Reviews
Hodges' Scout is meticulously researched from both English and French primary sources, and it does a superb job of conveying the great brutality that characterized frontier warfare (and captivity) during the eighteenth century. All those who are interested in how colonial warfare was conducted will greatly enjoy reading this book.
Overall, Travers succeeds in using Hodges’s scout to recover the common soldier’s experience in war and captivity... this book is a tale well told, one that uses the experiences of a small number of mostly anonymous men to deepen our understanding of how the Seven Years’ War transformed the individual and collective lives of New England soldiers.
I heartily recommend Hodges' Scout to anyone interested in the French and Indian War, colonial studies, or Native American warfare.
Fascinating, vivid, and highly informed. Travers is a master of foreshadowing and verisimilitude. This is the social history of war at its best.
Book Details
Acknowledgments
Prologue. Recovering Lost Lives
Part One
1. "Kill'd or taken"
2. Captain Hodges' Company
3. General Winslow's Dilemma
4. "Ye very bane of New England Men"
5. Slaughter
6. Captain de
Acknowledgments
Prologue. Recovering Lost Lives
Part One
1. "Kill'd or taken"
2. Captain Hodges' Company
3. General Winslow's Dilemma
4. "Ye very bane of New England Men"
5. Slaughter
6. Captain de Bougainville's American Adventure
Part Two
7. Ensign Lincoln's Great Escape
8. The Peregrinations of Peleg Stevens
9. Isaac Foster at the Edges of Empire
10. Homecomings
11. The Court-Martial of Jonathan Barnes
12. Coda
Appendixes
A. The Roll of Hodges' Scout
B. The Captives
C. William Merry's Account, Recorded 1853
D. Captain Hodges' Sword
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index