Rustic Warriors: Warfare and the Provincial Soldier on the New England Frontier, 1689-1748 (Warfare and Culture)

The early French Wars (1689-1748) in North America saw provincial soldiers, or British white settlers, in Massachusetts and New Hampshire fight against New France and her Native American allies with minimal involvement from England.Most British officers and government officials viewed the colonial soldiers as ill-disciplined, unprofessional, and incompetent: General John Forbes called them "a gathering from the scum of the worst people." Taking issue with historians who have criticized provincial soldiers' battlefield style, strategy, and conduct, Steven Eames demonstrates that what developed in early New England was in fact a unique way of war that selectively blended elements of European military strategy, frontier fighting, and native American warfare.This new form of warfare responded to and influenced the particular challenges, terrain, and demography of early New England.Drawing upon a wealth of primary materials on King William's War, Queen Anne's War, Dummer's War, and King Geo