That Dark and Bloody River: Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley

by Allan W. Eckert

Book Overview

An award-winning author chronicles the settling of the Ohio River Valley, home to the defiant Shawnee Indians, who vow to defend their land against the seemingly unstoppable.

They came on foot and by horseback, in wagons and on rafts, singly and by the score, restless, adventurous, enterprising, relentless, seeking a foothold on the future. European immigrants and American colonists, settlers and speculators, soldiers and missionaries,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553378651
• ISBN13: 9780553378658
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 880 Pages
• Weight: 2.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Unbelievable!

I am an unabashed fan of Allen W. Eckert so if you seek an impartial review, best mosey on. This is one terrific book, possibly his very best. Focusing on the first serious push west of the Appalachian Mountains and down the Ohio River by colonials after the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1764, the book details the continuing settlement efforts through the Revolutionary War and on to the early 1800's. As in any migration in US history, this one was seriously contested in a most deadly manner. Literally, thousands upon thousands of people were scalped, butchered, skinned alive, impaled on stakes and tortured in the most unbelievably sadistic manner. There are no nice guys here. Both sides, the early American colonists and subsequent American citizens as protagonists and the Native Americans and their subsequent British allies, mounted military campaigns, patrols, ambuscades and battles that are quite shocking in their intensity and deadly intent. Even more stunning by today's standards, both sides paid for scalps. No sweetheart contest here, Eckert details a long, 30 + year bloody campaign, fought with ingenuity and hate. It is a continuous campaign fought over fur and land and Eckert puts you smack in the middle of it. This fine book chronicles the major western migration route which settled and wrested control of the Trans Appalachian territory from Britain, France and Spain. It helped me understand, for the first time, just how serious the threat was of the possible separation of the Trans Appalachian west from the eastern seaboard comprising the original 13 States. By 1800 1 milliom people, 20% of our population, lived west of the Applachians. Easterners were totally unsympathetic to the plight of their fellow over-the-mountain citizens and were totally unconcerned with the butchery continually faced by the Westerners. When the East finally woke up to the seriousness of the situation and understood that the territorial gains secured by the Revolutionary War were at stake, the response was nothing less than the permanent establishment of the United States Army! This is an awesome and successful literary undertaking which examines in detail the Nation's very first steps at what would, in later generations, become known as Manifest Destiny. You will not be disappointed.

Vivid, Troubling, and Well-written

Nobody else writes history quite like Eckert; like the rest of his works, this can be read as easily as a novel, but is thoroughly researched and based on the most solid scholarship imaginable.The sheer volume of incidents can be almost numbing, to watch time after time after time as the guilty and the innocent, the young and the old, die bloody, brutal deaths. But the cumulative effect is to show just how harsh and difficult life in the late 1700's could be. On that emotional level, this book is not unlike the first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan. Much of the events of this novel take place right in my own neighborhood, and it's stirring to realize how tough life was here at one time. We don't ordinarily associate Pittsburgh, PA or Wheeling, WV with tough frontier life, yet here they are.Eckert remains for the most part very even-handed and unafraid to show these people in their complexity-- heroic on one occasion, venal and nasty on another. This is living, breathing history. Highly recommended.

Do not purchase this if you are not willing to read more!!!

This is the second of Mr. Eckert's books that I have read. This is just as compelling as the frist. I would advise readers of American histroy to avoid his books if you plan on just picking up one. This one in particular deeply describes the settelments around the Ohio river, and shows all of the historical figures wee know. But more importantly it shows the supporting cast, which is just as impornant as Boone, Washington and others of the day. My advice if you purchase this book, if you do not (or have not) lived in or around the Ohio. Get a good map of the area. He points out specific places with todays landmarks. INCREDIBALLY WELL RESEARCHED.