War Under Heaven: Pontiac, the Indian Nations, and the British Empire

Rating:
Summary: Good Analysis of Pontiac's War...With Reservations
Review: Gregory Dowd's "War Under Heaven" is a decent scholarly analysis of the Indian conflict popularly known as Pontiac's War, that bloody uprising against the British along the Eastern frontier in the years immediately after the end of the French and Indian War. Pontiac's War was a result of many factors following France's defeat in the contest for North America, most of which surrounded the uncertainy of the Indians future in an empire now controlled by the British, who unlike the French before them, did not generally look upon the Indians with favor. The result of this uncertainy of status and spirituality led to an especially sanguinary confrontation between the Indians and their British neighbors, or as the Indians saw them, overlords.

Dowd questions the traditionally accepted causes of the war, especially the conclusions of authors like Francis Parkman and Howard Peckham, which placed the ultimate causes of the war at the feet of General Jeffery Amherst and his anti-Indian policies of witholding presents and weapons from the tribes, materials that they had not only come to expect as a matter of course, but were now wholely dependent on for their survival. Dowd attempts to draw a connection to the role of the Delaware Prophet Neolin and his influence on Pontiac and the other western tribes as they struggled to maintain their lifestyle in the face of a an uncertain future. The author maintains that the question of Indian status and prestige lie at the root of the conflict as the Indians tried to keep the balance between themselves and the British which they had always enjoyed with their previous allies, the French. He also attempts to enhance the role played by the spiritual aspect of the war, showing that Pontiac and his followers were greatly influenced by the teachings of the Delaware Prophet and his message of a return to native technologies and lifeways and a rejection of white influence. This is definately not a military history of the war so much as an analaysis of the causes and outcomes of Pontiac's War and the way Indian-white relations evolved over the course of the years 1760-1765.

While the book is well written and researched, I had some serious reservations with some of the conclusions Dowd draws. For one thing, Dowd seriously downplays the significance of Henry Bouquet's success at the Battle of Bushy Run, claiming it was more a draw than the important victory most historians make it out to be. He also downplays the importance of Bouquets expedition into the Ohio Country in 1764, a march that is usually credited with having ended the war and eliciting proclamations of peace from the Ohio tribes. Here Dowd implies that far from cowing the tribes, Bouquet forms a shaky peace with the yet hostile native enemies whom he knows he can not best in open combat.

The biggest problem, however, lies with his almost revisionist treatment of Colonel John Bradstreet's expedition to Detroit which took place simultaneously with Bouquet's march. Historians from Francis Parkmen to Fred Anderson have characterized Bradstreet's expedition as an unqualified disaster. Bradstreet disobeyed his orders from Gage to attack the Shawnee and Delaware villages along the Scioto and attempted to create his own ill-conceived peace accord with the Ohio tribes in a clear affront to his nemesis William Johnson. Bradstreet is generally remembered by history as being the conqueror of Fort Frontenac during the late war with France, but here he proves himself to be an ambitious yet incompetent bungler who's greatest affront comes at Detroit when, enraged at Pontiac's absence from a peace council Bradstreet has called with the disaffected tribes, the colonel proceeds to tomahawk to bits a peace belt Pontiac has sent in his stead, an act that one historian has compared to a diplomat spitting on a proposed peace treaty. Bradstreet also unwisely sends poor Captain Thomas Morris on a fool's errand up the Maumee and Washbash Rivers, into the lion's den so to speak, in an attempt to bring Pontiac to the peace table. Along the way Morris is beaten and nearly burned at the stake by hostile Indians, only to escape to Detroit in failure, angering a deluded Bradstreet by presenting undeniable evidence that the peace he believes he has forged is a total fraud. Bradstreet then leaves Detroit in disgust, is angered further by the Indians failure to show up with prisoners at Sandusky as promised, and then proceeds to abandon half his force on his return to Niagara after many of his bateauxs are foolishly sunk in a storm on Lake Erie when he fails to take the necessary precautions to protect his men and equipment. Dowd, however, portrays Bradstreet as an unsung hero, a man maligned by his superiors who are angered by his mission's lack of bloodshed and chastisement. Whether or not this is an accurate view of Bradstreet is questionable, but Dowd seems to support much of the rest of his arguements soundly.

Rating:
Summary: Scholarly and Accessible
Review: I am going to offer a rave review, (admittedly of a favorite period), and want to disclaim the need for a disclaimer --- I do not know the author or have any connection to his University or publisher.

Gregory Dowd can hardly be accused of writing inaccessible history only to other historians on an obscure topic. The linkages in British Colonial Indian policy between the end of the French and Indian War and the Revolution are interesting in their own right. This account covers all perspectives, dealing with French attitudes; Pontiac's turbulent, adroit yet ultimately unpopular leadership; and above all the cultural and emotional influences at work in the era. Not merely about Pontiac's War, this work is aptly subtitled: Pontiac, The Indian Nations and the British Empire.

Of particular import is Dowd's sophisticated analysis of British policy paralleled with a sober yet, when appropriate, complimentary account of the methods of the Indian Nations. Dowd provides new insight in his focus on the issue of status and dignity as a motivating factor in Pontiac's War -- without ever collapsing into easy platitudes on the plight of Native Americans. Wholistic in the best sense of the word, the impact of Indian religion and its interaction with Christianity is also assessed.

Expert, well written, well researched, non-polemic; War Under Heaven, also offers seamless assessments of the work of other historians.

The fact that Dowd accomplishes so much in just 275 pages of text is a testament to good writing and the tightness of the text. Just as accessible to newcomer as to student of the era.