Description

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General Jeffery Amherst served as commander in chief of the British army in North America during the Seven Years’ War from 1758 until 1763. Under Amherst’s leadership the British defeated French forces enabling the British Crown to claim Canada. Like many military officers, Amherst kept a journal of his daily activities, and the scope of this publication is from March 1757, while he was Commissary to the troops of Hesse-Kassel on British service in Germany, until his return to Great Britain in December 1763. The daily journal contains a record of and a commentary on events that Amherst witnessed or that he learned of through his correspondence. Where he mentions letters or orders received or sent, where possible, the present-day source locations of documents are identified. The Daily and Personal Journals are the record of the man who played a decisive role in British victories at Louisbourg, on Lake Champlain, and at Montreal. Amherst wrote the personal journal after he returned home. It does not have entries made on a daily basis. It is replete with lists, diagrams, and compendia to more fully explain events. Colored diagrams show dispositions or “Orders of Battle,” organizational structures, and evidence of uniform colors of units for campaigns at Louisbourg, Quebec, Niagara, Lake Champlain, the Carolinas, Montreal, and the Caribbean. In addition, Amherst made mileage charts and lists of ships, currency values, and officers who died during the war.

About the Author

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Robert J. Andrews (1937–2013) was a teacher and administrator in Ontario public schools for thirty-four years. Over the next twenty years, he and his wife, with Amherst’s journals in hand, traveled to every place in North America that Amherst mentioned. In addition, they visited numerous archives in seeking out all of Amherst’s correspondence from 1757 through 1763, which Andrews cross-referenced to journal entries. He used this information to compile the most comprehensive study of Amherst’s role in the Seven Years’ War to date.

Praise For…

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The Journals of Jeffery Amherst take us into the mind of the general who led British forces to victory in the Seven Years’ War in North America. Robert J. Andrews’s exhaustive and meticulous research generated comprehensive references to correspondence, annotations, biographies, place descriptions, and lists of officers and ships enabling us to better understand Amherst’s genius. This work is an essential source for all students of the Seven Years’ War.
—Keith R. Widder, former Curator of History, Mackinac State Historic Parks, and author of Beyond Pontiac’s Shadow: Michilimackinac and the Anglo-Indian War of 1763