Campaigns and Commanders
2 total works
On October 2, 1918, Maj. Charles W. Whittlesey led the 77th Division in a successful attack on German defenses in the Argonne Forest of northeastern France. His unit, comprised of men of a wide mix of ethnic backgrounds from New York City and the western states, was not a battalion nor was it ever ""lost,"" but once a newspaper editor applied the term ""lost battalion"" to the episode, it stuck.
Gaff draws from new, unimpeachable sources - such as sworn testimony by soldiers who survived the ordeal - to correct the myths and legends and to reveal what really happened in the Argonne Forest during early October 1918.
In Bayonets in the Wilderness, Alan D. Gaff explores a long-neglected period in American history to tell the complete story of how the U.S. Army conquered the first American frontier, the Northwest Territory. 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 in 1794 to forty years of border fighting.
Gaff's 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.