Dr. David Skaggs, emeritus professor at BGSU, recently published a book on William Henry Harrison. Titled “William Henry Harrison and The Conquest of the Ohio Country: Frontier Fighting in the War of 1812,” the book helps commemorate the two-hundred year anniversary of major fighting in present-day Ohio.

Skaggs focuses on Harrison’s early life and military exploits, especially his role on Major General Anthony Wayne’s staff during the Fallen Timbers campaign and Harrison’s leadership of the Tippecanoe campaign. He explores how the military and its leaders performed in the age of a small standing army and part-time, Cincinnatus-like forces. This richly detailed work reveals how the military and Indian policies of the early republic played out on the frontier, freshly revisiting a subject central to American history: how white settlers tamed the west—and at what cost.

David Curtis Skaggs is a professor emeritus of history at Bowling Green State University. He is author or coauthor of twelve books, including Oliver Hazard Perry: Honor, Courage, and Patriotism in the Early U.S. Navy; Thomas Macdonough: Master of Command in the Early U.S. Navy; and A Signal to Victory: The Lake Erie Campaign, 1812–1814. For more on Dr. Skaggs’ research, please visit his emeritus faculty page.