“Sons, Not Bastards”

This book’s primary title—“Sons, not Bastards”—cites William Pitt’s calls to repeal the Stamp Act, which the British ministry had explicitly imposed to fund its expanded army in America. Such complaints were hardly the first to be aired. Ever since the conflict began, officials squabbled over issues stemming from this army: recruiting, quartering, logistics, tribal relations, and most problematic, its dizzyingly high costs. These woes had only partly abated with peace. Unilateral decisions by officials to deploy these troops to America in 1754, and then keep them there after the war, bared disquieting questions about the transatlantic relationship itself. As this book shows, these ambiguities remained unresolved, churning an ever more fractious divide between American assemblies, British ministries, and Parliament.

Sons, not Bastards thus weaves an unexpected, original tale that delves deeply into the nuanced dealings, and occasionally double-dealings, of British ministers, tribal leaders, local merchants, and provincial assemblies. In the process, it reveals that the unprecedented decision to deploy a large force of redcoats to America . . . .