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From the London Times Literary Supplement, by Nathan M. Greenfield, February 19, 2010:
"Quebec, Saratoga, Yorktown, Gettysburg, Sherman's March to the sea: reverse the outcome of any of these battles and the map of North America would likely look very different. Thomas E. Crocker makes a good case for the Battle of the Monongahela...belonging on this list.... The strength of this book is not, however, the "what ifs" nor even the account of Braddock's blunders; rather, it lies in Crocker's presentation of the battle and the complicated logistics involved."
From The Weekly Standard, by Mark Tooley, February 22, 2010:
"...arguably (and surprisingly) the first truly comprehensive history devoted exclusively to the calamitous march that remade North America.... Braddock's story is superb history..."
From The Washington Times, by Aram Bakshian, Jr., December 1, 2009:
"Both Braddock's epic march and subsequent destruction are brought to life by Thomas E. Crocker in "Braddock's March," his impeccably researched account of an important but largely forgotten chapter in American history. Mr. Crocker, a prominent Washington attorney, has done his job with all the thoroughness - and none of the dryness - of a professional historian.
He also has an excellent eye for his characters, capturing them in a few choice pen strokes... It all adds up to a stirring tale with an impressive supporting cast."
From Publishers Weekly, August 10, 2009:
"... Crocker brings comprehensive research and fresh perspective to his first work. He presents ... [Edward] Braddock's disastrous 1755 campaign against the French as a defining event of American history, not a 'one-shot loss.' It brought together a large number of men who later played prominent roles on both sides of the Revolutionary War-- not only George Washington but Thomas Gage and Charles Lee, Daniel Morgan and Daniel Boone, among others. The campaign provided lessons that shaped the American consciousness. It showed the vulnerability of the British redcoats and the potential of irregular warfare. It introduced the political issues of burden sharing and taxation. Above all, says Crocker, Braddock's march was a human story. In his fast-paced description of events, Crocker calls it a 'pilgrimage of destiny.' At the narrative's center is the general. Hard-drinking, hard-driving, sustaining discipline with the lash and confronting increasing disaffection, Braddock was more complex-- and more competent-- than the stubborn dunce of myth. Crocker describes him as 'done in...by a confluence of adverse circumstances' ranging from geography to lack of support from the colonies. The judgment is debatable, but Crocker's justification is worth reading."
From Booklist, September 15, 2009:
"Drawing on original sources about the 1755 British attempt to conquer New France, Crocker grittily reconstructs the advance of Edward Braddock's army on Fort Duquesne, the site of modern Pittsburgh. Furnishing Braddock's background, he was a 60-year-old military administrator with scant combat experience. Crocker puzzles over Braddock's appointment before pitching into the sequence of events ensuing from his landing in Virginia. On paper, Braddock had a commission to command all regular and colonial troops in British North America. In reality, he discovered the colonials to be recalcitrant with money and men, and the forested, mountainous terrain to be equally uncooperative with his determination to move a conventional army through trackless wilderness. Inflexible, Braddock persevered to within several miles of the fort; ... it was in the middle of another day of hacking a road through the trees that the French and Indians sprang an ambush that repulsed the British and Americans and killed their commander. Attentive to detail, Crocker will engage colonial-history readers in this well illustrated work."
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