John Bradstreet's Raid, 1758

A Riverine Operation of the French and Indian War (Campaigns and Commanders Series, Book 74)

By: Ian Macpherson McCulloch

Narrated by: Douglas R. Pratt

Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

A year after John Bradstreet’s raid of 1758—the first and largest British American riverine raid mounted during the Seven Years’ War (known in North America as the French and Indian War)—Benjamin Franklin hailed it as one of the great “American” victories of the war. Bradstreet heartily agreed, and soon enough, his own official account was adopted by Francis Parkman and other early historians.

In this first comprehensive analysis of Bradstreet’s raid, Ian Macpherson McCulloch uses never-before-seen materials and a new interpretive approach to dispel many of the myths that have grown up around the operation. The result is a closely observed, deeply researched revisionist microhistory—the first unvarnished, balanced account of a critical moment in early American military history.

Examined within the context of campaign planning and the friction among commanders in the war’s first three years, the raid looks markedly different than Bradstreet’s heroic portrayal. The operation was carried out principally by American colonial soldiers, and McCulloch lets many of the provincial participants give voice to their own experiences. He consults little-known French documents that give Bradstreet’s opponents’ side of the story, as well as supporting material such as orders of battle, meteorological data, and overviews of captured ships. McCulloch also examines the riverine operational capability that Bradstreet put in place, a new water-borne style of combat that the British American army would soon successfully deploy in the campaigns of Niagara (1759) and Montreal (1760).

The book is published by University of Oklahoma Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2022 University of Oklahoma Press (P)2023 Redwood Audiobooks

Too many questions asked but not answered.

First off the book needed a pdf map to accompany the text. Second the questioned asked, was the raid a success and it was left unanswered. Was it a tactical success with limited strategic value, undoubtedly but why didn't it have a more strategic impact? The French in Niagara were in a panic waiting for an attack that never came. Also I listened to actual raid a 2nd time and I still don't understand how the French lost the Fort, didn't use their overwhelming naval superiority anymore than I understand why the victory wasn't followed up. On the other hand their was a lot of info presented that was overlooked by previous scholars--it just seems the book was unfinished and left more questions than answers. Maybe maps would have illuminated the tactical and strategic situation. The narrator was great. The book was a disappointment.