Skulking in the Woods

"Gripping and illuminating...this account of irregular warfare on the colonial frontier goes beyond the tradition of the stalwart pioneer defending his wilderness cabin against a savage horde to reveal a more realistic and desperate era in our history." -David Dixon, Slippery Rock University "Scharff has given us a focused, well-researched study of irregular forces on the Anglo-American frontier during the era of the Seven Years' War that helps to round out our understanding of that conflict and its combatants. In the process, Scharff forces us to reconsider the romanticism and realities of irregular warfare, carrying his readers deep into the dark declivity of woodland warfare on the eighteenth century frontier, where the fighting was demanding, demoralizing, and devastating." -Daniel Barr, Robert Morris University "This well-researched and intelligently argued book causes us to rethink five major Pennsylvania episodes of the French and Indian War-Washington's and Braddock's defeats, the guerrilla attacks of 1756, the taking of Fort Duquesne, and the Battle of Bushy Run-in new ways. Scharff's explanations for the outcomes of these campaigns are both fresh and convincing-Washington and Braddock could have won had they employed different strategies, and by the end of the war the British had learned from their mistakes and were able to deploy regular troops effectively against French irregular forces. Scharff dispels the myth that colonial irregulars were superior to British forces in wilderness fighting by getting beyond Braddock's overwhelming defeat to assess the war in its entirety." -William Pencak, Pennsylvania State University Several maps, a bibliography, and an index to full names, places and subjects add to the value of this work.