Breaking the Backcountry: The Seven Years’ War in Virginia and Pennsylvania, 1754–1765

By Matthew C. Ward

329 pages, softcover: $21.95

ISBN 0822958651

Reviewed by Dave Bell

I obtained a signed copy of Breaking the Backcountry from Lord Nelson’s Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I had just finished reading Forth to the Wilderness by Dale Van Every, copyright 1961 and had never read so much about the role of the people on the border of the frontier during this pivotal time in our nation’s history (and pre-history). I hoped this new book from Matthew C. Ward would continue discussing parts played in our history by “great men” and “common men and women.” I was not disappointed.

Breaking the Backcountry was not a quick and easy read. I could not just pick it up and read until it was done. There was so much new information that I would have to read for a while and then stop. Sometimes I stopped to digest the new information. Other times I had to stop because I was so amazed and even angry at the events being described. More than once I wondered out loud, “How did we ever become a country out of this mess?”

The legislatures in Virginia and Pennsylvania were at odds with the governors. The provinces were at odds with each other and the British crown. Everyone seemed to be concerned only with themselves and their own personal or business finances. There was little concern for the “common good.” The retention of status and power daily took precedence over saving the lives of the people who lived on the frontier. The Pennsylvania proprietors’ (the Penns’) primary concern was hiding the various frauds, like the “Walking Purchase,” that they had committed in obtaining Indian lands. The Quakers were trying to promote peace and didn’t seem to mind exposing the Penns’ activities to the light of day or stepping on the toes of Sir William Johnson. The South Carolinians weren’t as concerned about the loss of the lives of Virginians as they were about maintaining their monopoly on trade with the Cherokees. The British Regular Army had no respect for the provincial militias or the Indians. The Indians thought the British Army were a “bunch of old women” who fought poorly at best. The Iroquois had a lot of fun playing the British and French against each other and selling lands to the English that belonged to other Indians. These are some of the highlights of the “mess” during the French and Indian War and its aftershock, Pontiac’s War. Breaking the Backcountry describes and analyses all of these areas and more.

Living in the 21st century, we forget the impact that largely roadless distances had on people and society. It took three weeks of hard travel, one way, from the frontier to reach the Virginia capital in Williamsburg or the Pennsylvania capital in Philadelphia. There were no interstate highways, just northeast–southwest running ridges like the Blue Ridge in Virginia and Laurel and Chestnut Mountains (ridges) in Pennsylvania. The eastern societies of these two provinces were different from their western societies ethnically, religiously, in class and wealth, and access to power and influence. People moved west for a myriad of reasons. They were dissatisfied with where they were, wanted something better and were willing to risk their lives to obtain it. Ward has clarified the nature of the frontier and the people living there and has shown how cultural, economic, social and military components molded a society that was different after the Seven Years’ War than it was before.

Maps provided at the beginning of the book helped me understand where the “frontier” was at the start of the Seven Years’/French and Indian War. Living in northwestern Pennsylvania, it is hard for me to realize that the frontier was a couple of hundred miles “back east.” Fort Pitt was a very distant outpost for the British once Fort Duquesne was abandoned and blown up by the French. Anyone driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike who speeds through the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel has no idea what it would have taken to haul a wagon load of supplies over this and Chestnut ridge.

Military actions and the comings and goings of “great men” were covered but were related to the actions of common people, both white and red. The Indian side of the French and Indian war was particularly well covered. At the end of the French and Indian War, the English and her colonists felt that they had defeated both the French and the Indians. The Indians, with right cause, felt that the British had beaten only the French and that the Indians had beaten the British. These differences of opinion on who had won and who had lost created tensions and actions that led to Pontiac’s War. From the Indian perspective, they had defeated Braddock, raided largely unchecked on the Pennsylvania and Virginia frontiers, won nearly every skirmish with British and provincial troops, captured all British forts after the end of the Seven Years’ War with the exception of Detroit and Pitt, and nearly defeated Col. Bouquet’s relief force at the battle of Bushy Run. Even the “victory” of Pennsylvania provincial forces in the raid on Kittanning that resulted in freeing seven prisoners while losing 17 killed, 13 wounded and 19 taken prisoner. This raid was hardly a victory, and from the Indians’ perspective, hardly a defeat.

The problems and efforts of the provinces in raising militia and provincial forces, including the role of enlistment bonuses, promises of free western lands, clearing the jails, compensating owners of indentured servants enlisted, and the differences in recruits in these two provinces from experiences in New England were covered extensively. Tables are provided to show demographic data about recruits in all of the provinces.

The book concludes with thoughts on how the events of the Seven Years’ War led to the American Revolution. The view of the Indians that the British soldiers were no more than “old women” was shared by many of the provincial soldiers. The Anglo-American colonists were as suspicious of the British government as were the Indians. The Provincials had learned to fight, and many of the leaders of the Revolutionary War, including George Washington, had learned their skills during this war. The provincial legislatures had learned, although slowly, how to raise armies, finance them and supply them. Most importantly, the people in the Colonies had gained the confidence that they would need to revolt against the 18th century superpower of the British Empire.

 Breaking the Backcountry both raised and answered the question, “How did we ever become a country out of this mess?”

Breaking the Backcountry was published by University of Pittsburgh Press and is available through bookstores and online.