiles of the signs made by Indian kings and queens.
To buy “Wiseman’s Book” at Amazon, click here.
*Warren M. Billings edited The Papers of Sir William Berkeley, 1605-1677 in 2007. Published by the Library of Virginia, it is no longer in print, but may be found in your central library or on interlibrary loan. To buy “Papers of Sir William Berkeley” at Amazon, click here.
The First Way of War
John Grenier wrote The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607-1814 in 2005. It is available from the Cambridge University Press, on Kindle and online new and used.
This book is a military history that surveys the development of war making by Americans from Jamestown to the War of 1812. Two principle elements are considered, first the development of unlimited war, and second the routine use of irregular warfare. Over time attacks on non-combatants, villages and agricultural resources were accepted, then legitimized and finally encouraged.
The first hundred years developed the use of scalp bounties and ranger units in the English colonial defeat of several powerful eastern tribes. By the mid 1700s Seven Years’ War, British imperial policy integrated irregular warfare and unlimited war. The Americans continued the tradition on its frontier during the Revolution as did the British. The unlimited warfare continued in the American frontier wars in the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes and southern Appalachian Plateau.
To buy “First Way of War” at Amazon, click here.
*Warren R. Hofstra edited Cultures in Conflict: The Seven Years’ War in North America in 2007, reprinted in 2013. Available at Rowman and Littlefield, on Kindle and online new and used. Previously reviewed at TheVirginiaHistorian.com in the top 300 texts from survey histories used in university courses. See also titles in “Wars in Virginia” in the colonial era here. To buy “Cultures in Conflict” at Amazon, click here.
Never Come to Peace Again
David Dixon wrote Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac’s Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America in 2005, reprinted in 2014. It is available from the University of Oklahoma Press, on Kindle and online new and used.
Immediately following the formal peace ending the French and Indian War, Pontiac’s War provided yet another instance of the British Empire’s failure to protect American frontier settlers. Frontiersmen sought to take initiatives on their own, leading to the support for the American Revolution by the interior colonial settlement.
Pontiac’s Uprising was also an effort by former allies of the French to preserve a “last sanctuary” for the Delaware, Shawnee and Mingo in the Ohio River valley. The personal magnetism and leadership of Pontiac is highlighted and Dixon draws a distinction between the policy of British Commander in Chief, Major General Jeffrey Amherst and British superintendent of Indian affairs, Sir William Johnson.
To buy “Never Come to Peace Again” at Amazon, click here.
Indian and European Contacts in Context
Dennis B. Blanton and Julia A. King edited Indian and European Contacts in Context: The Mid-Atlantic Region in 2004. It is available from the University Press of Florida and online new and used.
This book seeks to place Indians and their culture as significant participants in the English colonial Mid-Atlantic using insights from archaeological studies. The essays reflect a wide range of insight into the contact period, from fur trade to pottery, from erection of Virginia’s Middle Plantation Palisade in 1634 to everyday contact between Indians and Europeans in households, from considerations of climate to tribal preserves within English colonial settlement.
There are discussions of new theoretical approaches and systems, as well as essays using traditional evidentiary sources of historical record. Overall the emphasis is on innovative approaches to the study of the early contact period.
To buy “Indian and European Contacts in Context” at Amazon, click here.
Additional history related to Virginia during this time period can be found at the Table of Contents of TheVirginiaHistorian website on the page for Early and Late Colonial Eras, 1600-1763. Titles are organized by topics related to Powhatan Virginia, Political and Economic Virginia, Social, Gender, Religious, African American and Wars in Virginia.
General surveys of Virginia History can be found at Virginia History Surveys. Other Virginia history divided by topics and time periods can be found at the webpage Books and Reviews.
Note: Insights for these reviews include those available from articles in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the William and Mary Quarterly, the Journal of the Civil War Era, the Journal of Southern History and the Journal of American History.