Washington Times 3/6/05
"In the right hands truth...can be just as thrilling as fiction. Those hands here belong to Stephen Brumwell."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/6/05
"Brumwell shows how perilous life was on the American frontier in the 1750s."
Boston Globe 3/20/05
"Brumwell gives a vivid account of the raid that gained Rogers fame."
Book Description
It was North America's first major conflict, known today as the French and Indian War. In that conflict, France and England-both allied with Native American tribes-fought each other in a series of bloody battles and terrifying raids. And no confrontation was more brutal and notorious than the massacre of the British garrison of Fort William Henry in what is now upstate New York-an incident memorably depicted in James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. That atrocity stoked calls for revenge-and the tough young Major Robert Rogers and his "rangers" were ordered into enemy territory to take it. On the morning of October 4, 1759, they surprised the Abenaki Indian village of St. Francis, slaughtering its sleeping inhabitants without mercy. After the attack, Rogers's band endured a nightmarish journey home. Some were captured and tortured to death by vengeful pursuers, others resorted to cannibalism rather than starve in the frozen wilderness. Those raiders who staggered back to safety were hailed as heroes by the colonists, their indomitable leader immortalized as "the brave Major Roberts." But the Abenakis remembered Rogers very differently: To them he was Wobomagonda-"White Devil." Stephen Brumwell has scoured archives on both sides of the Atlantic to unearth eyewitness accounts that lay bare the remarkable facts behind the legends of this controversial episode from America's violent frontier past. In White Devil, he tells a powerful true story of hardship and courage, savagery and humanity, vengeance and survival.
About the Author
Stephen Brumwell, an acknowledged expert on the British army in eighteenth-century America, is author of the successful book, Redcoats. He lives in The Netherlands.
White Devil: The True Story of War, Savagery, and Vengeance in Colonial America FROM THE PUBLISHER
"It was North America's first major conflict, known today as the French and Indian War. In that conflict, France and England - both allied with Native American tribes - fought each other in a series of bloody battles and terrifying raids. And no confrontation was more brutal and notorious than the massacre of the British garrison of Fort William Henry in what is now upstate New York - an incident memorably depicted in James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans." That atrocity stoked calls for revenge - and the tough young Major Robert Rogers and his "rangers" were ordered into enemy territory to take it. On the morning of October 4, 1759, they surprised the Abenaki Indian village of St. Francis, slaughtering its sleeping inhabitants without mercy. After the attack, Rogers's band endured a nightmarish journey home. Some were captured and tortured to death by vengeful pursuers, others resorted to cannibalism rather than starve in the frozen wilderness. Those raiders who staggered back to safety were hailed as heroes by the colonists, their indomitable leader immortalized as "the brave Major Rogers." But the Abenakis remembered Rogers very differently: To them he was Wobomagonda - "White Devil."
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Brumwell (Redcoats: The British Soldier and War in the Americas, 1755-1763) tells the real story of Maj. Robert Rogers and his famous band of Rangers, who marched into French territory to exact ruthless retribution on the Abenaki Indians for their massacre of settlers at Fort William Henry, memorably depicted in James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. Brumwell dramatically depicts the stealth involved in reaching the Abenaki at the St. Francis River Basin, the details of the brutal slaughter, and the harrowing retreat to final safety, offering different perspectives based on scant narratives from the Abenaki and accounts from survivors. Brumwell also relied on more than 250 years of North American, British, and French archived documents to explore the truth behind this controversial episode from America's aggressive past. This is an excellent update to John R. Cuneo's Robert Rogers of the Rangers and complements Fred Anderson's Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. Highly recommended for all Colonial American history collections.-Dale Farris, Groves, TX Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Art & Photography
Book Info
