What do you think?
Rate this book
Carleton's raid
This book describes 1778 invasion of the Champlain Valley by Canadian forces; it includes maps, the journal of Major Christopher Carleton who led the Canadian forces, and historical reports of Vermont areas attacked. It is a PB reissue of out-of-print 1977 HC book, ISBN 0914016377.
103 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
1 person want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 1, 2010
A short, easy and interesting read about a 1778 raid by Major Christopher Carleton and about 450 men, English, Loyalist, German and Indian. The raid, ordered by Canadian Governer Haldimond was to disrupt American plans to re-invade Canada.
The raid was fairly bloodless. Carleton moved down Lake Champlain, paying particular attention to the Vermont side, burning American settlements and arresting males of military age. He also raided Vermont's Otter Creek and neighboring areas, burning a number of settlements there as well. The raid was relatively bloodless. Particularly when compared to raids into the Susquehanna, Delaware and Mohawk valley's.
I found the size of the raiding force, the low casualties, and the results versus cost interesting. In general, it seems that the level of cruelty was unusually low for the period. Even the indians, it seems, were very highly disciplined as they refrained from killing of prisoners and mutilating the dead.
In terms of cost, an expedition of 450 men spent 2-3 months running around the wilderness, burned a couple of hundred buildings, captured about 50 civilian/militia males, got into a single shoot-out, and destroyed the 1778 annual crops of 50-100 families. I don't know if that is particularly efficient. On the other hand, it did gather intelligence. I suspect that the powers that be concluded as well that it was not productive as it is my understanding that they did not try that kind of raiding in the Champlain Valley again.
Kinder and gentler apparently did not bring a lot to the raiding table.
The raid was fairly bloodless. Carleton moved down Lake Champlain, paying particular attention to the Vermont side, burning American settlements and arresting males of military age. He also raided Vermont's Otter Creek and neighboring areas, burning a number of settlements there as well. The raid was relatively bloodless. Particularly when compared to raids into the Susquehanna, Delaware and Mohawk valley's.
I found the size of the raiding force, the low casualties, and the results versus cost interesting. In general, it seems that the level of cruelty was unusually low for the period. Even the indians, it seems, were very highly disciplined as they refrained from killing of prisoners and mutilating the dead.
In terms of cost, an expedition of 450 men spent 2-3 months running around the wilderness, burned a couple of hundred buildings, captured about 50 civilian/militia males, got into a single shoot-out, and destroyed the 1778 annual crops of 50-100 families. I don't know if that is particularly efficient. On the other hand, it did gather intelligence. I suspect that the powers that be concluded as well that it was not productive as it is my understanding that they did not try that kind of raiding in the Champlain Valley again.
Kinder and gentler apparently did not bring a lot to the raiding table.
Displaying 1 of 1 review