The American Forts Series

This will be the last post about a "Book Series" that is based on the bibliography compiled by Carol Fitzgerald and found in, Series Americana: Post Depression-Era Regional Literature, 1938-1980. I plan to say more about her work at a later date. The subject is forts, and like the other posts about books published in a series, it should be of use to book collectors since reviews are provided along with the bibliographic information.

Those focused on Canadian history will find three of the nine books to be of particular interest: Louisbourg: Key to A Continent, Three Flags at the Straits: The Forts of Mackinac, and Thundergate: The Forts of Niagara. (None of those books are listed in the bibliography, Canadian Forts.) Those interested in "Postcolonialism" will likely find these fort books easy to attack, since the books were written in less enlightened times and for the general reader. Let us hope that the books have not been removed from libraries for being too 'hurtful'. Perhaps they will be of some use to the growing number of "Preppers." I was pleased to see that almost all of these books are available in the Western Libraries, although they are in storage, at least for now. If you are a real fan of forts, this book is also available in Weldon Library: Forts of the United States: An Historical Dictionary, 16th Through 19th Centuries, by Bud Hannings.

There are likely many of you who are attracted more to books with interesting characters than to books about old, inanimate objects. In that case, see Sutter's Fort. The author, Oscar Lewis, was an anthropologist, who wrote books about poverty, one of which, La Vida..., won a National Book Award. John Sutter, for whom the fort was named, was a Swiss immigrant who attempted to establish a New Helvetia, remnants of which can be found in Sacramento.

"Stewart Holbrook, a widely respected regional writer, conceived and planned the "American Forts Series" in the early 1960s. Although he died before the first volume was published, he had planned eight of the nine books. In his words, it would be “a series of historical works centered around forts in the United States and Canada that were of significant importance to American history.” Prentice-Hall published the nine books between 1965 and 1973. Like many other Series Americana, the American Forts Series presents a wide swath of American history, spanning as it does nearly four centuries and focusing on many separate regions." (The above is from the introduction provided in Series Americana.)

Guns at the Forks, O'Meara, Walter.
“The American Forts Series”, edited by Stewart H. Holbrook, is introduced by a volume of particular interest to Pennsylvanians. More important, Mr. O'Meara's Guns at the Forks is lively, intelligent, and informative in content, well illustrated, and attractively printed.

   "The Forks" of the title are the forks of the Ohio River, at the present Pittsburgh, and the guns are those of the five forts that have stood there, identified by Mr. O'Meara as Fort Prince George, Fort Duquesne, Mercer's Fort, Fort Pitt, and Fort Fayette. Other writers have dealt with all these posts, but this is the first volume devoted explicitly to their successive

histories. The scope of the study is sufficiently broad to include colorful and explanatory background material that places the succession of forts in historical perspective.”Source: Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3 (July, 1966), pp. 377-378.

Fort Laramie and the Sioux Indians, Nadeau Remi. 

   “This volume in "The American Forts Series," however, has much more to say about Indians, primarily the Sioux and to a lesser extent the Cheyenne and Arapaho, than about Fort Laramie. The theme is the eternal conflict between the red man, on the one hand, and the army, traders, and pioneers, on the other. Using a chronological approach to his narrative, the author pens accounts of the Grattan incident, the Sand Creek massacre, the fight for the Platte River Bridge, the Fetterman massacre, the Battle of the Rosebud, the ghost dance craze, the Battle of Wounded Knee, and many other dramatic incidents.” Review by: W. Turrentine Jackson, Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 73, No. 1 (Oct., 1967), pp. 228-229.

Sentinel of the Plains: Fort Leavenworth and the American West, Walton, George.
  [This one was panned.] Since the "American Forts Series" contains earlier works written by reputable historians, it is difficult to account for the acceptance and publication of this book.”Review by: Otis E Young, Source: The Journal of American History, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Jun., 1974), pp. 211-212

Louisbourg: Key to A Continent, Downey, Fairfax.

This one is available in the Internet Archive. For an interesting discussion and maps of this fort see: "Streets Paved with Gold: Fortress of Louisbourg on Early Maps," J.Victor Owen, Mercator's World, Vol.8. No.2. March/April 2003. It begins with this quotation by Washington Irving: "The walls of an impregnable fortress, like the virtue of women, have their weak points of attack." "Considered the greatest fortress on the North American continent in 1744, the newly completed Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island was thought to be impregnable, a monument to French engineering and territorial dominance in eastern Canada. It took a group of bold New Englanders to prove this wrong."

Three Flags at the Straits: The Forts of Mackinac, Havighurst, Walter.

  ‘Planned by the late Stewart H. Holbrook, "The American Forts Series" appears to have been designed to give the layman a readable, accurate, one-volume history of each of the major strongholds that occupied strategic points on our frontiers.

Oscar Lewis' Sutter's Fort, published earlier in the series, is full of interest for

the reader. The narrative is lively, and it is based on the most important sources

and secondary materials. The present volume generally follows such a pattern.   The author has covered a number of midwestern themes in his previous volumes of fiction and history and is qualified to undertake a history of the rise and fall of Mackinac missions and forts. His book carries the story of events at the straits from the seventeenth century to modern times during successive decades of French, British, and American occupation. Close examination of chapters on the French period reveals the shadow of Francis Parkman's great history looming in the background, as, for example, in Havighurst's narration of Pontiac's Conspiracy. In later chapters there are generous quotations from the writings of such varied individuals as Robert Rogers, Jonathan Carver, and Henry Schoolcraft, whose careers touched the complex history of the straits. Schoolcraft, Indian agent at Sault Sainte Marie in the 1830's, loved the wild beauty of the area and was fascinated by his native wards. In 1845 the youthful Parkman marked the rotted stumps of Mackinac Island's old palisade. Today on Mackinac Island buildings of the fort are part of a historical museum portraying the romantic story of the past. Here, then, is an interesting, skillfully written book for the general reader. The bibliography covers the high lights of literature on the subject.

Review by: Wilbur R. Jacobs, The American Historical Review, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Apr. 1967), pp. 1074-1075. For Canadian reviews see: Calgary Herald, Jan.13, 1967 & The Ottawa Citizen, Feb. 4, 1967.

 

Thundergate: The Forts of Niagara, Howard, Robert.
"Thundergate, at the waterfall of the Niagara River, has been the site of twelve forts, a large number of battles, and incessant drama extending over several centuries. Robert West Howard tells the story of the Indians, French, Dutch, English, and Americans who lived and fought here and skillfully gives life to the dramatis personae of the drama. He covers a period from the sixteenth century up to the Fenian raids against Canada in the post-CivilWar period. The author of over twenty books, Mr. Howard presents his story in eminently readable and well organized prose. He lists his sources in a chapter by chapter bibliography at the end of the book and ends the volume with a very helpful chapter, "The Memory Place," which is directed to modern readers who would visit the Niagara region. Wendell Tripp, New York History, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Jan. 1969), pp. 105-110.

Sutter’s Fort: Gateway to the Gold Fields, Lewis, Oscar. (See the introduction above.)

Forts of the Upper Missouri, Athearn, Robert.
This is available in the Internet Archive

 

Vincennes: Portal to the West, Derleth, August

  “With this volume August Derleth adds to his extensive bibliography and also adds another title to the American Forts series. Not intended for the specialist, these volumes are by competent writers who have made good use of source materials. Derleth's book meets these requirements and compares favorably with others in the series.”

Review by: Alan S. Brown, The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 35, No. 2 (May, 1969), pp. 255.