Tag Archives: French

Selected References

As I have researched, played and traveled sites of 18th-century in America, I’ve amassed a reference library of books, pamphlets and websites I’ve found most useful to those interested in the period. Below is a personal, albeit not comprehensive, list of references useful to amateur historians of the decisive era that shaped the continent and world.

If I were to read just one book, I would suggest Fred Anderson’s Crucible of War which not only covers the major military actions of the French and Indian War but also goes into the effects of the conflict on world politics and conditions that led to the American Revolution. Start with this book and take it from there, and I’ll be certain to update as my reading makes new discoveries in the American wilderness.

Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. 

Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in ...

———. The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War. New York: Viking, 2005. 

Anderson, Niles. The Battle of Bushy Run. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, 1975.

Baker, Norman L. Braddock’s Road: Mapping the British Expedition from Alexandria to the Monongahela. Stroud, UK: The History Press, 2013.

Bellico, Russell P. Empires in the Mountains: French and Indian War Campaigns and Forts in the Lake Champlain, Lake George, and Hudson River Corridor. Fleischmanns, NY: Purple Mountain Press, 2010.

Berleth, Richard. Bloody Mohawk: The French and Indian War & American Revolution on New York’s Frontier. Delmar, NY: Black Dome Press, 2009.

Borneman, Walter R. The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.

Braddock Road Preservation Association. (www.http://braddockroadpa.org/)

Braddock’s Battlefield History Center. (www.braddocksbattlefield.com).

Brumwell, Stephen. Redcoats: The British Soldier and War in the Americas, 1755-1763. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 

Bushy Run Battlefield (www.bushyrunbattlefield.com/)

Calloway, Colin G. The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.

The Centre for French Colonial Life (www.frenchcoloniallife.org/)

Chartrand, René. Raiders From New France. London: Osprey Publishing, 2019.

———. Ticonderoga, 1758: Montcalm’s Victory Against All Odds. London, Osprey Publishing, 2000.

Chartrand, René, and Stephen Walsh. Monongahela 1754-55: Washington’s Defeat, Braddock’s Disaster. London: Osprey Publishing, 2004. 

Cooper, James Fenimore and Blake Nevius (editor). The Leatherstocking Tales series. Boone, IA: Library of America, 2012.

Cowan, George P. “George Washington At Fort Necessity.” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 37 (1954) 153-177. 

Cueno, John R. Robert Rogers of the Rangers. Ticonderoga, NY: Fort Ticonderoga Museum, 1988.

Crytzer, Brady J. Major Washington’s Pittsburgh and the Mission to Fort Le Boeuf. Stroud, UK: The History Press, 2018.

Cubbision, Douglas R. The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania, 1758: A Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010.

———. On Campaign Against Fort Duquesne: The Braddock and Forbes Expeditions, 1755–1758, through the Experiences of Quartermaster Sir John St. Clair. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015.

Never Come to Peace Again (Campaigns and Commanders Series ...

Dixon, David. Bushy Run Battlefield. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2003.

———. Fort Pitt Museum and Park. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004.

———. Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac’s Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003.

Dube, Jean Claude. The Jumonville Affair. Philadelphia: National Park Service, Mid-Atlantic Region, 1979.

Dunnigan, Brian Leigh. Siege – 1759: The Campaign Against Niagara. Youngstown, NY: Old Fort Niagara Association, 1996.

Eckert, Allan. Winning of America series. Ashland, KY: Jesse Stuart Foundation, 2001- 2004.

Fort Bedford Museum (www.fortbedfordmuseum.org/)

Fort Crown Point State Historic Park (https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/34/details.aspx

Fort de Chartres State Historic Site (www.fortdechartres.us/)

Fort de la Presentation (www://fort1749.org/)

Fort Ligonier Museum (www.fortligonier.org/)

Fort Necessity National Battlefield  (www.nps.gov/fone)

Fort Pitt Museum (www.heinzhistorycenter.org/fort-pitt/)

Fort Stanwix National Monument (www.nps.gov/fost/index.htm)

Fort Ticonderoga (www.fortticonderoga.org/)

Fowler, William. Empires at War: The French and Indian War and the Struggle for North America, 1754-1763. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2005.

Empires at War: The Seven Years' War and the Struggle for North ...

Frear, Ned. The Bedford Story. Bedford, PA: Gazette Publishing Co., 1998.

French and Indian War Foundation.(www.frenchandindianwarfoundation.org/)

Hamilton, Milton W. Sir William Johnson and the Indians of New York. Albany, NY: New York State American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, 1975.

Kronoskaf – Seven Years War Project (www.kronoskaf.com/syw) 

Kummerow, Burton K. and Christine H. O’Toole and R. Scott Stephenson. Pennsylvania’s Forbes Trail: Gateways and Getaways Along the Legendary Route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2008.

The Last of the Mohicans. 20th Century Fox, 1992. 

Amazon.com: The Last of the Mohicans POSTER Movie (27 x 40 Inches ...

Leckie, Robert. A Few Acres of Snow: The Saga of the French and Indian Wars. New York: Wiley, 1999.

Loescher, Burt Garfield.  The History of Rogers’ Rangers, Volumes I-IV. Berwyn Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 2006.

c, 1754-1760. New York: Routledge, 2003. 

May, Robin, and Gerry Embleton. Wolfe’s Army. London: Osprey Publishing, 1998.

McCulloch, Ian MacPherson. Highlander in the French-Indian War: 1756–67. London: Osprey Publishing, 2008.

McDonnell, Michael. Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the Making of America. New York: Hill & Wang, 2016.

Old Fort Niagara (www.oldfortniagara.org/)

Parkman, Francis. The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada, Volume 2. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

Preston, David L. Braddock’s Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. 

Amazon.com: Braddock's Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and ...

Reid, Stuart. British Redcoat: 1740-1793. London: Osprey Publishing, 1996. 

Ricks, Thomas E. “Historians Missed the Mark in Assessing Washington’s Location of Ft. Necessity.”Foreign Policy, December 9, 2016.

Seneca Art & Culture Center at Ganondagan (www.ganondagan.org/)

Shorto, Russell. “On a General’s Trail, Summoning America’s History.” The New York Times, July 18, 2014: TR1.

Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center (www.skanonhcenter.org/)

Silver, Peter. Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 200

Stark, Peter. Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America’s Founding Father. New York: Ecco Press, 2018.

Tanner, Helen Hornbeck. Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.

Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History By Edited by Helen Hornbeck Tanner

Taylor, Alan. American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2017.

Tilberg, Frederick. Fort Necessity National Battlefield Site, Pennsylvania. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service, 1956 

Todish, Timothy J. and Todd E. Harburn. A “Most Troublesome Situation”: The British Military and the Pontiac Indian Uprising of 1763-1764. Fleischmanns, NY: Purple Mountain Press, 2006. 

Treganza, Adan E., and J. C. Harrington. “New Light on Washington’s Fort Necessity: A Report on the Archeological Explorations at Fort Necessity National Battlefield Site.” American Journal of Archaeology 63.2 (1959)

Waddell, Ward and Bruce D. Bomberger. The French and Indian War in Pennsylvania, 1753-1763: Fortification and Struggle. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1997. 

Ward, Matthew C. Breaking the Backcountry: The Seven Years’ War in Virginia and Pennsylvania, 1754-1765. Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003.

West, J. Martin (editor). War for Empire in Western Pennsylvania. Ligonier, PA: Fort Ligonier Association, 1993.

Windrow, Martin, and Michael Roffe. Montcalm’s Army. London: Osprey Publishing, 1973.

Wullf, Matt. Henry Bouquet’s Destiny – The March To Bushy Run. Lewisburg, PA: Wennawoods Publishing, 2014. 

The War That Made America–Parts 1-4, A Country Between. PBS, 2005. 

French and Indian War: Mounted Officers and Characters from Sash and Saber Castings and Warlord Games

In the close forests on 18th-century North America during the French and Indian War, the vast majority of the skirmishes and battles among French, Briitsh and Indian forces took place on foot among individual warriors. That said, especially among Europeans, mounted officers still held a place on many battlefields.

Of the hundreds of figures in my collection, few are mounted for this very reason. Aside from that, I’m not a big fan of painting horses although I’ve developed some quick techniques to get tabletop quality mounted models on the table. With this in mind, I recently set to fiishing up some horses and riders for the period.

First up, I bought the excellent three-figure set of British Characters from Warlord Games. This trio includes the young Virginia Colonial Militia officer Lt. Col. George Washington, a mounted figure of British Lt. Col. George Munro and General James Wolfe on foot. These metal figures each come packed with some real animated personality, and I’m a particular fan of the young Washington brazenlt cocking his pistoal as he charges forward.

One other Warlord figure is a plastic officer on a rearing horse. I pulled this figure from the Field Artillery and Army Commanders box made for the American War of Independence. This is one of the few plastic figures in my entire collection, but its sprue provided some options for choices in heads and poses. I’ve modelled mine as a British officer, and atop his bucking horse he is serviceable as a command figure for the earlier period.

To these Warlord figures, I also added four figures — two more British and two French — from Sash and Saber Castings. These sculpts are from the huge line of FIW figures launched via Kickstarter that makes it one of the broadest lines currently available for the period. Like the Warlord models, the Sash and Saber figures tend more toward a leaner, smaller 28mm scale. The horses reveal a lot of detail and varied poses while riders can be a bit flat in their facial expressions.

Together, this half-dozen mounted officers made for a bit of a break in my usual rotation of purely foot figures. Set at the lead of dozens of other soldiers in the American wilderness, they’ll be a great fit with any number of units of my tabletop.

French and Indian War: French Regulars from AW Miniatures

The majority of my French figures for my French and Indian War collection tend toward irregular Canadian miltia and Compagnies Franches de la Marine troops. To supplement them, I’ve endevoured to add some models to represent more regular French troops to the mix that became a greater battlefield presence particularly as the war went on.

For my French regular troops, I first turned to UK-based AW Miniatures for their stout 28mm scupts which scale well with most of my other figures. To create two units, I picked up two of their eight-packs of French regular infantry (FIW30) and supplemented them with a three-pack of French regular command (FIW31) and one additional standard bearer (FIW37).

Together, this gave me two ten-figure units of French regulars. I like the mix of poses and headwear, as well as their bayonets tipping their muskets. One officer, my favorite of the bunch, sports a broad mustache with a sword at the ready and a commanding hand pointing his troops forward. For the standard bearers, I printed period French flags on paper, attached and stiffened them with white glue.

I am not generally a fan of painting white uniforms, but the blue waistcoats, lapels and cuffs, as well as the yellow-trimmed tricornes, provide a pretty stunningly graphic contrast. Once deployed, twenty of these French regulars on the table in a double-ranked firing line really present an imposing force as they must have in the many of the pivotal FIW battles in which they fought.

French and Indian War: Compagnie Franches de la Marine from Galloping Major Wargames

Fan favorite Galloping Major Wargames launched its second Kickstarter campaign in July 2017 with a line featuring Compagnies Franches de la Marine. Billed as “regular soldiers recruited in France for colonial service,” this 28mm campaign added seven new packs to their catalog, plus a single character figure which instantly became one of my favorite.

I ordered three packs of figures (FIW FCFI, FIW FCF2 and FIW FC3) featuring soldiers and command clad in “Canadian/outpost” clothes and wearing a mix of bonnets and tuques. I chose to paint them up in a variety of colors so they mix equally well with my Canadian militia units or stand alone as recruited French soldiers.

These soldiers were commonly posted at forts and fought in battles all across the French and Indian War era, so they come in pretty useful in a lot of gaming scenarios. Overall the poses are pretty basic in loading, at the ready, advancing and firing, with a little extra personality in the command figures. Other figures in the Kickstarter featured more formal short jackets and tricorne hats, and the entire range is now available for sale through the company’s website.

The gem of the entire offering is the individual Daniel Hyacinthe de Lienard de Beaujeau figure. A Canadian officer and veteran of King George’s War, Beaujeau was an inspiration to his men and often led them into battle bare-chested and dressed in Indian garb. He died in the opening minutes of the Battle of the Monongahela in July 1755 and remains a somewhat legendary character of the FIW period.

I’m always glad to add more Galloping Major figures to my collection, and the Beaujeau figure really made this campaign worth it.

French and Indian War: Woodland Indians from Galloping Major Wargames

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To add yet more Indians to my French and Indian War 28mm collection, I’ve turned again to a current favorite miniatures manufacturers — Galloping Major Wargames. After a recent project using GM’s Provincials and supporting their recent French Marines Kickstarter, I filled out a direct order from the UK with a few of their Indian models which didn’t disappoint.
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GM miniatures are the among the largest in my collection, cast at a 28mm heroic scale. That said, I found my first purchase of their Indians to be just a bit smaller than their other figures I own. The size of the models presents the opportunity for a lot of detail and individual personality, especially in some great facial expressions.
These Indians present a more traditional look with chests bared and dress in leather loincloths and leggings. Knives, hatchets, jewelry, powder horns and various shoulder-slung bags equip these figures nicely for any campaign. As a bonus, the six figures I ordered were supplemented with a seventh figure thrown in for free, a nice thing GM offers to larger orders. And with these Indians complete, I’m sure there will be more of those orders to Galloping Major Wargames in my future.
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French and Indian War: Woodland Indians from Knuckleduster Miniatures

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In my recent quest to add more variety to my French and Indian War Native American forces, I’ve had to look a bit beyond the usual FIW miniatures manufacturers. My core requirements in seeking new models is that they are metal, a reasonable representation of tribes present during the FIW period and that they scale well at 28mm with my other models. With this criteria in mind, I was happy to stumble across a rack of Knuckleduster Miniatures at a convention earlier this year.
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Knuckleduster, as the name evokes, focuses largely on an expanding line of Old West themed miniatures in 25mm, 28mm and 40mm scales. Beyond this core offering, they also have a small selection of British, American and Canadian soldiers for the War of 1812. And, it’s within this era’s figures where you will find a small collection of Native Americans usable in the FIW.
Packaged as “Grand River Nation” Indians, Knuckleduster offers two packs of six models, one in summer dress and one in winter clothing, plus a two-model leader pack. I picked up the summer dress pack for $10, a pretty good deal for a half dozen metal models cast at a true 28mm scale. These are really beefy models with lumpy facial features but with some nice detail in jewelry and clothing. Their dress generally depicts the European-influenced style from trade goods many Indians wore during the FIW era. And, it is their scale, style and variety that makes these a great hidden find for my Native force collection.
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French and Indian War: Woodland Indians from North Star Military Figures

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With the majority of my core 28mm forces for my French and Indian War gaming complete, I’ve been focusing on filling out my model variety with more Indian figures from a number of manufacturers. The FIW lends itself to having a lot of different Native American models on the table, given the numerous North American tribes which participated in the conflict. Most of my Indians are from Conquest Miniatures distributed by Warlord Games but my next few posts are focusing on some small units I’ve been adding from other makers.
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First up are a half dozen figures from North Star Military Figures. Until recently, Northstar was manufacturing figures packaged specifically for use with the very popular Muskets & Tomahawks rules set. With a second edition of M&T pending at some unnamed future date, Northstar recently put their figure line on hold.
Fortunately I had grabbed a pack of Indian reinforcements at a convention earlier this year. The six models, armed with muskets and hatchets, all come with nice detail of equipment, jewelry and some hooded frocks. I chose to paint them in colorful reds, greens and blues, reflecting the steady trade of European goods during the era. The sculpts are solid with a real 28mm feel a bit larger than my Conquests which stand closer to 25mm. With these Northstar Indians, my native forces have grown in variety and scale as I build out a larger group of allies for my French.
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