Bayonets in the Wilderness

Volume 4 in the Campaigns and Commanders Series Ration shortages, disloyalty, defeat, and international meddling--such were the obstacles facing General Anthony Wayne as he sought to secure the Old Northwest Territory for white settlement in the 1790s. When President George Washington appointed Wayne to command the Legion of the United States, he granted him unlimited powers to conduct a military campaign against the Indian confederacy of the Ohio River Valley. In Bayonets in the Wilderness, Alan D. Gaff explores this long-neglected period in American history to tell the complete story of how the U.S. Army conquered the first American frontier. Wayne's successful campaign led to the creation of a standing army for the country and set the standard for future conflicts and treaties with American Indians. Countering the popular impression of Wayne as "mad," Gaff depicts him as a thoughtful, resolute, and diplomatic officer whose masterfully organized campaign brought an end to forty years of border fighting. In this detailed, definitive military history, Gaff documents the British and French influence, the famed battle at Fallen Timbers, and the Treaty of Greeneville, which ended hostilities in the region. His account brings to light alliances between Indian forces and the British military, demonstrating that British troops still conducted operations on American soil long after the supposed end of the American Revolution. Alan D. Gaff is an independent scholar and the author of four books on military history, including the History Book Club selection On Many a Bloody Field.