Wilderness Empire A Narrative Author:Allan W. Eckert 1755 - the frontier was ablaze. Whipped to a fury by the French, the Iroquois were cutting a swath of desolation from New York to Virginia. Terrified settlers banded together, no match for the red man's cunning. Cabins were burned, entire families butchered, victims scalped, captives tortured. Yet, in the end, the Iroquois would lose their land.