Book Reviews 55 Waller points out, the westward thrust of settlement scattered population, creating a “new kind of weakness.’’ The links between ultimate military success and political and social de- velopments in the West thus appear to be more complicated than Waller allows. Perhaps such “profundities” are out of place in a bi- centennial history. Perhaps the only way to write a book about American “heroes” is to focus on military operations, no matter how trivial and no matter how complicated and compromised the motives of the protagonists. Yet if Ameri- cans celebrate “heroic” soldiers following “their leaders on seemingly hopeless missions, enduring privation and danger’’ (p. 31), must their Indian enemies always “lurk about” com- mitting acts of unimaginable savagery on defenseless women and children? Must Indian soldiers be described as “unstable, vacillating, and unreliable” (p. 31) ? Waller admits that “Indian-hating” whites committed some atrocities, but who would not hate the Indians of Waller’s book? Surely a proper bicentennial history can celebrate the heroism and recognize the humanity of all American peoples. Columbia University, New York Peter Onuf Fort Laurens, 1778-1 779: The Revolutionary War in Ohio. By Thomas I. Pieper and James B. Gidney. ([Kent, Ohio]: Kent State University Press, 1976. Pp. xi, 97. Iustrations, notes, maps, note on sources. $7.95.) This slim, attractive volume tells the story of Fort Lawens, the Yitkte ~ukp~ston the Tuscaxawas Xhex that marked the westernmost advance of American continentals into the Ohio country during the Revolutionary War. The fort was established by General Lachlan McIntosh, the second of four soldiers who commanded at Fort Pitt under General George Washington and the Continental Congress. Con- structed in November, 1778, Fort Laurens was designed to support the line of attack against the British western head- quarters at Detroit. Moving west from Pittsburgh, McIntosh had established a fort named for himself on the north bank of the Ohio River at the mouth of Beaver River. Fort Laurens represented a further extension westward some seventy miles. 56 Indiana Magazine of History The authors recount from first hand sources the arduous advance of McIntosh’s forces, numbering about twelve hundred, burdened with supplies and slowed by weakening pack horses. Pressure from Virginia, whose leaders favored George Rogers Clark’s stroke against British outposts on the Mississippi and Wabash rivers, led Congress to scale down its plans. McIntosh was ordered to attack Indians along the Sandusky River rather than to attempt an attack on Detroit. Worsening weather, dwindling food supplies, and expiring enlistments halted the enterprise at the Tuscarawas. Mc- Intosh decided to retire to Fort McIntosh and Fort Pitt as soon as Fort Laurens was completed. By early December, 1778, the little army withdrew, leaving one hundred fifty men under Colonel John Gibson to complete construction and man the outpost. Indians besieged the fort most of the winter. The garrison suffered and starved until McIntosh led a relief expedition in the spring to replace Gibson’s stubborn de- fenders with Major Frederick Vernon and fresh troops. Colonel Daniel Brodhead, successor to McIntosh, urged abandonment of Fort Laurens. Arguing against the strategic concepts of his predecessor, Brodhead opposed spreading his slender forces among many small forts. Under orders from Washington, Brodhead maintained Fort Laurens for six months. It was finally abandoned in August, 1779. In an interesting final chapter the authors discuss the archaeolo- gical findings of Richard Michael Gramly and his associates, who have excavated the site of the fort, and the successful efforts directed by the Ohio Historical Society to preserve and display the area. The book justifiably dispenses with footnotes since it is based almost entirely on a limited number of sources fully acknowledged in a concluding note. The lack of an index may hamper use of the book for reference. Brief references to other events-such as Dunmore’s War, Clark‘s campaigns, Chief Cornstalk’s murder, or the relationships between leaders at Fort Pitt and the eastern Ohio Delaware Indians and their Moravian missionary lead- ers-are likely to arouse interest in events with which this account does not deal. If so, one hopes this lively little volume will stimulate further reading on wider aspects of the valiant, frustrating, but finally successful struggle that held the western borderlands for the new nation. Butler University, Indianapolis George M. Waller .