To Risk It All

To Risk It All
Author: Michael McConnell
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2020-10-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822987732

General John Forbes’s campaign against Fort Duquesne was the largest over-land expedition during the Seven Years’ War in America. While most histories of the time period include the Forbes Campaign as an aside, McConnell documents how and why Forbes and his army succeeded, and what his success meant to the subsequent history of the mid-Atlantic colonies, native inhabitants of the Ohio Country, and the empire he represented. A close look at the Forbes Campaign and its personnel reveals much about both British relations with native peoples and the nature of Britain’s American empire during a time of stress. Unlike other campaigns, this one was composed largely of colonial—not professional British—troops. In addition, individual colonies negotiated their role in the campaign and frequently placed their own local interests ahead of those of the empire as a whole. The campaign thus suggests the limits of imperial power and how Britain’s hold over its American frontiers was, at best, tenuous and helped lead to an eventual break-down of empire in the 1760s and 1770s.

The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania, 1758

The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania, 1758
Author: Douglas R. Cubbison
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2010-03-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 0786455950

This is the first complete military study of the campaign directed by Brigadier General John Forbes in 1758 to drive the French out of the forks of the Ohio River. The author details the leadership, logistics, artillery, training and discipline that led to the campaign's success and discusses its role in American Colonial history.