U.X.L - French and Indian War

F&IW-ttlpgs 2/25/03. qxp 2/25/03 4:44 PM Page 1

Laurie CollierHillstrom and Kevin Hillstrom

Lawrence W. Baker and Julie L. Carnagie, Editors

F&IW-ttlpgs 2/25/03. qxp 2/25/03 4:44 PM Page 3

French and Indian WarLaurie Collier Hillstrom and Kevin Hillstrom

Project EditorsLawrence W. Baker, Julie L. Carnagie

PermissionsMargaret Chamberlain

Imaging and MultimediaLeitha Etheridge-Sims, Mary Grimes,Lezlie Light, Dan Newell, ChristineO’Bryan, Robyn Young

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CompositionEvi Seoud

ManufacturingRita Wimberley

©2003 by U•X•L. U•X•L is an imprint ofThe Gale Group, Inc., a division ofThomson Learning, Inc.

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All illustrations (front cover: GeorgeWashington, Chief Pontiac, and “Brad-dock’s March”; back cover: Louis-Joseph,

marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran; front and back cover backgroundshot: Cape Breton) are reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER

Hillstrom, Laurie Collier, 1965–French and Indian War / Laurie Collier Hillstrom and Kevin Hillstrom ;

Lawrence W. Baker and Julie L. Carnagie, editors.p. cm.

Summary: A comprehensive overview of the French and Indian War, including bi-ographies and full or excerpted memoirs, speeches, and other source documents.Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-7876-6560-61. United States—History—French and Indian War, 1755–1763—Juvenile litera-

ture. [1. United States—History—French and Indian War, 1755–1763.] I. Hillstrom,Kevin, 1963– II. Baker, Lawrence W. III. Carnagie, Julie. IV. Title.

E199 .H55 2003973.2’6—dc21

2002155415

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Reader’s Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Words to Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

People to Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

French and Indian War Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

Research and Activity Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv

Almanac

Chapter 1: Events Leading to the Frenchand Indian War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2: 1753: Washington’s Diplomatic Mission . . . 12

Chapter 3: 1754: The Fighting Begins . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chapter 4: 1755: British Forces Suffer a Serious Defeat . . 35

Chapter 5: 1756–57: The French Gain the Upper Hand . . 54

Chapter 6: 1758: The British Turn the Tide . . . . . . . 67

v

Contents

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Chapter 7: 1759: The Fall of Canada . . . . . . . . . . 80

Chapter 8: 1760–62: The War Continues in Europe . . . . 93

Chapter 9: 1763–65: The War Ends in Europe,but Conflicts Continue in North America . . . . . . 102

Biographies

Jeffery Amherst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Edward Braddock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

John Forbes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

William Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm-Gozonde Saint-Véran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

William Pitt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Pontiac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Robert Rogers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

George Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

James Wolfe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Where to Learn More. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

French and Indian Warvi

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French and Indian War presents a comprehensive overviewof the struggle for control of North America that took

place between French and British forces—as well as eachside’s colonists and Indian allies—from 1754 to 1763. Thevolume is divided into two sections: Almanac and Biogra-phies. The Almanac section consists of nine chapters that arearranged chronologically and cover all aspects of the conflict.The Almanac begins by describing the early struggles betweenFrench and British settlers for control of trade and territory inNorth America. It then details the progress of the war, culmi-nating with the pivotal British victory in the Battle of Que-bec. It concludes with a discussion of the enduring changesthe war produced in the relationship between Great Britainand its colonies—changes that eventually led to the AmericanRevolution (1775–83). Each chapter of the Almanac sectionincludes “Words to Know” and “People to Know” boxes thatdefine important terms and individuals discussed in thechapter for easy reference.

The Biographies section includes profiles of eleven im-portant figures from the French and Indian War era. The essays

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Reader’s Guide

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cover such key people as Jeffery Amherst, a British general wholed the siege of Louisbourg and the capture of Montreal;William Johnson, a British official who served as commission-er of Indian affairs in the American colonies during the war;Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran, aFrench general who handed the British several defeats beforehe was killed during the Battle of Quebec; Pontiac, an Ottawachief who led a postwar Indian uprising against the British;and George Washington, an American soldier who went on tolead colonial forces in the American Revolution and serve asthe first president of the United States. Each profile features aportrait and an individual “For More Information” section.

Informative sidebars can be found throughout the Al-manac and Biographies sections as well. These sidebars con-tain brief biographies; excerpts from memoirs, speeches, andimportant documents; and interesting facts about the issuesand events discussed in the main body of the text. In addi-tion, approximately sixty paintings, portraits, drawings, andmaps illustrate the work.

French and Indian War also includes a timeline of im-portant events, “Words to Know” and “People to Know” sec-tions that combine those terms from individual chapters, anda list of “Research and Activity Ideas” with suggestions forstudy questions, group projects, and oral and dramatic presen-tations. French and Indian War concludes with a bibliographyof sources for further reading and a comprehensive index.

AcknowledgmentsThanks go to copyeditor Rebecca Valentine, proof-

reader Amy Marcaccio Keyzer, and typesetter Marco Di Vita ofthe Graphix Group for their fine work.

Comments and suggestionsWe welcome your comments on French and Indian War

and suggestions for other topics in history to consider. Pleasewrite: Editors, French and Indian War, U•X•L, 27500 DrakeRoad, Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535; call toll-free 800-347-4253; fax to 248-699-8097; or send e-mail via www.gale.com.

French and Indian Warviii

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AAcadians: French-speaking Catholic residents of Nova Scotia

who were deported when the British captured the re-gion in 1755.

Albany Congress: A July 1754 meeting at which Americancolonial leaders discussed ways for improving rela-tions between the colonies and the Iroquois Confed-eracy, as well as for presenting a unified defenseagainst the French.

CColony: A permanent settlement in a new land formed by

citizens who maintain ties to their mother country;both Great Britain and France established colonies inNorth America.

EEmbargo: A government order that prohibits all commercial

ship traffic from entering or leaving a harbor; John

ix

Words to Know

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Campbell, fourth earl of Loudoun, placed an embargoon the entire Atlantic coast of America in 1756 in anattempt to stop illegal trading with the French.

FForks of the Ohio: French and British forces competed to

build a fort on this strategic location, where theMonongahela and Allegheny Rivers join to form theOhio River (site of modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylva-nia).

IIroquois Confederacy (Six Nations of the Iroquois): A pow-

erful alliance of six Indian nations (the Cayuga, Mo-hawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora)from the Iroquois language family.

Irregulars: Soldiers who were not part of the formal BritishArmy, including troops and militia recruited in theAmerican colonies; irregulars tended to have less mili-tary training and poorer equipment than British regu-lars.

OOhio Country: A vast wilderness that stretched from the Great

Lakes in the north to the Ohio River in the South, andfrom the Allegheny Mountains in the east to the Mis-sissippi River in the west; the French and British foughtfor control of this region, which lay between theFrench and British colonies in North America.

QQuakers: Members of the Society of Friends religious group,

which originated in England in the seventeenth cen-tury and was brought to America by William Penn,founder of Pennsylvania Colony; among the Quakers’main principles was pacifism (a strong opposition towar and violence).

French and Indian Warx

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RRegulars: Professional soldiers of the British Army; they tend-

ed to be highly trained and well equipped comparedto irregulars from the American colonies.

SSiege: A military strategy that involves surrounding a target,

cutting it off from outside help and supplies, andusing artillery to break down its defenses.

Stamp Act: A law passed by British parliament in 1765 thatplaced a tax on all paper used for legal or businesspurposes in the American colonies; it met with vio-lent opposition in the colonies and was later repealed.

TTreaty of Paris: The 1763 agreement between Great Britain

and France that ended the French and Indian War(known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War); it gaveGreat Britain control over all the French territory inNorth America east of the Mississippi River, as well asseveral French colonies in India, Africa, and the WestIndies.

Words to Know xi

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AJames Abercromby (1706–1781): British general who served

as commander-in-chief of British forces in NorthAmerica in 1758 and suffered a terrible defeat in theBattle of Ticonderoga.

Jeffery Amherst (1717–1797): British military leader who be-came commander-in-chief of British forces in NorthAmerica in 1758 and led the siege of Louisbourg andcapture of Montreal.

BLouis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811): French mili-

tary leader who served in the defense of Ticonderogaand Quebec; later became the first Frenchman to sailaround the world; made several important contribu-tions to science and geography.

Edward Braddock (1695–1755): British military leader whoserved as commander-in-chief of British forces in

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People to Know

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North America in 1755 and was killed in a disastrousearly battle on the Monongahela River.

John Bradstreet (c. 1711–1774): British military leader whocaptured Fort Frontenac and ended French control ofLake Ontario.

John Stuart, third earl of Bute (1713–1792): British politicalleader who forced William Pitt to resign; served asprime minister of Great Britain, 1761–63.

CClaude-Pierre Pecaudy, seigneur de Contrecoeur (1706–

1775): French military leader who captured the par-tially finished British fort at the Forks of the Ohio andestablished Fort Duquesne on the site.

DBaron Ludwig August (also known as Jean-Armand)

Dieskau (1701–1767): French military leader wholost the Battle of Lake George and was wounded andcaptured by the British.

Robert Dinwiddie (1693–1770): Governor of VirginiaColony who held land claims in the Ohio Countryand pressured the British government to take controlof the region.

Ange Duquesne de Menneville, marquis de Duquesne(1700–1778): French military leader who becamegovernor-general of New France in 1752 and orderedthe construction of a chain of forts across the OhioCountry.

FJohn Forbes (1710–1759): British military leader who cap-

tured Fort Duquesne in 1758 and established Fort Pitton the site.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790): Wealthy and influentialPhiladelphia printer who unsuccessfully put forth aplan to unite the British colonies at the Albany Con-

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gress; later played important roles in the AmericanRevolution and the drafting of the Constitution.

Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac (1620–1698): Frenchpolitical leader who served as governor of New Francefrom 1672 to 1682, and again from 1696 to 1698; pro-moted exploration of Canada, established new forts,and sent Indian allies on raids against British settle-ments during King William’s War.

GKing George III (1738–1820): King of England, 1760–1820;

after claiming the throne near the end of the Frenchand Indian War, his policies created resistance in theAmerican colonies that led to the American Revolution.

HPatrick Henry (1736–1799): American political leader who first

gained attention for his opposition to the Stamp Act asa member of the Virginia Assembly; later served in theContinental Congress and as governor of Virginia.

JWilliam Johnson (1715–1774): British general who served as

chief of Indian affairs and won the Battle of LakeGeorge.

Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville (1718–1754):French military leader who carried a message to Lieu-tenant Colonel George Washington, was attacked byWashington’s forces, and was murdered by Senecatribe civil chief Tanaghrisson.

LJacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre: French military leader

who met with George Washington at Fort Le Boeufduring Washington’s 1753 diplomatic mission.

John Campbell, fourth earl of Loudoun: British generalwho served as commander-in-chief of British forces inNorth America, 1756–58.

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MLouis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran

(1712–1759): French general who served as comman-der-in-chief of French forces in North America,1756–59; led the capture of Forts Oswego and WilliamHenry and died during the battle for Quebec.

James Murray (c. 1721–1794): British general who servedunder James Wolfe during the Battle of Quebec andwent on to serve as the first British governor of Cana-da, 1764–68.

PWilliam Pitt (1708–1788): British political leader who took

control of the North American war effort in 1757; hispolicies gained the support of the American colonists.

Pontiac (c. 1720–1769): Ottawa chief who united GreatLakes Indian tribes in opposition to British rule; led alarge-scale Indian rebellion that resulted in the cap-ture of several British forts before surrendering in1765.

SWilliam Shirley (1694–1771): Governor of Massachusetts

who served as commander-in-chief of British forces inNorth America following the death of Edward Brad-dock.

TTanaghrisson (?–1754): Seneca civil chief who murdered a

French diplomat during George Washington’s 1754attack on French forces that started the French andIndian War.

VPierre François de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil (1698–

1765): Governor of New France from 1755 until thefall of Canada to the British in 1760.

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WGeorge Washington (1732–1799): American military and

political leader who took part in the early battles ofthe French and Indian War and went on to lead theAmerican Revolution and serve as the first presidentof the United States.

James Wolfe (1727–1759): British military leader who cap-tured Louisbourg and was killed during the successfulbattle for Quebec.

People to Know xvii

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The French and Indian War

C A N A D A

NO

VA

SC

OT

I A

( AC

AD

I A)

AlbanyBoston

New York

Halifax

AnnapolisRoyal

Fort Duquesne Nov. 24, 1758

Fort Venango (Fr.)

Fort Le Boeuf (Fr.)

Presque Isle (Fr.)

Fort Necessity July 1–3, 1754

Fort Cumberland (Br.)

Monongahela, July 9, 1755

Fort St. John, June 19, 1755

Fort Beausejour, June 19, 1755

Fort Louisbourg June 2–July 27, 1758

Lake George, Sept. 8, 1755Fort Oswego, August 1756

Fort William Henry August 9, 1757

Fort TiconderogaJuly 26, 1759

Crown PointJuly 31, 1759

QuebecSept. 13, 1759;April 1760

Fort Frontenac August 27, 1758

Fort Niagara July 25, 1759

Fort TiconderogaJuly 8, 1758

MontrealSept. 8, 1760

Fort Edward (Br.)

British Victory

French Victory

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1607 The British form the first permanent settlement inNorth America in Jamestown, Virginia.

1608 Samuel de Champlain explores the St. Lawrence Riverand founds Quebec for France.

1689 King William’s War (known in Europe as the War ofthe League of Augsburg) begins.

1695 British general Edward Braddock is born in England.

1697 King William’s War ends.

1701 Queen Anne’s War (known in Europe as the War ofthe Spanish Succession) begins.

xix

French and Indian WarTimeline

1620Pilgrims landin Plymouth

Colony.

1670Minute hands

appear onwatches for

the first time.

1632Galileo says thatthe Earth is notthe center ofthe universe.

1659Typhoidfever is

described forthe firsttime.

1600 1625 1650 1675

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1708 British war minister William Pitt is born in England.

1712 French general Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran, is born in France.

1713 Queen Anne’s War ends.

1715 British general and colonial administrator WilliamJohnson is born in Ireland.

1717 British general Jeffery Amherst is born in England.

1720 The French begin constructing a huge fortress inLouisbourg on Cape Breton Island.

1720 Ottawa chief Pontiac is born in the Great Lakes regionof North America.

1727 British general James Wolfe is born in England.

1732 American military and political leader George Wash-ington is born in Virginia.

1744 King George’s War (known in Europe as the War ofthe Austrian Succession) begins.

1744 The Iroquois Confederacy signs the Treaty of Lancast-er, giving up land claims in Pennsylvania, Virginia,and Maryland.

1745 American colonists capture Louisbourg from theFrench.

1748 King George’s War ends and Louisbourg is returned toFrance.

1752 Ange Duquesne de Menneville, marquis de Duquesne,becomes governor-general of New France and buildsforts in the Ohio Country.

French and Indian Warxx

1704America’s first

regular newspaperbegins publication.

1732Benjamin Franklinrevolutionizes the

colonial postal service.

1725Antonio Vivaldicomposes TheFour Seasons.

1714Daniel

Fahrenheitbuilds a mercury

thermometer.

1700 1715 1730 1745

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1753 Colonial messenger and future military and politicalleader George Washington carries a message fromBritish leaders asking the French to leave the OhioCountry.

1754 The French and Indian War begins in North America.

1754 In May, Indians accompanying Lieutenant ColonelGeorge Washington murder French officer JosephCoulon de Villiers de Jumonville.

1754 In July, American military leader George Washingtonis defeated by French forces in the Battle of Fort Ne-cessity.

1755 British general Edward Braddock becomes comman-der-in-chief of the British forces in North America.

1755 William Johnson becomes British commissioner of In-dian affairs in the northern colonies.

1755 In June, British forces capture Fort Beauséjour andtake control of Nova Scotia.

1755 In July, British general Edward Braddock’s army is de-feated by French and Indian forces in the Battle of theWilderness; Braddock dies of his wounds from thebattle.

1755 In September, the British deport from Nova Scotia theFrench-speaking Catholics known as Acadians.

1755 In September, British general and colonial administra-tor William Johnson defeats French forces in the Bat-tle of Lake George.

1756 Great Britain and France formally declare war (theconflict becomes known in Europe as the Seven Years’War).

French and Indian War Timeline xxi

1752Public street

lightingbegins in

Philadelphia.

1756Mayonnaise is

invented.

1755Lexicographer

Samuel Johnsonpublishes hisdictionary.

1753The Conestoga

wagon isintroduced.

1750 1752 1754 1756

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1756 John Campbell, fourth earl of Loudoun, becomes com-mander-in-chief of British forces in North America.

1756 French general Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran, arrives to command Frenchforces in North America.

1756 In August, the French capture Fort Oswego on LakeOntario from the British.

1757 British secretary of state William Pitt takes over theBritish war effort.

1757 In August, the French capture Fort William Henry onLake George, and their Indian allies massacre Britishprisoners.

1758 British general James Abercromby becomes comman-der-in-chief of British forces in North America.

1758 In July, British general Jeffery Amherst captures Louis-bourg from the French.

1758 In July, British general James Abercromby loses theBattle of Ticonderoga.

1758 In August, British forces under Lieutenant Colonel JohnBradstreet capture Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario.

1758 In November, British forces under Major General JohnForbes capture Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the OhioRiver.

1758 In November, British general Jeffery Amherst becomescommander-in-chief of British forces in North America.

1759 In July, British general and colonial administratorWilliam Johnson captures Fort Niagara.

French and Indian Warxxii

1756Carbon dioxide

formation isdiscovered.

1759Irish brewer

Arthur Guinnessestablishes a

brewery.

1758Artificial refrigeration

is developed.

1757The first oscillatinglighthouse is built.

1756 1757 1758 1759

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1759 In July, British general Jeffery Amherst captures Ticon-deroga and Fort St. Frédéric on Lake Champlain.

1759 In September, British general James Wolfe defeatsFrench general Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran, in the Battle of Quebec; bothare killed in the battle.

1760 The French surrender Montreal and all other territoryin North America to the British.

1760 The Cherokee War strikes the southern Americancolonies.

1760 King George II dies and is succeeded on the throne byKing George III.

1761 British war minister William Pitt resigns from theBritish government.

1762 Spain joins the Seven Years’ War on the side of theFrench.

1763 The Treaty of Paris ends the war.

1763 Pontiac leads an Indian rebellion that succeeds in cap-turing several British forts.

1763 The British government passes the Proclamation Act toprevent settlers from moving into the Ohio Country.

1764 The British government passes new taxes on thecolonies: the American Duties Act (Sugar Act) and theCurrency Act.

1765 The British government passes the Stamp Act, whichmeets with violent opposition in the Americancolonies.

French and Indian War Timeline xxiii

1760Large-scale

ranching beginsin Texas.

1765Cell division isfirst witnessedand illustrated.

1764Colonists denounce“taxation withoutrepresentation.”

1761The first connectionbetween tobacco

and cancer is made.

1759 1761 1763 1765

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1765 American wilderness fighter Robert Rogers publishesReminiscences of the French War, a famous account ofhis days as a ranger.

1766 French officer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville sailsaround the world.

1769 Ottawa chief Pontiac is killed in Illinois.

1774 British general and colonial administrator WilliamJohnson dies in New York.

1775 The American Revolution begins.

1775 The Continental Congress selects American militaryand political leader George Washington to commandthe colonial army.

1778 British war minister William Pitt dies in London.

1787 The U.S. Constitution is written.

1789 American military leader George Washington be-comes the first president of the United States.

1797 British general Jeffery Amherst dies in England.

1799 Former U.S. president and military leader GeorgeWashington dies in Virginia.

1826 James Fenimore Cooper publishes Last of the Mohi-cans, a famous novel set during the French and Indi-an War.

French and Indian Warxxiv

1770 1790 1810 1830

1776The Declarationof Independence

is written.

1827Contact lensesare invented.

1803The United Statesnearly doubles,following the

Louisiana Purchase.

1789The French

Revolution begins.

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The following research and activity ideas are intended tooffer suggestions for complementing social studies and

history curricula, to trigger additional ideas for enhancinglearning, and to provide cross-disciplinary projects for libraryand classroom use.

• The French and Indian War has been called the first trueworld war. In fact, some historians claim that the Frenchand Indian War was more significant in the eyes of theworld than the American Revolution. Make a list of rea-sons that may have caused historians to reach this con-clusion. How would North America and the world be dif-ferent today if the French had won the war?

• Look at a map of the French and British colonies inNorth America before the start of the French and IndianWar. Why would the two sides fight for control of theOhio Country? What made the Forks of the Ohio River(where the French built Fort Duquesne and the Britishlater built Fort Pitt) such an important target for bothsides? Divide the class into three groups. One group willdefend France’s claim on the Ohio Country, one group

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Research and Activity Ideas

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will explain Great Britain’s stake in the region, and thethird group will argue that the territory rightfully be-longed to the Indians (Native Americans).

• The Indian tribes that had lived in the Ohio Country formany generations found themselves caught in the mid-dle of the dispute between the British and French forcontrol of the region. How did the Indians decide whichside to support? Research the life of a Native Americanleader who lived during the French and Indian War.Some examples include Captain Jacobs, Hendrick, Ponti-ac, Shingas, Scarouady, and Tanaghrisson. Taking the per-spective of the Indian chief you have chosen, make anoral presentation in which you try to convince the class(your tribe) to support either the French or the British.

• British forces under General Edward Braddock suffered aterrible defeat in the first major battle of the French andIndian War. Research the weapons and fighting style ofthe British Army and compare them to those of theFrench and Native Americans. Which style of warfare wasbetter suited to conditions in North America? Write a re-port outlining the mistakes Braddock made and the ef-fects of the British defeat.

• When British forces captured Fort Beauséjour and tookcontrol of Nova Scotia in 1755, they decided to deportthe French-speaking Catholic residents of the region,who were known as Acadians. Over six thousand Acadi-ans were packed onto ships and transported to the Amer-ican colonies, where they had trouble fitting in and suf-fered many hardships. Imagine that you are an Acadianand have been forced to leave your home and settle in anunfamiliar land. Write an account of your imaginary ex-periences as an outsider in colonial America. This ac-count could take the form of a diary, a letter to a familymember who remained in Nova Scotia, or a letter ofprotest to British authorities.

• Divide the class into several groups. Have each group pre-pare an oral presentation about a major battle of theFrench and Indian War, with group members playing theroles of generals, soldiers, and political leaders on eachside. The presentation should conclude with a report onhow classmates can visit the site of the battle today.

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• Using historical maps and drawings, create a three-dimen-sional model of Quebec as it appeared in 1759. Be sure toinclude the cliffs overlooking the St. Lawrence River, thewalled city with its cannons, and the Plains of Abraham.How did Quebec’s natural defenses influence the battle?Were the British lucky to have captured the city?

• The French commander Louis-Joseph, marquis de Mont-calm-Gozon de Saint-Véran, was a brilliant general whohanded the British a series of defeats in the early years ofthe French and Indian War. Yet Montcalm and theFrench could not hold their advantage and ended up los-ing the Battle of Quebec and control of North America.Make a list of the factors that favored the French and theBritish at the beginning of the war. How had these factorschanged by the time Montcalm faced the British in theBattle of Quebec? Make another list of the factors thatmade Montcalm’s job difficult and ultimately led to hisdefeat.

• Select a state that was one of the thirteen original Ameri-can colonies. Create a timeline of important events inthat state during colonial times, including its role duringthe French and Indian War.

• Read James Fenimore Cooper’s novel Last of the Mohicans,which is set during the French and Indian War. Pick outthe author’s references to actual wartime events. Howdoes Cooper use historical references to advance the cen-tral theme of his story?

• The French and Indian War changed the relationship be-tween Great Britain and its American colonies. Some histo-rians claim that these changes led directly to the AmericanRevolution. Make a list of the changes that resulted fromthe war. Rank these factors in order of importance as causesof the American Revolution. If the French and British hadsettled their differences peacefully instead of fighting forcontrol of North America, do you think the War of Inde-pendence still would have happened ten years later?

• The French and Indian War shaped the lives of its partici-pants and influenced future events in many ways. Thinkabout how George Washington’s life would have beendifferent had he not fought in the war. Tell the class

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about a personal experience that has had a significantimpact on the future direction of your life.

• Mark the locations of major forts and battles of theFrench and Indian War on a modern-day map of easternNorth America. What cities have grown up on thesespots? Are the locations that were important during thewar still important today? Do you recognize any placenames from the region’s history?

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Events Leading to the French and Indian War … 3

1753: Washington’s Diplomatic Mission … 12

1754: The Fighting Begins … 23

1755: British Forces Suffer a Serious Defeat … 35

1756–57: The French Gain the Upper Hand … 54

1758: The British Turn the Tide … 67

1759: The Fall of Canada … 80

1760–62: The War Continues in Europe … 93

1763–65: The War Ends in Europe, but Conflicts Continue inNorth America … 102

Almanac

Indian French War MB 2/25/03 12:04 PM Page 1

The French and Indian War is part of an often-forgotten pe-riod in American history. It took place from 1754 to

1763—between the time the first European settlers arrived inNorth America and the time when some of their descendantsfought for independence in the American Revolution (1775–83). The French and Indian War (known in Europe as theSeven Years’ War) was the fourth in a series of wars betweenGreat Britain and France, fought to determine which Euro-pean country would emerge as the world’s dominant power.Unlike the first three wars, though, this one started in theNorth American colonies held by British and French settlers.On one side of the fight were British soldiers, settlers from thethirteen American colonies, and several Indian (Native Ameri-can) tribes. On the other side were French soldiers, settlersfrom the colony of New France, and their Indian allies.

The French and Indian War played an important role inshaping both American and world history. In fact, some histori-ans claim that the conflict was more significant than the Amer-ican Revolution in the eyes of the world. The conflict involvedthree continents and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives; it

3

1Events Leading to theFrench and Indian War


could legitimately be considered thefirst world war. In addition, the Frenchand Indian War was the first eigh-teenth-century conflict that ended in adramatic victory for one side. By win-ning the war, Great Britain gained con-trol over all of North America east ofthe Mississippi River and expanded theBritish empire around the world. Butthe conflict also created serious prob-lems between the British governmentand the American colonies. These dif-ferences ultimately led to the creationof the United States of America.

Europeans settle inNorth America

The story of the French andIndian War begins with the arrival ofEuropean settlers in the New World.The British formed their first perma-nent settlement in North America inJamestown, Virginia, in 1607. TheFrench founded the capital of NewFrance in Quebec (a present-dayprovince of Canada) a year later. For

many years, the vast wilderness that stretched between thesecolonies ensured that the French and British settlers wouldhave little contact with each other.

The French government viewed its colony in NorthAmerica as a source of furs and other valuable trade goods,rather than as a place to be settled. The people who came toNew France in its early years were mostly explorers andtraders, although several busy towns eventually developed.On the other hand, the British government viewed its NorthAmerican territory as a land that would provide new homesfor poor and dissatisfied British citizens. British leaders active-ly promoted settlement in America and allowed the coloniststo form their own governments, with governors approved bythe king of England.

French and Indian War4

Words to Know

Colony: A permanent settlement in anew land formed by citizens whomaintain ties to their mother country;both Great Britain and France estab-lished colonies in North America.

Iroquois Confederacy (Six Nations ofthe Iroquois): A powerful alliance ofsix Indian nations (the Cayuga, Mo-hawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, andTuscarora) from the Iroquois languagefamily.

Ohio Country: A vast wilderness thatstretched from the Great Lakes in thenorth to the Ohio River in the south,and from the Allegheny Mountains inthe east to the Mississippi River in thewest; the French and British fought forcontrol of this region, which lay be-tween the French and British coloniesin North America.


Over time, it became clear thatthe North American colonies couldproduce tremendous wealth for thenations of Europe through farming,logging, mining, fur trapping, andother activities. With this in mind,several European countries fought forcontrol over sections of North Ameri-ca, including Spain and Denmark. Bythe early 1700s, however, GreatBritain and France held most of theterritory east of the Mississippi River.The British colonies consisted of scat-tered towns and villages stretchingalong the Atlantic Coast, from pre-sent-day Maine to Georgia. Mean-while, the French controlled eastern Canada and parts of theGreat Lakes region and the Mississippi River basin.

Indians occupy middle ground betweenFrance and England

By the time the first European settlers arrived, NorthAmerica was already home to millions of Indians. These peo-ples had developed a wide range of cultures over thousands ofyears. Some tribes lived in large, permanent settlements ofseveral thousand residents, while others spent most of theirtime traveling in search of food and game. Some of the tribesmaintained peaceful relations with neighboring peoples,while other tribes were constantly at war with one another.

For the most part, the French people who came toNorth America got along well with the Indians. They tradedfairly with the tribes, learned their ways, and did not pushthem off of their traditional lands. French priests even con-verted many Great Lakes tribes to the Catholic religion. Butthe more numerous British settlers needed more land for theirfarming operations. As a result, they pushed into areas thatwere previously inhabited only by Indians, who came to beviewed as obstacles to further settlement.

The British settlers maintained good relations onlywith the tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, an alliance of six

Events Leading to the French and Indian War 5

People to Know

Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac(1620–1698): French political leaderwho served as governor of New Francefrom 1672 to 1682, and again from1696 to 1698; promoted exploration ofCanada, established new forts, and sentIndian allies on raids against British set-tlements during King William’s War.


Indian nations from the Iroquois language family (Cayuga,Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora) centeredin northern New York. The Iroquois had held a grudge againstthe French since the early 1600s when, during one of the firstEuropean expeditions into North America, French explorerSamuel de Champlain (c. 1567–1635) had shot several Iro-quois warriors with the first firearm they had ever seen.

As the French and British settlements grew, the Indi-ans were pushed into the middle ground between the Euro-pean colonies. The Iroquois Confederacy formed an alliancewith the British in order to control trade and prevent theFrench from expanding their territory. Meanwhile, theFrench formed a system of alliances with Algonquian-speak-ing tribes of the Great Lakes region, including the Pequot, Illi-nois, Kickapoo, Menomini, Miami, Chippewa, Ottawa, andPotawatomi. Many of the Algonquian peoples were longtimeenemies of the Iroquois.


Pilgrims, some of theearliest English colonists,arrive at Plymouth Rock inMassachusetts in 1620.Reproduced by permission ofGetty Images.


Three early warsThroughout the late 1600s and early 1700s, Great

Britain and France struggled to become the most dominantpower in Europe. The two countries entered into three warsduring these years. All of these wars were fought primarily inEurope. But even though an ocean separated Europe fromNorth America, these wars had a significant influence on thelives of many French and British settlers in the “New World.”King William’s War (known in Europe as the War of theLeague of Augsburg) took place between 1689 and 1697. InNorth America, French and British forces fought to decidewho would control the major rivers that ran through the Ap-palachian Mountains. (Rivers acted as roads in those days be-cause it was so difficult to carry goods through woods andover mountains.)

The conflict began when the governor of New France,Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac (1620–1698), ordered his


Two members of theIroquois tribe address otherIndian tribes. Illustration byJohn Kahionhes Fadden.Reproduced by permission ofJohn Kahionhes Fadden.


Indian allies to conduct violent raidson the British colonies in New Eng-land. The Indians killed hundreds ofBritish settlers in a series of raids alongthe frontier over the next few years.The British responded by launching anattack against New France. They suc-ceeded in capturing Port Royal inNova Scotia (a present-day province ofCanada), but they failed in an attemptto take Quebec. The conflict endedshortly after Frontenac died in 1697.As part of the peace process in Europe,British negotiators returned Nova Sco-tia to France.

Peace lasted only a few years,though, as Queen Anne’s War (knownin Europe as the War of the SpanishSuccession) began in 1701. This con-flict began when the Spanish thronebecame vacant and both Great Britainand France tried to ensure that one oftheir allies became the new king ofSpain. In North America, the IroquoisConfederacy signed an agreementwith France in which they promised toremain neutral in the growing con-flict. The governor of New France,Philippe de Rigaud, marquis de Vau-dreuil (1643–1725), then sent his Indi-an allies on raids against British settle-ments outside of Iroquois control—inMaine, New Hampshire, and Massa-chusetts. The most famous of theseraids took place in Deerfield, Massa-

chusetts, in February 1704, when fifty-six men, women, andchildren were killed and more than one hundred more wereforced to march through the cold into Canada.

The British responded to the raids by launching amajor military expedition to conquer Canada in 1711. Britishships carried six thousand troops up the Atlantic coast to themouth of the St. Lawrence River, which provided access to


Louis de Buade, comte deFrontenac. Courtesy of theLibrary of Congress.


the inland cities of Quebec and Montreal. But the ships losttheir way in a heavy fog, and several of them crashed on therocks and sank. About one thousand people drowned, forcingthe British admiral to call off the expedition.

The war in Europe ended in a British victory in 1713.Great Britain claimed several French territories in Canada, in-cluding the Hudson Bay region, Newfoundland, and NovaScotia. But the peace treaty that ended the war left someboundaries between the colonies unclear. These uncertaintiesopened the door to future conflicts.

In 1720, the French began building a huge fort inLouisbourg, on Cape Breton Island. Ownership of this largeisland, located just north of Nova Scotia at the mouth of theSt. Lawrence River, remained in dispute at the time. TheFrench wanted to claim the island in order to prevent theBritish from controlling the St. Lawrence. The new fort hadstone walls that were thirty feet high, ten feet thick, andtopped with one hundred heavy guns.


General William Pepperellrides triumphantly amonghis troops after thesurrender of Louisbourg in1745. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


By the time King George’s War(known in Europe as the war of theAustrian Succession) began in 1744,though, only seven hundred Frenchtroops were stationed in Louisbourg.The American colonies sent an armyof four thousand men under GeneralWilliam Pepperell (1696–1759) to at-tack Louisbourg in 1745. These forcescaptured several French cannons thathad been abandoned across the harborfrom Louisbourg and used them tobombard the fort. The small numberof French defenders surrendered thefort a short time later. The Americancolonists were very proud of their con-quest. When the war ended in 1748,however, the terms of the peace treatyreturned Cape Breton Island to France.

Stage is set for theFrench and Indian War

As British and French forcesfought for control of North America throughout the earlyeighteenth century, the Iroquois Confederacy remained onthe sidelines. Yet the Iroquois played an important role inmaintaining the balance of power in North America. Indiannations that were loyal to the confederacy controlled the vastterritory between the French and British colonies, known asthe Ohio Country. The Iroquois traded with both sides, ac-cepted their gifts, and played the European powers againsteach other for their own benefit.

But the Iroquois Confederacy gradually began losingits influence over other Indian nations as well as the Britishand French. In 1742, the Iroquois accepted a controversialland deal known as the Walking Purchase of 1737. In thisdeal, the Penn family (founders of Pennsylvania Colony)stole 670,000 acres in eastern Pennsylvania from theDelaware Indian tribe. The Delawares were forced to relocateto the Ohio Country, and they held a grudge against the con-federacy from that time forward.


William Pepperell, Americangeneral in charge of thearmy that attackedLouisbourg in 1745.Reproduced by permission of Getty Images.


The Iroquois lost even more of their power in 1744,when they signed the Treaty of Lancaster. Under this agree-ment, the British gave the Iroquois a huge number of giftsand acknowledged that the confederacy had the authority tospeak for its member tribes throughout the Ohio Country. Inexchange, the Iroquois agreed to give up all remaining Indianland claims in the colonies of Pennsylvania, Virginia, andMaryland. In reality, however, the Treaty of Lancaster wasmuch more costly for the Iroquois Confederacy. The Indianswho negotiated the treaty thought they were only giving theBritish a small parcel of land in the Shenandoah Valley. Butthe original charters (written documents that define theboundaries of property and grant rights to landowners) forthese colonies said that their borders extended all the way tothe Pacific Ocean. Without realizing it, the Iroquois hadgiven up formal control over the Ohio Country.

Once the Treaty of Lancaster was signed, governors ofthe American colonies immediately began granting landrights in the Ohio Country to their citizens. British tradersand settlers rushed to claim the territory. They set up hugetrading posts, including one on the site of the modern-daycity of Cleveland, and began trading with northern Indiantribes that were supposed to be French allies. French leadersgrew alarmed at this turn of events. They were upset aboutfacing new competition in trade with the Indians, and theyworried that the availability of British goods would lure awaytheir Indian allies. They were also angry that the British weretrying to control the Ohio Country, which they felt belongedto France. In the meantime, the Indians wanted to prevent ei-ther European power from claiming the Ohio Country, wherethey had lived for many generations. This tense situationsoon erupted into war.



In the eighteenth century, France and Great Britain were theworld’s superpowers. Both nations had expanded the reach

of their empires by establishing colonies (permanent settle-ments of citizens that maintain ties to their home country)in North America and other regions of the world. GreatBritain’s colonies in North America stretched along the eastcoast of what later became the United States, from present-day Maine to Georgia. France’s territory in North America,known as New France, included parts of modern Canadaalong the St. Lawrence River, as well as the Great Lakes re-gion and the Mississippi River from Illinois all the way toLouisiana. France and Great Britain had been fighting overtheir colonial possessions—in North America and around theworld—for many years.

In between the French and British territories in NorthAmerica lay a vast wilderness known as the Ohio Country.This region stretched from the Great Lakes in the north to theOhio River in the south, and from the Allegheny Mountainsin the east to the Mississippi River in the west. It includedparts of present-day Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Ken-

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1753: Washington’sDiplomatic Mission

2


tucky, Indiana, and Illinois. BothFrance and Great Britain hoped to ex-tend their colonies into the OhioCountry, which offered settlers accessto fertile farmland and the valuablefur trade. But neither European powerwas able to take control of the OhioCountry because this middle groundwas held by the Iroquois Confederacy(also known as the Six Nations of theIroquois). The confederacy was a pow-erful alliance of six Indian (NativeAmerican) nations from the Iroquoislanguage family—the Cayuga, Mo-hawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, andTuscarora.

The Six Nations’ hold on theOhio Country began to break downduring the 1740s. As more British andFrench traders moved into the region,they were able to form relationshipswith many Indian tribes. Tribes thatwere once loyal to the Iroquois Confederacy were graduallylured away by the availability of French and British goods.This situation reduced the influence of the Iroquois Confed-eracy and shook up the balance of power in the Ohio Coun-try. Both France and Great Britain were eager to take advan-tage of the situation in order to increase the size of theirterritorial holdings.

France wanted to control the Ohio Country because itprovided an important connection between the Frenchcolonies in Canada and those in Illinois and along the Missis-sippi River. French leaders also knew that claiming the regionwould create a barrier to keep the British colonies from ex-panding westward beyond the Allegheny Mountains. ButGreat Britain also recognized the strategic value of the OhioCountry. British leaders wanted to control the region so theycould continue expanding their colonies westward and gainaccess to the land’s rich natural resources. They also knewthat claiming the area would divide the French territories andmake them easier to conquer.

1753: Washington’s Diplomatic Mission 13

Words to Know


Ohio Country: A vast wilderness thatstretched from the Great Lakes in thenorth to the Ohio River in the South,and from the Allegheny Mountains inthe east to the Mississippi River in thewest; the French and British fought forcontrol of this region, which lay be-tween the French and British coloniesin North America.


Competing claims onthe land

In 1752, Ange Duquesne deMenneville, marquis de Duquesne(1700–1778) became governor-generalof New France. A no-nonsense fellowwho had served in the French Navy,Duquesne was determined to takecontrol of the Ohio Country. He car-ried orders from the French govern-ment that said he should “make everyeffort to drive the English from ourlands.” To carry out this mission, hestarted building a chain of forts fromLake Erie southward to the Ohio River.Once they were completed, these fourforts—Presque Isle on Lake Erie, LeBoeuf on French Creek, Machault atthe settlement of Venango in modern-day Pennsylvania, and Duquesne atthe junction of the Monongahela andAllegheny Rivers (a spot known as theForks of the Ohio)—would effectivelyprevent British traders and settlersfrom going west.

At the same time, wealthy andinfluential men from the Virginia andPennsylvania colonies convinced KingGeorge II (1683–1760) of England togrant them title to land in the OhioCountry. One group of land specula-tors (people who buy and sell landwith the hope of making a profit)formed an association called the OhioCompany. The members of this group

included Lawrence Washington (1718–1752), the older half-brother of George Washington (1732–1799; see entry), andLieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie (1693–1770; see box)of Virginia Colony. The Ohio Company received a grant offive hundred thousand acres along the Ohio River from theBritish government. When Lawrence Washington died of tu-


People to Know

Robert Dinwiddie (1693–1770): Lieu-tenant governor of Virginia Colony whoheld land claims in the Ohio Countryand pressured the British governmentto take control of the region. Two othermen held the ceremonial title of gover-nor, but never set foot in Virginia; Din-widdie, therefore, was always consid-ered the head of the colony and usuallyreferred to as the governor.

Ange Duquesne de Menneville, marquisde Duquesne (1700–1778): Frenchmilitary leader who became governor-general of New France in 1752 and or-dered the construction of a chain offorts across the Ohio Country.

Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre (1701–1755): French military leader who metwith George Washington at Fort LeBoeuf during Washington’s 1753 diplo-matic mission.

George Washington (1732–1799):American military and political leaderwho took part in the early battles ofthe French and Indian War and wenton to lead the American Revolutionand serve as the first president of theUnited States.


berculosis (a disease that affects the lungs) in 1752, George in-herited some of his land claims.

The members of the Ohio Company knew that theirclaim to this land would be worthless if France controlled theOhio Country. In order to protect their interests, they wantedto prevent the French from building their forts. They con-vinced the British government, which was already concernedabout France gaining power in North America, that militaryaction might be needed. In 1753, British authorities gaveLieutenant Governor Dinwiddie permission to build forts inthe Ohio Country and to remove the French by force if nec-essary. But he was only allowed to use force in response tohostile acts by the French.

Washington brings a message tothe French

Dinwiddie decided to send a message to French lead-ers in the Ohio Country. The message would inform theFrench that the king of England had claimed the region. Itwould also demand that the French stop building forts andleave the Ohio Country. “The lands upon the River Ohio, inthe western parts of the colony of Virginia, are so notoriously


A 1723 map shows the FiveNations, the Great Lakes,and eastern territory. TheFive Nations became SixNations when the Tuscaroratribe left its land in NorthCarolina and moved north.Reproduced by permission ofGetty Images.


[widely] known to be the property of the Crown of GreatBritain that it is a matter of equal concern and surprise to me,to hear that a body of French forces are erecting [building]fortresses and making settlements upon that river, within hisMajesty’s dominions [area of ownership or authority],” Din-widdie wrote in his message to the French. “It becomes myduty to require your peaceable departure.”

Since there were no telephones or telegraphs inthose days, Dinwiddie had to send a messenger into thewilderness. He selected a young man named George Wash-


Robert Dinwiddie was a wealthyScottish merchant who became a leadingvoice in support of expanding the BritishEmpire deep into the North Americanwilderness. Dinwiddie was born in 1693 inScotland, where his father had built a suc-cessful business career. Upon reachingadulthood, Dinwiddie followed in his fa-ther’s footsteps as a prosperous merchant.In 1721, however, he was appointed toserve as administrator of Bermuda, whichwas a British territory at the time.

After spending sixteen years inBermuda, Dinwiddie was promoted to theposition of surveyor general in the Ameri-can colonies. As a leading authority overPennsylvania and several southern colonies,he gained a reputation for firm decision-making and devotion to the British Crown.On July 4, 1751, Dinwiddie was namedlieutenant governor of Virginia, England’slargest colony in North America. (He wasalways considered the head of the colony

since the two men who held the ceremoni-al title of governor never set foot in Vir-ginia.) Dinwiddie thus became one of themost powerful figures in all of the colonies.

Dinwiddie strongly supportedBritish efforts to expand their holdings inNorth America, and he viewed the Frenchand their Indian allies as serious obstacles tothat goal. In addition, he saw an opportuni-ty to increase his wealth by harvesting theabundant natural resources of the westernforests. As a result, he urged the colonies tocreate and supply their own military forceand called for the use of regular Britishtroops in America. In 1753, the British gov-ernment gave Dinwiddie permission to es-tablish forts in the Ohio River Valley andother regions.

Eager to claim western lands, Din-widdie sent a young colonist namedGeorge Washington on a mission to aFrench outpost located deep in the disput-ed Ohio Country. Washington told the

Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia


ington. At first glance, Washington seemed like an unlikelyperson to perform such an important mission. He was onlytwenty-one years old, had little military or diplomatic expe-rience, and could not speak French. But Washington was anambitious young man, eager to take on the dangerous task.He was also a capable horseman who had developed strongoutdoor skills by working as a surveyor (a person who mea-sures and marks the boundaries of tracts of land). Finally,Washington shared the governor’s interest in securing theOhio Company’s land claims because he had inherited someof his brother’s shares.


French to stop building forts in the regionand to make way for English settlement.The French scoffed at Washington’s mes-sage, which angered Dinwiddie. The fol-lowing year, he promoted Washington tolieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia and

sent him back into the wilderness with twohundred soldiers. According to Dinwiddie’sorders, Washington was to use his army todefend Fort Prince George (modern-dayPittsburgh, Pennsylvania) from enemy at-tack. But the expedition encountered awide range of troubles, including the mur-der of a captured French officer byTanaghrisson (?–1754; see box in Chapter3), an Indian chieftain who had been trav-eling with Washington. This murder isoften cited as the event that triggered theFrench and Indian War (known in Europeas the Seven Years’ War).

As the French and Indian Warroared to life, Dinwiddie struggled to takecare of all his duties as a colonial adminis-trator. He became so concerned about thewar and supervising Virginia’s affairs thathis health suffered. In 1758, he was re-lieved of office at his own request, and heand his family returned to England. Din-widdie died in London on July 27, 1770.

Robert Dinwiddie. Courtesy of the Libraryof Congress.


In late October 1753, Washing-ton set out on horseback fromWilliamsburg, Virginia, with a groupof six other men to deliver Dinwiddie’smessage to the French fort at Venango.One member of his group was JacobVan Braam, a friend of the Washing-ton family who spoke French andcould act as a translator. He was alsoaccompanied by Christopher Gist (c.1706–1759), a frontiersman and OhioCompany agent who served as a guide.Rounding out the group were fourother woodsmen who acted as body-guards and servants.

Washington and his groupfaced a difficult journey through unfa-miliar territory (see box). The late fallweather was cold and rainy, with occa-sional snow. As they followed theYoughiogheny River to the Mononga-hela River and then to the Ohio River,it took them more than a week to trav-el seventy-five miles. Washington

gathered information about the land and French activities inthe region along the way to Venango. When he reached theForks, where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers join toform the Ohio (the site of modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylva-nia), he noted that it would be an ideal spot for a fort. “Theland in the forks I think extremely well situated for a fort, asit has the absolute command of both rivers,” he wrote in hisjournal. “The land at the point is twenty or twenty-five feetabove the common surface of the water; and a considerablebottom of flat, well-timbered land all around it, very conve-nient for building.”

During his journey, Washington also discovered thatthe Indians who lived in the region had little interest in help-ing the British. Hoping to convince the French that the Indi-ans were his allies, he had invited representatives of severaltribes to accompany his men to their meeting with theFrench. But only a handful of Indians accepted his invitation,including the Seneca leader Tanaghrisson (also known as Half


George Washington, whoacted as an importantmessenger for Virginialieutenant governor RobertDinwiddie. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


King). Tanaghrisson was a representative of the Iroquois Con-federacy among the tribes of the Ohio Country. His job wasto keep these tribes loyal to the confederacy, which alsomeant keeping them loyal to himself.

When Washington reached Venango, the French sol-diers there told him that he needed to meet with their com-mander, Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre (1701–1755). Legardeur was stationed at Fort Le Boeuf, another sixtymiles up French Creek. Leaving their horses at Venango,Washington and his men proceeded to the fort in canoes andon foot. They arrived and delivered their message on Decem-ber 11.

French politely refuse to leaveLegardeur was not impressed with young Washington

and his rough-looking group of men. But the French com-mander treated them politely and allowed them to stay forseveral days while he prepared a reply to Dinwiddie’s mes-sage. Although he agreed to pass the message along to Mar-quis Duquesne, Legardeur also made it clear that the Frenchhad no intention of leaving the Ohio Country. “As to thesummons [warning notice] you send me to retire [leave], I donot think myself obliged [bound or required] to obey it,” hewrote to Dinwiddie. “Whatever may be your instructions,mine bring me here by my general’s order; and I entreat [ask]you, Sir, to be assured that I shall attempt to follow themwith all the exactness and determination which can be ex-pected from a good officer.”

Washington left Fort Le Boeuf on December 16 withLegardeur’s reply. He and his party knew they had to hurry backto Williamsburg to tell Dinwiddie about the French plans. Win-ter was upon them, and they did not want to be delayed untilspring. Washington and his men paddled furiously downFrench Creek, which had begun to freeze over. When they ar-rived at Venango, they found that their horses had become tooweak to carry riders. So they set off on foot as the temperaturedropped and snow began falling. Some of Washington’s mengot frostbite and had to be left behind in a small hunting shack.Washington pressed on with his guide, Christopher Gist, shed-ding some of their supplies so that they could travel light.



Washington and Gist made a dangerous journeythrough the wilderness. In fact, Washington almost lost hislife on two different occasions. Once an Indian shot at him atclose range and narrowly missed. Later, he fell into the freez-ing water of the Allegheny River while trying to cross it on amakeshift log raft. Washington saved himself from drowningby throwing an arm across the raft. But Gist was unable topole the raft to shore by himself, and they ended up driftingonto a small island instead. After spending a cold night there,the two men were thrilled when the morning light showedthat the river had frozen over. They walked across and arrivedback in Williamsburg on January 16, 1754, eleven weeks afterthey had set out.

Upon hearing Washington’s story, Dinwiddie gavehim twenty-four hours to write a detailed report of his jour-ney through the Ohio Country and his meeting with theFrench. In this report, Washington wrote that Legardeur “toldme that the country belonged [to the French]; that no Eng-


George Washington (right)and his guide, ChristopherGist, travel on a raft on theAllegheny River on their wayto deliver a message toVirginia lieutenant governorRobert Dinwiddie informinghim that the French had nointention of leaving theOhio Country. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.



George Washington kept a journalduring his mission to the Ohio Country in1753. The following excerpt describes hisdangerous winter journey back to Williams-burg, Virginia:

The horses became less able totravel every day; the cold increased veryfast; and the roads were becoming muchworse by a deep snow, continually freezing;therefore, as I was uneasy to get back, tomake my report of my proceedings to hisHonor the Governor [Robert Dinwiddie ofVirginia], I determined to prosecute [con-tinue] my journey, the nearest way throughthe woods, on foot.…

I took my necessary papers, pulledoff my clothes, and tied myself up in awatch-coat. Then, with gun in hand, andpack on my back, in which were my papersand provisions, I set out with Mr. [Christo-pher] Gist [a frontiersman and guide], fit-ted in the same manner, on Wednesdaythe 26th [of December, 1753]. The dayfollowing … we fell in with a party ofFrench Indians, who had lain in wait forus. One of them fired at Mr. Gist or me,not fifteen steps off, but fortunatelymissed. We took this fellow into custody,and kept him until about nine o’clock atnight, then let him go, and walked all theremaining part of the night without mak-ing any stop, that we might get the start sofar, as to be out of the reach of their pur-suit the next day, since we were well as-sured they would follow our track as soonas it was light. The next day we continuedtraveling until quite dark, and got to the[Allegheny] river about two miles aboveShannopins [a small settlement near mod-ern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]. We ex-

pected to have found the river frozen, but itwas not, only about fifty yards from eachshore. The ice, I suppose, had broken upabove, for it was driving in vast quantities.

There was no way for getting overbut on a raft, which we set about [build-ing], with but one poor hatchet, and fin-ished just after sun-setting. This was awhole day’s work; we next got it launched,then went on board of it, and set off; butbefore we were half way over, we werejammed in the ice in such a manner, thatwe expected every moment our raft to sink,and ourselves to perish. I put out my set-ting-pole to try to stop the raft, that the icemight pass by, when the rapidity of thestream threw it with so much violenceagainst the pole, that it jerked me out intoten feet water; but I fortunately saved my-self by catching hold of one of the raft-logs. Notwithstanding all our efforts, wecould not get to either shore, but wereobliged, as we were near an island, to quitour raft and make to it.

The cold was so extremely severe,that Mr. Gist had all his fingers and someof his toes frozen, and the water was shutup so hard, that we had no difficulty ingetting off the island on the ice in themorning.

Washington spent two more weekstraveling in cold, wet weather before he fi-nally reached Williamsburg on January 16,1754, and made his report to LieutanantGovernor Dinwiddie.

Source: Harrison, Maureen, and Steve Gilbert, eds.George Washington in His Own Words. New York:Barnes and Noble Books, 1997.

Excerpt from George Washington’s Journal


lishman had a right to trade upon those waters; and that hehad orders to make every person prisoner who attempted iton the Ohio, or the waters of it.” Dinwiddie sent copies of thereport to the Virginia Assembly and to the British govern-ment in London.

This famous document made a strong impact onBritish and colonial leaders. They decided that the Frenchhad committed a hostile act by refusing to stop building fortsand leave the Ohio Country. They gave Dinwiddie the au-thority to use force to drive the French out, or at least preventthem from further strengthening their position. The governorordered an army of two hundred men to be sent to the Forksof the Ohio. This army, led by Washington, would be chargedwith defending Virginia’s land interests against furtherFrench advances. Dinwiddie also ordered the construction ofa British fort at the Forks—the same strategic spot where Mar-quis Duquesne planned to build the fourth French fort.



The colonial interests of the French and British in NorthAmerica collided in early 1754 at the Forks of the Ohio

River, the strategic spot where the Monongahela and Alleghe-ny Rivers join to form the Ohio River. Robert Dinwiddie(1693–1770; see box in chapter 2), the lieutenant governor ofthe British colony of Virginia who held land claims in the dis-puted Ohio Country, sent a group of workers to build a Britishfort at the Forks in February of that year. (Dinwiddie was al-ways considered the head of the colony since the two menwho held the ceremonial title of governor never set foot in Vir-ginia.) Dinwiddie also told George Washington (1732–1799;see entry) to raise an army to defend the fort, which would becalled Fort Prince George. But Ange Duquesne de Menneville,marquis de Duquesne (1700–1778), the governor-general ofNew France, also planned to construct a fort at the same spot.He began preparing French troops to march southward andclaim the area.

23

31754: The Fighting Begins


The French take theForks whileWashington struggles

Lieutenant Governor Dinwid-die promoted Washington to lieu-tenant colonel of the Virginia regi-ment and charged him with raising anarmy of two hundred men to defendFort Prince George. Washington faceda difficult task in gathering and equip-ping an army to take into the OhioCountry, as the American colonistswere not eager to support a war in thedistant wilderness. Few men were will-ing to volunteer to serve in the army,and many farmers refused to providefood, horses, and wagons to supplythe troops. Even after a month, Wash-ington was only able to collect 150men, eight subordinate officers, a fewcannons, and some unsteady horsesand wagons. When they left Alexan-dria, Virginia, on April 2, Washing-ton’s men did not have uniforms towear or tents to protect them from thespring rains.

Washington’s army made slowprogress on their journey to the Forks.

They chopped their way through the woods in order to clearthe first road for wheeled vehicles through the AlleghenyMountains. It took them fifteen days to go just twenty miles.

In the meantime, one thousand French soldiersmarched southward from New France. They reached the Forks(site of modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) on April 17,while Washington was still crossing the Alleghenies. Thecommander of the French forces was Claude-Pierre Pecaudy,seigneur de Contrecoeur (1706–1775), a tough old veteran ofthe frontier service. Contrecoeur sent a messenger to the par-tially finished British fort at the Forks. He told the fortyBritish soldiers and carpenters working there that they couldeither leave at once or be wiped out. The British abandoned


Words to Know

Albany Congress: A July 1754 meetingat which American colonial leaders dis-cussed ways for improving relations be-tween the colonies and the IroquoisConfederacy, as well as for presenting aunified defense against the French.

Forks of the Ohio: French and Britishforces competed to build a fort on thisstrategic location, where the Monon-gahela and Allegheny Rivers join toform the Ohio River (site of modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).



Fort Prince George, and the Frenchproceeded to build their own fort,called Fort Duquesne.

A few days later, the smallband of soldiers who had fled the un-finished British fort ran into Washing-ton’s advancing army. Washingtonwas upset to hear that the French hadcaptured Fort Prince George, but hesoon began planning to reclaim theForks. The retreating soldiers, who hadseen the strength of the French forceswith their own eyes, refused to joinWashington and instead returned toVirginia. Washington continued on toan Ohio Company warehouse on theMonongahela River, about forty milesfrom the spot where the French werebuilding Fort Duquesne. His menstarted building defenses in the area,which they called Red Stone Fort.

The assassinationof Jumonville

From his position at the Forks,Contrecoeur followed Washington’sprogress closely through reports fromIndian scouts. The French commanderwanted to make sure that the Britishforces did not approach Fort Duquesnebefore it was finished. Since Franceand Great Britain had not declaredwar, however, Contrecoeur did nothave the authority to launch an attackon Washington. Contrecoeur decidedto send a messenger to meet with theBritish leader. He chose Joseph Coulonde Villiers de Jumonville (1718–1754),a young officer from a proud militaryfamily. Jumonville’s mission was to

1754: The Fighting Begins 25

People to Know

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790):Wealthy and influential Philadelphiaprinter who unsuccessfully put forth aplan to unite the British colonies at theAlbany Congress; later, he played im-portant roles in the American Revolu-tion and the drafting of the U.S. Con-stitution.

Claude-Pierre Pecaudy, seigneur de Con-trecoeur (1706–1775): French militaryleader who captured the partially fin-ished British fort at the Forks of the Ohioand established Fort Duquesne on thesite.

Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville(1718–1754): French military leaderwho carried a message to LieutenantColonel George Washington, was at-tacked by Washington’s forces, andmurdered by Seneca tribe civil chiefTanaghrisson.

Tanaghrisson (?–1754): Seneca civil chiefwho murdered French diplomat JosephCoulon de Villiers de Jumonville duringLieutenant Colonel George Washing-ton’s 1754 attack on French forces thatstarted the French and Indian War.



gather information about Washington’s plans and deliver amessage warning him to leave the Ohio Country. Jumonvilletook along a small force of only about thirty-five men for hisjourney. He kept his groups small because he did not want toalarm Washington and provoke an attack.

As Jumonville’s troops made their way toward RedStone Fort, however, Washington learned from Indian scoutsthat there were French soldiers nearby. Fearing a sneak attack,Washington left the fort with a force of forty-seven men. Thissmall army followed the Indian scout through the woods dur-ing a blinding rainstorm in order to meet with his chief,Tanaghrisson (?–1754; see box). Tanaghrisson, sometimesknown as Half King, was a Seneca chief who represented theinterests of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy in the OhioCountry. He supported the British because he hoped to stopthe French from moving into the Ohio Country.


A 1758 map of the OhioValley and the surroundingarea. Reproduced bypermission of the Corbis Corporation.


Tanaghrisson knew where the French troops under Ju-monville had camped for the night. Washington moved hismen, along with Tanaghrisson and a dozen of his warriors,into a circle surrounding the wooded hollow where theFrench were camped. In the early morning hours of May 28,Washington’s forces attacked the French camp. The fightinglasted only about ten minutes before the French surrendered.Jumonville, who had been wounded along with several of hismen, told Washington that he had come in peace to deliver amessage. Several French and British soldiers gathered togeth-er and struggled to translate the message that Jumonville hadbeen carrying.

According to Washington, Tanaghrisson suddenlystepped forward and murdered Jumonville by cracking hisskull with a hatchet. Then Tanaghrisson’s warriors joined into kill and scalp the remaining French wounded. It tookWashington a few moments to realize what was happening.By the time he regained control of the situation, ten Frenchsoldiers were dead. Washington quickly ordered his owntroops to collect the remaining twenty-two French soldiers asprisoners and return to Red Stone Fort.

Historians have tried to explain this bloody event,which is regarded as the start of the French and Indian War(known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War). They havepieced together evidence from several different eyewitnessaccounts. One account came from a French soldier namedMonceau, who was part of Jumonville’s army. Monceau es-caped into the woods as Jumonville surrendered. He madehis way to Fort Duquesne, where he told his commandersthat Washington had launched a surprise attack and thatthe Indians did not take part in the fighting. A short timelater, one of Tanaghrisson’s warriors arrived at the Frenchfort. He told the French commander that Washington’sforces had murdered Jumonville and his men before theirmessage had been translated. The warrior claimed that theBritish would have killed more French soldiers if Tanaghris-son had not stopped them.

But several other accounts support Washington’s ver-sion of events. He claimed that his men had surprised theFrench forces in camp and began firing when the Frenchwent for their weapons. After the French surrendered, Wash-



ington said that Tanaghrisson attacked and killed Jumonville.Historians give several possible reasons for Tanaghrisson’smurder of Jumonville. The Seneca chief had lost power withhis people and was living as a refugee near the Forks with asmall group of relatives and followers. Historians believe thatTanaghrisson may have felt that the only way to regain hisposition as a leader was by getting the British to help himmove the French out of the Ohio Country. He murdered Ju-monville—and then sent a messenger to the French claimingthat Washington was responsible—in order to provoke theFrench and force them to retaliate against the British. Accord-ing to this theory, the desperate chief started a war betweenthe two European powers in a misguided attempt to protecthis land and his people.


Tanaghrisson is one of the moremysterious figures associated with theFrench and Indian War. The first historicalmentions of this Indian leader date back to1748, when the Iroquois Confederacynamed him the leader of the Seneca andDelaware tribes that lived in the upper re-gions of the Ohio River Valley. Most leadersof the Iroquois Confederacy were known totheir people as “king,” but Tanaghrisson andthe other Iroquois chiefs of the Ohio Coun-try had only limited powers. They could ne-gotiate with the French, the British, or otherIndian leaders, and they were permitted toaccept gifts on behalf of the Confederacy.But they were not allowed to make bindingtreaties or agreements without first obtain-ing the approval of the Confederacy’s GrandCouncil leadership. As a result, Tanaghrissonbecame widely known as “Half King.”

In the early 1750s, British tradersventured deep into the Ohio River Valley.Eager to make friends with Tanaghrisson,they gave him all sorts of gifts. Tanaghris-son was flattered by the presents, which hedistributed to local village chiefs to ensuretheir continued loyalty to him. But HalfKing’s relations with the British placed himout of step with other Indians. Many tribesin the region were leaning towards supportof the French, who were also trying to es-tablish themselves as the dominant Euro-pean presence in the region.

In May 1754, Virginia’s colonialleaders sent several hundred troops underthe command of a young adventurernamed George Washington (who wouldlater became the first president of the Unit-ed States) deep into the Ohio Country.When French forces at Fort Duquesne

Tanaghrisson, the Seneca Nation’s “Half King”


Washington defeated at Fort NecessityThe French and British viewpoints differed on the

battle that had taken place on May 28. The French believedJumonville’s death was the murder of a diplomat, and theyplanned to take revenge on the British. But the Britishthought Jumonville was a spy, and said Washington was jus-tified in attacking him. Shortly after word of the battlereached the British colonies, Washington was promoted tocolonel of the Virginia regiment and received two hundredreinforcements (fresh troops). He decided to collect some In-dian allies and launch an attack upon Fort Duquesne. Hestarted out by marching his troops toward Red Stone Fort inpreparation for the attack.


learned of Washington’s approach, theysent a small force under the command of ayoung officer named Joseph Coulon de Vil-liers de Jumonville to warn him away.

When Tanaghrisson’s warriors dis-covered that Jumonville’s party was ap-proaching, Half King led Washington to thesite of their overnight camp. Encouragedby Tanaghrisson, Washington’s men at-tacked the camp in the early hours of May28. Jumonville surrendered after a shortstruggle. But when the French officer triedto explain to Washington that he had onlybeen sent to deliver a message, Tanaghris-son stepped forward and buried a hatchetin Jumonville’s skull. Tanaghrisson’s war-riors then massacred most of the remainingprisoners, to the stunned amazement ofWashington. Today, Half King’s murderous

act is regarded as the opening chapter ofthe French and Indian War.

Tanaghrisson had hoped that Ju-monville’s death would further strengthenhis relationship with the British and theircolonial allies. But as the months passed, hedecided that continuing relations with theBritish would be a mistake. Most other Indi-ans in the Ohio Country preferred theFrench to the British, who were seen as amuch greater threat to their villages andhunting grounds. With this in mind, HalfKing gathered his family and left for a fron-tier trading post at Aughwick (now Shirleys-burg, Pennsylvania). Shortly after his arrival,he was struck down by a terrible sickness.His family and followers blamed his illnesson witchcraft. Tanaghrisson died of thismysterious sickness on October 4, 1754.


Meanwhile, French leaders at the Forks sent a force ofeight hundred soldiers and four hundred Indian allies to at-tack Washington. The commander of the French troops wasCaptain Louis Coulon de Villiers (1710–1757), the olderbrother of Jumonville. When an Indian scout told Washing-ton that the French were approaching his position, the youngcolonel decided to retreat and meet the French at Fort Neces-sity. Fort Necessity was a small circular fort made of split logs.It was located in a grassy meadow surrounded by woodedhills. By the time Washington’s troops reached the fort, theywere tired and ill from carrying their supplies back and forthto Red Stone Fort. In fact, only three hundred of his four hun-dred men were healthy enough to fight. Sensing defeat, hisIndian allies abandoned their posts and slipped away into thewoods. Washington only had time to dig a shallow trencharound the fort before the French arrived.

The battle began on July 3, 1754. The French forceshad the advantage from the start. They were able to hide be-


George Washington (center,holding sword) meets withothers to discuss thepossibility of a surrender tothe French in 1754.Reproduced by permission ofthe Corbis Corporation.


hind trees and angle their musket fire downhill into the fortand the trench that surrounded it. Washington’s troops werehit badly. To make matters worse for the British, a heavy rain-storm ruined the ammunition and gunpowder that wasstored in the fort. By that evening, one hundred of Washing-ton’s men had been killed or wounded.

The French asked Washington to send a messengerout of the fort to discuss terms of surrender. Washington senthis old friend Jacob van Braam, a Dutchman who had servedas a translator on an earlier mission. To Washington’s sur-prise, the French conditions for his surrender seemed quitegenerous. The French offered to allow his men to march outof the fort and return to Virginia, taking their guns and allthe possessions they could carry on their backs. In exchange,he only had to sign a paper admitting his responsibility inthe death of Jumonville.

But the French forces had good reasons for settingWashington and his men free. Washington did not know thatthe French troops were running low on ammunition and sup-plies at that time. They were also worried that the Britishwould soon receive reinforcements. Finally, the French com-mander was not sure whether he was allowed to take prison-ers since France and Great Britain had not yet declared war.

Mistakes threaten Washington’s careerAs it turned out, the terms of surrender were more

complicated than Washington realized. The rain-soaked paperthat he signed said that he was responsible for the “assassina-tion” of Jumonville. Van Braam had mistakenly translated theFrench word “assassination” as “death.” This misunderstand-ing damaged the young colonel’s reputation. Washingtonhad been willing to admit that Jumonville had been killed inhis presence by Indians who were supposed to be under hiscommand, but he was horrified to discover that he hadsigned a confession of murder. French newspapers publishedthe document and used it to create feelings of anger and re-sentment toward the British.

Washington and his troops began their march back toVirginia on July 4. As they left Fort Necessity, they were



shocked to see that some of the Indians who had been fight-ing alongside the French were former British allies. In fact,many of the tribes in the Ohio Country felt that Washingtonhad used poor judgment in the battle. His defeat convincedthem to support the French. They recognized that they werecaught in the middle of the fight between France and GreatBritain, so they wanted to support whichever side was morelikely to emerge the winner.

As soon as Washington’s forces moved out of the area,the French burned down Fort Necessity and Red Stone Fort,thereby removing all traces of British military presence fromthe Ohio Country. When Washington arrived back in Vir-ginia, some supporters claimed that he was a hero for stand-ing up to the French when he was outnumbered. Othersclaimed that Washington’s mistakes had allowed the Frenchto take control of the Ohio Country.

By this time, it had become clear that France andGreat Britain were going to enter into a war over their NorthAmerican territories. Washington thought his Virginia regi-ment would become part of the regular British Army and thathe would be promoted to colonel. But British leaders feltWashington and his colonial army had embarrassed them.They refused to offer Washington a commission in the BritishArmy, so he resigned from the military.

The Albany CongressAt the same time as Washington was fighting at Fort

Necessity, colonial leaders were holding an important meet-ing in Albany, New York. This meeting, known as the AlbanyCongress, had two main goals. One goal was to improve rela-tions between the colonies and the Iroquois Confederacy, apowerful alliance of six Indian (Native American) nations.The second was to establish a unified approach for defendingthe frontier against French advances.

At this point in time, the thirteen British colonies inNorth America were largely independent. They competedwith one another for land and power, but were unified intheir loyalty to Great Britain. The distrust and lack of cooper-ation between the colonies helps explain why Washington



had trouble raising an army to fight inthe Ohio Country. Dinwiddie askedother colonies to send troops, but theythought that by helping Washingtonthey would be helping Virginia ex-pand its territory. The colony of NewYork had a similar experience at theAlbany Congress. New York, whichshared its northern border with NewFrance, asked the other colonies tocontribute money and troops to helpit build forts to protect this border. Butthe other colonies were interestedonly in protecting their own borders.

The Albany Congress broughttogether a group of colonial leaders, in-cluding the wealthy and influentialPhiladelphia printer Benjamin Franklin(1706–1790), to address the lack of co-operation between colonies. Franklinargued that the colonies could be apowerful part of the British empire ifthey worked together. But if they re-mained separate, he claimed that theywere weak and could be conquered by France, one by one. Hecame up with a Plan of Union, known as the Albany Plan, thatwould have created a single government for all the Britishcolonies in America. Each colony would send representativesto this government, which would be led by a British governor-general. The colonial government would take charge of issuesthat affected all the colonies, such as Indian relations, west-ward expansion, and defense.

The individual colonies wanted to remain indepen-dent, though, so none of them approved the Albany Plan. His-torians doubt that the British government would have accept-ed the plan anyway, because British leaders did not want thecolonies to gain too much power. But the Albany Congress didhelp British leaders understand that the colonies were notwilling to band together to defend themselves against France.Instead, Great Britain would be forced to send its own armiesand military leaders to North America. The government senttwo British Army regiments to the colonies and appointed a


Philadelphia printer andfuture American statesmanBenjamin Franklin proposedthe Albany Plan, whichwould have created onegovernment for the Britishcolonies in America.Courtesy of the Library of Congress.


British general, Edward Braddock (1695–1755; see entry), ascommander in chief. Braddock would take charge of all Britishand colonial forces during the war against France.

The Albany Congress also convinced the British govern-ment to intervene in the relations between the colonies and theIroquois Confederacy. Although the meeting was supposed tohelp improve relations between the colonies and the Indians, itactually created more hard feelings and distrust. Representativesfrom the Connecticut and Pennsylvania colonies spent muchof the time bribing or tricking the Indians into giving up theirland. The Iroquois representatives expressed anger at both theFrench and the British for trying to claim their rightful territo-ry, but they finally agreed to renew their alliance with theBritish. After the meeting ended, British leaders appointedWilliam Johnson (1715–1774; see entry) as their Indian repre-sentative and gave him sole authority to negotiate future mili-tary alliances and land treaties with the tribes.



British leaders in London were shocked to hear about thedefeat of American military leader George Washington

(1732–1799; see entry) at Fort Necessity. Although some ofthem did not want to enter the French and Indian War(known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War), others were deter-mined to expand British land holdings in North America byremoving the French from the Ohio Country. But Washing-ton’s defeat had convinced them that the American colonistswere no match for the French. They decided to send an expe-rienced British general and two regiments of well-trainedBritish soldiers to carry out their plans.

Major General Edward Braddock (1695–1755; seeentry), who arrived in America in early 1755, carried ordersfrom King George II (1683–1760) of England. These ordersnamed Braddock commander-in-chief of all British and Ameri-can armed forces and gave him full responsibility for organiz-ing the defense of the colonies. French leaders in Paris soonlearned about the British plans. In response, they decided tosend thousands of French troops across the Atlantic Ocean tohelp defend their colonies in New France. They also began se-

35

41755: British Forces Suffera Serious Defeat


cret negotiations with Austria to end itsalliance with Great Britain. If success-ful, this move would shift the balanceof power in Europe toward France.

Braddock takes chargeA blunt and arrogant officer,

Braddock felt that his position as com-mander-in-chief gave him power overthe colonial governors, and he beganissuing orders as soon as he arrived inNorth America. For example, he an-nounced that he was setting up acommon defense fund to support hismilitary operations and that he ex-pected all of the colonies to contributemoney to it. He also informed thecolonial governors that they were toprovide supplies, quarters, and trans-portation for his forces, as well as ad-ditional soldiers from their colonialmilitias. This caused a problem withthe Pennsylvania Assembly, whichwas controlled by members of theQuaker religion. Because Quakers arepacifists (believers in nonviolence),the Assembly refused to send moneyto support Braddock’s army. Braddockresponded by threatening to use someof his forces against Pennsylvania.

In April 1755, the general called a meeting of all thecolonial governors. He started the session by scolding the gov-ernors for not delivering the money and supplies he wanted.Then Braddock outlined his ambitious plans for pushing theFrench out of the Ohio Country and defending the Americancolonies. These plans, which had been designed by Britishleaders in London, involved four military actions that weresupposed to take place at the same time. First, Braddock andhis two regiments of British soldiers would attack FortDuquesne, the French stronghold at the Forks of the Ohio.Second, two regiments under Massachusetts governor William


Words to Know

Acadians: French-speaking Catholic resi-dents of Nova Scotia who were deport-ed when the British captured the re-gion in 1755.

Irregulars: Soldiers who were not part ofthe formal British Army, includingtroops and militia recruited in theAmerican colonies; irregulars tended tohave less military training and poorerequipment than British regulars.


Regulars: Professional soldiers of theBritish Army; they tended to be highlytrained and well equipped compared toirregulars from the American colonies.


Shirley (1694–1771) would seize theFrench fort at Niagara on Lake On-tario. Third, William Johnson(1715–1774; see entry) and a mixedregiment of colonial soldiers and Mo-hawk warriors would attack Fort St.Frédéric, located at Crown Point onLake Champlain (in the northeasterncorner of modern New York State).Fourth, an expedition of colonial sol-diers from Boston would capture FortBeauséjour in Nova Scotia (on the At-lantic coast of modern Canada).

Braddock’s plans surprised andalarmed the colonial governors. Theynoticed a number of flaws that couldcreate serious problems for the armiesinvolved. For example, the Britishleaders who developed the plans didnot seem to understand wildernessconditions. Braddock and his two reg-iments planned to follow the roadWashington had cut through the Al-legheny Mountains to get to FortDuquesne from Virginia. But this roadwas rough and narrow, and wouldneed a great deal of work before itcould be used by wagons haulingheavy artillery. The other expeditionsplanned to use boats to transport menand supplies to their target forts onrivers. But these rivers had wide varia-tions in water levels and were oftenchoked with fallen trees.

British planners also expectedthe colonies to contribute enough money and supplies tosupport all four military campaigns. But this placed a greatdeal of strain on the limited resources of the colonies. As a re-sult, the commanders of the four expeditions had to competefor soldiers, boats, wagons, guns, clothing, shelter, and othersupplies. The expeditions thus became more expensive, tooklonger to prepare, and had lower chances for success.

1755: British Forces Suffer a Serious Defeat 37

People to Know

Edward Braddock (1695–1755): Britishmilitary leader who served as comman-der-in-chief of British forces in NorthAmerica in 1755 and was killed in a dis-astrous early battle on the Mononga-hela River.

Baron Ludwig August (also known asJean-Armand) Dieskau (1701–1767):French military leader who lost the Bat-tle of Lake George and was woundedand captured by the British.

William Johnson (1715–1774): Britishgeneral who served as chief of Indian af-fairs and won the Battle of Lake George.

William Shirley (1694–1771): Governorof Massachusetts who served as com-mander-in-chief of British forces inNorth America following the death ofEdward Braddock.



The colonial governors triedto tell Braddock about the flaws in hisplan. They insisted that they couldnot provide all the men and suppliesBraddock was requesting. They cameup with several ideas about how tochange his plans to make them workbetter. Instead of launching four ex-peditions at the same time, for exam-ple, they suggested that he concen-trate his efforts on capturing theFrench fort at Niagara. This wouldisolate Fort Duquesne and other fortsin the Ohio Country, preventingthem from receiving troops and sup-plies. When Braddock rejected thisidea, the governors suggested thatBraddock start his march to FortDuquesne from Pennsylvania insteadof Virginia. This would cut the lengthof his journey and allow his troops totravel on an improved road. But Brad-dock refused to listen to this idea aswell. He insisted on following his or-

ders exactly as they were written by the king and otherBritish leaders.

Braddock’s forces advance towardFort Duquesne

Just as the governors had warned, Braddock faced anumber of delays in getting the supplies he needed. On May29, 1755, he finally began marching toward Fort Duquesnewith twenty-two hundred men. Most of these men were “reg-ular” soldiers with the British Army. They wore fancy uni-forms with bright red coats and considered themselves well-trained, professional soldiers. Braddock’s army also includedone hundred “irregular” soldiers from the Virginia militia, aswell as some engineers and frontiersmen to improve the roadand serve as guides. The irregular soldiers were not part of theformal British Army, and generally had less military trainingand poorer equipment than the regular soldiers. Another


British major generalEdward Braddock. Courtesyof the Library of Congress.


member of Braddock’s army was George Washington, whohad asked to join because he hoped to learn from the experi-enced British general. Washington’s knowledge of the wilder-ness would give the troops an advantage they would not oth-erwise have, and Braddock welcomed him as a volunteer aideon his staff.

Braddock’s forces made slow progress over the 120miles to Fort Duquesne. As they lugged heavy artillery andwagons full of supplies through the mountains—cuttingdown trees and blasting huge boulders to clear the road asthey went—they sometimes advanced only two miles per day.As he rode along with Braddock, Washington learned that hiscommanding officer knew very little about wilderness war-fare. The general expected to meet the enemy on a field ofbattle, where his men could form rows and take turns firingand reloading. But Washington knew that the French andtheir Indian (Native American) allies were more likely to usesurprise ambushes and to fire from behind cover of rocks and


Edward Braddock leads hisBritish forces towards FortDuquesne in Pennsylvania in1755. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


trees. Washington tried to tell Braddock about frontier condi-tions and prepare him for the way the French and Indianswould fight. But the general insisted that his plans wouldwork because they had always worked in previous wars.

At one point in their journey, Braddock and his armymet a group of Indians led by Shingas, an Ohio Delaware warchief. Shingas explained that he and his warriors had beensent by William Johnson—the official British representativeto the Indians—to assist Braddock. Shingas said that he waswilling to help the British because he wanted to get theFrench out of the Ohio Country. He showed his good inten-tions by giving Braddock a detailed map of Fort Duquesne.This map had been prepared by Captain Robert Stobo(1727–c. 1772; see box), a British officer who had been heldprisoner at the fort since Washington’s defeat at Fort Necessi-ty. Shingas had smuggled the map out of the French fort at


Robert Stobo was born in Glasgow,Scotland, in 1727. He immigrated to theAmerican colonies as a young man and set-tled in Virginia, where he became a pros-perous merchant. Stobo was a captain inthe Virginia militia at the time the Frenchand Indian War began. In fact, he accom-panied George Washington’s troops intothe Ohio Country in 1754.

Stobo was taken hostage by theFrench following the British defeat in theBattle of Fort Necessity. He initially was heldat Fort Duquesne as a prisoner of war. Stobosecretly created a detailed map of the fortand smuggled it out with visiting Indians.The Indians delivered the map to Washing-ton as British forces under General Edward

Braddock approached Fort Duquesne in1755.

After Braddock’s forces suffered aterrible defeat, however, the French discov-ered Stobo’s map among Braddock’s cap-tured papers. The French then sent Stoboto Quebec and put him on trial for treason(betraying the country). He was sentencedto be executed on November 8, 1755, butthe sentence was never carried out becausethe king never approved the execution.

Stobo remained in Quebec for thenext four years. He spent some of this timein prison, but as the years passed he madefriends in the city and was allowed morefreedom. Stobo finally escaped in thespring of 1759 and made a dangerous

Robert Stobo, Daring British Prisoner of War


great danger to himself. In exchange for their help, Shingasand his warriors asked for Braddock’s word that British set-tlers would share the Ohio Country with them and becometheir partners in trade. But Braddock felt that his army didnot need any help from the Indians. He offended Shingas bytelling him that the British planned to control the OhioCountry and use it in any way they wished. Shingas and hiswarriors left. Eventually, they and most other Indians joinedthe French forces.

As Braddock’s army continued its slow progress,Washington warned the general that the French might havetime to send reinforcements to the fort. Braddock agreed tosend twelve hundred troops ahead as an advance party, whilethe remaining troops followed with the heavy artillery. Wash-ington became ill and had to stay with the rear group for awhile. But he caught up with Braddock and the advance party


journey down the St. Lawrence River toLouisbourg. There he joined the Britishforces that were preparing to attack Que-bec. Stobo served in the army of GeneralJames Wolfe (1727–1759; see entry) andsupposedly pointed out the cove whereWolfe launched his successful attack on theFrench city.

Once the British forces capturedQuebec, Stobo returned to Virginia. He re-ceived official thanks from the colonial gov-ernment and a monetary reward. He alsoreceived a promotion from the army alongwith his back pay for the years he was heldprisoner. Stobo rejoined the army andserved in Canada, the West Indies, andEngland through 1770. Then his name dis-

appears from army records, and it is un-clear what happened to him.

In 1767, Stobo had purchasedland on Lake Champlain in New York withthe intention of settling there. He had alsoreceived a land bounty of nine thousandacres on the Ohio River (in what is nowWest Virginia) for his military service.Washington tried repeatedly to find Stoboso that he could purchase Stobo’s landclaims, but he never located the formercaptain. Historians suspect that Stobo diedin England, New York, or West Virginiaaround 1772. His wartime adventureswere captured in the book Memoirs ofMajor Robert Stobo of the Virginia Regiment,published in 1800.


near the Monongahela River, about twelve miles from FortDuquesne. The British forces crossed the river on July 9 andplanned to make their assault on the fort the following day.

The French officer in charge of Fort Duquesne,Claude-Pierre Pecaudy, seigneur de Contrecoeur (1706–1775),followed the progress of Braddock’s army through reportsfrom scouts. Contrecoeur had sixteen hundred men defend-ing the fort, including French army, Canadian militia, and In-dian warriors. The fort itself was small, however, and onlytwo hundred men could fit inside. Contrecoeur decided thathis best chance for victory would be to launch a surprise at-tack before Braddock’s army reached the fort. On July 9, Con-trecoeur sent half of his men to attack the British forces. TheFrench troops, which were led by Captain Daniel Lienard deBeaujeu (1711–1755), included over six hundred Indians.They were well armed, but they were able to move quickly be-cause they did not carry many other supplies. Compared totheir enemies, they were also well rested, well fed, and famil-iar with the woods and the tactics of wilderness warfare.

Disaster on the MonongahelaThe French and British forces ran into each other

somewhat suddenly. At the front of the long line of Britishtroops were three hundred regulars under Lieutenant ColonelThomas Gage (1719–1787). Beaujeu led the French forces, fol-lowed by his Indian warriors. As the two sides exchanged mus-ket fire, Beaujeu was killed within minutes. Then the Frenchand Indians rushed forward into the cover of the woods andcontinued firing, while the British troops remained in the roadand tried to fight in formation. The neat rows of bright redcoats made perfect targets for the French and Indians hidingbehind trees, and they were able to kill many British soldiers.In fact, fifteen of the eighteen officers in Gage’s company werekilled in the early stages of the battle. The British troops triedto return fire, but they had little success because they couldbarely see the enemy in the forest.

With their officers and fellow soldiers falling all aroundthem, the remaining British troops finally retreated in panic. Ashort distance up the road, they ran into the main column ofsoldiers, led by General Braddock. As noted in his journal,Washington recalled that he and the general ordered the terri-



fied men to halt “with as much success… as if we had attempted to havestopped the wild bears of the moun-tains.” The main column of soldierssoon came under attack as well, fromIndians hiding in the woods. TheBritish army had been trained to fightin formation, so the men huddled to-gether in the road and returned fire asbest they could. Braddock and his offi-cers rode around on horseback trying torally and organize the troops, but themen were too confused and frightenedto follow orders. At one point, Wash-ington asked Braddock for permissionto lead the colonial soldiers into thewoods to fight in the same way as theenemy, but the general refused.

Braddock was eventually shotin the back and lost consciousness.Washington had two horses shot outfrom under him—and bullet holes inhis coat and hat—but managed to es-cape injury. As one of the only officersleft among the British forces, Washington led their retreatacross the Monongahela River. They left behind about ninehundred British soldiers who had been killed or wounded inthe three-hour battle, including sixty-three of eighty-six offi-cers. Many of these men were scalped (a bloody Indian war rit-ual in which warriors used a sharp knife to cut the scalps off ofpeople they had conquered) by the triumphant Indians. WhenBraddock regained consciousness, he ordered Washington toride back forty miles to bring up reinforcements from the rear.

Washington was exhausted from the battle and re-mained weak from his illness, but he somehow managed tocarry out the order. In fact, he sometimes crawled on hishands and knees to find the road through the dark woods. Tomake matters worse, he passed many wounded soldiers whowere struggling to drag themselves away from the battlescene. “The dead—the dying—the groans—lamentation [wail-ing]—and cries along the road of the wounded for help …were enough to pierce a heart of adamant [stone],” he re-


Edward Braddock and hismen are ambushed byFrench and Indian troopsnear Fort Duquesne in theOhio Country. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


membered in his journal. “The gloom and horror … was nota little increased by the impervious [impossible to penetrate]darkness occasioned by the close shade of thick woods.”

By the time Washington reached the other half ofBraddock’s army, they had already heard about the battle. Themen were too frightened to follow Washington’s orders andinstead began to retreat. Washington returned to the advanceguard and organized their retreat. Braddock died on July 13,on the journey back to Virginia. His remaining officers buriedhim in an unmarked grave and ran their wagons over it sothe Indians would not find it.

Braddock takes the blamePeople in the colonies were shocked to hear about the

defeat of Braddock’s army. Many people blamed Braddock and


The following excerpt is taken fromthe journal of Jolicoeur Charles Bonin, ayoung Frenchman who traveled through theFrench colonies in North America between1751 and 1761. During this time, he servedwith the French military and took part in sev-eral battles of the French and Indian War. Inthis passage, he describes General EdwardBraddock’s defeat on the Monongahela Riverfrom the point of view of a French soldier.

On the morning of July 9th themarch [of French and Indian forces fromFort Duquesne] was begun.… The armymarched through the woods in threecolumns to meet the enemy [British andAmerican forces under Braddock], with ourscouts always in the advance. At noon, thearmy halted when the news came that partof the enemy’s army, with its artillery hadcrossed the river, and had halted to await

the rear guard and the baggage train. Wewere then only a quarter league [about onemile] from them. Immediately the orderwas given to advance in double-quick time,and to attack the enemy simultaneouslyfrom the front and both flanks. This orderwas hastily carried out. The savages [Indi-ans] shouted their war cry, and the Frenchopened fire with a volley [round], whichwas followed by a volley by the savages.The enemy, taken by surprise, formed aline of battle, and fired their artillery.[Captain Daniel Lienard] De Beaujeu[commander of the French and Indianforces] was killed by the first volley; andthe savages, terrified by the unfamiliarnoise of the cannon, took flight momentar-ily. But Captain [Jean-Daniel] Dumas tookcommand immediately after Sieur de Beau-jeu’s death, and encouraged the French.The savages saw the steadfastness of theFrenchmen and no longer heard the can-non, which the French had seized. They,

A French Soldier Recalls Braddock’s Defeat


said that he should have known that the European style offighting in formation would not work in the North Americanwilderness. In fact, this criticism led to a general feeling in thecolonies that American irregular troops were better suited tothis new brand of warfare than British regulars. Some histori-ans also place the blame on Braddock. They admit that he wasbrave during the battle, but they also note that he lost eventhough he had a larger army and better weapons than theenemy. Another factor in Braddock’s defeat was his rejectionof Indian help. In contrast, Contrecoeur and other Frenchleaders understood the need for Indian cooperation andworked hard to establish good relations with the tribes. Over-all, the terrible defeat ruined Braddock’s reputation.

At the same time, however, George Washingtonemerged from the battle as a hero. He was praised for hisbravery throughout the colonies, and his reputation soared.


therefore, returned to charge the enemy, fol-lowing the French example, and forcedthem to retreat after two hours of fiercecombat.… The English hastily crossed theriver, where many were killed by the never-ending hail of bullets upon them. In hisflight, the enemy lost artillery, baggagetrain, and fifteen flags, as well as the mili-tary chest [a trunk containing importantdocuments].… General Braddock waswounded in the battle, and taken away bythe fugitives [fleeing soldiers] in a coach[stagecoach], which was with the rearguard on the other side of the river. It wasindeed a fancy article, absolutely useless inthe forest and mountains where it was thefirst one ever to be seen.…

Once the British retreated, theFrench and Indian forces moved across thebattlefield, destroying the British cannons,emptying the military chest of money and

documents, and searching the bodies ofdead soldiers for valuables. Bonin ends hisdiscussion of the battle by criticizing Brad-dock’s performance.

General Braddock made the samemistake as Baron Dieskau [the French gen-eral who lost the Battle of Lake George] byarranging his troops in formal battle orderin the middle of the forest. In this way,they could not make an effective attack,and ran the risk of being overcome, as didhappen. This was the opinion of theFrench Canadians, from which it may beconcluded that it is wiser to use the fight-ing methods of the country you are in.

Source: Bonin, Jolicoeur Charles. Memoir of a Frenchand Indian War Soldier. Edited by Andrew Gallup.Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1993. First published asVoyage au Canada, dans le nord de l’AmériqueSeptentrionale, depuis l’an 1751 à 1761, par J. C. B. Quebec: Abbé H. R. Casgrain, 1887.


In fact, one preacher expressed the opinion that Washingtonhad survived the battle because he was destined to providesome great service to his country. For his part, Washingtonnever criticized Braddock. Instead, he blamed the defeat onthe troops who ran from danger and refused to follow orders.

Braddock’s defeat worried the people of the Virginia,Pennsylvania, and Maryland colonies. They thought that theFrench and Indians might use the road Braddock built tomarch east and attack them. Adding to these fears, the settlersalong the western frontier of these colonies increasingly fellvictim to Indian raids as more tribes from the Ohio Countryjoined forces with the French. In fact, one hundred Virgini-ans had been killed or taken captive by the fall of 1755. Manyothers abandoned their homesteads and returned east tomore populated areas. In response to these threats, thecolonies raised a thousand-man regiment and made Washing-ton its colonel. He spent the next two years defending theVirginia frontier against Indian attacks.


The wounded EdwardBraddock is carried away byhis retreating troops. Thefallen general died soonthereafter. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


British capture Nova Scotia and deportthe Acadians

Braddock’s death left William Shirley—the governor ofMassachusetts Colony who had been selected to lead the Britishassault on the French fort at Niagara—in charge of all theBritish forces in North America. But Shirley was a politicalleader who had very little military experience, so he felt anx-ious about taking command. As Braddock had been moving histroops through the mountains and fighting along the Monon-gahela, Shirley’s Niagara expedition and William Johnson’sCrown Point expedition had been competing for men and sup-plies in Albany. In the meantime, thousands of French rein-forcements had arrived in Canada by ship despite the attemptsof the British Navy to stop them. Faced with increasing levels ofresponsibility and decreasing chances of success, Shirley decid-ed to wait until the following spring to move against Niagara.

The four-part British plan did achieve one of its goalsduring the summer of 1755. In June, a few weeks before Brad-dock’s defeat, colonial forces out of Boston succeeded in cap-turing Fort Beauséjour in Nova Scotia. The French and Britishhad been fighting for control of Nova Scotia, a peninsula ofland that extends into the Atlantic Ocean north of present-day Maine, ever since King George’s War (1743–48). TheFrench had built Fort Beauséjour on the narrow section ofland that connects Nova Scotia to the Canadian mainland in1750. The British had responded by building Fort Lawrence afew miles away, on the other side of the Missaguash River.

The idea of controlling Nova Scotia was very popularamong Americans who lived in the crowded New Englandcolonies. If Great Britain took over the region, they figuredthere would be an abundance of new land to settle. This atti-tude made it easy to raise two regiments of New England sol-diers to attack Fort Beauséjour. Using Fort Lawrence as a base,these forces set up artillery and began shelling the Frenchfort. One of the first artillery shells they fired killed half adozen French officers as they sat down to breakfast. Oncetheir leaders were killed, the French soldiers holding the fortsurrendered quickly. The British took control of FortBeauséjour and renamed it Fort Cumberland.

At the time the British took control of Nova Scotia,the region had been the home of French-speaking Catholics



known as Acadians for several generations. The new Britishgovernor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence (1709–1760),viewed the Acadians as a dangerous threat. Since the Acadi-ans refused to take an oath of loyalty to the king of England,Lawrence believed they must secretly be helping the French.He worried that they might start a rebellion and attack Britishsettlers who moved into the region. To avoid such trouble,Lawrence decided to deport (remove from the country byforce) the Acadians.

The operation began in September 1755. Over sixthousand Acadians were packed onto ships and transported tothe American colonies. Thousands of others fled into thewoods or to mainland Canada to avoid being deported. Theships stopped at many ports along the Atlantic coast, droppingoff a few dozen Acadians in each city. Since the Acadians spokea different language and practiced a different religion from theAmerican colonists, they had trouble fitting in, and suffered


American poet Henry WadsworthLongfellow (1807–1882) used the tragicstory of the Acadians as the background forhis famous poem “Evangeline.” The Acadi-ans were French-speaking Catholics whowere forced to leave their homes when theBritish took control of Nova Scotia duringthe French and Indian War. Thousands ofAcadians were loaded onto British ships andtransported down the Atlantic coast to theAmerican colonies. Small groups weredropped off in coastal cities from NewHampshire to North Carolina. Since the Aca-dians spoke a different language and prac-ticed a different religion from the colonists,they remained outsiders and suffered manyhardships. Some Acadians eventually made

their way back to Canada, while others mi-grated to French-speaking settlements inthe Caribbean islands or in Louisiana, wherethey became known as Cajuns.

Longfellow’s poem centers aroundthe fictional character of Evangeline, a gen-tle seventeen-year-old beauty who is thedaughter of one of Acadia’s wealthiestfarmers. Evangeline loves Gabriel, the sonof the respected blacksmith in the village ofGrand-Pre. Evangeline leads a happy life inher peaceful village until the British arriveand take over Nova Scotia. A short timelater, she and the other villagers are herdedonto British ships. In the confusion, Evan-geline and Gabriel are separated. The rest

Longfellow Describes the Acadian Tragedy in “Evangeline”


many hardships. Most of the transplanted Acadians moved onwithin a few years. Some returned to Canada, while othersended up in French-speaking settlements in the West Indies. Alarge group of Acadians migrated to New Orleans, where theirancestors became known by the shortened name Cajuns.

Many historians have criticized the British for theirtreatment of the Acadians. In his book Crucible of War, FredAnderson compared the deportation of the Acadians to mod-ern “ethnic cleansing” operations, in which members of acertain racial or religious group try to get rid of all the peoplein their country who come from different backgrounds. An-derson and others have claimed that the main reason Britishauthorities deported the Acadians was to make room for theirown settlers to form colonies in Nova Scotia. In fact, fivethousand British settlers had moved to Nova Scotia by 1763,and some of them took over the farms and homesteads thatonce belonged to the Acadians.


of the poem describes Evangeline’s difficultlife in America and her struggles to find herbeloved Gabriel.

In the following excerpt from“Evangeline,” Longfellow describes theemptiness of the land, now that the peoplewho had lived there for generations aregone. He compares the Acadians to au-tumn leaves that have been scattered bythe wind:

This is the forest primeval [ancient]; butwhere are the hearts that beneath it

Leaped like the roe [deer], when he hearsin the woodland the voice of thehuntsman?

Where is the thatch-roofed village, thehome of Acadian farmers—

Men whose lives glided on like rivers thatwater the woodlands,

Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflect-ing an image of heaven?

Waste [destroyed] are those pleasant farms,and the farmers forever departed!

Scattered like dust and leaves, when themighty blasts of October

Seize them, and whirl them aloft, andsprinkle them far o’er [over] the ocean.

Naught [nothing] but tradition remains ofthe beautiful village of Grand-Pre.

Source: Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Evangeline.Holicong, PA: Wildside Press, 2002. Poem written in1847.


Johnson wins the Battle of Lake GeorgeThe last part of Braddock’s plan finally got underway

in September 1755, when colonial and Indian forces underWilliam Johnson began moving toward Fort St. Frédéric onLake Champlain. Like Shirley, Johnson was unsure about hisskills as a general and was not eager to go into battle. Johnsonhad struggled for months to train his thirty-five hundredtroops, build or hire boats, and transport cannons and othersupplies to Lake George, which would serve as the launchingpoint for his expedition. To be safe, he also decided to build aBritish fort on the Hudson River, called Fort Edward, beforehe attacked the French fort.

The French officer in charge of Fort St. Frédéric wasBaron Ludwig August (also known as Jean-Armand) Dieskau(1701–1767). Dieskau had three thousand men to defend thefort. After receiving reports from scouts about British prepara-tions, Dieskau decided to attack Fort Edward. The British fort


Acadians are rounded up bythe British and moved fromNova Scotia in 1765.Reproduced by permission ofthe Corbis Corporation.


was only partially completed and lightly defended at thistime. Dieskau hoped to destroy the boats, cannons, and othersupplies stored there so the British could not use them in anattack against Fort St. Frédéric. If he was successful in captur-ing Fort Edward, Dieskau might be able to roll back theBritish defenses all the way to Albany.

Dieskau took a force of fifteen hundred men—includ-ing about two hundred regular French Army soldiers, six hun-dred irregular Canadian militia soldiers, and seven hundredIndian warriors—to attack Fort Edward. By early September,the French and Indian forces had advanced to the strategicspot where Lake George and Lake Champlain meet, known asCarillon by the French and Ticonderoga by the British. Asthey neared Fort Edward, however, the Indians told Dieskauthat they were not willing to attack a fixed defensive positionlike the fort. Unable to change the warriors’ minds, Dieskaudecided to attack Johnson’s camp on Lake George instead.

In the meantime, Johnson’s Mohawk scouts told thegeneral that the French were nearing Fort Edward. Johnsonimmediately sent one thousand colonial troops and two hun-dred Mohawk warriors from his camp to help defend the fort.


A map showing thepositions of the soldiersduring the Battle of LakeGeorge in September 1755.Reproduced by permission ofGetty Images.


The French and British forces ran into each other a short dis-tance from Johnson’s camp on the morning of September 8.The American colonial soldiers lacked the strict discipline andtraining of the British regulars. Instead of standing still andfighting in formation, they fought from cover in the woods asthey retreated back toward their camp. Johnson’s remainingmen heard the shots in the distance and quickly strength-ened the camp’s defenses.

The French and Indian forces chased the British backto the camp on Lake George. At this point, however, the Indi-ans once again refused to attack an enemy stronghold. TheCanadian troops took their cue from the Indians and stoppedfighting as well. Hoping to shame his irregular forces into at-tacking, Dieskau ordered his two hundred French regulars tostorm the British defenses. This turned out to be a terriblemistake, as the French soldiers were cut down by cannon andmusket fire long before they reached the enemy. Dieskau waswounded and eventually captured by the British.


Two Indians are captured byBritish soldiers during theFrench and Indian War.Reproduced by permission ofthe Corbis Corporation.


The French and Indian forces soon retreated back intothe woods. About four hundred men stopped to rest near theoriginal site of the battle. They did not realize that two hundredBritish colonial troops were approaching their position fromthe other direction. British leaders at Fort Edward had heard thebattle and sent these forces to help Johnson. The colonialslaunched a surprise attack on the disorganized French and Indi-an forces and killed or captured nearly all of them.

The British had won the battle, which came to beknown as the Battle of Lake George. Johnson was hailed as ahero, even though his expedition had failed even to approachFort St. Frédéric. The French remained in control of LakeChamplain and built another fort at Carillon (Ticonderoga) atthe north end of Lake George. The British did not advance anyfurther and instead built a fort at the south end of Lake George,called Fort William Henry, to protect the road to Albany.



By the time France formally declared war on Great Britainin 1756, the two European powers and their allies had al-

ready been fighting in the North American wilderness for twoyears. The declaration of war marked the beginning of a sec-ond phase of the conflict. The French and Indian War, as itwas known in North America, spread to Europe and to otherFrench and British colonies around the world. It even gaineda new name in Europe—the Seven Years’ War.

Events in EuropeBefore the French and Indian War, the nations of Eu-

rope had formed fairly stable alliances that created a balanceof power. Great Britain’s allies included Holland and Austria,while France was allied with Prussia (a country containingmodern-day Germany and parts of Poland and Russia). In1756, however, these alliances were turned upside-down.France secretly negotiated an alliance with Austria, whileGreat Britain made a similar deal with Prussia.

54

1756–57: The French Gainthe Upper Hand

5


A few weeks after declaringwar on Great Britain, France captureda British military base on theMediterranean island of Minorca. TheBritish responded by taking controlof a French factory in India. But thereal battles of the European warbegan in August 1756, when KingFrederick II (1712–1786) of Prussialaunched military operations againstAustria. France had signed a treaty inwhich it promised to defend Austria.By mid-1757, France had helped itsally turn back the invasion and Prus-sia withdrew from Austria. Followinghis defeat, however, King Frederickfaced threats from France, Sweden,and Russia.

British leaders could not sendtroops to help Prussia because theirforces were busy in North America orconducting naval operations alongthe French coast. But Great Britaindid provide King Frederick withmoney that helped him defeat theFrench in the Battle of Rossbach inNovember. Prussia claimed anothervictory over Austria in Silesia in De-cember. By the end of 1757, the Euro-pean war had turned in Great Britain’sfavor as France was forced to abandonhalf the territory it had conqueredduring the summer.

Loudoun takes charge of British forces inNorth America

Meanwhile, the fighting continued in North Americabetween the French and their Indian (Native American) alliesand the British and their American colonists. British leadersin London were still upset about the defeat of General Ed-

1756–57: The French Gain the Upper Hand 55

Words to Know

Embargo: A government order that pro-hibits all commercial ship traffic fromentering or leaving a harbor; LordLoudoun placed an embargo on the en-tire Atlantic coast of America in 1756 inan attempt to stop illegal trading withthe French.

Irregulars: Soldiers who were not part ofthe formal British Army, includingtroops and militia recruited in theAmerican colonies; irregulars tended tohave less military training and poorerequipment than British regulars.

Quakers: Members of the Society ofFriends religious group, which originat-ed in England in the seventeenth cen-tury and was brought to America byWilliam Penn, founder of PennsylvaniaColony; among the Quakers’ mainprinciples was pacifism (a strong oppo-sition to war and violence).

Regulars: Professional soldiers of theBritish Army; they tended to be highlytrained and well equipped compared toirregulars from the American colonies.


ward Braddock (1695–1755; seeentry) and the failure of their othermilitary plans. They decided to re-place William Shirley (1694–1771),who had become commander-in-chiefupon Braddock’s death, with an expe-rienced military planner named JohnCampbell, fourth earl of Loudoun(1705–1782).

Like Braddock, Lord Loudounheld broad powers as commander-in-chief of all British and Americanarmed forces in North America. Butwhen he arrived in mid-1756, hefound that Shirley had alreadyplanned several military campaignsfor the year. For example, Shirley hadordered seven thousand colonialtroops to gather at Fort Edward andFort William Henry, British forts locat-ed on the Hudson River and LakeGeorge in northern New York. Theseforces were to be used in an attack

against Fort St. Frédéric, a French stronghold at Crown Pointon Lake Champlain. Shirley had also put plans in place tocapture French forts on Lake Ontario and the St. LawrenceRiver in order to cut off French supply routes to the west fromMontreal.

Since most of the colonial troops were already inplace, Loudoun decided to include the attack on Fort St.Frédéric in his plans. But Loudoun did not have much faithin “irregular” colonial troops (volunteers and recruits fromthe American colonies; they usually received less trainingthan their British counterparts) and preferred to make the at-tack using “regular” (professional) British Army soldiers.Loudoun knew that there were three thousand highly trainedBritish soldiers waiting for orders in Albany, so he decided toadd them to the forces headed for Crown Point. Loudoun didnot realize that Shirley had kept the British and colonial sol-diers apart on purpose. British leaders in London had recent-ly created new rules that made the colonial troops subject tothe same strict discipline and harsh punishments as the regu-


People to Know

John Campbell, fourth earl of Loudoun(1705–1782): British general whoserved as commander-in-chief of Britishforces in North America, 1756–58.

Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran (1712–1759):French general who served as comman-der-in-chief of French forces in NorthAmerica, 1756–59; led the capture ofForts Oswego and William Henry anddied during the battle for Quebec.

Pierre François de Rigaud, marquis deVaudreuil (1698–1778): Governor ofNew France from 1755 until the fall ofCanada to the British in 1760.


lar troops. At the same time, however,colonial officers—regardless of theirrank or level of experience—were ex-pected to take orders from regular offi-cers. These rules had made it difficultfor Shirley to recruit an army from thecolonies. To overcome resistance, hehad promised the colonial forces thatthey would not have to serve along-side any regulars. This way, theywould not have to worry about thenew rules.

When Loudoun tried to com-bine the British and colonial forces forthe attack on Fort St. Frédéric, thecolonials threatened to quit and re-turn to their homes. The commander-in-chief became furious about what heviewed as their unprofessional behav-ior. He could not believe that theAmerican forces would not submit toBritish Army rules and discipline. Butthis incident was only the beginningof Loudoun’s problems. He soonbegan using his powers as commander-in-chief to issue ordersto the colonial governors. He expected them to providemoney, men, and supplies for his armies, but they oftenstalled or simply refused his requests. Loudoun also expectedthe people of Albany and other cities to provide shelter forBritish soldiers. He thought the colonists should gladly offerquarters for the troops that had come to defend them. Butmost people refused to allow soldiers to stay in their homesunless the army paid for their room and board. These dis-putes convinced Loudoun that all Americans were ungratefuland did not understand the idea of serving a common cause.

The French military effort also received a new leaderin mid-1756 when Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran (1712–1759; see entry), arrived inNew France. An experienced general, Montcalm would leadthe defense of French territory in North America for thenext three years. New France also had a new governor gen-eral, Pierre François de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil


William Shirley, Britishcommander-in-chieffollowing the death ofEdward Braddock.Reproduced by permission ofThe Granger Collection Ltd.


(1698–1778; see box), who had replaced Ange Duquesne deMenneville, marquis de Duquesne (1700–1778) in 1755.Vaudreuil was a strong believer in wilderness warfare. Hewanted to use France’s Indian allies to conduct raids alongthe western frontier of the British colonies. If the British hadto worry about defending the frontier, Vaudreuil was con-vinced they would be less able to launch an invasion ofCanada. But as a traditional European military leader, Mont-calm was horrified by the style of warfare used by the Indi-ans. He distrusted the Indians and was reluctant to use themin his military operations. He wanted to rely upon regular


Pierre François de Rigaud, marquisde Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, was born on No-vember 22, 1698, in Quebec, the capital ofthe French colony of New France. His fa-ther, Philippe de Rigaud, marquis de Vau-dreuil, was the governor general of NewFrance at the time of his birth. The youngerVaudreuil joined the French Army at theage of six and achieved the rank of captainby the time he was a teenager. In 1733, hewas appointed governor of the Canadiancity of Trois-Rivières, and nine years later hebecame governor of the French colony ofLouisiana.

By the time Vaudreuil returned toFrance in 1753, he was widely viewed as acapable colonial official. In 1755—just asthe French and British began fighting forcontrol of North America—he returned toQuebec as the governor general of NewFrance. Having grown up in Canada, Vau-dreuil was familiar with the North Ameri-can wilderness and felt confident that he

knew what sort of warfare would succeedunder those conditions. He began sendinghis Indian allies to conduct violent raidsalong the frontier of the British colonies. Hebelieved that such raids would preventBritish settlers from moving into disputedregions and allow the French to maintaincontrol over the Ohio Country.

In 1756, the French governmentsent an experienced general, Louis-Joseph,marquis de Montcalm, to take charge ofFrench military forces in North America. Vau-dreuil and Montcalm immediately enteredinto a series of disagreements. As governorof New France, Vaudreuil thought that heshould be responsible for the control of thewar against the British. But as leader of thetroops in the field, Montcalm felt that heshould dictate the French military strategy.

One of the main sources of conflictbetween the two men concerned the use ofIndian allies. Vaudreuil felt that Indian alliesgave the French an important advantage

Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor General of New France


French Army troops and to conduct the war in a more civi-lized manner.

French capture Fort OswegoAs Lord Loudoun struggled to organize the British war

effort, Montcalm and the French went on the offensive. Theirfirst target was Fort Oswego, located on the southern shore ofLake Ontario at the mouth of the Oswego River (near the siteof modern-day Syracuse, New York). The fort itself was situat-


over the British. He noted that his strategyof conducting raids on British settlementshad been successful during the previousyear. But Montcalm favored a more tradi-tional approach to warfare. Convinced thatthe Indians were uncivilized and uncontrol-

lable, Montcalm was reluctant to use themin his military campaigns. In the meantime,corrupt officials in Vaudreuil’s governmentstole money and supplies that the Frenchgovernment sent to support the army.Montcalm suspected that Vaudreuil was in-volved in these illegal activities.

After Montcalm was killed in theBattle of Quebec in 1759, Vaudreuil collect-ed the French forces and retreated to Mon-treal. The following year, three Britisharmies converged on the city. Vaudreuilsurrendered on September 8, 1760, to endthe French and Indian War in North Ameri-ca. Afterward, he sailed to France withother officials from the colonial govern-ment. Vaudreuil was charged with corrup-tion and other crimes relating to his serviceas governor general of New France, but hewas found not guilty. Nevertheless, the ac-cusations ended his career in governmentservice. He retired to his estate, where helived quietly until his death in 1778.

Pierre François de Rigaud, marquis deVaudreuil. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.


ed on a low rise overlooking the lake.On each side of the fort were steephills on which the British had builtsmall outposts. Holding the fort forthe British were 1,135 troops underthe command of Lieutenant ColonelJames Mercer.

On August 10, 1756, Montcalmbrought a 3,000-man army to attackthe fort. His forces consisted of 1,300highly trained French soldiers, 1,500Canadian militia, and 250 Indians fromsix different nations. The French start-ed out by attacking the two high out-posts and capturing them easily. Thenthey aimed their cannons down at thepoorly constructed British fort. One ofthe cannonballs killed Mercer, and thefort surrendered a short time later.Montcalm’s forces destroyed the fortand took all of the boats, cannons,guns, and other supplies they couldfind. Montcalm ordered that all the re-maining British soldiers be taken as

prisoners of war. He promised to protect the prisoners andtransport them to Montreal for the duration of the war.

But Montcalm’s Indian allies had other ideas. Unlikethe French and Canadian forces, they were not paid to takepart in the battle. They had joined the fight in order todemonstrate their courage. Their only payment came in theform of the trophies they collected—captives, scalps,weapons, and supplies. The Indians became angry when theyheard about Montcalm’s plan for the British prisoners. Theyended up killing between thirty and one hundred British sol-diers and taking many more captive. Montcalm was outragedby the Indians’ behavior. In fact, he secretly paid ransom toreclaim some of the prisoners.

Following the French capture of Fort Oswego,Loudoun called off the planned attack against Crown Point.Instead, he ordered the colonial soldiers gathered at FortWilliam Henry to improve the fort and prepare to defend it


Louis-Joseph, marquis deMontcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


against an attack by the French. By the end of the summer,the British forces stationed along the northern border of thecolonies were there for defensive purposes only.

Loudoun plans attack of LouisbourgDesperate to undertake some offensive action against

the French, Loudoun began planning a huge military cam-paign for 1757. He decided to attack Louisbourg, an impor-tant port city on Cape Breton Island, along the Atlantic coastof New France. If the British captured Louisbourg, they couldcontinue down the St. Lawrence River to attack Quebec andMontreal. Loudoun knew that his plan left the northern fron-tier of the colonies exposed to attacks by France, but he de-cided to move forward anyway.

Loudoun had spent the winter of 1756–57 improvingthe systems for collecting supplies and transporting themaround the colonies. He also started recruiting colonial sol-diers in small companies instead of large regiments so that hecould mix them more easily with British Army units. Finally,Loudoun placed an embargo (a government order that pro-hibits commercial ships from entering or leaving a port) onthe Atlantic coast in an attempt to stop illegal trading withthe French in Canada and the West Indies. Only militaryships were allowed to come and go in port cities from Maineto Georgia. At first, the colonies willingly obeyed Loudoun’sorder, believing that it would be a temporary war measure. Asthe embargo continued for months, however, it began tocause hardships for merchants and farmers who needed tosend or receive goods from overseas markets. Over time, peo-ple in the colonies came to resent the commander-in-chief.They felt that he did not care about their welfare. Eventually,the colonial governors forced Loudoun to reopen the ports byrefusing to supply his army.

Loudoun set sail for Louisbourg from New York on June20. He took along a force of six thousand men on one hundredships, making it the largest expeditionary force ever to set sailfrom an American port. Loudoun’s forces arrived in Halifax,Nova Scotia, ten days later. They waited there another ten daysuntil a Royal Navy squadron (group of ships) came to escortthem. Before the attack could begin, however, the Royal Navy



wanted to find out how many FrenchNavy ships they would face in Louis-bourg. Finally, on August 4, a scout shipreturned to report that the French had ahuge fleet of three squadrons in Louis-bourg. Since it was too late in the sum-mer to bring more Royal Navysquadrons to the area, Loudoun decidedthat there was no way his missionwould succeed. He reluctantly called offthe attack and ordered all the ships toreturn to New York.

French destroy FortWilliam Henry

Around the same time asLoudoun left for Louisbourg, he sentfifty–five hundred colonial troops andtwo regiments of British Army regularsunder General Daniel Webb to defendthe northern frontier in New York.One of the main British strongholds inthis region, Fort William Henry, locat-ed at the south end of Lake George,had been damaged by a surprise attackin mid-March. A force of fifteen hun-dred French, Canadians, and Indiansunder François-Pierre Rigaud had de-stroyed several outbuildings as well assome boats and supplies. Although theBritish had turned back the attack, ithad left the fort vulnerable to furtherattacks via water.

As it turned out, the French were planning a major of-fensive against Fort William Henry. The series of French mili-tary successes over the previous two years—including the de-feat of Braddock and the capture of Fort Oswego—hadattracted the attention of many Indian nations. The Frenchwere able to recruit two thousand warriors from thirty-threedifferent nations to take part in the attack of Fort William


British general LordLoudoun. Reproduced bypermission of The GrangerCollection Ltd.


Henry. Montcalm brought the Indians, along with six thou-sand French regulars and Canadian militia, to Fort Carillon atthe north end of Lake George.

Defending Fort William Henry were fifteen hundredmen under the command of Lieutenant Colonel GeorgeMonro (c. 1700–1757), an aging officer who had never servedin the field before. In late July, Monro heard a rumor thateight thousand enemy forces had gathered across the lakefrom his position. He sent five companies of colonial troopsacross the lake by boat to check out the rumor, but the Britishboats were ambushed by five hundred Indians and Canadi-ans. Only four of the twenty-two British boats escaped thetrap, and three-quarters of the men were killed or captured.General Webb was making his first visit to Fort WilliamHenry when the survivors straggled back to safety. He retreat-ed to Fort Edward and sent back one thousand reinforce-ments to help Monro hold the fort.

On the morning of August 3, the British and colonialdefenders saw 150 Indian war canoes and 250 French bateaux(small, flat-bottomed boats) coming toward them across thelake. The boats carried sixty-five hundred men and some ar-tillery. Monro knew that Fort William Henry could not with-stand artillery fire for very long. He needed troops from FortEdward to attack Montcalm’s forces before they finished set-ting up the artillery. But Webb refused to send any moretroops, deciding that he needed them to defend Fort Edward.

Over the next few days, Fort William Henry was bat-tered by enemy shells. The French used European siege tac-tics, which involved moving their guns ever closer to the fort.On August 9, Monro was forced to surrender the fort. In hisefforts to conduct the war in a civilized manner, Montcalmnegotiated honorable terms of surrender with the Britishforces. He allowed the men to keep their personal possessionsand march to Fort Edward, as long as they promised not tofight against the French anymore. Once again, however,Montcalm had failed to consider his Indian allies when mak-ing the deal.

Angry at being left out of the settlement, the Indiansbecame determined to take the trophies they felt they hadearned. What followed has been called “the massacre of FortWilliam Henry.” As the British forces gathered their wounded



and began marching toward Fort Edward, they were brutallyattacked by the Indians. Up to 185 men were killed and be-tween 300 and 500 were taken prisoner. Montcalm was horri-


By 1756, most of the Indian na-tions around the Great Lakes and in theOhio Country had thrown their supportbehind the French. Some had tried to forman alliance with the British, but Britishleaders had not been interested. In somecases, the British had offended the Indiansand turned them into enemies. In othercases, the French had brought the Indiansto their side by negotiating with them andoffering gifts.

The alliance between the Frenchand the Indians created a dangerous situa-tion along the western frontier of theAmerican colonies. French leaders encour-aged the Indians to conduct raids on Britishsettlements stretching across hundreds ofmiles in western Pennsylvania, Maryland,and Virginia. In these raids, the Indiansoften killed the British settlers or took themas prisoners. They also stole their belong-ings and burned down their homesteads.The Indians viewed the raids as a way toget rid of the British and reclaim their land.Indian warriors also earned the respect oftheir people by demonstrating their brav-ery in battle. Returning from a raid withtrophies—such as live prisoners, the scalpsof people they had killed, or valuable itemstaken from homes or forts—was a way forthe warriors to prove their courage.

The constant raids caused the Britishsettlers to live in fear. Many were forced toabandon their homesteads and return to thecities. Others wrote letters to colonial lead-ers, begging for help in defending them-selves. “We are in as bad circumstances asever any poor Christians were ever in, for thecries of widowers, widows, fatherless andmotherless children are enough to piercethe most hardest of hearts,” a settler namedAdam Hoops wrote to Governor RobertHunter Morris (1700–1764) of Pennsylva-nia. “Likewise it’s a very sorrowful [sad]spectacle to see those that escaped withtheir lives with not a mouthful to eat, orbed to lie on, or clothes to cover theirnakedness, or keep them warm, but all theyhad consumed into ashes.”

For the most part, the Americancolonies were not able to protect theirfrontiers from the Indian raids. The coloniesbuilt a weak chain of forts along the west-ern edge of their territories. Only a few ofthese forts were large and strong enoughto serve as a base for soldiers. The othersmainly provided traders and settlers with asafer place to stay during raids. The mostimportant of these forts were Fort Augustaon the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania,Forts Cumberland and Frederick in Mary-land, and Fort Loudoun in Virginia.

America’s Western Frontier Comes Under Attack


fied at this turn of events. He tried to use his French troops toforce the Indians to give up their captives, but the Indians re-sponded by killing the prisoners so that they would have a


Maryland spent very little moneyor effort defending its relatively small fron-tier. By the fall of 1756, colonial leaders de-cided that they could no longer defendFort Cumberland and abandoned it. Vir-ginia sent a regiment of colonial soldiersunder the command of George Washing-ton (1732–1799; see entry) to patrol itsfrontier. But Washington’s forces includedonly between four hundred and seven hun-dred men, and they were expected to pro-tect 18 forts and 350 miles of frontier. Tomake the job even tougher, Washington’smen received very little pay and oftenfaced supply shortages.

Settlers along the Pennsylvaniafrontier probably suffered the most fromIndian raids. Hundreds of settlers werekilled in 1756, when Indian raids sweptwithin seventy miles of Philadelphia. Yetcolonial leaders refused to spend money orsend troops to defend the frontier. Pennsyl-vania’s assembly was controlled by mem-bers of the Quaker religion. One of theguiding principles of Quakerism is pacifism,which prohibits the support of violence orwar in any form, regardless of circum-stances. Eventually, however, public outcryabout the situation on the frontier forcedthe Quakers to leave public office.

At this point, the Quakers begantrying to negotiate a peaceful settlementwith the Delaware Indians—the largest In-dian nation in the area. The Quakers dis-covered that the raids had created hard-ships for the Indians as well as for thesettlers. Taking part in raids had kept theDelaware men from their usual jobs ofhunting and harvesting crops. As a result,the Delaware people faced severe short-ages of food and other supplies. By 1757,the Quakers had made some progress intheir negotiations, and it looked as if theDelawares might agree to stop the raids inexchange for the return of tribal lands andgifts of trade goods.

An illustration of an Indian attack. Reproducedby permission of the Corbis Corporation.


scalp as a trophy. Once they were satisfied with the trophiesthey had collected, the Indians slipped into the woods andheaded for home.

Over the following days and weeks, Montcalm con-tinued trying to retrieve the British prisoners by paying ran-som to the Indians. He knew that his honor was at stake,since he had failed to live up to his end of the surrenderagreement. He also worried that the incident would makeBritish leaders less willing to negotiate if they capturedFrench forts in the future. About two hundred prisoners wererecovered through Montcalm’s efforts, as well as those of Vau-dreuil in Montreal. In the meantime, British survivors trick-led into Fort Edward for a week after the battle. Their storiescreated strong feelings against the French and the Indiansamong British leaders and the American colonists.

The incident at Fort William Henry turned out badlyfor the Indians as well. The British forces defending the forthad been suffering from smallpox (a disease caused by a virus),which the warriors carried back to their people. It created a ter-rible epidemic among the western tribes that caused a greatdeal of suffering and death. Between the smallpox epidemicand Montcalm’s actions in negotiating a surrender—which theIndians viewed as a breach of trust—the Indians never turnedout in support of the French in such great numbers again.

Following his victory, Montcalm destroyed FortWilliam Henry and returned to Fort Carillon. He chose not toattack Fort Edward, located a short distance to the south alongthe Hudson River. After all, most of the Indians had alreadyleft, and many of his Canadian troops needed to return hometo harvest their crops. Still, the capture of Fort William Henryleft the British in a vulnerable position. Only little Fort Edwardstood between the French and several important targets, in-cluding the trading center of Albany and New York City itself.



As 1758 began, the French and Indian War (1754–63;known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War) had caused

three years of frustration and disappointment for the British.The French had launched successful offensive attacks andtaken control of two important British forts: Fort Oswego onLake Ontario and Fort William Henry on Lake George. In ad-dition, Indian (Native American) raids had created sufferingand hardship for settlers along the western frontier of theAmerican colonies. Meanwhile, British forces had failed intheir attempts to capture Fort Duquesne at the Forks of theOhio River, Fort St. Frédéric on Lake Champlain, and the portcity of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island.

One major factor in the collapse of the British war ef-fort was the lack of cooperation between John Campbell,fourth earl of Loudoun (1705–1782), the commander-in-chiefof British forces in North America, and the leaders of theAmerican colonies. Loudoun had terrible problems dealingwith the colonists throughout his two years as commander-in-chief. Colonial leaders always resisted giving him themoney, supplies, and manpower he demanded. Loudoun al-

67

61758: The BritishTurn the Tide


ways responded by threatening to useforce to get what he wanted. He nevertried to compromise or work togetherwith the colonies to achieve his goals.Over time, the colonists came to viewLoudoun as a threat to their rights andfreedom, and they grew determined toresist him in any way possible.

The problems between Lou-doun and the Americans reached apeak in early 1758. Many coloniststhought that they should have thesame rights as British citizens. Theyalso believed the colonial governmentsshould not have to answer to a militaryleader. Men in New England not onlyrefused to volunteer to serve inLoudoun’s army, they also began hold-ing violent protests against army re-cruiting. In February, colonial leadersheld a meeting to decide amongst

themselves how many troops to provide for Loudoun’s upcom-ing military campaigns. They thought Loudoun’s demandswere unreasonable and did not take local conditions and lawsinto account. But as commander-in-chief, Loudoun felt heshould decide how many men each colony should provide. Hesaw this meeting as a direct challenge to his authority. As thisstruggle continued into March, Loudoun received word fromGreat Britain that he had been removed from command.

Pitt takes over the British war effortMajor General James Abercromby (1706–1781), who

had served as Loudoun’s second-in-command, became thetop British officer in North America. (His last name was some-times spelled Abercrombie.) But the man in charge of the wareffort was William Pitt (1708–1788; see entry), an ambitiousand influential politician who had become secretary of statein the British government. Before this time, most British lead-ers had felt that the war in North America was less importantthan the war in Europe. But Pitt recognized that England wastoo small to become a dominant power in Europe on its own.


Words to Know


Siege: A military strategy that involvessurrounding a target, cutting it off fromoutside help and supplies, and using ar-tillery to break down its defenses.


He decided that the key to defeatingthe French was to build a vast Britishempire that stretched around theworld. If England controlled coloniesthat produced sugar, timber, cotton,grains, metals, and other goods thatpeople needed, then it would be avery powerful nation.

Based on this new idea, Pitt de-cided to avoid using British troops inEurope, where France was strongest. In-stead, he provided a great sum ofmoney to help his European alliesbuild up their armies to fight France.Pitt’s main strategy for defeating Franceinvolved attacking its colonies aroundthe world. He planned to send thou-sands of British troops to North Ameri-ca and launch an invasion of Canada.An important part of this plan in-volved using the powerful British Navyto control shipping across the AtlanticOcean. This measure would preventFrance from supplying its coloniesfrom overseas. Another part of Pitt’splan involved gaining the support ofthe American colonists for the war ef-fort. He did this by reversing many ofthe policies that had caused problemsfor Loudoun. Instead of ordering thecolonies around and forcing them toprovide money and troops, Pitt begantreating them like allies and asking fortheir help. He offered money to thecolonial governments in exchange fortheir aid in the invasion of NewFrance. He also made sure that colonialofficers in the army held the same sta-tus as British officers of the same rank.

People across the Americancolonies greeted Pitt’s new policieswith a burst of patriotic enthusiasm.

1758: The British Turn the Tide 69

People to Know

James Abercromby (1706–1781): Britishgeneral who served as commander-in-chief of British forces in North Americain 1758 and suffered a terrible defeatin the Battle of Ticonderoga.

Jeffery Amherst (1717–1797): Britishmilitary leader who became comman-der-in-chief of British forces in NorthAmerica in 1758 and led the siege ofLouisbourg and capture of Montreal.

John Bradstreet (c. 1711–1774): Britishmilitary leader who captured Fort Fron-tenac and ended French control ofLake Ontario.

John Forbes (1710–1759): British militaryleader who captured Fort Duquesne in1758 and established Fort Pitt on thesite.

John Campbell, fourth earl of Loudoun(1705–1782): British general whoserved as commander-in-chief of Britishforces in North America, 1756–58.


William Pitt (1708–1788): British politi-cal leader who took control of theNorth American war effort in 1757; hispolicies gained the support of theAmerican colonists.


Massachusetts Colony, for example,had refused to give Loudoun twenty-one hundred troops. But after Pittchanged the policies, the colony votedto provide seven thousand troops. Al-together, the American colonies agreedto provide twenty-three thousand sol-diers to help force the French out ofNorth America. Unlike before, whenthe colonial troops consisted mostly ofmen from the lower classes who wereforced to serve, these troops weremade up mostly of volunteers whocame from higher social classes andeducation levels.

Pitt came up with a three-partplan for the invasion of Canada. Thefirst part of the plan involved captur-ing the fortified (strengthened and se-cured by forts) port city of Louisbourg(located on the Atlantic coast, north ofMaine), which Loudoun had failed toaccomplish in 1757. Louisbourg guard-ed the entrance to the St. Lawrence

River, which was the main water route to the major Canadiancities of Quebec and Montreal. The second part of Pitt’s planinvolved capturing Fort Carillon (known as Ticonderoga bythe British) at the north end of Lake George. This Frenchstronghold blocked a possible invasion route up Lake Cham-plain into Canada. The third part of Pitt’s plan involved cap-turing Fort Duquesne in the Ohio Country. This French fortserved as a supply base for the Indian raids that plagued thewestern frontier of the American colonies.

These three military operations would involve thelargest forces that had ever fought in North America. TheLouisbourg expedition, under Major General JefferyAmherst (1717–1797; see entry), would include fourteenthousand troops. General Abercromby would use twenty-fivethousand men to attack Fort Carillon and defend the north-ern border of New York. The attack on Fort Duquesne, led byMajor General John Forbes (1710–1759; see entry), wouldinvolve seven thousand soldiers. The total forces were about


British politician WilliamPitt, who took control of theNorth American war effortin 1757 and gained thesupport of Americancolonists. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


equally split between regular British Army soldiers and irreg-ular colonial troops.

Problems in New FranceAs the British were preparing for an all-out invasion

of Canada, the French were suffering a series of setbacks intheir North American war effort, due in large part to the factthat the French military and political leaders in the colony ofNew France did not get along. Louis-Joseph, marquis deMontcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran (1712–1759; see entry),was the commander of French and Canadian armed forces.Pierre François de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil (1698–1778;see box in chapter 5), was the governor general of NewFrance. The two men disagreed over the use of Indian allies,strategies for conducting the war, and who should get creditfor victories. In addition, Montcalm was disgusted by the cor-ruption he saw in the government of New France. He be-lieved that Vaudreuil and his cabinet stole money and sup-plies from France that should have gone to the army.

Montcalm needed all the help he could get fromFrance because the French Canadian population was simplytoo small to provide enough food, supplies, and soldiers todefend Canada against the British. The British population inNorth America was ten times larger than the French popula-tion. In fact, the fifty thousand troops that Pitt planned touse in his invasion of Canada was equal to about two-thirdsof the entire population of New France. Montcalm command-ed only about twenty-five thousand total troops, includingFrench regulars and Canadian militia. Most of the Indianswho had supported the French in the early years of the warwere no longer actively involved.

In addition, Canada was experiencing extreme foodshortages during this time. These shortages occurred due to aseries of poor harvests and the increasing success of theBritish Navy in preventing supplies from reaching the colonyfrom France. Food shortages affected not only the army, butalso people in the cities of New France. Finally, the Frenchgovernment had its hands full fighting the war in Europe.This situation prevented the French from throwing their fullsupport behind Montcalm’s forces in North America.



Abercromby loses theBattle of Ticonderoga

Despite the problems facingNew France, Montcalm managed tohand the British another embarrassingdefeat in mid-1758. After stationingsome of his forces along New York’snorthern border, Abercromby movedfifteen thousand troops into positionfor the attack on Fort Carillon in earlyJuly. The attack itself would be led by afield general, Lord George AugustusHowe (1724–1758). Howe was an ex-cellent soldier who was trained inwilderness warfare, and his troops re-spected him for his fairness and brav-ery. Howe gathered his forces—whichincluded nine thousand colonialtroops and six thousand British sol-diers—at the ruins of Fort WilliamHenry. They made their way northacross Lake George in one thousandsmall boats and landed on the north-western shore on July 6. Howe

planned to march through the woods and approach Fort Car-illon from the rear.

As some of the men set up camp, Howe led a smallparty forward to gather information about the French forces.They ended up running into a group of 350 French soldiersand exchanging gunfire. Howe was shot in the chest andkilled. Abercromby took over command of the remainingforces, but the inexperienced general had trouble decidingwhat to do. He wasted several days sending out scouts andchanging plans, and his lack of leadership caused the army tolose the order and discipline it had shown under Howe. In ad-dition, the delay in the British offensive gave French forcestime to prepare for the attack.

When Abercromby finally moved forward, he at-tacked the fort exactly where Montcalm expected him to. TheFrench had used the extra time to build a huge wall of logs ona ridge behind the fort. They placed shooting platforms along


British general JamesAbercromby, who suffered aterrible defeat at the Battleof Ticonderoga. Reproducedby permission of Getty Images.


the top of the wall. Then they created a barrier called anabatis on the slope leading up to the wall. The abatis wasmade by cutting down hundreds of trees and letting them fallso that the treetops formed a tangled mess facing the enemyforces. The troops then sharpened the branches so that theyformed a barrier as effective as rolls of barbed wire.

Although Abercromby was aware of these defenses, hechose to make his attack from this direction anyway. He sentwave after wave of British soldiers toward the fort, where theyeither became tangled in the abatis or were shot by theFrench. A few British soldiers made it through the defensesand scaled the wall, only to be stabbed by the sharp bayonetsattached to the French guns. Even though the French forceswere outnumbered fifteen thousand to four thousand, theymanaged to hold off seven British charges. By the time Aber-cromby finally ordered a retreat, two thousand of his menwere dead or wounded.

The defeat at Ticonderoga (see box) was terribly hu-miliating for the British. In fact, it was probably the second-worst incident of the war, after the defeat of British comman-der-in-chief Edward Braddock (1695–1755; see entry) on theMonongahela River in 1755. Abercromby’s forces bitterly crit-icized the general for his shameful performance, calling him“Mrs. Nanny Cromby” or “Granny.” Historians also place theblame for the defeat on Abercromby for attempting to storma well-defended position instead of choosing another option.For example, Abercromby could have brought his cannonsand artillery forward and battered the French defenses. Healso could have sent troops up nearby Mount Defiance,which towered above the fort, and sent artillery fire downinto it. Finally, he could have forced the fort to surrender bycutting off the supply road to Fort St. Frédéric on Lake Cham-plain. Instead, he was defeated by an army only a fraction ofthe size of his own.

Amherst captures LouisbourgAs it turned out, however, Abercromby’s defeat in the

Battle of Ticonderoga was the only dark spot for the Britishwar effort in North America in 1758. The British came backwith three important victories to turn the tide of the war in



their favor. Around the same time that Abercromby was mov-ing his forces into place for the attack on Fort Carillon, MajorGeneral Jeffery Amherst was transporting twelve thousandtroops (mostly regular British Army) up the Atlantic coast byship for an attack on Louisbourg. Defending the city werethirty-two hundred regular French Army soldiers and somearmed residents under Augustin de Drucour (1703–1762), thegovernor of Louisbourg. In addition, Louisbourg’s shelteredharbor was full of French warships.

Amherst planned to lay siege to Louisbourg. A siege isa military strategy that involves surrounding a target, cuttingit off from outside help and supplies, and using artillery tobreak down its defenses. The first British forces landed on June8, and a month later they had surrounded Louisbourg andbegun pounding it with artillery fire. “There is not a house inthe place that has not felt the effects of this formidable[strong] artillery,” a French officer wrote in his diary. “Fromyesterday morning till seven o’clock this evening we reckon


British ships surround thewalled city of Louisbourgduring the siege of 1758. Inthe foreground atLighthouse Point, soldiersdirect the building offortifications. Engraving by P.Canot. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


that a thousand or twelve hundred bombs, great and small,have been thrown into the town, accompanied all the time bythe fire of forty pieces of cannon, served with an activity not


Fighting during the Battle of Ticonderoga.Reproduced by permission of the Corbis Corporation.

In one of these intervals I sprang from myperilous [dangerous] situation, and gaineda stand [position] which I thought wouldbe more secure, behind a large pine log,where several of my comrades had alreadytaken shelter but the balls came here asthick as ever. One of the men raised hishead a little above the log, and a ballstruck him in the centre of the forehead.…We lay there till near sunset and, not re-ceiving orders from any officer, the mencrept off, leaving all the dead, and most ofthe wounded.

Source: Perry, David. Recollections of an Old Soldier… Written by Himself. Windsor, VT: 1822 (laterpublished in Magazine of History 137, 1928).

A British Soldier Describesthe Battle of Ticonderoga

The Battle of Ticonderoga was a ter-rible defeat for the British. General JamesAbercromby sent wave after wave of soldiersto attack Fort Carillon, a French strongholdthat was protected by a large log wall. Mostof these soldiers were killed or wounded bythe French defenders of the fort. Eventhough the British outnumbered the Frenchfifteen thousand to four thousand, the at-tack failed and left two thousand British sol-diers dead or wounded. In the following ex-cerpt from a war memoir, a British soldierremembers the scene of the battle:

Our orders were to [run] to thebreast work [wall] and get in if we could.But their lines were full, and they killedour men so fast, that we could not gain it.We got behind trees, logs and stumps, andcovered ourselves as we could from theenemy’s fire. The ground was strewed withthe dead and dying. It happened that I gotbehind a white-oak stump, which was sosmall that I had to lay on my side, andstretch myself; the [musket] balls strikingthe ground within a hand’s breadth of meevery moment, and I could hear the menscreaming, and see them dying all aroundme. I lay there some time. A man couldnot stand erect without being hit, anymore than he could stand out in a shower,without having drops of rain fall uponhim; for the balls came by handsfull. Itwas a clear day—a little air stirring. Oncein a while the enemy would cease firing aminute or two, to have the smoke clearaway, so that they might take better aim.


often seen.” The British finally broke through Louisbourg’s de-fenses and forced the city to surrender on July 26.

Bradstreet captures Fort FrontenacA few days after Abercromby’s defeat at Ticonderoga,

one of his young officers, Lieutenant Colonel John Bradstreet(c. 1711–1774), convinced the general to add a fourth part tothe British Army’s plan for the year. Bradstreet wanted to leadan attack on Fort Frontenac, an important French tradingbase located at the east end of Lake Ontario. The fort provid-ed supplies to Fort Duquesne and other western forts, as wellas to the Indians of the Ohio Country. It also served as a basefor the French warships that patrolled Lake Ontario. Finally,the fort provided a vital communications link between Que-bec and French settlements to the west.

In August, Bradstreet began moving up the MohawkRiver with about five thousand of Abercromby’s troops. Tokeep the French from learning about the mission, Bradstreetpretended that they were going to rebuild Fort Bull, a Britishfort that had been located at the Great Carrying Place—a spotwhere Indians carried their canoes between the Mohawk andOnondaga Rivers. He only revealed the true mission once thetroops had arrived at the Great Carrying Place. Then his mencontinued across Lake Ontario by boat and landed near theFrench stronghold. Bradstreet was surprised that the fort of-fered very little resistance as his men moved their cannonsinto position for an assault on August 27. The French surren-dered a few hours after the British began firing on the fort.

As it turned out, Fort Frontenac contained only aboutone hundred French troops, plus some women and children.The rest of the French forces had gone to help defend FortCarillon against Abercromby’s attack. But the fort was stuffedwith valuable trade goods—including furs, food, clothing,weapons, and ammunition—that were intended to supplyFort Duquesne and the western Indians. Bradstreet and hismen collected everything they could carry and destroyed therest. They also took control of the French ships that had pa-trolled Lake Ontario. They allowed the French soldiers andtheir families to return to Montreal, with the agreement thatthey would arrange for the release of an equal number of



British prisoners of war. When Brad-street returned from his successful mis-sion, the ambitious young officer triedto convince Abercromby to push theiradvantage and attack the French fortsat Niagara and Detroit. But the oldgeneral refused and allowed his troopsto go home for the winter. In Septem-ber, Pitt removed Abercromby fromcommand and named Amherst the topBritish officer in North America.

French surrenderFort Duquesne

The third part of Pitt’s plan—the expedition to attack Fort Du-quesne—also got underway during thesummer of 1758. The forces consistedof fifteen hundred British regulars andforty-eight hundred colonial troopsunder Major General John Forbes.Forbes was a brilliant officer cursedwith terrible health. He suffered from a painful skin conditionthat made it difficult for him to move, and he also caught a se-rious intestinal illness called dysentery. As a result, the onlyway for him to advance with his troops was by riding in ahammock strung between two horses. One of the officers ac-companying Forbes was George Washington (1732–1799; seeentry), who had first visited the Forks of the Ohio during hisdiplomatic mission in 1753.

Forbes and his army made their way slowly throughPennsylvania toward Fort Duquesne, building a road and a se-ries of defensive outposts along the way. On September 14, anadvance party of eight hundred men led by Major JamesGrant (1720–1806) came within a mile of the French fort.French soldiers and Indian warriors came pouring out of thefort and attacked Grant’s forces. Washington’s Virginia regi-ment fought bravely and allowed the remaining Britishtroops to retreat. Still, three hundred men were killed,wounded, or captured in the battle.


British major general JohnForbes. Courtesy of theLibrary of Congress.


The Indians who had taken part in the attack collect-ed their trophies and went home, leaving only three hundredFrench soldiers to defend Fort Duquesne. Forbes was about toabandon his mission when he learned that Bradstreet hadcaptured Fort Frontenac and destroyed the supplies that wereheaded for Fort Duquesne. Figuring that the French must berunning low on supplies, Forbes decided to wait and preparefor another attack. In November, he ordered a full-scale attackon Fort Duquesne. As his men approached the fort, however,they heard a series of explosions. The French had realizedthat they could not defend the fort against the British attack.They decided to destroy it rather than allow it to fall intoenemy hands.

The British built a new fort at the Forks of the Ohioand called it Fort Pitt. The success of Forbes’s mission cut theconnection between the French colonies along the Mississip-pi River and those in Canada and claimed the Ohio Countryfor Great Britain. Forbes returned to Philadelphia, where hedied a few months later. Around this same time, Washingtonended his involvement in the war. Convinced that the de-struction of Fort Duquesne would bring peace to the Virginiafrontier, Washington resigned from the Virginia militia andreturned to his estate to begin a political career.

War continues in Europe and aroundthe world

Pitt and other British leaders were pleased to hearabout the victories over the French in North America. Butthey soon had to focus their attention on the war in Europe.Great Britain’s ally, King Frederick (1712–1786) of Prussia,had been fighting against Russia and Austria and appearedweak. Pitt had been reluctant to send British troops to helpFrederick. But he eventually agreed to send enough men tohold the port of Emden on the North Sea, which Prince Fer-dinand (1721–1792) of Brunswick (King Frederick’s brother-in-law) had captured from the French.

The British added several more victories around theworld to their total for 1758. They took control of a series ofFrench trading posts along the west coast of Africa. They also



attacked the island of Martinique in the Caribbean, which wasvaluable to France because of its sugar exports. Pitt hoped thathe would be able to exchange Martinique for the capturedBritish military base on the Mediterranean island of Minorcaif the French and British eventually tried to negotiate peace.



The military successes of 1758 in the French and IndianWar (1754–63; known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War)

put the British in a strong position to launch an invasion ofCanada the following year. British troops had captured Louis-bourg, the fortified city that guarded the entrance to the St.Lawrence River. This victory would allow British ships to sailup the river to attack the major Canadian cities of Quebecand Montreal. The British had also taken control of Lake On-tario and cut off communications between the eastern andwestern sections of New France. William Pitt (1708–1788; seeentry), the British secretary of state, decided that the timehad come to invade Canada. In 1759, he came up with athree-part plan to achieve this goal.

The first part of Pitt’s plan involved attacking Fort Nia-gara on Lake Ontario, which stood between the British andseveral French forts to the west. In the second part of Pitt’splan, British and American forces under General JefferyAmherst (1717–1797; see entry) would attack Fort Carillon atTiconderoga on Lake Champlain. The successful capture of thisFrench stronghold would allow British forces to continue

80

1759: The Fall of Canada7


northward across the lake toward Mon-treal. Finally, the third part of Pitt’splan called for British forces underGeneral James Wolfe (1727–1759; seeentry) to move up the St. Lawrencefrom Louisbourg and attack Quebec,the capital of New France.

In preparation for the invasionof Canada, Pitt wrote to the governorsof the American colonies asking fortwenty thousand troops—the samelevel of support he had requested in1758. By this time, the war had creat-ed shortages of money and men in thecolonies. The governors had to payhigh bounties (fees) to convinceyoung men to serve in the army, butthey finally managed to recruit seven-teen thousand troops. Their effortsshowed that they respected Pitt andfelt like partners in his plans.

British take Fort Niagaraand control the West

As part of their successful cam-paigns of 1758, the British had captured Fort Duquesne.Holding this French fort, located at the strategic point knownas the Forks of the Ohio River (site of modern-day Pitts-burgh), was key to the British gaining control of the OhioCountry. Once they seized the fort, the British immediatelybegan building a huge new stronghold on the site. This newfort, which they called Fort Pitt, was ten times larger thanFort Duquesne. They planned to turn the fort into a center oftrade in order to keep the Ohio Indians (Native Americans)on their side. In the meantime, French forces under CaptainFrançois-Marie le Marchand de Lignery (1703–1759) re-mained at Venango, a French stronghold on the AlleghenyRiver north of the Forks. Lignery spent the winter of 1759 try-ing to convince the Indians to help him reclaim the Forksand reestablish French control of the Ohio Country.

1759: The Fall of Canada 81

Words to Know





But the continued British mili-tary success in 1759 ensured that FortPitt and the Ohio Country would re-main the property of the king of Eng-land. As spring arrived, British andAmerican forces under Brigadier Gener-al John Prideaux (1718–1759) launchedan expedition to capture Fort Niagara.By mid-June, they had reached Os-wego, a site on the southwestern shoreof Lake Ontario that had held a Britishfort until it was destroyed by theFrench in 1756. Here they were met byWilliam Johnson (1715–1774; seeentry)—a British general and the king’sofficial Indian representative—and onethousand Iroquois warriors. The Iro-quois Confederacy had decided to pro-vide direct support to the British inorder to maintain their influence overthe tribes of the Ohio Country.Prideaux left one thousand of his owntroops at Oswego to begin rebuildingthe fort. Then he continued acrossLake Ontario toward Fort Niagara withJohnson and the Iroquois.

Prideaux’s forces reached thefort on July 6. The commander of theFrench stronghold was Captain PierrePouchot (1712–1767). Confident thatthe Ohio Indians would warn him ifthe British came near, Pouchot hadsent twenty-five hundred of his threethousand troops to Venango to helpLignery recapture the Forks. TheFrench captain and his five hundredremaining troops were shocked whenthe British and Iroquois appeared andbegan preparing for a siege of the fort.

In a siege, attacking forces surround their target and pound itwith artillery fire until the defenses are weak enough for a fullassault. The British spent several days digging protective


People to Know


Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811): French military leader whoserved in the defense of Ticonderogaand Quebec; later became the firstFrenchman to sail around the world;made several important contributionsto science and geography.

William Johnson (1715–1774): Britishgeneral who served as chief of Indian af-fairs and won the Battle of Lake George.



James Wolfe (1727–1759): British mili-tary leader who captured Louisbourgand was killed during the successfulbattle for Quebec.


trenches and then began shelling FortNiagara on July 16. Prideaux waskilled in the early days of the siege,forcing Johnson to take command ofthe British troops.

Pouchot was determined tohold the fort until reinforcements ar-rived from Venango. But the Britishknew that Lignery would bring hisforces north to help defend Niagara.They built a log wall and an abatis (adefensive barrier that consists of felledtrees with sharpened branches) toblock the road to the fort. Lignery ar-rived on July 23 with a force of sixhundred French soldiers and onethousand Indian allies. Before the bat-tle began, the Indians on both sidesheld a conference and decided not totake part. Lignery’s remaining force ofsix hundred French soldiers chargedthe British position in an attempt tobreak through to the fort. More thanhalf of these men were killed or takenprisoner, and the others were forced to retreat. Pouchot sur-rendered Fort Niagara to Johnson two days later.

The capture of Fort Niagara gave the British controlover the Ohio Country and much of the former French terri-tory to the west. Without access to the road leading past Nia-gara Falls from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, the French couldnot get supplies through to their western forts. They had nochoice but to abandon Fort Toronto on Lake Ontario, FortPresque Isle on Lake Erie, and Forts Le Boeuf and Machault(Venango) in the Ohio Country. The French maintained a fewsettlements in Illinois, and a few forts and trading posts inthe upper Great Lakes, but these outposts could no longercommunicate with the government of New France in Quebec.

Johnson, meanwhile, decided that the capture of FortNiagara would be his last campaign. He resigned from themilitary to concentrate on his duties as the king’s Indian rep-resentative. With Johnson gone, the British commander-in-


William Johnson, the Britishrepresentative to theIndians. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


chief, General Jeffery Amherst, sentMajor General Thomas Gage (1719–1787) to take charge of the westernposts.

Amherst capturesTiconderoga andCrown Point

The second part of Pitt’s plantook shape at the same time as thesiege of Fort Niagara. After spendingmonths preparing for the attack,Amherst reached Fort Carillon atTiconderoga on the south end of LakeChamplain on July 21. His ten thou-sand troops approached the fort inboats. Upon landing, they began dig-ging trenches for a siege. But Amherstdid not realize that the French had al-ready abandoned the fort, leavingonly a few soldiers to defend it. Thesesoldiers destroyed Fort Carillon a few

days after Amherst’s arrival. The capture of the French strong-hold cost Amherst the lives of five men and wounded thirty-one more. The outcome for the British was much better thana year earlier, when General James Abercromby (1706–1781)had suffered two thousand casualties (killed or wounded sol-diers) in his failed attack on the fort.

After capturing Fort Carillon, Amherst moved hisforces northward to Fort St. Frédéric at Crown Point on LakeChamplain. By the time the British forces arrived, however,the French had abandoned and destroyed that fort as well.This left only a couple of small and insignificant forts be-tween Amherst and his ultimate target, the city of Montreal.But Amherst moved slowly and cautiously toward Montrealbecause he had not yet heard any news about the third partof Pitt’s plan—Major General James Wolfe’s attack on Quebec.If Wolfe had been defeated, then the French could transfer allof their forces to defend Montreal. By the time Amherst final-ly received a report on Wolfe’s progress in mid-October, the


British general James Wolfe,who defeated the French inQuebec. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


approach of winter forced him to calloff his expedition.

Wolfe and Montcalmbattle for Quebec

Wolfe, a bold young officerwho had taken part in the capture ofLouisbourg in 1758, was thrilled to beasked to lead the attack on Quebec. Inaddition to twelve thousand Britishand American troops, Wolfe’s expedi-tion included a fleet of one hundredfifty ships and eighteen thousandsailors from the British Navy. Some ofthese ships were sent ahead to Louis-bourg to prevent the French fromsending supplies and additionaltroops to Quebec via the St. Lawrence.Although the British Navy managed toturn back or capture some Frenchships, a few still managed to sneakthrough the blockade. One of theseships carried Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811; seeentry), the top aide to French commander Louis-Joseph,marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran (1712–1759;see entry). Bougainville brought Montcalm a document thatFrench soldiers had captured. The document, which had be-longed to General Amherst, outlined the British plans for the1759 invasion of Canada.

After looking over the British plans, Montcalm decid-ed to focus on defending Quebec. The city sat atop high cliffsoverlooking the St. Lawrence River and was surrounded by awall that held many cannons. Montcalm felt confident thatthe guns along the cliffs would prevent the British from mov-ing their ships past the city in order to cut off the French sup-ply line from Montreal. He left two thousand soldiers withinthe walls of Quebec and arranged his remaining twelve thou-sand troops along the bank of the St. Lawrence. The Frenchdefensive line stretched east of the city for seven miles, be-tween the St. Charles and Montmorency Rivers. Montcalm


British general JefferyAmherst. Courtesy of theLibrary of Congress.


hoped that these forces would prevent the British from land-ing below the city. The French general understood that he didnot have to defeat the British in battle in order to claim victo-ry. He only needed to hold the city until October, when thearrival of winter would force the British to leave the area.Montcalm believed that if he defended Quebec successfully,the British would have to negotiate a peace treaty with France.

Meanwhile, Wolfe struggled to prepare his men for theexpedition. Many of his troops came down with measles dur-ing their voyage from England. The general thus ended up sail-ing for Louisbourg with only eighty-five hundred men, ratherthan twelve thousand. Nevertheless, Wolfe’s expedition sailedup the St. Lawrence on June 5. In order to confuse the peopleon shore, the British ships flew French flags. The Canadianswere delighted to see French ships entering the river. Severalpilots rowed out to meet the ships and help them make theirway through the tricky entrance to the river. As soon as the pi-lots came on board, however, the British revealed their trueidentity and forced the pilots to cooperate at gunpoint.

The British fleet arrived at Quebec on June 26. Theyset up a base camp on the Île d’Orléans, a large island in themiddle of the St. Lawrence about four miles below the city.When Wolfe saw the strategic location of the city and the im-pressive French defenses for the first time, he worried that hewas about to attack “the strongest country in the world.” Ashort time after the British fleet arrived, the governor of NewFrance, Pierre François de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil(1698–1778; see box in chapter 5), ordered French troops tolaunch a sneak attack in hopes of chasing them away. Smallgroups of French soldiers towed boats full of explosives to-ward the anchored British ships in the middle of the night.Then they lit the boats on fire and rowed away quickly. Butalert British sailors managed to row their own boats out andturn the burning boats around before they could damage thefleet. Montcalm reacted calmly when he heard about the mis-sion’s failure. He had not supported the plan and had actual-ly expected it to fail.

On June 29, British soldiers climbed the cliffs at PointLevis, directly across the river from Quebec. They built fortifi-cations on top of the cliff and hauled up cannons. On July 9,Wolfe ordered an attack on the east side of the French line,



near the Montmorency River. British ships fired cannons tocreate a landing area for British troops, but the soldiers wereturned back by heavy French gunfire. On July 12, the Britishforces began firing artillery shells from Point Levis into the cityof Quebec. This bombing would continue off and on for thenext two months. Some of the shells set fire to buildings andforced residents to leave their homes. On July 31, Wolfe or-dered another attack on the French lines below the city. Onceagain, the French defenses turned back the attack, killing 210British soldiers and wounding 200 more in the process.

Wolfe launches a desperate attackWolfe grew more and more frustrated at his inability

to land troops on shore and set up a siege of Quebec. LikeMontcalm, he understood that time was on the side of theFrench. At the first hint of winter, the British fleet would beforced to withdraw from the St. Lawrence, ending the expedi-


A 1759 map of the siege ofQuebec. Reproduced bypermission of the Corbis Corporation.


tion. Wolfe knew that his best hope of capturing Quebecwould be to draw his enemy out of the city and into battle. Heeven sent British troops to conduct violent raids in the Cana-dian countryside, destroying fourteen hundred farms duringthe month of August. But Montcalm refused to allow Wolfe toprovoke him into battle. “My antagonist [enemy] has wiselyshut himself up in inaccessible entrenchments [defensive po-sitions that are difficult to reach], so that I can’t get at himwithout spilling a torrent of blood, and that perhaps to littlepurpose,” Wolfe wrote in a letter to his mother. “The Marquisde Montcalm is at the head of a great number of bad soldiers,and I am at the head of a small number of good ones, thatwish for nothing so much as to fight him—but the wary oldfellow avoids an action doubtful of the behavior of his army.”

Another factor in Wolfe’s frustration was his declininghealth. He suffered from painful kidney stones, as well as a ter-rible fever and cough. As he grew weaker, Wolfe became con-vinced that he was going to die. He decided that he wouldrather die a glorious death on the field of battle than die slow-ly from disease. Desperate to earn a reputation as a brilliantgeneral before he died, Wolfe began planning a final attack onthe French lines. This time, the British troops would attemptto land west of Quebec at a spot called L’Anse au Foulon,which later became known as Wolfe’s Cove. An overgrownfootpath led from the cove to the top of the cliffs a short dis-tance upriver from the city. This path could give the Britishaccess to the Plains of Abraham, broad fields that stretched be-hind Quebec and provided an ideal place to set up a siege.

Historians have long wondered how Wolfe decidedwhere to launch his attack. One story says that Wolfe spottedthe path leading up the cliffs while scanning the French de-fenses through a telescope. Some historians claim that Wolfelearned about the path from Captain Robert Stobo (1727–c.1772; see box in chapter 4), a British soldier who had beenheld in Quebec as a prisoner of war for several years and hadrecently escaped. Other historians think that corrupt Frenchofficials told Wolfe about the path because Montcalm wasabout to expose their illegal activities.

Wolfe chose to launch the attack on the night of Sep-tember 12. Part of the British fleet bombed the coast east of thecity in order to confuse the French. Meanwhile, the remaining



British ships slipped past Quebec and dropped off 5,000 troopsin Wolfe’s Cove. These troops scrambled up the path to the topof the 175-foot cliff and quickly overtook a small group ofFrench guards. Then they moved onto the Plains of Abrahamand arranged themselves in battle formation.

Montcalm was fooled at first by the British action eastof Quebec. By the time he arrived in the city itself, Wolfe hadalready moved his troops onto the field of battle. The Frenchgeneral decided to engage the British forces in battle beforethey had a chance to dig trenches and set up a siege. ButMontcalm had only forty-five hundred troops with him, andthey had less training and discipline than the British forces.In fact, many of the British troops facing him on the Plainshad taken part in the 1758 campaigns and were among themost experienced soldiers in North America at that time.

As Montcalm’s army crossed the Plains to begin thebattle, Wolfe’s forces stood their ground and waited until theenemy came within firing range. Then the British opened fire


British forces exchange firewith Canadian militia inQuebec, while British andFrench armies meet on thePlains of Abraham.Reproduced by permission ofGetty Images.


and devastated the French troops. Montcalm and most of hisofficers were killed, and approximately fourteen hundredFrench soldiers were killed or wounded. The inexperiencedFrench troops then turned around and fled back toward thewalls of the city. The British troops started to chase afterthem, but then Canadian and Indian forces opened fire fromhidden positions in the woods and cornfields along the edgesof the battlefield. Wolfe was seriously wounded and died ashort time later. His second-in-command, Brigadier GeneralGeorge Townshend (1715–1769), called off the pursuit andgathered the remaining British troops together. Townshendgot the British organized just in time to face two thousandFrench reinforcements under the command of Bougainville.Shocked to see that Montcalm had been defeated,Bougainville briefly exchanged fire with the British troopsand then withdrew his forces from the battlefield.

Once the French troops had retreated, the Britishforces began digging trenches and preparing for a siege. In-


British general James Wolfelies dying in the arms of hiscompatriots following thesiege of Quebec. Reproducedby permission of Getty Images.


side the city walls, the French troops and Canadian residentslacked leadership and direction without Montcalm. They be-came discouraged and worried. Governor Vaudreuil soon leftQuebec with most of the remaining French troops. On Sep-tember 18, the few remaining Canadians surrendered Quebecto the British. Townshend gave the Canadians generous termsof surrender that allowed residents to remain in the city ifthey swore an oath of loyalty to Great Britain. Then theBritish Navy sailed down the St. Lawrence and out to sea,leaving seven thousand British troops under Brigadier Gener-al James Murray (1721–1794) to hold Quebec over the longwinter. Although the French still held Montreal, the Britishcapture of Quebec meant that the result of the war in NorthAmerica was no longer in doubt.

Royal Navy wins the Battle ofQuiberon Bay

As the French and British forces struggled for control ofCanada, the war continued in Europe and elsewhere. TheBritish failed to capture the Caribbean island of Martinique be-cause too many British sailors fell victim to tropical diseases.But they did manage to capture another French possession inthe West Indies—the island of Guadeloupe. Valuable shipmentsof sugar and molasses from Guadeloupe helped the British payfor some of the huge costs of the war. In Europe, meanwhile,Prince Ferdinand (1721–1792) of Brunswick continued to pushback the French, but King Frederick (1712–1786) of Prussia con-tinued to face threats from Austria and Russia.

Perhaps the most significant battle to take place in1759 was the Battle of Quiberon Bay. France had been plan-ning to launch a naval attack against the British coast. Afterall, most regular British Army units had been sent to NorthAmerica, leaving only poorly trained militia to defend GreatBritain. Before the attack could take place, however, the RoyalNavy engaged the French fleet in battle at Quiberon Bay offthe coast of France. Admiral Edward Hawke (1705–1781)chased the French into the bay during a November storm. Hethen ordered his ships to attack at will, rather than trying toremain in battle formation. They ended up destroying or cap-turing several French ships and taking the lives of twenty-five



hundred French sailors. In contrast, the British lost only twoships and three hundred sailors.

This pivotal naval battle destroyed the only remain-ing French squadron in the Atlantic Ocean. It thus ended thethreat of a French invasion of the British coast. In addition,the victory allowed the Royal Navy to control the Atlanticuntil the end of the war. From this time on, the British fleetdestroyed shipments of goods to and from France and pre-vented the French from sending troops to Canada. The com-bination of all of these British successes led people in Englandto call 1759 “the year of miracles.”



By capturing Quebec, the capital city of New France, theBritish had reduced French territory in North America to

Montreal and a few scattered forts in the Great Lakes region.As 1760 began, British leaders felt fairly confident that theywould win the French and Indian War (1754–63; known inEurope as the Seven Years’ War). British secretary of stateWilliam Pitt (1708–1788; see entry) gave his top NorthAmerican general, Jeffery Amherst (1717–1797; see entry), agreat deal of freedom to develop a plan to capture Montrealand seal the victory.

French surrender MontrealAmherst came up with a three-part plan to complete

the invasion of Canada. He decided to send three separatearmies toward Montreal from different directions. BrigadierGeneral James Murray (c. 1721–1794) would move west upthe St. Lawrence River from Quebec with four thousandtroops. Brigadier General William Haviland would work hisway north across Lake Champlain with thirty-five hundred

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81760–62: The WarContinues in Europe


men. Amherst himself would leadtwelve thousand men—including onethousand Iroquois warriors—eastacross Lake Ontario. Amherst hopedthat all of these armies would gatherin the city at the same time, trappingthe French troops and forcing them tosurrender.

Before Amherst could put hisplan into action, however, the Frenchmade one last desperate move. In theearly spring of 1760, François-Gaston,chevalier de Levis (1720–1787)—whohad taken charge of the French forcesafter the former commander, Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran (1712–1759;see entry), was killed—tried to recap-ture Quebec. Levis led more thanseven thousand men, including someCanadian refugees who had left the

city when the British took over. The French forces advancedon the city, where British troops under Murray had spent along and difficult winter. About one thousand of Murray’sseven thousand troops had died from cold, hunger, or dis-ease, and two thousand more were too ill or weak to fight.

Levis decided to set up a siege of the city on the Plainsof Abraham, where the British had claimed victory the previ-ous fall. Just as Montcalm had done with his French forces,Murray brought his four thousand British troops outside ofthe city walls to meet the enemy on the field of battle. Sincethe walls were still weak from British shelling the previousyear, Murray felt that he should attack the French before theyhad a chance to set up their siege. But Murray’s strategy failed.The French caused many casualties (killed or wounded sol-diers) among the British forces and chased them back into thecity. Levis then set up his siege of Quebec and waited for sup-plies and reinforcements to arrive from France. But these sup-plies and forces never arrived, because the British Royal Navyhad established firm control over shipping on the Atlantic.The ships that arrived at Quebec in mid-May were British war-


Words to Know




ships, and Levis was forced to retreatto Montreal with his French troops.

By early September, the threeBritish armies had arrived at Montrealaccording to Amherst’s plan. Levisbrought his troops inside the city andprepared to defend it. He tried to con-vince the Catholic Indians (NativeAmericans) of the area, who had longbeen allies of the French, to help himfight the British. But the Iroquois war-riors on the British side held a confer-ence with the local tribes and per-suaded them to stay out of the battle.In fact, some of the Indians fromaround Montreal acted as guides tohelp the British ships negotiate the St.Lawrence River.

Unlike Quebec, which sat atophigh cliffs and was surrounded bystrong walls, Montreal had few natur-al defenses and weak fortifications.The city sat on an island in the middleof the St. Lawrence and was guardedby a small stone wall and a few can-nons. In addition, the British controlof Atlantic shipping had preventedsupplies from reaching Montreal. Thesoldiers and residents faced severeshortages of goods that forced manyof them to leave the city. Under theseconditions, Pierre François de Rigaud,marquis de Vaudreuil (1698–1778; seebox in chapter 5), the governor ofNew France, decided that Montreal could not be defended.He surrendered the city to Amherst on September 8, 1760. Aweek later, the final French fort in Detroit surrendered toRobert Rogers (1731–1795; see entry), leader of a group ofAmerican wilderness fighters called rangers. This eventmarked the end of the French and Indian War in North Amer-ica, six years after it had begun. It also meant that the Frenchcolony of New France ceased to exist after 150 years.

1760–62: The War Continues in Europe 95

People to Know


John Stuart, third earl of Bute (1713–1792): British political leader who forcedWilliam Pitt to resign; served as primeminister of Great Britain, 1761–63.

King George III (1738–1820): King ofEngland, 1760–1820; after claimingthe throne near the end of the Frenchand Indian War, his policies created re-sistance in the American colonies thatled to the American Revolution.

James Murray (c. 1721–1794): Britishgeneral who served under James Wolfeduring the Battle of Quebec and wenton to serve as the first British governorof Canada, 1764–68.



Conflicts with Indians continue onthe frontier

News of the British victory in Canada was celebratedthroughout the American colonies. Thousands of colonistsbegan streaming across the Allegheny Mountains to settlethe new lands to the west, confident that they no longerhad to worry about attacks from the French or their Indianallies. In fact, large communities of settlers formed aroundmany of the British forts and trading posts in the OhioCountry. General Amherst encouraged these settlers. Afterall, British leaders were recalling many of his regular soldiersto fight in the ongoing war in Europe. He hoped that settlerscould help his remaining colonial troops secure the con-quered territory.


For many years before the Frenchand Indian War, Indians had enjoyed fairtrading arrangements with the French thathelped both sides become more prosper-ous. Over time, the Indians came to de-pend on certain goods they acquired fromthe French. For example, many tribes usedguns and ammunition—rather than bowsand arrows—for hunting and for defendingthemselves against their enemies.

When British armies needed to gainthe support of the Indians in their strugglewith the French for control of North Ameri-ca, they continued many of the Frenchtrading practices. But after the war endedin North America, British General JefferyAmherst placed restrictions on the trade be-tween Indian nations and British settlers.Amherst prohibited the sale of alcohol toIndians and the giving of gifts to encourage

Indian cooperation, and he strictly limitedthe number of guns and amount of ammu-nition Indians could receive.

Amherst thought these policieswould help make the frontier less danger-ous for British settlers, but in fact they hadthe opposite effect. Many tribes foughtagainst the new rules by conducting vio-lent raids on British settlements.

George Croghan, an Irish immigrantwho had settled in Pennsylvania, was one ofthe first British traders to do business in theOhio Country. He opened a trading post onthe site of present-day Cleveland in 1747,several years before the war began. Based onhis long experience trading among the Indi-ans of the Ohio Country, Croghan warnedBritish leaders that Amherst’s policies wouldcreate problems:

Trader George Croghan Predicts Indian Wars


But the arrival of large numbers of British settlers an-gered the Ohio Indians. They felt that the settlers were crowd-ing them off their land. In 1761, Amherst established a newset of policies designed to reduce the conflict between settlersand Indians and bring order to the frontier. He ended thepractice of gift-giving, which had long been used by bothBritish and French to gain the cooperation of Indians. He alsoplaced restrictions on trade between settlers and Indians. Forexample, Amherst said that all trade had to take place atBritish forts rather than in Indian villages, which forced theIndians to travel long distances carrying heavy furs. He alsoprohibited British traders from selling alcohol to the Indians,and he limited the amount of gunpowder and ammunitionthe Indians could buy.


[The Indians] had great expecta-tions of being very generally supplied byus, and from their poverty and mercenarydisposition [tendency to fight] they can’tbear such a disappointment. Undoubtedlythe general has his own reason for not al-lowing any present or ammunition giventhem, and I wish [this policy] may haveits desired effect. But I take this opportuni-ty to acquaint you that I dread the eventas I know the Indians can’t long persevere[continue on their present course].… Theirsuccess at the beginning of this war on ourfrontiers is too recent in their memory forthem to consider their present inability tomake war with us. And if the Senecas,Delawares, and Shawnees should breakwith us, it will end in a general war withall western nations.

Source: Nash, Gary B. Red, White and Black: ThePeoples of Early America. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-Hall, 1982.

Lieutenant Colonel George Croghan.Reproduced by permission of Getty Images.


Amherst disliked the Indians and saw no further needfor them after the British had achieved victory over France.He thought the new rules would make the Indians behavebetter and make the frontier less dangerous. But the Indianshad come to depend on British goods for their survival. Sometribes had forgotten their old ways of hunting and neededguns and ammunition in order to feed their families. The In-dians felt the trade restrictions left them defenseless againsttheir enemies and made them more dependent on the British.Before long, a new wave of violence erupted as the Indians re-belled against Amherst’s rules and struggled to maintain theirrights and independence.

Some of the worst violence occurred during theCherokee War of 1760–61. The Cherokees lived in the south-eastern part of the American colonies and traded peacefullywith the people of South Carolina for many years. In 1758,the Cherokee Nation even sent hundreds of warriors north tohelp British troops under Major General John Forbes(1710–1759; see entry) launch an attack on Fort Duquesne.But Forbes turned down their offer, to the warriors’ surpriseand anger. The Cherokees then headed home, only to be at-tacked on their way by colonial soldiers patrolling the fron-tier. Several warriors were killed in the ambush.

The Cherokee people felt they had a responsibility totake revenge for the death of their warriors. So Cherokeeraiders attacked a frontier community and killed some whitesettlers. South Carolina Governor William Henry Lyttelton (c.1720–1808) asked Cherokee leaders to meet at a fort to nego-tiate an end to the conflict. But then South Carolina troopstook the Cherokee representatives prisoner, claiming theywould release the negotiators only if the Cherokees who hadmurdered the white settlers came forward. The Cherokees re-sponded by attacking the fort where hostages were held,killing the commanding officer. The remaining British troopsat the fort then killed all of the hostages.

Outraged at the murder of their people, the Chero-kees conducted a series of violent raids on white frontier set-tlements throughout 1760 and into 1761. They tried to con-vince other Indian nations to join them in an all-out waragainst the British, but no other tribes agreed. Amherst sentthirteen hundred troops under Colonel Archibald Mont-



gomery to South Carolina. Theseforces destroyed several Cherokee vil-lages, but were unable to follow theIndians when they retreated into themountains. The Cherokees managedto capture Fort Loudoun on the SouthCarolina frontier and took the soldiersthere captive. In the spring of 1761,the British sent an army of regularsunder Lieutenant Colonel JamesGrant (1720–1806) to reclaim the fortand put down the rebellion. As theCherokees ran low on ammunition,Grant’s forces burned villages andkilled many people. Cherokee andSouth Carolina leaders finally reacheda peace agreement in the fall of 1761.

Seven Years’ War finallyends in Europe

Although the capture of Mon-treal had sealed the British victory overthe French in North America, war con-tinued to rage in Europe for two more years. During this time,the British government underwent an important change inleadership. King George II (1683–1760) died suddenly of astroke in 1760, and twenty-three-year-old George III (1738–1820; see box in William Pitt entry) took over the throne. Theyoung king relied heavily on the advice of his former tutor andclosest friend, John Stuart, third earl of Bute (1713–1792). Butedid not like William Pitt and wanted him out of the govern-ment. But Pitt enjoyed great power and popularity because ofhis successful expansion of the British empire during the war.As the war dragged on, however, the military operations be-came so expensive that it pushed Great Britain close to finan-cial collapse. Bute and the new king were eager to end the ex-pensive war as quickly as possible. They worried that Pitt waswilling to keep fighting indefinitely if he thought that GreatBritain could claim more territory.

The difference in philosophy between Bute and Pittbecame clear in 1761, when Spain agreed to form an alliance


King George II. Courtesy ofthe Library of Congress.


with France. The agreement betweenthe two powers said that if the warhad not ended by the beginning of1762, then Spain would join the fightagainst Great Britain. Bute viewed theSpanish-French alliance as a politicalscheme designed to push the British tonegotiate peace with France. He waswilling to talk about a settlementrather than face the possibility of ex-panding the war. Pitt, on the otherhand, thought that the Spanish al-liance meant that Spain definitely in-tended to enter the war. He favoreddeclaring war against Spain immedi-ately and launching attacks on vulner-able Spanish colonies around theworld. When the king sided with Butein this difference of opinion, Pitt re-signed from the government in Octo-ber 1761. But peace talks faltered, andSpain still joined the war on the sideof France in 1762.

The British continued theirmilitary successes during this time by conquering French andSpanish colonies around the world. They captured Frenchtrading posts in India, seized French Senegal in West Africa,and took control of the French sugar-producing island ofMartinique in the Caribbean. The British also launched suc-cessful attacks on Spanish possessions in Cuba and thePhilippines.

At the same time, however, the war in Europe reacheda stalemate. King Frederick II (1712–1786), leader of theBritish ally Prussia (a country that included modern-day Ger-many and parts of Poland and Russia), found his army sur-rounded and badly outnumbered by Russian and Austrianforces at the beginning of 1762. Then Tsarina Elizabeth(1709–1762), the Russian ruler who hated King Frederick,died and was succeeded by Tsar Peter III (1728–1762). Peterfelt great loyalty towards Prussia and immediately madepeace with King Frederick. With Russia’s help, Prussia wasable to defeat Austria by the end of the year. This remarkable


John Stuart, third earl ofBute. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


turnaround enabled British leaders to withdraw support fromtheir ally and use those resources in the fight against Spain.

Shortly after declaring war against Great Britain,Spain invaded its neighbor Portugal, which was a British ally.But the transfer of large numbers of British troops from Prus-sia and North America soon forced the Spanish to withdraw.The last major military operation of the Seven Years’ Wartook place in September 1762, when British forces capturedNewfoundland (located on the Atlantic coast of Canada) fromFrance. The two sides resumed peace talks and settled on theterms of a treaty by the end of the year.



British and French leaders signed the Treaty of Paris in Feb-ruary 1763, officially ending the French and Indian War

(1754–63; known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War). Theterms of the treaty reflected the powerful position that GreatBritain had achieved over the course of the war. Great Britaingained control over all of the French territory in NorthAmerica east of the Mississippi River, including eastern Cana-da and the Ohio Country. Great Britain also took possessionof several other French colonies in India, Africa, and theWest Indies. The British returned the sugar-producingCaribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe to France,and in exchange they got back their military base on Minor-ca in the Mediterranean.

Spain, which had formed an alliance with France nearthe end of the war, turned over its territory in Florida to GreatBritain. In exchange, the Spanish received the port city ofNew Orleans from France, and Great Britain returned the con-quered Spanish territory of Cuba. Great Britain’s ally, Prussia,made peace with Austria in 1763 by signing the Treaty of Hu-bertusburg. This treaty preserved the territory the two sides

102

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9


held at the end of the war, which wasvery similar to the territory they hadheld at the beginning of the war.

The Treaty of Paris was themost favorable treaty in European his-tory. It gave Great Britain control overan empire that was larger than theone the Romans had controlled at theheight of their power. Nevertheless,the terms of the treaty still cameunder criticism in London. Many peo-ple, including former secretary of stateWilliam Pitt (1708–1788; see entry),thought that Great Britain should beallowed to keep all the territory it hadconquered during the war. They ar-gued that Great Britain, as the victor,should dictate the terms of the treatyrather than negotiate with the Frenchand Spanish. Public outcry over thetreaty led to the resignation of JohnStuart, third earl of Bute, who hadforced Pitt out of office in 1761. Theresignation of Bute, former tutor and closest friend of KingGeorge III (1738–1820; see box in William Pitt entry), createdconfusion in the British government, as various factionsstruggled for power over the next year.

Conflicts continue between Indians andBritish settlers

The fall of Canada had ended the fighting betweenFrench and British forces in North America in 1760. Yet con-flict continued between the British settlers who moved intothe newly conquered territory and the Indians (Native Ameri-cans) who had lived there for generations. When the Frenchhad controlled the territory before the war, the Indians hadgenerally found them to be good neighbors. The French trad-ed fairly with the Indians and did not try to settle on the land.In contrast, the British colonies sent thousands of settlerswestward as soon as the war ended. These people often cutdown trees, drove away game animals, and claimed the land

1763–65: The War Ends in Europe, but Conflicts Continue in North America 103

Words to Know

Stamp Act: A law passed by British par-liament in 1765 that placed a tax on allpaper used for legal or business pur-poses in the American colonies; it metwith violent opposition in the coloniesand was later repealed.

Treaty of Paris: The 1763 agreement be-tween Great Britain and France thatended the French and Indian War(known in Europe as the Seven Years’War); it gave Great Britain control overall the French territory in North Ameri-ca east of the Mississippi River, as wellas several French colonies in India,Africa, and the West Indies.


as their own. To make matters worse,British leaders placed restrictions ontrade that prevented the Indians fromgetting ammunition and other goodsthey needed. These factors combinedto make the Indians worry about theirfuture under British rule.

The Indians did not think theoutcome of the war should allow theBritish to claim their land. As WilliamJohnson (1715–1774; see entry), theofficial representative of the Britishgovernment among the Indians, ex-plained: “The Six Nations, Western In-dians, etc., having never been con-quered, either by the English orFrench, nor subject to their Laws, con-sider themselves a free people.” TheIndians had not signed the Treaty ofParis and believed it should not applyto them.

This situation convinced anOttawa war chief named Pontiac (c.1720–1769; see entry) to take actionagainst the British. Pontiac and the Ot-tawa people had already fought againstthe British during the war. They hadhelped defeat the army of General Ed-ward Braddock (1695–1755; see entry)on the Monongahela River, and theyhad led raids of British settlementsalong the Pennsylvania frontier. Ponti-

ac called a meeting of the Indian nations near Fort Detroit inApril 1763. Representatives arrived from as far as a thousandmiles away to discuss their concerns about the British.

At the meeting, Pontiac made a speech in which hecriticized the Indians for becoming dependent on the British.He claimed that adopting the ways of the white man hadcaused them nothing but trouble. He called upon the Indiansto quit trading with the British and go back to their traditionalways. He said he had a dream in which all the tribes overcame


People to Know


Patrick Henry (1736–1799): Americanpolitical leader who first gained atten-tion for his opposition to the StampAct as a member of the Virginia Assem-bly; later served in the ContinentalCongress and as governor of Virginia.

Pontiac (c. 1720–1769): Ottawa chiefwho united Great Lakes Indian tribes inopposition to British rule; led a large-scale Indian rebellion that resulted inthe capture of several British forts be-fore surrendering in 1765.



their differences and worked together. Pontiac concluded bychallenging the other Indian nations to join him in launchingan attack against the British invaders. “We must exterminatefrom our land this nation whose only object is our death.There is nothing to prevent us,” he stated. “Why should wenot attack them? What do we fear? The time has arrived.… Letus strike. Strike! There is no longer any time to lose.”

Pontiac’s RebellionPontiac’s plan involved attacking all the British forts

located west of the Allegheny mountains at the same time.Most of these forts were small and isolated, and since the warhad ended they were defended by very few soldiers. If hisplan was successful, Pontiac thought the French might rejointhe fight. The Indians launched a series of attacks againstBritish forts in mid-May. They succeeded in capturing manysmaller forts in the Great Lakes region, including FortOuiatenon (near modern-day Lafayette, Indiana), Fort San-dusky (on the south shore of Lake Erie), Fort St. Joseph (nearLake Michigan), Fort Edward Augustus (site of modern-dayGreen Bay, Wisconsin), Fort Miami (site of modern-day FortWayne, Indiana), and Fort Michilmackinac (on the strait be-tween Lakes Huron and Michigan).

Pontiac himself led one thousand warriors from vari-ous tribes in the attack on the largest target, Fort Detroit. De-troit was a compound that consisted of a strong fort, a trad-ing post, and a hundred other buildings. The fort wasdefended by 125 British soldiers under Major Henry Gladwin(1729–1791), along with 40 British traders. First, Pontiac at-tempted a sneak attack. He asked Gladwin to allow his war-riors inside the fort for a meeting, and the Indians secretlycarried guns under their blankets. But Gladwin’s Chippewagirlfriend revealed the plan to the British, and they hadarmed guards waiting when the Indians approached the fort.When his first plan failed, Pontiac surrounded the fort andset up a siege, hoping to starve the defenders out. British lead-ers tried to send troops and supplies to Detroit from Fort Nia-gara, but their boats were intercepted by the Indians. The In-dians killed the British soldiers and sent their dead bodiesfloating past the fort as a warning to its defenders.



In late July, a heavy fog allowed another fleet ofBritish boats, led by Captain James Dalyell (?–1763), to landsafely with supplies and reinforcements. Shortly after his ar-rival, Dalyell decided to attack Pontiac’s nearby camp. But aFrench trader slipped out of Detroit to warn Pontiac aboutthe coming raid. The Indians ambushed Dalyell’s forces whilethey were crossing a bridge over a creek, capturing one hun-dred British soldiers and killing or wounding sixty more. Da-lyell was among those killed, and his mutilated body was leftfor the British to find.


King Louis XV (1710–1793) occu-pied the throne of France during theFrench and Indian War in North America.Born in 1710, he was only five years oldwhen his predecessor, King Louis XIV(1638–1715), died. Louis XV was quicklycoronated France’s new king, but until hereached adulthood he was guided byPhilippe II (1674–1723), the duke of Or-leans, who served as regent (someone whogoverns when the rightful ruler is absent,disabled, or too young to rule). WhenPhilippe died in 1723, André-Hercule deFleury (1653–1743) emerged as Louis XV’smain advisor. In 1725, the young king mar-ried a member of the Polish nobility, MarieLeszczynska (1703–1768).

During King Louis XV’s reign(1715–74), France became embroiled in anumber of wars, including conflicts inPoland and Austria. The most destructivewar, however, was the French and IndianWar (known in Europe as the Seven Years’War) with England. This clash first erupted

in North America, where France and GreatBritain became locked in a bitter battle forcontrol of that continent and its rich natur-al resources. In the early years of this war,French forces gained the upper hand. Butby the end of the 1750s, British armieswere on the march against French territo-ries all around the globe.

Alarmed at the prospect of losingthe war in Europe, King Louis XV decidedto keep most of his military resources in Eu-rope rather than send them to protect theFrench settlements and outposts in NorthAmerica. This decision ensured that theBritish and the American colonists wouldeventually be able to claim the continentfor themselves. By 1760, most of the east-ern half of North America was firmly in thehands of England.

In 1763, France ended the war byagreeing to the terms of the Treaty ofParis. This agreement established Britain asthe world’s leading power and reduced the

King Louis XV of France


As the siege of Detroit stretched into the summer, theIndians of the Ohio Country captured several more Britishforts. The Indians were unable to capture Fort Pitt, which wasthe strongest fort in the Ohio Country, but they surroundedthe British stronghold and set up a siege. Without the forts toprovide protection, British settlers along the frontier becamevulnerable to Indian raids. Many settlers panicked and aban-doned their homesteads for the safety of the cities.

As the extent of the Indian rebellion became clear, anangry General Jeffery Amherst (1717–1797; see entry) grew


influence of both Louis XV and Franceacross Europe. France tried to recover, butits financial health had been ruined by thecostly war and the king’s own expensivetastes. The French people hoped that LouisXV would guide the country back to itsformer prosperity, but he failed to make

meaningful reforms. For example, poorpeasants continued to pay more in taxesthan wealthy members of the nobility andclergy, and the government often inter-fered in the private lives of French citizens.The king who was once nicknamed “thewell-beloved” had become a weak and in-effective ruler.

In 1774, Louis XV died of smallpox,and Louis XVI (1754–1792), his grandson,took the throne. But the financial and polit-ical mess left behind by Louis XV hauntedthe new monarch. In 1789, growing un-happiness with France’s political, financial,and legal systems finally exploded in apopular revolt known as the French Revolu-tion. This rebellion destroyed the Frenchmonarchy, replacing it with a succession ofnew governments that made manychanges in the country’s social, political,and economic fabric. Louis XVI, mean-while, was imprisoned in the first monthsof the Revolution. He was finally executedon January 21, 1793.

King Louis XV of France. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.


determined to solve the problem once and for all. Amherstgave his field commanders strong orders to attack the Indiansand kill any they captured. He also suggested that they inten-tionally spread smallpox (an often deadly disease to whichthe Indians had no immunity) among the tribes as a way toreduce their numbers (see box in Jeffery Amherst entry).Amherst told his troops that the Indians should be treated“not as a generous enemy, but as the vilest [most horrible]race of beings that ever infested the earth, and whose rid-dance from it must be esteemed [considered] a meritorious[praiseworthy] act, for the good of mankind.”

The first British forces to reach the Ohio Countrywere 460 troops under Colonel Henry Bouquet (1719–1765).They came under attack from the Indians near the Mononga-hela River, only a few miles from where General Braddock’sarmy had been defeated by French and Indian forces eightyears earlier. Bouquet learned from Braddock’s mistakes, how-ever. When Bouquet’s forces had trouble fighting against In-dians hiding in the woods, he ordered them to fake a retreat.The Indians emerged from the woods to chase the fleeing sol-diers. Meanwhile, some of Bouquet’s forces circled around tosurround the enemy. The British claimed victory in the bat-tle, although they lost fifty men and counted sixty morewounded. Still, Bouquet pushed forward and broke the Indi-ans’ siege of Fort Pitt on August 10.

Meanwhile, Pontiac’s siege of Fort Detroit beganfalling apart in September. The Indians were running out ofammunition, and many warriors returned home in order tohunt for food to feed their families over the coming winter.Pontiac finally gave up the siege in October 1763. By thattime, however, the Indian Wars had taken the lives of fourhundred British soldiers and two thousand British settlers onthe frontier. Upset over the continued unrest in the Americancolonies, British leaders recalled Amherst to London. Theychose Major General Thomas Gage (1719–1787) to replaceAmherst as commander of the remaining British forces inNorth America.

The following spring, Bouquet returned to the westwith fifteen hundred troops and forced the Indians to returnall of their white captives. In July 1764, William Johnson helda meeting with representatives of nineteen Indian nations at



Fort Niagara. Johnson agreed to remove all the restrictionsthat Amherst had placed upon trade, and in return the Indi-ans agreed to make peace on the frontier.

British leaders try to control the coloniesBetween the fall of Canada in 1761 and the Treaty of

Paris in 1763, British leaders concentrated on the war in Eu-rope and left the American colonies to deal with postwar is-sues on their own. Once the war ended in Europe, however,British leaders turned their attention to the colonies again.Throughout the war, British commanders Amherst, Braddock,and John Campbell, fourth earl of Loudoun (1705–1782), hadcomplained about the Americans in the reports they sentback to London. The generals talked about the troubles theyencountered in convincing the colonies to provide men, sup-plies, and money to support the war effort. They also dis-cussed the poor training and discipline of the colonial troops.As a result, many British leaders developed a negative view ofAmericans. They assumed the colonies needed strong guid-ance and supervision from London in order to conduct theiraffairs. In addition, fighting the war in North America andaround the world had cost Great Britain a huge amount ofmoney. The British government struggled with heavy debtsand a faltering economy as it tried to maintain control overall of its newly conquered territory. British leaders decided toaddress these problems by passing a number of new laws de-signed to establish firm authority over the colonies and col-lect taxes to help pay for the war.

But the British leaders did not have a full understand-ing of the situation in the colonies and how it had changedas a result of the war. They assumed the money they hadgranted to the colonial governments had paid for all of thecolonies’ wartime expenses. In reality, this money paid forless than half the cost of the war, and the colonial govern-ments paid for the rest. As a result, many colonies were stillstruggling to pay heavy war debts of their own. Americanleaders felt they had already done their part to support thewar effort. They viewed the British victory as the successfuloutcome of cooperation between equal partners. They did notunderstand why British leaders expected them to continue to



pay money and provide troops afterthe fighting had ended. In addition,the colonial governments had to dealwith the rush of settlers westward intothe Ohio Country and northward intoNova Scotia. The colonies arguedamongst themselves about controllingthe new territories and struggled toprotect their expanding borders fromIndian attacks.

The differences betweenBritish leaders’ views and actual condi-tions in America led to disagreementswhen Great Britain tried to reestablishcontrol over the colonies. The firststep in this process took place whenthe British parliament passed theProclamation Act of 1763. This act of-ficially established new colonies inQuebec and Florida and opened themup for settlement. But it also set asidemost other former French lands be-tween the Appalachian Mountainsand the Mississippi River—includingthe Ohio Country—as Indian territory.Although Great Britain claimed own-ership of this territory, it reserved theland for the present use of the Indiansand for the future use of the king ofEngland. The act prohibited the Amer-

ican colonies from expanding westward. The idea behind theact was to prevent further conflict between British settlersand Indians by keeping settlers away from the frontier. ManyAmericans resented the Proclamation Act, however, becausethey thought the point of the war against the French and In-dians was to make this land safe for British settlers. They feltas if their reward had been taken away.

In early 1764, British leaders began passing a series ofnew taxes on the colonies. The money collected throughthese taxes was supposed to help pay Great Britain’s war debtsand support the British troops that remained in North Ameri-ca. The American Duties Act, more commonly known as the


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A map of the easternseaboard of North Americafollowing the ProclamationAct of 1763. Theproclamation line shows thatcolonists were to stay east ofthe Appalachian Mountains,and the Indians to the west,thus avoiding Indianconflicts and continuingBritish control of thecolonists. The Gale Group.


Sugar Act, placed new taxes on many items that were com-monly used in the colonies, including sugar. It also includedseveral measures designed to make tax collection more effi-cient. The Currency Act, passed a short time later, took awaythe colonial governments’ power to issue their own papermoney and use it to pay their debts. The idea behind thismeasure was to make sure that powerful London merchantsreceived full payment for goods they shipped to America. Butin reality, the Currency Act only made it more difficult for thecolonies to do business amongst themselves.

Many Americans took exception to these actions ofthe British government. They felt no need for British troopsto remain in North America, and did not want to pay taxes tosupport them. Most of all, the colonists objected to losingtheir rights and freedom in the face of tighter restrictions andcontrol. Some people argued that British leaders could notimpose taxes on the colonies without allowing American rep-resentatives to become members of parliament.

At first, opposition to the new policies was disorga-nized. Each of the colonies faced a different situation, so theytended to have different reactions to the new laws. In addi-tion, the colonies still needed British help to deal with theongoing Indian wars, so they were not willing to pick a fightwith the mother country.

Riots break out in opposition to theStamp Act

In 1765, however, the British government passed theStamp Act, which placed a new tax on paper used in thecolonies. Under this law, any paper that was used for businessor legal purposes—including printed money, court documents,papers accompanying shipments of goods, and newspapers—had to have a small stamp printed on it. This stamp provedthat the tax had been paid on the paper. Anyone who usedpaper without a stamp on it could be charged with a crime.

British leaders viewed the Stamp Act as a minor re-form that would allow them to get a little more financial helpfrom the colonies. In order to minimize opposition to thelaw, they gave the job of administering the stamps to promi-



nent Americans. But as it turned out,this legislation created anger and re-sentment throughout the colonies.

Colonial governments begandiscussing the Stamp Act in May 1765.The government of Massachusetts wasthe first to express concern about thenew law. Massachusetts leaders agreedto sponsor a meeting of representa-tives of all the colonies in New York inOctober to discuss it. But it was in Vir-ginia that debate over the Stamp Actbecame most heated. Patrick Henry(1736–1799), a twenty-nine-year-oldlawyer and new member of the Vir-ginia Assembly, waited until most con-servative members of the assemblyhad left and then gave a fiery speechagainst the new law. He sponsored aseries of resolutions stating that onlythe colonial government had the rightto place taxes on its residents. Henryargued that the British governmenthad no right to tax the colonists with-

out their consent. He also noted that the colonists could notgive consent without having representatives in parliament.

The resolutions passed the Virginia Assembly on May30, and Henry and his supporters left Williamsburg. The fol-lowing day, conservative members of the assembly returnedand attempted to repeal (officially revoke or take back) all ofHenry’s resolutions. But they were successful in repealing onlythe fifth resolution, which specifically addressed the belief thatonly the colonial government should have the power to tax itscitizens. This resolution was considered particularly shockingbecause directly questioning the authority of the king in thisway was practically unheard of at that time. Virginia’s moreconservative leaders worried that Henry’s words might be con-sidered treason (the crime of betraying one’s country).

But Henry’s ideas did not die, because his ground-breaking resolutions were soon published in newspapersthroughout the colonies. In fact, some papers added two ad-


Virginia assemblymanPatrick Henry, who led theprotests against the StampAct. Courtesy of the NationalPortrait Gallery, SmithsonianInstitution.


ditional resolutions that contained even stronger languageagainst the Stamp Act and the British government. As Ameri-cans read about the Virginia Assembly’s tough stand, orga-nized opposition to the law grew among ordinary citizens. InBoston, Massachusetts, angry mobs destroyed the home ofthe man who had been appointed to administer the stampsand forced him to resign from his position. Then they wentto the homes of other public officials and threatened to de-


People mob the streets ofNew York City in November1765, protesting the StampAct. Reproduced by permissionof Getty Images.


stroy their property if they did not refuse to comply with theStamp Act.

The success of the Boston mobs encouraged similaractions in other colonies. Many people decided that violentopposition was the best way to prevent the law from takingeffect. Opposition groups called themselves “Sons of Liberty,”a phrase taken from a controversial speech in support of theAmericans that had been delivered in the British parliamentby one of its members, Lieutenant Isaac Barre (1726–1802; seebox). As the colonial governments struggled to control themobs and reestablish order, each one ended up passing reso-lutions against taxation without consent. When representa-tives of all the colonies came together in the fall, they signeda joint petition asking King George III to repeal the Stamp


As the British Parliament debatedabout the Stamp Act in February 1765,many members spoke about the Americancolonies and their duty toward the mothercountry. One member of parliament, Lieu-tenant Colonel Isaac Barre, had spent timein North America and served under Gener-al James Wolfe (1727–1759; see entry)during the Battle of Quebec. Over time,Barre became fed up with what he feltwere unfair statements about Americansmade by his fellow members.

Barre then delivered a fiery speechin which he defended the colonists’ loyaltyto the king of England, but warned thatthe Americans valued their liberty toomuch to tolerate the Stamp Act. Barre’s de-scription of the Americans as noble, tough,independent-minded people made him ahero in the colonies. In fact, many groups

that formed to oppose the Stamp Act bor-rowed the phrase “Sons of Liberty” fromhis speech. An excerpt from Barre’s famousspeech before parliament follows:

Your oppressions [abuses ofpower] planted them in America. They fledfrom your tyranny [severe authority] to athen uncultivated and unhospitable coun-try.… And yet, actuated [moved] by princi-ples of true English liberty, they met allthese hardships with pleasure, comparedwith what they suffered in their own coun-try, from the hands of those who shouldhave been their friends.…

They grew by your neglect ofthem: as soon as you began to care aboutthem, that care was exercised in sendingpersons to rule over them, … to spy outtheir liberty, to misrepresent their actionsand to prey upon them; men whose behav-iour on many occasions has caused theblood of those Sons of Liberty to recoil[draw back] within them.…

A British Parliament Member Stands Up for the Americans


Act. Despite the controversy, most of these measures were po-lite in tone. The colonial assemblies wanted to pressure theBritish government to repeal the Stamp Act without provok-ing them to impose their authority by force.

When the first shipment of stamped paper arrived inNew York in October, thousands of people turned out to meetthe ship and tried to destroy the paper. But the British troopsthat were stationed in the city managed to take the paper tonearby Fort George for safekeeping. When angry mobs sur-rounded the fort, though, Gage ordered the troops to give upthe stamps.

British leaders were shocked by the violent oppositionto the Stamp Act. They debated about what action to take.


They have nobly taken up arms inyour defence, have exerted a valor [shown

strength or bravery] amidst their constantand laborious industry [in the middle oftheir hard work] for the defence of a coun-try, whose frontier, while drenched inblood, its interior parts have yielded all itslittle savings to your emolument [benefit].And believe me, remember I this day toldyou so, that same spirit of freedom whichactuated [moved] that people at first, willaccompany them still.… However superiorto me in general knowledge and experiencethe reputable body of this House may be,yet I claim to know more of America thanmost of you, having seen and been conver-sant [talked to people] in that country. Thepeople I believe are as truly loyal as anysubjects the King has, but a people jealousof [careful about guarding] their liberties… will vindicate [defend] them, if ever theyshould be violated.

Source: From the diary of Nathaniel Ryder. Reprintedin Proceedings and Debates of the BritishParliaments Respecting North America,1754–1783. Edited by R. C. Simmons and Peter D.G. Thomas. Millwood, NY: 1983.

British parliament member Isaac Barre, whospoke in support of the Americans. Reproducedby permission of Getty Images.


They worried that repealing the law would reduce their au-thority over the colonies. But using force to make thecolonists obey the law would turn the Americans into ene-mies. (The British parliament ended up repealing the StampAct the following year, although at the same time they passedseveral resolutions that condemned the colonists’ behaviorand emphasized their authority over the colonies.)

As British leaders considered their options, someAmericans marveled at how the colonies had overcome theirdifferences and joined together to oppose the Stamp Act.John Adams (1735–1826)—a Harvard-educated lawyer whowould eventually become the second president of the UnitedStates—wrote several editorials for newspapers (often underthe name Humphry Ploughjogger) about the new kind of pol-itics he saw emerging in the colonies. “This Year,” Adamswrote, “brings Ruin or Salvation to the British Colonies. TheEyes of all America, are fixed on the B[ritish] Parliament. Inshort Britain and America are staring at each other. —Andthey will probably stare more and more for sometime.”

The French and Indian War’s impact onAmerican and world history

Although the French and Indian War is not as wellknown as some other wars—such as the American Revolution(1775–83), the Civil War (1861–65), or World War II(1939–45)—it played a significant role in shaping Americanand world history. In fact, some historians argue that theUnited States may never have become an independent nationwithout the French and Indian War. If the British and Ameri-can colonists had not taken control of eastern North Americafrom the French in 1763, then the thirteen British coloniesalong the Atlantic Ocean might have been surrounded by avast, French-speaking nation.

Instead, the French and Indian War gave Great Britaina huge empire that it would struggle to control. The conflictalso left France in a weakened position, holding little territoryaround the world and suffering under a mountain of wardebts. This situation created a strong desire for revenge amongthe French people. As a result, the French provided valuable



support to the American colonies in their fight against GreatBritain during the American Revolution. In 1789, France’s se-vere debts from the war and widespread social unrest flaredinto the French Revolution. This conflict, which eventuallyspread throughout Europe, reduced the power of the king andcreated an elected government in France.

War changes the relationship betweenGreat Britain and its colonies

The French and Indian War created fundamentalchanges in the relationship between Great Britain and itsAmerican colonies. Before the war, British leaders had adopt-ed a “hands-off” policy toward the colonies. Since the boom-ing trade with the colonies helped make the mother countrywealthy and powerful, they were willing to allow the coloniesto govern themselves. But British leaders grew concernedabout what they viewed as the colonies’ lack of cooperationduring the war years. They resented it when the colonies re-sisted their demands to provide money, supplies, and troopsto aid in the war effort. They were also angry that someAmerican merchants had continued to trade with France ille-gally during the war. Although smuggling goods across theborder to New France was profitable for the merchants, ithelped support the French war effort and may have made thewar last longer than it would have otherwise.

These wartime experiences convinced many membersof the British parliament that they needed to place the Amer-ican colonies under firmer control. This idea gained evenmore support after the war ended, when settlers rushed head-long into the new territories and met with violent resistancefrom the Indians. Finally, the war had cost Great Britain agreat deal of money. Faced with large debts and a slow econo-my, British leaders decided to place taxes upon the colonistsin order to collect money to help pay for the war.

But the war had also changed the way many Americansviewed their relationship with Great Britain. Thousands ofAmerican men had served under British military leaders andalongside British soldiers during the war. Many of these mendeveloped a negative opinion of the British Army. They



watched arrogant British commandingofficers make poor decisions that senthundreds of men to their deaths. Theyalso witnessed many examples of thebrutal physical punishment that wasroutinely used to maintain disciplineand order among the troops. Over time,Americans came to believe that theBritish Army was not the powerful, un-beatable force they had once thought.

At the same time, many Amer-ican soldiers played an important rolein the British victory. They gainedconfidence in their own skills andabilities and felt as if they were equalto the British soldiers. For example,they noticed that American forces haddefeated the French at the Battle ofLake George and in other clashes,while British forces had suffered sever-al terrible defeats in battle. Yet theAmericans found that British leadersdid not appreciate their contributionsand thought of them as inferior to reg-ular British Army soldiers.

Colonists’ wartime experiences providethe foundation for a new nation

When British leaders tried to place strict controls andnew taxes on the colonies after the war ended, their policiescreated strong resistance among the Americans. Thecolonists’ wartime experiences had given them less respect forBritish leaders and military power, as well as greater confi-dence in their own abilities. Since they no longer facedthreats from the French and Indians, they had less need forBritish protection and felt greater freedom to express their op-position to government policies.

Finally, the French and Indian War had created a gen-eration of American men that had shared a common experi-ence. They started to develop an identity as Americans, rather


George Washington, a keyfigure in the French andIndian War, a courageousleader in the AmericanRevolution, and the firstpresident of the UnitedStates of America. Portrait byGilbert Stuart. Photograph byMichael Keran. Reproduced bypermission of AP/Wide World Photos.


than as residents of a specific American colony. Several ofthese men emerged as leaders during the war. For example,George Washington (1732–1799; see entry) served in severalimportant campaigns and led the defense of the Virginiafrontier. He gained valuable skills and experience and was rec-ognized throughout the colonies as a brave and capable mili-tary commander. When the American colonies fought fortheir independence from Great Britain fifteen years later,Washington proved his courage and leadership once again inthe American Revolution. And—in what is perhaps his mostcourageous contribution of all—he loyally served as the firstpresident of the United States.



Jeffery Amherst … 123

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville … 130

Edward Braddock … 137

John Forbes … 144

William Johnson … 149

Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran … 155

William Pitt … 162

Pontiac … 169

Robert Rogers … 177

George Washington … 185

James Wolfe … 194

Biographies


Jeffery Amherst was one of Great Britain’s military heroesduring the French and Indian War (1754–63; known in Eu-

rope as the Seven Years’ War). In 1758, the young officer re-ceived a surprise promotion and was sent to North America tocommand a major military expedition. Amherst led the suc-cessful British attack on the fortified French city of Louisbourgon Cape Breton Island in 1758, which resulted in another pro-motion—this time, to commander-in-chief of all British forcesin North America. The following year, he captured two impor-tant French forts on Lake Champlain and cleared the way forBritish forces to attack Montreal. In 1760, French forces sur-rendered Montreal to Amherst to end the French and IndianWar and give the British control over North America.

Moves up the ranks of the British ArmyJeffery Amherst was born on January 29, 1717, on his

family’s country estate at Sevenoaks in Kent County, England.(Some sources spell his first name “Jeffrey.”) He was the sec-ond son born to Jeffery and Elizabeth (Kerril) Amherst. He

123

Jeffery Amherst. Reproducedby permission of the Corbis Corporation.

Jeffery AmherstBorn January 29, 1717Kent County, England

Died August 3, 1797Kent County, England

British general who led the siege ofLouisbourg and the capture of Montreal


joined the British Army in 1731, at the age of fourteen, andfirst served as a page (a personal assistant or servant) for afamily friend, Lionel Sackville, the duke of Dorset (1688–1765). Ten years later, Amherst was appointed aide-de-camp(a top military assistant) to General John Ligonier. Amherstfought in Europe during King George’s War (known as theWar of the Austrian Succession in Europe) from 1744 to 1748.When the French and Indian War began a few years later, hewas initially posted in Germany, where he helped collect sup-plies for British troops led by William Augustus, the duke ofCumberland (1721–1765).

The French and Indian War began in 1754 in NorthAmerica, where both Great Britain and France had estab-lished colonies (permanent settlements of citizens whomaintain ties to the mother country). The British colonies,known as America, stretched along the Atlantic Ocean frompresent-day Maine to Georgia. The French colonies, knownas New France, included eastern Canada, parts of the GreatLakes region, and the Mississippi River basin. Both theBritish and French hoped to expand their land holdings intothe Ohio Country, a vast wilderness that lay between theircolonies and offered access to valuable natural resources andimportant river travel routes. But the Ohio Country was con-trolled by the Iroquois Confederacy, a powerful alliance ofsix Indian (Native American) nations whose members hadlived on the land for generations. As Iroquois influence start-ed to decline in the mid-1700s, however, the British andFrench began fighting to claim the Ohio Country and takecontrol of North America. Once Great Britain and France of-ficially declared war in 1756, the conflict spread to Europeand around the world.

In the early years of the French and Indian War, theFrench formed alliances with many Indian nations. TheFrench and their Indian allies worked together to hand theBritish and their American colonists a series of defeats. In1757, however, William Pitt (1708–1788; see entry) becamesecretary of state in the British government and took chargeof the British war effort. Pitt felt that the key to defeatingFrance was to attack French colonies around the world. Hedecided to send thousands of British troops to North Americato launch an invasion of Canada. Like other British leaders,Pitt was frustrated by the British Army’s lack of success in



North America. He felt that part of the problem was a lack ofstrong leadership. When Pitt asked his top military leaders forthe names of talented young officers to direct the war inNorth America, General Ligonier recommended Amherst.

In January 1758, Amherst was called back to Englandto meet with high-ranking government officials. A few dayslater, he received a surprise promotion and new orders. “Mr.Secretary Pitt presents his compliments to Major-GeneralAmherst,” the orders read, “and sends him here with HisMajesty’s commission to be Commander-in-chief at the siegeof Louisbourg.” Many people were surprised that Amherstwas selected for such an important mission. After all, he wasonly forty-one years old and had never led an army before.But Pitt recognized that the young officer had many goodqualities. For example, he was well organized, calm underpressure, and believed in caution and methodical planning.

Leads the siege of Louisbourg and thecapture of Montreal

Amherst soon set sail from England and arrived inNova Scotia, along the Atlantic coast of Canada, in late May.His ships then proceeded north to Cape Breton Island, carry-ing twelve thousand British Army troops. Their mission wasto attack Louisbourg, a heavily fortified French city thatguarded the entrance to the St. Lawrence River. If the Britishforces could capture Louisbourg, then they could move upthe St. Lawrence to attack the important French cities of Que-bec and Montreal. Amherst planned to lay siege to Louis-bourg. A siege is a military strategy that involves surroundinga target, cutting it off from outside help and supplies, andusing artillery to break down its defenses. The first Britishforces landed on June 8, and a month later they had sur-rounded the city and begun pounding it with artillery fire.The British finally broke through Louisbourg’s defenses andforced the city to surrender on July 26.

Pitt and other British leaders were thrilled byAmherst’s success at Louisbourg. By the end of 1758, they hadpromoted him to commander in chief of all the British armiesin North America. In 1759, British leaders planned a three-

Jeffery Amherst 125


part attack that they hoped would lead to the fall of Canada.While two separate armies attacked Quebec and Fort Niagara,located between Lakes Ontario and Erie, Amherst would leada third army in an attack on Fort Carillon (also known asTiconderoga), at the south end of Lake Champlain. Amherstand his ten thousand troops reached the French fort in lateJuly and began digging trenches for a siege. The badly out-numbered French abandoned and destroyed the fort a fewdays later. After capturing Fort Carillon, Amherst moved hisforces northward to Fort St. Frédéric at Crown Point on LakeChamplain. By the time the British forces arrived, however,the French had abandoned and destroyed that fort as well. Inthe meantime, British forces also succeeded in capturing FortNiagara and the city of Quebec.


Although the French and Britishsigned a treaty ending the French and Indi-an War in 1763, the American coloniescontinued to face violent Indian raids alongtheir western frontiers. Some of the Indianswere lashing out in anger against GeneralJeffery Amherst’s new policies toward thetribes. Amherst decided to use regulationsand punishment to control the behavior ofthe tribes. The general placed restrictionson trade between British settlers and Indi-ans and prohibited the giving of gifts,which had long served as a means of secur-ing Indian cooperation.

Many Indians resented the newrules and became determined to resistBritish control. An Ottawa chief namedPontiac led an Indian uprising that led tothe capture of several British forts in 1763.The Indians surrounded several other forts,

including Fort Detroit and Fort Pitt, andplaced them under siege.

Amherst was outraged to hearabout the rebellion and decided that theonly way to maintain peace on the frontierwas to get rid of the Indians. He knew theBritish forces that were defending Fort Pittagainst the Indian siege had come downwith smallpox, a highly contagious andsometimes deadly virus to which the Indi-ans had no immunity. According to Na-tiveWeb.com, Amherst sent a letter to oneof his field commanders, Colonel HenryBouquet (1719–1765), in which he sug-gested that the defenders of Fort Pitt sendblankets infected with smallpox to the Indi-ans: “Could it not be contrived [arranged]to send the Small Pox among those disaf-fected [rebellious] tribes of Indians? Wemust on this occasion use every stratagem

Amherst and the Smallpox Blankets


In 1760, Amherst came up with another three-partplan to complete the invasion of Canada. He decided to sendthree separate armies toward Montreal from different direc-tions—west up the St. Lawrence River from Quebec, northacross Lake Champlain, and east across Lake Ontario.Amherst hoped all of these armies would converge on thecity at the same time, trapping the French troops and forcingthem to surrender. He led his forces—which consisted oftwelve thousand men, including one thousand Iroquois war-riors—to Montreal from Lake Ontario. As planned, the threearmies reached Montreal by early September, and the citysurrendered on September 8. This event marked the end ofthe French and Indian War in North America, six years afterit had begun.

Jeffery Amherst 127

[scheme or trick] in our power to reducethem.” Although it is not known whetherBouquet followed through on Amherst’ssuggestion, a smallpox epidemic affectedmany Indian nations around this time.

Amherst expressed his desire tocommit genocide (the deliberate destruc-tion of an entire race or culture) againstthe Indians in several other letters. For ex-ample, as quoted from NativeWeb.com, ina letter written in 1763 to William John-son (1715–1774; see entry), the British of-ficial in charge of Indian affairs, Amherstdiscussed “measures to be taken as wouldBring about the Total Extirpation [com-plete destruction] of those Indian Na-tions.” He apparently did not have thesame strong feelings about his otherenemy. His correspondence shows that heconsidered the French a worthy opponent

and wanted to treat them humanely underthe rules of war.

Amherst’s suggestion of sendingsmallpox-infected blankets to the Indians isone of the earliest examples of biological orgerm warfare (intentionally using an infec-tious disease as a weapon). Unfortunately,there is some concern that the smallpoxvirus could be used as a weapon again inthe future. By the 1970s, the disease hadbeen virtually wiped out around the world.As a result, the United States and manyother countries stopped immunizing theircitizens against smallpox. However, sam-ples of the virus have been preserved forthe purpose of scientific research, so thereis a possibility that terrorists might some-day get hold of these samples and usethem to spread smallpox among largegroups of people.


Indian policies cause a rebellionAs soon as the fighting ended and the British took

control of North America, settlers from the American coloniesbegan streaming westward to claim land in the Ohio Country.These settlers soon came into conflict with the Indians whohad lived there for many generations. In 1761, Amherst estab-lished a new set of policies designed to reduce the conflict be-tween settlers and Indians and bring order to the frontier. Heended the practice of gift-giving, which had long been used byboth British and French to gain the cooperation of Indians. Healso placed restrictions on trade between settlers and Indians.For example, Amherst prohibited British traders from sellingalcohol to the Indians, and he limited the amount of gunpow-der and ammunition the Indians could buy.

Amherst disliked the Indians and saw no further needfor them after the British had achieved victory over France.He thought the new rules would make the Indians behavebetter and make the frontier less dangerous. But the Indianshad come to depend on British goods for their survival. Be-fore long, a new wave of violence erupted as the Indians re-belled against Amherst’s rules and struggled to maintain theirrights and independence. The largest Indian rebellion tookplace in the summer of 1763, when an Ottawa chief namedPontiac (c. 1720–1769; see entry) arranged for a number oftribes to attack British forts throughout the Great Lakes. TheIndians captured several forts and placed several others undersiege, until they were finally forced to surrender in the fall. Inthe meantime, British leaders grew frustrated at Amherst’s in-ability to control the newly conquered territory. They recalledhim to London in late 1763.

Amherst held the title of governor of Virginia until1768, when King George III (1738–1820; see box in WilliamPitt entry) decided that the governor should live in thecolony and asked Amherst to return to North America.Amherst resigned from the position rather than move to Vir-ginia. In 1770, he was named governor of Guernsey in Eng-land. In 1775, as the situation in the American coloniesneared full-scale rebellion, the king asked Amherst to serve ascommander-in-chief of British forces in North America. Onceagain, however, Amherst refused to return to America and in-stead became a military advisor to the British government. He



received the title of baron in 1776. Two years later, whenFrance entered the war on the side of the Americans, Amherstbecame commander-in-chief of British forces in Europe. Heretired from the military in 1795, and the following year hereceived the honorary rank of field marshal, the highesthonor in the British Army. Amherst died in 1797, at the ageof eighty, on his estate in Kent County. The town of Amherst,Massachusetts, is named after him.

For More InformationAmherst, Jeffery John Archer, Earl Amherst. Wandering Abroad: The Auto-

biography of Jeffery Amherst. London: Secker & Warburg, 1976.

Dictionary of American Biography. Reproduced in Biography Resource Cen-ter. Detroit: Gale, 2002.

Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2d ed. Detroit: Gale, 1998.

“Jeffery Amherst and Smallpox Blankets.” NativeWeb: Resources for Indige-nous Cultures Around the World. http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/amherst/lord_jeff.html (accessed January 27, 2003).

Long, John Cuthbert. Lord Jeffery Amherst: A Soldier of the King. New York:Macmillan, 1933.

Mayo, Lawrence Shaw. Jeffery Amherst: A Biography. New York: Longmans,Green and Co., 1916.

Nester, William R. “Haughty Conquerors”: Amherst and the Great Indian Up-rising of 1763. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000.

Jeffery Amherst 129


Louis-Antoine de Bougainville was one of the most interestingcharacters to fight on the side of the French during the

French and Indian War (1754–63; known in Europe as the SevenYears’ War). A promising mathematician who published anaward-winning academic paper, he chose to pursue a militarycareer. He served as the top aide to Louis-Joseph, marquis deMontcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran (1712–1759; see entry), the re-spected commander of French forces in North America.Bougainville took part in the important French victories at FortOswego and Fort William Henry, as well as in the French de-fense of Fort Carillon and Quebec. His lively journals of hiswartime experiences provide one of the best sources of inside in-formation about the French war effort. Once the war ended in aBritish victory, Bougainville sailed around the world in hopes ofdiscovering new lands to help France regain its former empire.

Serves as assistant to MontcalmLouis-Antoine de Bougainville was born on November

12, 1729, in Paris, France. He was the youngest of three chil-

130

Louis-Antoinede BougainvilleBorn November 12, 1729Paris, France

Died August 31, 1811Paris, France

French military leader who served inQuebec and later sailed around the world

Louis-Antoine deBougainville. Reproduced bypermission of The GrangerCollection Ltd.


dren born to Pierre-Yves de Bougainville and Marie-Françoised’Arboulin. One of the major influences on Bougainville’syoung life was his older brother, Jean-Pierre, who was aprominent scholar with many connections in Paris society.Bougainville attended the College des Quatres-Nations andthe University of Paris, where he studied law. After gradua-tion, his brother arranged for him to study under several fa-mous mathematicians. It soon became clear that the youngerBougainville had a great mathematical mind. In 1753, hepublished an important paper on calculus (a field of ad-vanced mathematics), called Traité de calcul integral. Threeyears later, he was elected to the British Royal Society inrecognition of his work.

But Bougainville was not content to stay in Paris andwrite mathematical papers. His strong sense of duty and needfor adventure had led him to join the French Army in 1750. In1756, he received the rank of captain and was sent to NorthAmerica to fight in the French and Indian War. This war beganin 1754 in North America, where both Great Britain andFrance had established colonies (permanent settlements of citi-zens who maintain ties to the mother country). The Britishcolonies, known as America, stretched along the AtlanticOcean from present-day Maine to Georgia. The Frenchcolonies, known as New France, included eastern Canada, partsof the Great Lakes region, and the Mississippi River basin.

Both the British and the French hoped to expandtheir land holdings into the Ohio Country, a vast wildernessthat lay between their colonies and offered access to valuablenatural resources and important river travel routes. But theOhio Country was controlled by the Iroquois Confederacy, apowerful alliance of six Indian (Native American) nationswhose members had lived on the land for generations. As Iro-quois influence started to decline in the mid-1700s, however,the British and French began fighting to claim the OhioCountry and take control of North America. Once GreatBritain and France officially declared war in 1756, the conflictspread to Europe and around the world.

Bougainville served as aide-de-camp (a top militaryassistant) to Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon deSaint-Véran, who was the new commander-in-chief of allFrench forces in North America. The two men traveled across

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville 131


the Atlantic Ocean to Canada in the spring of 1756. Althoughtheir voyage was rough, it led Bougainville to develop astrong interest in ships and seamanship that he would pursueafter the war.

Helps the French win several battlesShortly after his arrival in North America,

Bougainville participated in the French attack on Fort Os-wego, located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario at themouth of the Oswego River (near the site of modern-day Syra-cuse, New York). Montcalm and his three thousand-manarmy captured two hills that towered above the British fortand aimed their cannons down into it. When Fort Oswegosurrendered a short time later, Bougainville served as thetranslator between Montcalm and the British leaders.

In 1757, Bougainville took part in the siege of FortWilliam Henry, a British stronghold located at the south endof Lake George in northern New York. This time, Montcalmled eight thousand troops, including two thousand Indianwarriors. They crossed the lake in small boats, hauled their ar-tillery on shore, and began bombarding the fort. The Britishforces surrendered Fort William Henry after it was battered forseveral days by enemy shells. Once again, Bougainville actedas a translator as the two sides negotiated honorable terms ofsurrender. But the Indians were left out of the settlement andrefused to accept it. They wanted to collect trophies from thebattle—such as captives, scalps, weapons, and supplies—asproof of their courage. Their demands were rejected, andwhat followed has been called “the massacre of Fort WilliamHenry.” The Indians attacked the British survivors, killing asmany as 185 men and taking several hundred more as prison-ers. Montcalm and Bougainville were horrified by the Indi-ans’ behavior. They ended up paying ransom to free some ofthe British prisoners, and were reluctant to use Indians intheir future campaigns.

In 1758, Bougainville participated in the successfulFrench defense of Fort Carillon (also known as Ticonderoga),located on Lake Champlain in northern New York. Aboutfour thousand French defenders held off fifteen thousandBritish troops under General James Abercromby (1706–1781).



The French anticipated the location of the British attack andbuilt a huge wall of logs and an abatis (a defensive barriermade from felled trees with sharpened branches) to blocktheir approach. Abercromby sent wave after wave of Britishsoldiers toward the fort, where they either became tangled inthe abatis or were shot by the French. By the time Abercrom-by finally ordered a retreat, two thousand of his men weredead or wounded. Bougainville received a gunshot wound tothe head during the battle, but he recovered quickly.

Following the French victory at Fort Carillon, Mont-calm sent Bougainville back to France. The general saw anumber of problems in the French war effort and hoped thathis aide could convince the French government to send moretroops and supplies to Canada. But French leaders wanted toconcentrate on fighting the war in Europe. In addition, theBritish had won several important naval battles and takencontrol of shipping on the Atlantic, which made it very diffi-cult to send supplies from France to Canada. WhenBougainville sailed back to North America in the spring of1759, he arrived just ahead of the British fleet that was com-ing to attack Quebec, the capital of New France.

Quebec was a difficult target for the British to attack.It sat atop high cliffs overlooking the St. Lawrence River andwas surrounded by a large stone wall. As Montcalm preparedto defend the city, he stretched his forces along the cliffs forseveral miles upstream and downstream of the city. The gen-eral put Bougainville in charge of troops that patrolled theshoreline watching for signs of a British attack. The Britishfleet arrived at Quebec in late June, carrying more than eightthousand troops under Major General James Wolfe(1727–1759; see entry). They set up a base camp on the Îled’Orléans, a large island in the middle of the St. LawrenceRiver, just a few miles from the city. Over the next twomonths, the British forces made several unsuccessful attemptsto break through the French defensive line.

Finally, on the night of September 12, Wolfe’s forcesused an overgrown footpath to climb the cliffs just upstreamfrom Quebec. The five thousand British soldiers thenarranged themselves in battle formation on the Plains ofAbraham outside the walls of the city. Before the British couldset up a siege, Montcalm led forty-five hundred French troops



to face them on the field of battle. The highly trained Britishsoldiers held their ground and soon forced the French to re-treat back to the city. Both Montcalm and Wolfe suffered fatalwounds in the fighting. Bougainville, who had been pa-trolling some distance from Quebec, arrived too late tochange the outcome of the battle. Quebec surrendered to theBritish on September 18. In 1760, Bougainville helped negoti-ate the French surrender at Montreal, which marked the endof the French and Indian War in North America.

Sails around the worldOnce the British took control of Canada, Bougainville

returned to France. He fought in Europe until the Treaty ofParis ended the war there in 1763. Under the terms of thetreaty, France gave up most of its colonies around the world.Bougainville became determined to discover new lands andclaim new territory in the name of France in order to help hiscountry regain its empire. In 1764, he founded a Frenchcolony in the Falkland Islands, a group of islands in the SouthAtlantic that later became part of Argentina. He was forced togive up the colony a year later, however, when the islandswere claimed by France’s ally, Spain.

In exchange for giving up the colony, King Louis XVof France (1710–1774) offered Bougainville the opportunityto explore the Pacific Ocean. Bougainville set sail in Novem-ber 1766 aboard a mid-sized French warship called theBoudeuse, accompanied by a supply ship called the Étoile. Hehoped to become the first Frenchman to sail around theworld. He also wanted to discover new lands and gather sci-entific information.

Bougainville and his crew sailed south across the At-lantic Ocean to Brazil, then circled around the tip of SouthAmerica and entered the Pacific Ocean in January 1768. Theylanded in Tahiti in April of that year, and Bougainville de-scribed the tropical islands in his journal as “paradise on earth.”While there, he unexpectedly discovered that one member ofhis crew was a woman. This woman, who called herself Bare,had disguised herself as a man to obtain work in Paris and keptup the disguise in order to have an adventure. She ended up be-coming the first woman to sail around the world.



Bougainville sailed west across the South Pacific inhopes of finding the “great southern continent” (present-dayAustralia, which had not yet been discovered by Europeans)that many geographers thought existed. He came to the GreatBarrier Reef, about one hundred miles off the coast of Aus-tralia, and almost wrecked his boat. Since he could not find away around the dangerous reef and could not see land fromthere, he turned around. Bougainville went through theSolomon Islands and named one after himself, then contin-ued on to the Moluccas Islands (or Spice Islands) and collect-ed specimens of clove and nutmeg plants.

Bougainville returned to France in March 1769. Al-though he had made few notable discoveries, he had succeed-ed in becoming the first Frenchman to sail around the world.In addition, a young astronomer on his crew, Pierre AntoineVeron, had used new instruments to chart the correct longi-tude of many small islands for the first time. Bougainvillepublished a famous account of his voyage in 1771.

Fights with the French NavyIn 1780, Bougainville married Flore-Josephe Long-

champ de Montendre, a Frenchwoman from a noble back-ground who was twenty years his junior. They eventually hadthree sons: Hyacinthe, Armond, and Alphonse. In 1781, Francethrew its support behind the American colonists in their revo-lution against Great Britain. Bougainville, who had remainedin the French Navy after completing his voyage around theworld, sailed to North America to take part in the war. Heplayed a major role in the Battle of Chesapeake Bay in Septem-ber of that year, which gave valuable support to the Americancause. At the end of the American Revolution, Bougainville re-tired from the French Navy to write scientific papers.

Bougainville’s long list of accomplishments led to anumber of honors in his later years. In 1804, he received theFrench government’s highest award, the Grand Cordon of theLegion of Honor, along with the title of count. Bougainvillewas also elected to the Academy of Sciences and the Board ofLongitude. Numerous islands, mountains, and bodies ofwater were named after him, as was a variety of rose and the



flowering ornamental bougainvillea vine. Bougainville diedin Paris on August 31, 1811.

For More InformationBougainville, Louis-Antoine de. A Voyage Round the World. London, J.

Nourse, 1772. Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1967.

Encyclopedia of World Biography. Gale: Detroit, 1998.

Explorers and Discoverers of the World. Gale: Detroit, 1993.

Kimbrough, Mary. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, 1729–1811: A Study inFrench Naval History and Politics. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press,1990.

O’Connor, J. J., and E. F. Robertson. “Louis-Antoine de Bougainville.”The MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive. School of Mathematicsand Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Bougainville.html(accessed January 27, 2003).

Ross, Michael. Bougainville. London: Gordon & Cremonesi, 1978.



British general Edward Braddock played a key role in theearly part of the French and Indian War (1754–63; known

in Europe as the Seven Years’ War). In 1755, he arrived inNorth America with the full intention of chasing the Frenchand their Indian (Native American) allies out of the disputedOhio Country, a vast wilderness in the middle of the conti-nent. But his first major military campaign against the Frenchended in disaster for the overconfident Braddock. His armywas decisively defeated by a much smaller force, and the gen-eral himself suffered a mortal bullet wound.

Born and raised in amilitary environment

Edward Braddock was born in 1695, in Perthshire,Scotland. His father, also named Edward Braddock, was ahigh-ranking officer in the British Army. Little is known ofBraddock’s early life, but he was raised in a household thatplaced a high value on military service. At age fifteen, he en-

137

Edward Braddock.Reproduced by permission ofGetty Images.

Edward BraddockBorn 1695

Perthshire, Scotland

Died July 13, 1755Ohio Country (Farmingham, Pennsylvania)

British commander who led the disastrous1755 Fort Duquesne campaign


listed in the British army’s Coldstream Guards regiment,which was commanded by his father.

In the first years of the eighteenth century, Braddocktook part in several battles of the War of the Spanish Succession(1702–1713; known in North America as Queen Anne’s War)between England and France. Braddock rose rapidly throughthe ranks on the strength of his bravery and hard work, and by1736 had achieved the rank of captain. He continued his pro-fessional advancement through the 1740s, earning praise in avariety of assignments for the British Crown. Braddock was pro-moted to major-general in 1754, the same year that the Frenchand Indian War erupted in North America.

Though waged on North American soil, the war wasmainly a conflict between Great Britain and France. Both ofthese countries had established large colonies (permanent set-tlements of citizens who maintain ties to the mother country)throughout the eastern half of the continent. The Britishcolonies, known as America, stretched along the AtlanticOcean from present-day Maine to Georgia. The Frenchcolonies, known as New France, included eastern Canada,parts of the Great Lakes region, and the Mississippi Riverbasin. Both the British and the French hoped to expand theirland holdings into the Ohio Country, a vast wilderness thatlay between their colonies. This region offered access to valu-able natural resources and important river travel routes. Butthe Ohio Country was controlled by the Iroquois Confedera-cy, a powerful alliance of six Indian nations who had lived onthe land for generations. When the influence of the IroquoisConfederacy began to decline in the mid-1700s, the Britishand French began fighting to claim the Ohio Country andtake control of North America. Once Great Britain and Franceofficially declared war in 1756, the conflict spread to Europeand around the world.

A proud and stubborn generalBy 1754, British leaders had become alarmed at events

in North America. French forces over in the “New World” hadsucceeded in establishing alliances with a number of Indian na-tions. In addition, they had won a series of small clashes withBritish and American troops. Determined to turn the tide, Great



Britain decided to make General Edward Braddock commander-in-chief over all British and American forces in North America.

Braddock seemed like an ideal choice for the job inmany respects. A veteran with forty-five years of military ex-perience, he had repeatedly displayed his bravery on the bat-tlefield. In addition, he was regarded as a tough and prouddisciplinarian with a strong sense of duty. Braddock set sailfor North America in December 1754, with two fresh Britishregiments. He arrived in Virginia in February 1755 and quick-ly assumed command of all British and colonial troops.

Braddock was immensely confident that his years ofmilitary experience in Europe would enable him to make shortwork of the French and Indians. He gathered the colonial gov-ernors together to explain his military plans. He wanted to at-tack the French forces at several strategic spots. In addition, hepersonally planned to lead a major military offensive againstFort Duquesne, an important French outpost on the banks ofthe Ohio River (the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now oc-cupies the place where this fort once stood). Braddock assuredthe governors that, with donations of supplies and money, hecould have his forces ready to go in no time.

To Braddock’s surprise and anger, however, thecolonies provided few supplies or funds for the military ef-fort. As weeks passed, the general experienced great difficultyin acquiring the provisions and laborers that he needed. Dur-ing this same time, he showed a scornful attitude toward thecapabilities of America’s colonial soldiers, despite their supe-rior knowledge of the surrounding wilderness and their famil-iarity with the Indians that roamed the Ohio Country. One ofthe few Americans who met with Braddock’s approval wasGeorge Washington (1732–1799; see entry). The young Vir-ginian served as a military aide to Braddock, and the Britishgeneral expressed a high opinion of his bravery and intelli-gence throughout their time together.

Carving a path to Fort DuquesneOn May 29, 1755, Braddock departed from Fort Cum-

berland, Virginia, with an army of more than two thousandmen. The force included more than fourteen hundred Britishsoldiers, also known as “redcoats” because of the color of the

Edward Braddock 139


long jackets they wore, and five hundred American soldiersfrom various colonies. The expedition also included a largenumber of supply wagons and massive cannons that wouldbe used to attack Fort Duquesne, as well as two hundred engi-neers, laborers, and scouts.

Braddock intended to take his army westward overthe Appalachian Mountains to reach Fort Duquesne. Thearmy followed a faint trail through the thick forests leadinginto the mountains, but ax-wielding workers had to widen itevery step of the way to make room for the big wagons andcannons. Every day, the army hacked its way through thedeep forest, pushing up and down mountainous terrain. Thisexhausting work was made worse by summer heat and cloudsof biting insects. On some days, the army managed to moveonly three or four miles from sunrise to sundown. All of theseconditions combined to sap the strength and spirit of Brad-dock’s soldiers. In addition, the threat of attack by hostile In-dians or French forces kept everyone on edge. At one point inthe journey, Braddock was approached by Shingas, an OhioDelaware war chief who wanted to establish an alliance withthe British. But Braddock coldly spurned the offer, and Shin-gas and his warriors left in an angry mood.

As Braddock’s army moved ever deeper into the OhioCountry without being attacked, the troops began to thinkthat the size of their force had scared away their enemies. Ru-mors that the French had abandoned Fort Duquesne sweptthrough the camp. Braddock, though, ignored these rumors.In fact, he divided his army into two divisions. Eager to reachFort Duquesne, he left the slow-moving cannons with thesmaller of these divisions, and took the larger division—con-taining about twelve hundred British and colonial troops—forward. His plan was to use this larger force to surround theFrench fort, then attack once the cannons arrived.

On July 9, 1755, Braddock and his twelve hundred ad-vance troops crossed the Monongahela River, just eight milesfrom Fort Duquesne. The general and his soldiers marchedacross the river as if they were on parade. The army bandplayed marching songs, British flags fluttered in the breeze,sunlight glittered off gleaming gun barrels and bayonets, andthe red coats of the British soldiers shone in the sun. Years



later, George Washington said that the scene was the mostthrilling sight of his life.

A few miles away, meanwhile, French forces werepreparing a desperate defense against the large enemy forcethat they knew was approaching. The French officer in chargeof Fort Duquesne, Claude-Pierre Pecaudy, seigneur de Contre-coeur (1706–1775), knew that the fort would fall if Braddockwas able to use his heavy cannons. He knew he had to defeatBraddock before he reached the fort. With this in mind,French captain Daniel Lienard de Beaujeu (1711–1755) volun-teered to lead an ambush. He planted about nine hundredFrench, Canadian, and Indian fighters on both sides of a deepravine through which the British forces would have to pass.

Ambushed by the enemyThe first of the British to enter the area was an ad-

vance force of three hundred troops under the command ofLieutenant Colonel Thomas Gage (1719–1787). As Gage’smen entered the ravine, Beaujeu sprung the trap. The Indian,French, and Canadian fighters under his command aimed adeadly barrage of gunfire from behind trees and rocks thatcovered the hillsides. Gage’s troops tried to return fire, butthey could not even see the enemy forces. As the Indian andFrench forces continued their relentless assault, Gage’s forcesretreated in confusion. They quickly ran into Braddock andthe rest of the advancing British force. Riding back and forthon his horse, Braddock tried to restore order to his confusedand panicked troops, even as musket fire continued to roarfrom the shadowy forest. Washington and others repeatedlyurged Braddock to allow his men to leave the open road andtake cover behind trees. But Braddock angrily insisted that histroops stay in formation in the middle of the road. His warexperience had always involved armies that fought in neatformation, and he refused to believe that this European styleof fighting could not prevail against wilderness battle tactics.

As the battle wore on, the Indians, Canadians, andFrench continued to fire away at the redcoats and Americansfrom their hiding places in the forest. The British and colo-nial soldiers tried to fight back, but most of the time theycould only fire blindly into the woods. When American

Edward Braddock 141


troops ignored Braddock’s orders and tried to take cover be-hind trees, they were accidentally shot by their British allies.

Finally, after three hours of heavy fighting, the Britishand American soldiers fled in disarray. Braddock’s militaryforce, which he had believed was unbeatable, had beenripped apart. Musket balls had killed or wounded sixty-threeof Braddock’s eighty-nine officers. In addition, more thanhalf of his army had been killed or wounded in the attack,while the French and Indian forces had suffered only minorlosses. Braddock himself had four horses shot out from underhim, and he received a serious bullet wound that passedthrough his right arm and into his lungs.

Braddock was carried from the battlefield to a safe areacalled Great Meadows (now the Fort Necessity National Battle-ground at Farmingham, Pennsylvania). Over the next fewdays, Braddock was in great physical and emotional pain. Hiswound made it very painful for him to breathe. In addition,


Indians attack EdwardBraddock and his troops asthey prepare to march onFort Duquesne on July 9,1755. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


he knew that the stunning defeat had left his military reputa-tion in tatters. He had acted with great personal braverythroughout the battle, but his stubborn refusal to change histactics had cost many British and American soldiers their lives.

According to some reports, Braddock recognized hiserror. Some accounts even indicate that he expressed regretthat he had not followed Washington’s advice and changedhis military tactics in the wilderness. “We shall better knowhow to deal with them another time,” he told one of hisaides. But Braddock never had an opportunity to repair hisreputation. He died from his wounds on July 13, 1755.

Several major historical figures survived the clash onthe Monongahela River, including Washington, who wouldgo on to become the first president of the United States;Gage, who commanded British forces during the opening bat-tles of the American Revolution (1775–83); Horatio Gates(1728–1806), one of America’s greatest Revolutionary War he-roes; and Daniel Boone (1734–1820), the famous wildernesspioneer. But the battle, which came to be known both as the“Battle of the Wilderness” and “Braddock’s Defeat,” shockedBritish and American political leaders and ordinary citizensalike. Americans began to wonder if the British knew whatthey were doing, and the leaders of Great Britain were forcedto admit that the war in North America might be longer andcostlier than they had first believed.

For More InformationDictionary of American Biography. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center.

Detroit: Gale, 2002.

Hamilton, Charles, ed. Braddock’s Defeat. Norman: University of Okla-homa Press, 1959.

Kopperman, Paul E. Braddock at the Monongahela. Pittsburgh: Universityof Pittsburgh Press, 1977.

Marrin, Albert. Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars,1690–1760. New York: Atheneum, 1987.

McCardell, Lee. Ill-Starred General: Braddock of the Coldstream Guards.Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1958. Reprint, 1986.

Sargent, Winthrop. The History of an Expedition against Fort Du Quesne, in1755. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1855.Reprint, Lewisburg, PA: Wennawoods, 1997.

Edward Braddock 143


John Forbes led the British capture of Fort Duquesne in1758. This fort was located in the heart of the Ohio Coun-

try (on the site of present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) andwas vital to British hopes of controlling that region. Despitehis poor health, which required him to be carried in a ham-mock strung between two horses, Forbes accompanied histroops as they cut a one-hundred-mile road through thewilderness to reach the fort. The general died just a fewmonths after successfully completing his mission.

Sent to North AmericaJohn Forbes was born in 1710, in Fifeshire, Scotland.

Little information is available about his early years. It is knownthat he trained to be a physician before joining a unit of theBritish army called the Scots Greys in 1735. Forbes fought inEurope during King George’s War (also known as the War ofthe Austrian Succession), and was promoted quickly throughthe ranks. He became a lieutenant colonel in 1745, and wasplaced in charge of his own regiment in 1750. In 1757, he was

144

John ForbesBorn 1710Fifeshire, Scotland

Died March 11, 1759Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

British military leader who captured Fort Duquesne

John Forbes. Courtesy of theLibrary of Congress.


sent to North America to fight in the French and Indian War(1754–63; known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War).

The French and Indian War began in 1754 in NorthAmerica, where both Great Britain and France had establishedcolonies (permanent settlements of citizens who maintain tiesto the mother country). The British colonies, known as Ameri-ca, stretched along the Atlantic Ocean from present-dayMaine to Georgia. The French colonies, known as New France,included eastern Canada, parts of the Great Lakes region, andthe Mississippi River basin. Both the British and French hopedto expand their land holdings into the Ohio Country, a vastwilderness that lay between their colonies and offered accessto valuable natural resources and important river travel routes.But the Ohio Country was controlled by the Iroquois Confed-eracy, a powerful alliance of six Indian (Native American) na-tions whose members had lived on the land for generations.As Iroquois influence started to decline in the mid-1700s,however, the British and French began fighting to claim theOhio Country and take control of North America. Once GreatBritain and France officially declared war in 1756, the conflictspread to Europe and around the world.

In the early years of the French and Indian War, theFrench formed alliances with many Indian nations. TheFrench and their Indian allies worked together to hand theBritish and their American colonists a series of defeats. In1757, however, William Pitt (1708–1788; see entry) becamesecretary of state in the British government and took chargeof the British war effort. Pitt felt the key to defeating Francewas to attack French colonies around the world. He decidedto send thousands of British troops to North America andlaunch an invasion of Canada. Like other British leaders, Pittwas frustrated by the British Army’s lack of success in NorthAmerica. He felt that part of the problem was a lack of strongleadership. Pitt handpicked several talented officers, includ-ing Forbes, to direct the British war effort in North America.

Advances toward Fort DuquesneForbes was promoted to the rank of brigadier general

and given command of a major military operation againstFort Duquesne. This French fort was located at a strategic spotknown as the Forks of the Ohio, where the Allegheny and

John Forbes 145


Monongahela Rivers joined to form the Ohio River. Both theBritish and the French considered the Forks so important thatthe first battles of the war had been fought there. In 1755,British Army forces under General Edward Braddock(1695–1755; see entry) had marched from Virginia to theOhio Country in order to attack Fort Duquesne. But they raninto an ambush as they crossed the Monongahela River andwere badly defeated by the French and their Indian allies.

Forbes launched his own expedition against FortDuquesne in the spring of 1758. His army consisted of forty-eight hundred American colonists and fifteen hundred BritishArmy soldiers. One of his field commanders was GeorgeWashington (1732–1799; see entry), who had first visited theForks of the Ohio on a diplomatic mission in 1753, and hadwitnessed Braddock’s defeat there in 1755. Rather than followBraddock’s route through Virginia, Forbes decided to carve anew road through the wilderness of western Pennsylvania.His forces made a slow, careful advance toward the fort. Theycleared a path through woods and over mountains, and theybuilt supply depots along the way to help them hold the fortonce they had captured it. Forbes also spent a great deal oftime and effort talking with the Indians of the Ohio Countryand giving them gifts to gain their support. Unlike Braddock,he understood the importance of having Indian allies, andtried to lure them away from the French.

Forbes overcame many obstacles on the way to FortDuquesne. For example, he had to convince settlers along thePennsylvania frontier to provide supplies for his troops, and hehad to settle frequent arguments between his British officersand his colonial troops. But the most difficult situation he hadto face was his own poor health. Forbes suffered from a painfulskin condition that made it difficult for him to move, and healso caught a serious intestinal illness called dysentery. By Sep-tember, the only way for him to advance with his troops wasby riding in a hammock strung between two horses. Althoughthe general was in tremendous pain, he managed to keep hisforces together and inspired them with his courage and wit.

Claims the Ohio Country for the BritishForbes’s troops had their first encounter with the

enemy on September 14. The general had sent out an ad-



vance party of eight hundred men under Major James Grant(1720–1806) to scout the strength of the French forces de-fending Fort Duquesne. As the British troops approached thefort, French soldiers and Indian warriors came pouring out ofthe woods and attacked them. Washington and his Virginiaregiment fought bravely and allowed the remaining Britishtroops to retreat. Still, three hundred men were killed,wounded, or captured in the battle. Then the Indians whohad taken part in the attack collected their trophies (scalps,captives, weapons, and supplies that served as proof of theirbravery in battle) and went home, leaving only three hun-dred French soldiers to defend Fort Duquesne.

Learning that the French were running low on sup-plies, Forbes decided to wait and prepare for another attack.He ordered a full-scale attack on Fort Duquesne in late No-vember. As his men approached the fort, however, they hearda series of explosions. The French had realized they could notdefend the fort against the British attack and decided to de-stroy it rather than allow it to fall into enemy hands. Forbes’smen raised a British flag over the remains of the fort on No-vember 25, five months after the expedition had begun.

The following spring, the British began building ahuge new fort at the Forks of the Ohio, which would becalled Fort Pitt and would eventually become Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. The success of Forbes’s mission cut the connec-tion between the French colonies along the Mississippi Riverand those in Canada and claimed the Ohio Country for GreatBritain. It also helped convince some of the Ohio Indians tomake peace with the British.

Dies shortly after completing his missionForbes immediately sent a letter to Pitt informing him

of the successful capture of Fort Duquesne (as noted in Lettersof General John Forbes Relating to the Expedition against FortDuquesne in 1758): “I do myself the Honor of acquainting youthat it has pleased God to crown His Majesty’s Arms with Suc-cess over all His Enemies upon the Ohio, by my having oblig-ed [forced] the Enemy to burn and abandon Fort Duquesne.”The general was then carried back to Philadelphia, where hehoped to recover his health before returning to England. By

John Forbes 147


the time he arrived six weeks later, he was very weak andnoted that he looked “like an emaciated [terribly thin] oldwoman of eighty.” Forbes never made it back to England. Hedied in Philadelphia on March 11, 1759, and was buried atChrist Church.

Before he died, Forbes ordered a medal created for theofficers who had served under him. As one officer later de-scribed it, “The Medal has on one side the representation of aRoad cut thro an immense Forrest, over Rocks, and moun-tains.… On the other side are represented the confluence[junction] of the Ohio and Monongahela rivers, a Fort inFlames in the forks of the Rivers at the approach of GeneralForbes carried in a Litter, followed by the army marching inColumns with Cannon.” The road that Forbes cut throughthe Allegheny Mountains, which became known as ForbesRoad, eventually became an important route for Americansettlers heading west.

For More InformationDictionary of American Biography. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center.

Detroit: Gale, 2002.

Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998.

James, Alfred Proctor, ed. Writings of General John Forbes Relating to HisService in North America. New York: Arno Press, 1938. Reprint, 1971.

Letters of General John Forbes Relating to the Expedition against FortDuquesne in 1758. Pittsburgh: Allegheny County Committee, 1927.



W illiam Johnson was an Irish immigrant who became aprosperous trader in colonial New York. Part of his suc-

cess was due to the strong relationship he developed with theIroquois Indians of that region. In 1755, British leadersnamed Johnson commissioner of Indian affairs and gave himsole responsibility for negotiating treaties with the Indians.Johnson kept the Iroquois loyal to the British throughout theFrench and Indian War. He also served as a general, leadingBritish forces and their Indian allies to victory in the Battle ofLake George and the capture of Fort Niagara.

Develops strong relationship withthe Iroquois

William Johnson was born in Smithtown, CountyMeath, Ireland, in 1715. In 1737, at the age of twenty-two, heimmigrated to New York in hopes of making a prosperous lifefor himself. Johnson started out by managing fifteen thou-sand acres of land along the Mohawk River that belonged tohis uncle, Commodore Peter Warren. He leased small parcels

149

William Johnson. Reproducedby permission of the Corbis Corporation.

William JohnsonBorn 1715

Smithtown, County Meath, Ireland

Died July 11, 1774Johnstown, New York

British official who served ascommissioner of Indian affairs in the

American colonies


of land to other immigrants and helped them to build homesand farms there. Johnson also worked as a trader of furs andsupplies for the settlements along the Mohawk River. He soonearned enough money to buy his own land across the riverfrom his uncle’s property. His land holdings eventuallyreached five hundred thousand acres. Johnson built a houseon his property in 1742, and seven years later he establishedFort Johnson there.

At the time Johnson arrived in North America, north-ern New York was the home of the Mohawk Indians. The Mo-hawk were part of the Iroquois Confederacy, a powerful al-liance of six Indian (Native American) nations (the Cayuga,Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora) from theIroquois language family. Johnson learned the Mohawk lan-guage and customs, and traded honestly and fairly with theMohawk people. Over time, he gained the respect and friend-ship of their leaders. The Mohawk eventually adopted himinto their tribe and gave him an Indian name, Warraghiyagey,meaning “doer of great things” or “Chief Big Business.”

When King George’s War (known in Europe as theWar of the Austrian Succession) began in 1744, Johnson usedhis influence with the Indians to prevent the Iroquois Con-federacy from forming an alliance with the French. In 1746,British military leaders gave him the rank of colonel andasked him to raise and lead an army of Iroquois warriors. Twoyears later, he was given command of the colonial troopsraised to defend New York’s northern border against Frenchforces in Canada. In 1750, Johnson was appointed to theCouncil of New York, an important political group thathelped set policy for the colony.

Becomes commissioner of Indian affairsBy the early 1750s, the Iroquois Confederacy found it-

self in the middle of a dispute between the French and Britishcolonies in North America. The British colonies, known asAmerica, stretched along the Atlantic Ocean from present-dayMaine to Georgia. The French colonies, known as NewFrance, included eastern Canada, parts of the Great Lakes re-gion, and the Mississippi River basin. Both the British andFrench hoped to expand their land holdings into the Ohio



Country, a vast wilderness that lay between their coloniesand offered access to valuable natural resources and impor-tant river travel routes. Tribes of the Iroquois Confederacyhad lived on this land for generations. As Iroquois influencein the region started to decline, however, the British andFrench began fighting to claim the Ohio Country and takecontrol of North America. This conflict, which started in thecolonies in 1754, became known as the French and IndianWar (1754–63). Once Great Britain and France officially de-clared war in 1756, the conflict spread to Europe (where itwas called the Seven Years’ War) and around the world.

British leaders wanted to keep the Iroquois Confeder-acy on their side during the war. In 1755, they appointedJohnson commissioner of Indian affairs for the northerncolonies. Johnson thus became the official representative ofKing George II (1683–1760) of England among the Iroquoisand their allies. He was the only person authorized to negoti-ate treaties with the Indians. As he performed his job, John-son usually acted as a trusted advisor to Iroquois leaders. Hekept them informed of British plans and tried to convincethem to support the British war effort. He also tried to pre-vent the colonists from cheating the Indians in trade or trick-ing them into giving up their land. His efforts helped keepthe Iroquois loyal to Great Britain throughout the war.

Wins Battle of Lake George and capturesFort Niagara

Johnson also played an active role in the war as a mil-itary leader. In September 1755, for example, he led thirty-five hundred colonial troops and Indian warriors on a mis-sion to attack Fort St. Frédéric, a French stronghold on LakeChamplain in northern New York. In preparation for the at-tack, Johnson transported his men and supplies to LakeGeorge, where he set up camp. Before Johnson could moveagainst Fort St. Frédéric, however, he came under attack fromFrench and Indian forces under Baron Ludwig August (alsoknown as Jean-Armand) Dieskau (1701–1767). In what be-came known as the Battle of Lake George, Johnson’s forcesturned back the French attack and even managed to captureDieskau. Even though he had never threatened Fort St.

William Johnson 151


Frédéric, Johnson was hailed as a hero afterward. After all, itwas the first important British victory of the war, and it alsostopped the French from advancing into New York. Johnsonreceived a monetary reward and the title of baron from KingGeorge II in recognition of his efforts.

Once the British turned the tide of the war in their favorwith a series of important victories in 1758, Johnson found iteasier to convince the Indians to join the fight. In 1759, he gath-ered one thousand Indian warriors to take part in the British at-tack on Fort Niagara. They joined British forces under GeneralJohn Prideaux (1718–1759) and reached the French fort in earlyJuly. The British forces then set up a siege of the fort, surround-ing it and pounding it with artillery fire in order to weaken itsdefenses. Prideaux was killed in the early days of the siege, forc-ing Johnson to take command of the British troops.

A short time later, Johnson’s Indian scouts informedhim that French forces were approaching. The British forcesbuilt a log wall and an abatis (a defensive barrier consisting offelled trees with sharpened branches) to block the road to thefort. The enemy arrived on July 23 with a force of six hundredFrench soldiers and one thousand Indian allies. Before thebattle began, the Indians on both sides held a conference anddecided not to take part. The remaining force of six hundredFrench soldiers charged the British position in an attempt tobreak through to the fort. More than half of these men werekilled or captured, and the others were forced to retreat. FortNiagara surrendered to Johnson two days later. The capture ofFort Niagara cut off important supply routes between theFrench colonies in Canada and those along the MississippiRiver, thus giving the British control over the Ohio Countryand much of the former French territory to the west.

Deals with postwar Indian conflictsFollowing the capture of Fort Niagara, Johnson re-

signed from the military to concentrate on his duties as com-missioner of Indian affairs. Once the war ended in a Britishvictory in 1763, settlers began streaming into the new territo-ry that Great Britain had claimed from France. These settlerssoon came into conflict with the Indians who had lived onthis land for many generations. In 1763, several Indian na-



tions staged a rebellion in which they took over a number ofBritish forts in the Ohio Country and on the Great Lakes. Thefollowing year, Johnson held a conference at Fort Niagara andhelped negotiate a peaceful settlement of the dispute.

In 1768, Johnson persuaded the Iroquois to sign theTreaty of Fort Stanwix. Under the terms of this treaty, the Iro-quois agreed to give up their claims to sections of land inNew York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In exchange, thecolonies agreed to establish a permanent boundary for Indianterritory—land that would be off-limits to settlers. After nego-tiating the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, Johnson concentrated onhis own business interests. He founded the settlement ofJohnstown, New York, which he turned into a communitywith its own school, doctor, blacksmith, and farm manager.

Johnson’s health began failing during the 1770s, andhe spent much of his time at home. But Indian friends andcolonial leaders continued to approach him to act as a media-tor in disputes over land. Johnson held his last council fire (ameeting of Indians to discuss important issues) outside hishome in July 1774. He gave a speech to the gathered Indianson July 11, then went inside and died soon thereafter. Hishouse, Johnson Hall, survived the American Revolution andstill stands today. It was acquired as a historic landmark bythe state of New York in 1906 and has been fully restored.

During his lifetime, Johnson was a member of the So-ciety for the Promotion of Arts in America. He also helpedfound King’s College, which later became Columbia Universi-ty. Johnson was married three times. He married his formerhousekeeper, Catherine Weisberg (some sources say Weis-senberg), when he was in his early twenties. They had threechildren together before she died. Johnson then married Caro-line Peters, who was the niece of a friend, Mohawk chief Hen-drick (c. 1680–1755). They also had three children together be-fore she died. Johnson’s third wife was Molly Brant, a youngwoman of Indian ancestry with whom he had eight children.

For More InformationDrew, Paul Redmond. “Sir William Johnson—Indian Superintendent.”

Archiving Early America. http://earlyamerica.com/review/fall96/johnson.html (accessed January 28, 2003).

William Johnson 153



Flexner, James Thomas. Lord of the Mohawks: A Biography of Sir WilliamJohnson. Boston: Little, Brown, 1979.

Flexner, James Thomas. Mohawk Baronet: Sir William Johnson of New York.New York: Harper, 1959. Reprint, Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UniversityPress, 1989.

Hamilton, Milton W. Sir William Johnson, Colonial American, 1715–1763.Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Preess, 1976.

Igneri, David S. Sir William Johnson: The Man and His Influence. New York:Rivercross, 1994.

Moss, Robert. The Firekeeper: A Narrative of the Eastern Frontier. New York:Forge, 1995.

Pound, Arthur, and Richard E. Day. Johnson of the Mohawks: A Biographyof Sir William Johnson. New York: Macmillan, 1930. Reprint, Freeport,NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971.

“Sir William Johnson.” Johnstown, New York. http://www.johnstown.com/city/johnson.html (accessed January 28, 2003).



Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran,served as commander-in-chief of French forces in North

America from 1756 to 1759. A brilliant general who inspiredrespect and loyalty among his men, Montcalm defeated theBritish at Forts Oswego and William Henry in New York. Healso led the successful defense of Fort Carillon, despite thefact that his French forces were badly outnumbered. ButMontcalm is best known as the general who lost the Battle ofQuebec in 1759. He led a valiant three-month defense of thecity before his French forces were finally overcome by Britishtroops under General James Wolfe (1727–1759; see entry).Both Montcalm and Wolfe were killed in the famous battlethat sealed the British victory in the French and Indian War(1754–63; known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War).

Shows bravery and earns promotionsLouis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran was

born on February 29, 1712, in Nîmes, France. He came from amilitary family that had fought and died for France for many

155

Louis-Joseph, marquisde Montcalm-Gozon deSaint-Véran.

Louis-Joseph, Marquisde Montcalm-Gozon

de Saint-VéranBorn February 29, 1712

Nîmes, France

Died September 14, 1759Quebec, Canada

French general who led thedefense of Quebec


generations. In fact, the family motto was “War is the graveof the Montcalms.” Montcalm received a classical educationbefore joining the French Army at the age of fifteen. Hebegan his military career as a low-ranking officer in his fa-ther’s unit, but was promoted to the rank of captain by thetime he reached the age of seventeen. Montcalm marriedLouise Angelique Talon in 1736. In 1743, he was promoted tothe rank of colonel and became a chevalier of the Order of St.Louis (the lowest level of French nobility).

Montcalm first distinguished himself as a militaryleader during the War of the Austrian Succession (1744–48;also known as King George’s War). He fought bravely duringthe battle at Piacenza in northern Italy in 1746, was wound-ed five times, and then was taken prisoner by enemy forces.Upon his release the following year, he was promoted to therank of brigadier general. Montcalm then rejoined the armyin Italy and fought in several other battles before the warended.

In 1756, Montcalm received the rank of major gener-al and was selected to take command over all the Frenchforces in Canada during the French and Indian War. This con-flict began in 1754 in North America, where both GreatBritain and France had established colonies (permanent set-tlements of citizens who maintain ties to the mother coun-try). The British colonies, known as America, stretched alongthe Atlantic Ocean from present-day Maine to Georgia. TheFrench colonies, known as New France, included easternCanada, parts of the Great Lakes region, and the MississippiRiver basin.




Hands the British several defeatsMontcalm arrived in New France in the spring of

1756. One of his main missions was to protect the waterroutes that linked Canada to French territory in the west.After drilling his troops daily for months, the general decidedto launch an attack against Fort Oswego, a British strongholdlocated on the southern shore of Lake Ontario at the mouthof the Oswego River (near the site of modern-day Syracuse,New York). On August 10, 1756, Montcalm brought a 3,000-man army to attack the fort. His forces consisted of 1,300highly trained French soldiers, 1,500 Canadian militia, and250 Indians from six different nations. Montcalm and hisarmy captured two hills that towered above the British fortand aimed their cannons down into it. One of the cannon-balls killed the British commanding officer, and the fort sur-rendered a short time later. Montcalm’s forces destroyed thefort and took all of the boats, cannons, guns, and other sup-plies they could find.

Once the fort surrendered, Montcalm ordered thatthe surviving British soldiers be treated as prisoners of warand taken to Montreal. But his Indian allies had joined thefight in order to collect trophies—captives, scalps, weapons,and supplies—as proof of their courage. They became angrywhen they heard about Montcalm’s plan for the British pris-oners. The Indians ended up killing between thirty and onehundred British soldiers and taking many more captive.Montcalm was outraged by the Indians’ behavior. In fact, hesecretly paid ransom to reclaim some of the prisoners.

In 1757, Montcalm launched an attack on FortWilliam Henry, a British stronghold located at the south endof Lake George in northern New York. This time, Montcalmled 8,000 troops, including 2,000 Indian warriors. Theycrossed the lake in small boats, hauled their artillery onshore, and began bombarding the fort. After Fort WilliamHenry had been battered by French artillery for several days,the British forces surrendered. Once again, Montcalm agreedto consider the British survivors as prisoners of war and trans-port them to Montreal. But the Indians were left out of thesettlement and refused to accept it. What followed has beencalled “the massacre of Fort William Henry.” The Indians at-tacked the British survivors, killing up to 185 men and taking

Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran 157


several hundred more as prisoners. Horrified by what hap-pened, Montcalm became reluctant to allow Indian allies totake part in his future campaigns.

In 1758, Montcalm led the successful French defenseof Fort Carillon (also known as Ticonderoga), located on LakeChamplain in northern New York. About four thousandFrench defenders held off fifteen thousand British troops underGeneral James Abercromby (1706–1781). Montcalm anticipat-ed the location of the British attack and ordered his forces tobuild a huge wall of logs and an abatis (a defensive barriermade from felled trees with sharpened branches) to block theirapproach. Abercromby sent wave after wave of British soldierstoward the fort, where they either became tangled in the abatisor were shot by the French. By the time Abercromby finally or-dered a retreat, two thousand of his men were dead or wound-ed. Montcalm was considered a hero for his unlikely victory.

Faces problems in the French war effortAlthough Montcalm had managed to defeat the

British in several important battles, by 1758, he was con-cerned about a number of problems with the French war ef-fort in North America. For example, the French Canadianpopulation was simply too small to provide enough food,supplies, and soldiers to defend Canada against the British. Infact, the British population in North America was ten timeslarger than the French population. Montcalm tried to con-vince the French government to send more troops and sup-plies to Canada. His pleas fell on deaf ears, as the French lead-ers chose to concentrate on fighting the war in Europe. Inaddition, the British had won several important naval battlesand taken control of shipping on the Atlantic, which made itvery difficult to send supplies from France to Canada.

Another problem involved Montcalm’s relationshipwith the civilian (nonmilitary) governor of New France, PierreFrançois de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil (1698–1778; see boxin chapter 5). The two men did not like one another and dis-agreed over strategies for conducting the war, especially regard-ing the use of Indian allies. In addition, Montcalm was disgust-ed by the corruption he saw in the government of New France.He believed that Vaudreuil and his cabinet stole money andsupplies from France that should have gone to the army.



In the early years of the war,Montcalm used his skill as a general toovercome these problems. His hon-esty, fairness, and bravery earned therespect and loyalty of his troops. Atthe same time, his careful planningand clever military strategies allowedhim to win several important battles.But in 1758, the British governmentdecided to concentrate its militarystrength in North America. The Britishsent thousands of troops and tons ofsupplies to its colonies and beganplanning a full-scale invasion of Cana-da. They won several important bat-tles that year and pushed Montcalm’sarmy back to the important Canadiancities of Montreal and Quebec.

The battle for QuebecIn 1759, the British decided to

attack Quebec, the capital of NewFrance. Quebec was a difficult target forthe British to attack. It sat atop highcliffs overlooking the St. LawrenceRiver and was surrounded by a largestone wall. As Montcalm prepared todefend the city, he left two thousand soldiers within the wallsof Quebec and arranged his remaining twelve thousand troopsalong the bank of the St. Lawrence. The French defensive linestretched along the cliffs east of the city for seven miles, be-tween the St. Charles River and the Montmorency River.

Montcalm understood that he did not have to defeatthe British in battle in order to claim victory. He only neededto hold Quebec until October, when the arrival of winterwould force the British to leave the area before the St.Lawrence River froze. Montcalm believed that if he defendedQuebec successfully, the British would have to negotiate apeace treaty with France.

The British fleet arrived at Quebec in late June carry-ing more than eight thousand troops under Major General


Eighteenth-CenturyGeneral Receives Twenty-First Century Funeral

Louis-Joseph, marquis de Mont-calm’s body remained buried at a conventin Quebec City for almost 250 years. In2001, however, Canadian officials decidedthat the French general should be buriedamong his troops. His casket, draped in aFrench flag, was taken through historicOld Quebec in a horse-drawn carriage.The funeral procession also included a mil-itary honor guard dressed in uniformsfrom the 1750s and carrying flags fromeach of the units in Montcalm’s army. Theceremony was attended by many impor-tant Canadian citizens as well as some ofMontcalm’s descendants. The general’snew grave can be found in a small ceme-tery in the Lower Town section of Quebec,next to the graves of some of the men heled into battle.


James Wolfe. They set up a base camp on the Île d’Orleans, alarge island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, just a fewmiles from the city. Over the next two months, the Britishforces made several attempts to break through the French de-fensive line. But Montcalm’s forces held off the attacks andrefused to be drawn out of their strategic positions.

Finally, on the night of September 12, some of Wolfe’sforces used an overgrown footpath to climb the cliffs just up-stream from Quebec. The five thousand British soldiers thenarranged themselves in battle formation on the Plains of Abra-ham, a broad field that stretched behind the city and provid-ed an ideal spot to set up a siege (a military strategy that in-volves surrounding a target, cutting it off from outside helpand supplies, and using artillery to break down its defenses).

On September 13, Montcalm decided to face theenemy on the field of battle rather than allow the British to setup a siege. Riding on horseback and waving his sword, he led


French general Louis-Joseph,marquis de Montcalm liesdying after he was shot inthe battle for Quebec in1759. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


forty-five hundred French troops onto the Plains of Abraham.But the highly trained British soldiers held their ground andsoon forced the French to retreat back to the city. Both Mont-calm and Wolfe received mortal wounds during the fighting.

Montcalm was shot in the leg and abdomen. He or-dered two of his soldiers to hold him upright in the saddle ashe rode off the battlefield so that the rest of his army wouldnot know that his wounds were serious. When the general fi-nally got inside the city walls, a doctor told him that he onlyhad a few hours to live. “So much the better,” Montcalmreplied. “I shall not see the surrender of Quebec.” Montcalmdied early in the morning of September 14, 1759. He wasburied in the courtyard of a convent, in a hole that had beencreated by a British artillery shell, but was reburied years later(see box).

Quebec surrendered to the British on September 18.The British victory reduced French territory in North Americato Montreal and a few forts along the Great Lakes. Both sidesknew that the British were very close to victory, particularlysince the French had lost their great general. Montreal surren-dered to British forces in 1760 to end the French and IndianWar and give the British control over all French territory inNorth America.

For More InformationCasgrain, H. R. Wolfe and Montcalm. Toronto: University of Toronto

Press, 1964.

Chartrand, René. Ticonderoga 1758: Montcalm’s Victory Against Odds. Ox-ford, England: Osprey Publishing, 2000.

Deziel, Shanda. “Montcalm Joins His Soldiers at Last.” Maclean’s (Octo-ber 22, 2001): 24.


Lewis, Meriwether L. Montcalm: The Marvelous Marquis. New York: Van-tage Press, 1961.

Lloyd, Christopher. The Capture of Quebec. New York: Macmillan, 1959.

Parkman, Francis. Montcalm and Wolfe. Boston: Little, Brown and Com-pany, 1884. Reprint, New York: Modern Library, 1999.



W illiam Pitt is known as one of the greatest wartime lead-ers in British history. He served as secretary of state in

the British government during the French and Indian War(1754–63; known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War). Duringthis period, he directed British military operations and carriedout political schemes with great effectiveness. Under his guid-ance, British and colonial troops added Canada and mostother disputed areas of North America to the British Empire,and England established itself as the world’s greatest power.

Privileged upbringing leads to a careerin politics

William Pitt was born on November 15, 1708. His par-ents were Robert Pitt, a member of the British Parliament, andLady Harriet Villiers, whose family was of English-Irish nobil-ity. Young Pitt was raised in very comfortable surroundingsand studied at England’s finest schools. He attended school atEton from 1719 to 1726, then moved on to Oxford andUtrecht in 1727. He suffered from a variety of illnesses as a

162

William PittBorn November 15, 1708Westminster, England

Died May 11, 1778London, England

British war minister during theFrench and Indian War

William Pitt.


youngster, so he rarely participated in the outdoor and sportsactivities that were popular with other boys his age. But hewas an intelligent and curious youngster who filled his dayswith literature, art, and music.

In 1735, Pitt followed in the footsteps of his grandfa-ther and father, taking a seat as a member of the Parliament,the supreme legislative body of the country. All across GreatBritain, no laws or taxes could be approved without the for-mal agreement of the Parliament. In addition, only membersof Parliament were eligible to serve as the prime minister orfill other posts in the cabinet. (The cabinet is a group of legis-lators who lead various government departments and serve asadvisors to the prime minister.)

Pitt quickly established himself as one of the Parlia-ment’s most fearless and ambitious members. In 1736, he de-livered a speech in which he strongly criticized the policies ofKing George II (1683–1760) and the government. The kingwas so angry about the remarks that he arranged for Pitt’s dis-missal from the “Blues,” a ceremonial regiment of horsemenaffiliated with the royal crown. But the move backfired. TheBritish public sided with Pitt in the dispute, expressing admi-ration for his bold behavior.

From 1737 to 1745, Pitt served as assistant to Freder-ick Louis (1707–1751), the prince of Wales, King George II’sson. During this period, he remained one of the most vocalcritics of the ruling government. In May 1744, Pitt became se-riously ill. He gradually recovered, but mysterious ailmentsand sicknesses dogged him for the rest of his life. In 1746,King George II permitted Pitt to return to the government,most notably as paymaster general of the military. In 1754,Pitt married Hester Grenville, with whom he eventually hadthree sons and two daughters.

Pitt guides Britain through the Frenchand Indian War

Even as Pitt’s political career flourished in the early1750s, relations between Great Britain and France becamedangerously tense. Since the late seventeenth century, thesetwo European powers had repeatedly clashed for economic,

William Pitt 163


military, and political supremacy around the world. In 1754,this struggle erupted once again in North America with theFrench and Indian War.

By the 1750s, both Great Britain and France had es-tablished large colonies (permanent settlements of citizenswho maintain ties to the mother country) throughout theeastern half of North America. The British colonies, known asAmerica, stretched along the Atlantic Ocean from present-dayMaine to Georgia. The French colonies, known as NewFrance, included eastern Canada, parts of the Great Lakes re-gion, and the Mississippi River basin. Both the British andFrench hoped to expand their land holdings into the OhioCountry, a vast wilderness that lay between their colonies.This region offered access to valuable natural resources andimportant river travel routes. But the Ohio Country was con-trolled by the Iroquois Confederacy, a powerful alliance of sixIndian (Native American) nations who had lived on the landfor generations. When the influence of the Iroquois Confed-eracy began to decline in the mid-1700s, the British andFrench began fighting to claim the Ohio Country and takecontrol of North America. This conflict—the French and In-dian War—quickly widened into a global struggle.

When the French and Indian War began, Pitt repeated-ly urged the government to attack France and its colonies allaround the world. He called on the nation’s leaders to increasethe size of its army and navy, create a national militia, andsend more troops to America. He also told his political alliesthat if he was running things, he could lead Britain to greatglory. As noted in Encyclopedia of World Biography, he declared,“I know that I can save this country and that no one else can.”

From 1754 through early 1757, British forces suffered aseries of military defeats in North America and elsewhere. Theselosses triggered a political crisis in Great Britain. Finally, KingGeorge II called on Pitt to take leadership of the government,despite his personal dislike for the man. The king recognizedthat England needed to be led by a popular figure like Pitt if ithoped to win the war against France. Pitt gladly accepted thechallenge, and in July 1757, he was formally appointed warminister of Great Britain. He shared political power withThomas Pelham-Holles (1693–1768), the duke of Newcastle, butenjoyed authority over all of Britain’s military forces.



When Pitt took over the war effort, England wasstruggling all across the world. The French and their Indianallies were scoring victory after victory in North America, andsome British leaders feared that France was on the verge ofseizing not only the fur trade and fisheries of that continent,but also the American colonies themselves. In addition, GreatBritain had recently suffered military setbacks at the hands ofthe French in India, the Mediterranean, and Africa.

Reversing the momentum of the warBut Pitt quickly reversed the falling fortunes of the

British Empire. He spoke with such great confidence and deter-mination that he was able to renew Britain’s commitment tothe war. Indeed, his appeals to national pride inspired the Eng-lish people. In addition, he proved to be an effective planner ofmilitary and naval strategy. He also used his authority to makesure the military received the best possible leadership. For ex-ample, he promoted and removed commanders based on theirtalent, skill, and bravery rather than their years of service in themilitary or family connections. Finally, he worked very hard toimprove relations with the American colonists. During the firstyears of the French and Indian War, British generals and law-makers had treated the Americans poorly. But Pitt behaved as ifthey were equals, and he listened to their wartime complaintsand suggestions respectfully. As a result, support for the war in-creased dramatically throughout the colonies.

Under Pitt’s leadership, England registered a series ofmajor military victories around the world. In Europe, he senthuge sums of money to British allies so that they could ex-pand their militaries. Before long, these armies were postingmajor victories over France and its allies. At the same time,Pitt sent large numbers of British troops to attack French out-posts around the globe. In North America, for example, com-bined British and American forces swept through French ter-ritory in 1758 and 1759, capturing one fort after another.

In 1760, King George II died of a stroke and KingGeorge III (1738–1820; see box) took the throne. The newking’s primary advisor was an old opponent of Pitt’s namedJohn Stuart, third earl of Bute (1713–1792). King George III dis-trusted Pitt and wanted him removed from office, but he knewthat he could not immediately dismiss the popular Pitt. Indeed,

William Pitt 165


Pitt—known around the country as “the Great Commoner” be-cause of his background in Parliament’s House of Commons—had brought his countrymen a great deal of glory and honor.He had claimed most of North America for the British Empire,and French forces were in retreat all around the world.

In 1761, Great Britain and France initiated negotia-tions to end the war. Pitt, however, did not want to end thewar. On the contrary, he wanted to expand the war by attack-ing Spain, which had allied itself with France. But when hisadvice was rejected, Pitt resigned from office in October 1761.


King George III was one of themost controversial monarchs in English his-tory. Though considered an honest man ofgood intentions, there is no argument thathe was a man of limited intellectual capaci-ty. Historians generally agree that his mini-mal intelligence made him an ineffectualruler and led to the controversy surround-ing his tragic life.

In the first years of his rule, whichlasted from 1760 to 1820, Great Britainseized control of much of North America inthe French and Indian War. But he later lostthe American colonies in the War for Inde-pendence, and he suffered from mental ill-ness during many of his years on the throne.

Born in London on June 4, 1738,George III was the oldest son of FrederickLouis, the prince of Wales, and the grand-son of King George II. He became king ofEngland in 1760, after George II died of astroke. In the first years of his reign,George III devoted much of his time and

energy to restoring powers to the kingthat had been lost during his grandfather’sreign. His main ally in this effort was JohnStuart, the earl of Bute. In 1761, their op-position to an offensive against Spain ledto the resignation of William Pitt, Britain’senormously popular war minister. In 1763,the Treaty of Paris, which ended theFrench and Indian War between Britainand France, established Great Britain as theworld’s leading economic, military, andpolitical power.

In the 1760s, King George III ap-pointed and dismissed a series of ministersto run the British government. He finallysettled on Frederick North (1732–1792),the earl of Guilford, who served as primeminister from 1770 to 1782. But KingGeorge III and Lord North instituted poli-cies that further increased tensions be-tween Great Britain and its colonies inAmerica. Relations eventually became sopoor that the colonies launched a success-ful fight for independence and formed the

King George III—The “Mad King”


Two years later, France and England signed the Treaty ofParis, which ended the French and Indian War. Pitt bitterlycriticized the treaty, but it firmly established Britain as theworld’s great economic, commercial, and colonial power.

Hampered by failing healthPitt struggled with a range of health problems

through the early 1760s. He spent most of this time at hiscountry estate in Bath, England. Every once in a while, he

William Pitt 167

United States of America. The loss of thecolonies triggered a storm of political un-rest that nearly forced the king to abdicate(step down from the throne).

In the meantime, the health andwell-being of King George III became a

major source of concern within the BritishEmpire. In 1765, he had been confined tobed for three months by a mysterious ill-ness that threatened to take his life. Fromthat point forward, he suffered from peri-odic attacks of insomnia, hallucinations, ex-cessive sensitivity to touch, and deliriousbehavior. Historians now believe that thesesymptoms came from a rare hereditary dis-ease called porphyria.

The disease worsened in the lateeighteenth century, and many British citi-zens, as well as King George III himself, be-came concerned that he might be goinginsane. During this period, his power andinfluence eroded significantly. In 1809, hebecame blind, and two years later his men-tal state became so unbalanced that hecould no longer function as king. His son,who later became George IV (1762–1830),acted as regent (someone who rules duringthe disability or absence of a king or otherruler) until George III’s death on January29, 1820.

King George III. Courtesy of the National Archivesand Records Administration.


would travel to London, where his public proclamations ongovernment policies continued to attract attention. For ex-ample, he repeatedly expressed his opposition to imposingtaxes on the American colonies since they were not represent-ed in the British Parliament. He believed that this “taxationwithout representation” was illegal, according to British law.At the same time, however, he made it very clear that he con-sidered the colonies a part of the British Empire.

In August 1766, the collapse of the current adminis-tration in England led to Pitt’s reappointment as prime min-ister. But illness kept him away from office for months at atime, and political battles and scheming made it impossiblefor him to forge an effective government. Weary and sick, hestepped down from office in November 1768.

By 1771, Pitt made only rare appearances in Parlia-ment because of his poor health, but he remained concernedabout the growing tensions between Britain and the Ameri-can colonies. Pitt firmly supported British efforts to end therebellion, and while he did not want to see the Americansgain total independence from Great Britain, he believed thatthey deserved to have greater control over their own futures.On April 7, 1778, he traveled to Parliament and delivered aspeech in which he urged his countrymen to keep the Britishflag flying over the colonies. At the same time, he also askedParliament to consider an arrangement in which the colonieswould have significant powers of self-government, and hewarned that it would be very difficult for Britain to win anall-out war with the Americans.

At the conclusion of this speech, Pitt collapsed. Afterundergoing medical treatment, he was taken back to hiscountry estate, but he never regained his health. He remainedconfined to his bed for more than a month, and he died onMay 11, 1778.

For More InformationBlack, Jeremy. Pitt the Elder. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.


Historic World Leaders. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Detroit:Gale Group, 2002.

Peters, Marie. Pitt and Popularity: The Patriot Minister and London OpinionDuring the Seven Years War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.



A chief of the Ottawa tribe, Pontiac is believed to havebeen one of the driving forces behind a massive Indian

(Native American) rebellion waged against British forts andsettlements from 1763 to 1765. This uprising—which came tobe known as Pontiac’s Rebellion—ranks as one of the greatestIndian alliances in North American history. During the courseof this rebellion, which swept all along the western frontier,hundreds of white people were killed and several forts werecaptured. In addition, Pontiac personally led a band of war-riors that nearly succeeded in taking Fort Detroit, the mostimportant British outpost in the Great Lakes region. But hissix-month siege of the fort ultimately failed, and in 1765, heagreed to lay down arms against the British soldiers and set-tlers that had moved into the region.

A chief of the powerful OttawasLittle information on Pontiac’s early life is known.

Historians believe that he was the son of an Ottawa fatherand Ojibway mother, but they are not even sure of the year or

169

Ottawa tribe chief Pontiac.Reproduced by permission ofGetty Images.

PontiacBorn c. 1720

Great Lakes region

Died April 20, 1769Cahokia, Illinois

Ottawa war chief who led a major Indianuprising against British forces


place in which he was born. It is thought that he was bornsomewhere between 1718 and 1720, in one of three placeswithin Ottawa territory: Michilimackinac, on the northerntip of Michigan’s lower peninsula; along the Maumee River inmodern-day Ohio; or along the Ottawa River near the Michi-gan-Ohio border.

Pontiac was tall and powerfully built, and he was evi-dently a strong warrior and leader, for Ottawa tribes selectedtheir chiefs based on leadership and fighting skills as well asheredity. He may have had several wives and children, buthistorians are only aware of one wife—Kantuckeegan—andtwo sons.

Pontiac became a chief of the Ottawa nation at a timewhen tribes all around the Great Lakes had become depen-dent on trade with Frenchmen for their survival. For exam-ple, many Indians had become so reliant on rifles to huntgame and defend themselves from attack that they were nolonger capable of using bows and arrows effectively. Other In-dian traditions were also being lost because of the influenceof the French traders. Still, the relationship between the Indi-an tribes and French traders and settlers was friendly and mu-tually respectful.

Not surprisingly, the Ottawas and many other Indiannations sided with the French when the French and IndianWar (1754–63; known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War)erupted. This war began in North America, where both GreatBritain and France had established large colonies (permanentsettlements of citizens who maintain ties to the mother coun-try) throughout the eastern half of the continent. The Britishcolonies, known as America, stretched along the AtlanticOcean from present-day Maine to Georgia. The Frenchcolonies, known as New France, included eastern Canada,parts of the Great Lakes region, and the Mississippi Riverbasin. Both the British and the French hoped to expand theirland holdings into the Ohio Country, a vast wilderness thatlay between their colonies. This region offered access to valu-able natural resources and important river travel routes. Butthe Ohio Country was controlled by the Iroquois Confedera-cy, a powerful alliance of six Indian nations who had lived onthe land for generations. When the influence of the IroquoisConfederacy began to decline in the mid-1700s, the British



and French began fighting to claim the Ohio Country andtake control of North America. Once Great Britain and Franceofficially declared war in 1756, the conflict spread to Europeand around the world.

Pontiac’s early encounters withthe British

In 1759, British forces captured Quebec from theFrench. This victory marked the end of the war between Frenchand British forces in North America. With Quebec in hand,British leaders sent Major Robert Rogers (1731–1795; see entry)and two hundred of his fellow American soldiers to accept thesurrender of all French forts on the western frontier. As eachcommander surrendered, Rogers was expected to formally de-clare that the fort was now a part of the British Empire.

Rogers and his force began their journey in the fall of1760, paddling across the Great Lakes in big whaleboats. OneNovember evening, however, Rogers and his men were sur-rounded at their lakeshore camp by Pontiac and a large bandof warriors. After talking with Rogers, Pontiac decided that hewould attempt to live in peace with the British. Rogers andPontiac took part in a peace pipe ceremony, and the Indianchief provided Rogers with protection from other Indiantribes as he continued his journey westward.

In the early 1760s, however, relations between theBritish and the Indian tribes became very tense. British mili-tary leaders issued orders prohibiting white men from sellingammunition, food, clothing, or alcohol to the Indians. Tribes-people were also turned away from forts and settlements theyhad visited for years. In the meantime, English farmers andhunters and tradesmen continued to build new houses andsettlements in the region without regard for the feelings ofthe Indian nations that had long made their homes there.Pontiac reflected the sentiments of many Indians when hecomplained that the English were swarming into the GreatLakes region like mosquitoes in the swamps.

Pontiac and other Indian leaders recognized that theBritish were treating the tribes like trespassers on their ownland. In addition, Pontiac and other Indians believed that the

Pontiac 171


French, with whom they had coexisted peacefully for years,might yet return. Pontiac thus devised a plan that called forall of the Indian tribes to unite and conquer all the Britishfrontier forts at the same time. Pontiac thought that if the In-dians seized the forts, they would be able to take ammuni-tion, clothing, and other supplies they needed. More impor-tantly, victories over the British might convince the Frenchtraders to return.

In 1762, Pontiac sent messengers to all of the region’stribal leaders, asking them to come to his village for a majorconference. In April 1763, the tribal representatives gatheredat Pontiac’s camp near the shores of Lake Erie. Pontiacopened the war council by reminding his visitors of all the in-sults they had suffered at the hands of the British. He also re-called how the French had traded freely and fairly with theIndians. Finally, as noted in Historic World Leaders, Pontiactold them that the supreme god of the Indians wanted themto “lift the hatchet” against the British and renew their


Ottawa tribe chief Pontiacholds out a peace pipe toBritish general RobertRogers in the fall of 1760.Courtesy of the Libraryof Congress.


friendship with the French. But he added that the tribesshould return to the traditions and lifestyles that they hadfollowed before they met the white man. “You have boughtguns, knives, kettles and blankets from the white men untilyou can no longer do without them; and, what is worse, youhave drunk the poison firewater [alcohol], which turns youinto fools,” said Pontiac.

By the time the war council had concluded, sixteenIndian nations—including the Algonquins, the Hurons, theSenecas, and several tribes of the lower Mississippi—hadagreed to join Pontiac’s rebellion. A few weeks later, tribesacross the west attacked forts and settlements that had beenbuilt in their midst. Eight of these forts eventually fell to theirIndian attackers.

Pontiac attacks Fort DetroitPontiac’s task in the uprising was to capture Fort De-

troit, the biggest British fort in the Great Lakes Region. Hesettled on a scheme to enter the fort in a peaceful manner,then attack the soldiers within. But the commander of FortDetroit, Major Henry Gladwin (1729–1791), learned that Pon-tiac planned to attack the outpost, and he was able to preparefor any trickery.

On May 7, 1763, Pontiac and forty warriors enteredFort Detroit, saying they wanted to meet with Gladwin. Theywere accompanied by hundreds of squaws (Indian women)and elders who had hidden guns and knives under theirclothing. As Pontiac entered the fort, he expected the Britishsoldiers inside to be relaxed and unprepared for any vio-lence. But as he walked through the interior of the fort, hesaw that heavily armed soldiers were all over the place,watching the Indians like hawks. As noted in Historic WorldLeaders, Gladwin later wrote that “they were so much sur-prised to see [our soldiers armed], that they could hardly sitdown to council. However, in about half and hour, after theysaw their designs [plans] were discovered, they sat down andPontiac made a speech which I answered calmly, without in-timating [showing] my suspicion of their intentions, andafter receiving some trifling [small] presents, they went awayto their camp.”

Pontiac 173


Two days later, though, Pontiac returned with hun-dreds of warriors and laid siege to the fort. By surroundingthe fort with his own men, the Ottawa chief hoped to pre-vent the 125 British soldiers inside from receiving food, am-munition, and other supplies. He believed the fort’s defend-ers would surrender when they ran out of food andgunpowder. As the siege continued, Pontiac’s men also at-tacked isolated white settlements in the region, killing somesettlers and taking others captive.

As the weeks passed, Pontiac and his warriors inter-cepted a number of shipments of supplies that were intendedfor the fort. They also attacked soldiers sent to help defendthe fort. They killed some soldiers on the field of battle, butothers were captured and tortured before being put to death.Pontiac ordered many of these mutilated bodies to be throwninto the Detroit River, so they would float past Gladwin andthe other British soldiers inside the fort.

In late July, however, nearly two dozen British boatscarrying soldiers, cannons, ammunition, and other suppliesslipped past Indian sentries in heavy fog and reached thefort. Captain James Dalyell (?–1763), a chief aide to GeneralJeffery Amherst (1717–1797; see entry), was part of thisgroup. Soon after his arrival, he ordered a surprise nighttimeraid on Pontiac’s camp, which was about five miles awayfrom the gates of the fort. But Pontiac learned of the plan,and he organized a brutal ambush of Dalyell’s forces. A totalof fifty-nine British soldiers were killed or wounded in theclash, and the troops were forced to flee back to the safety ofthe fort.

Throughout the summer of 1763, Pontiac expressedconfidence that the French would return. But a trickle of sup-plies continued to make it to the fort, despite Pontiac’s best ef-forts to cut off the flow. His frustration with the situationgrew, and he reportedly subjected white captives to all sorts oftorture and brutal treatment during this time. In late summer,Pontiac intercepted a message to Fort Detroit that stated thatFrance and Great Britain had settled their differences with theTreaty of Paris. According to this agreement, the people ofFrance acknowledged that all of the Great Lakes region wasnow British territory. But Pontiac’s desire to see the French re-turn was so great that he refused to believe the message.



Pontiac lifts the siegeIn the fall, Pontiac’s army began to fall apart. Some

warriors drifted away to hunt for food that would sustaintheir families over the long winter. Others expressed doubtthat the French would ever come to the Indians’ aid. Aroundthis same time, Pontiac received a letter from a French mili-tary commander on the Mississippi River. As noted in HistoricWorld Leaders, the letter urged Pontiac and the other Indiansto lay down their war hatchets “and live as brothers with theBritish.… Let there be peace in the Great Lakes!”

As autumn rolled across the Great Lakes, Pontiac fi-nally admitted to himself that his bid to capture Fort Detroithad been unsuccessful. He also realized the massive Indian re-bellion had failed to convince the French to resume hostili-ties against the British. On October 31, 1763, Pontiac liftedthe six-month siege on Fort Detroit. He sent a note to Glad-win saying he wanted to have peaceful relations with theBritish. He then spent the winter in an Ottawa village on theMaumee River. In the spring of 1764, Pontiac tried to recruitwarriors for another uprising. But this time, his words failedto generate any excitement, and an organized uprising neverdeveloped.

In August 1765, Pontiac finally agreed to stop fightingthe British. In the spring of 1766, he signed a peace treaty inwhich he was pardoned (officially forgiven) for his role in the1763 rebellion. He hoped that the agreement would convincethe British to give gifts and supplies to the people of his tribe.But when these gifts failed to appear, his people rejected hischieftainship. He spent the next three years wandering the re-gion, where he found that his reputation among the Ottawaand other tribes had declined dramatically. In fact, he becamethe target of ridicule by some of the younger warriors he en-countered. He apparently engaged in no other violent actsagainst the British during this time.

In April 1769, Pontiac traveled to a trading post in Ca-hokia, Illinois, where he was killed under mysterious circum-stances. Some accounts say that a Peoria Indian named BlackDog murdered him, possibly at the request of British leaderswho still distrusted him. But other historians believe that hemay have been killed by Indians angry about his decision tolay down arms against the British.

Pontiac 175


For More InformationBland, Celia. Pontiac: Ottawa Rebel. New York: Chelsea House, 1995.

Dockstader, Frederick J. Great North American Indians: Profiles in Life andLeadership. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1977.

Encyclopedia of World Biography. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center.Detroit: Gale, 2002.

Fleischer, Jane. Pontiac: Chief of the Ottawas. Mahwah, NJ: Troll Associ-ates, 1979.

Historic World Leaders. Detroit: Gale, 1994.

Notable Native Americans. Detroit: Gale, 1995.

Peckham, Howard H. Pontiac and the Indian Uprising. New York: Russell &Russell, 1970. Reprint, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1994.

Wheeler, Jill. Forest Warrior: The Story of Pontiac. Bloomington, IN: Abdo& Daughters, 1989.



Robert Rogers was one of the most exciting figures to emergeduring the French and Indian War (1754–63; known in Eu-

rope as the Seven Years’ War). A rugged outdoorsman from theNew Hampshire frontier, Rogers recruited other men like him-self and formed companies of wilderness fighters known asRogers’ Rangers. The rangers provided valuable service to theBritish Army as scouts and raiders. In fact, they helped theBritish side in much the same way that Indian (Native Ameri-can) allies helped the French side. Once the war ended, Rogersadded to his fame by publishing his journals (see box), whichare full of exciting tales about his wartime adventures.

Becomes a rugged frontiersmanRobert Rogers was born on November 7, 1731, in

Methuen, Massachusetts Bay Colony. The son of James andMary Rogers, Robert grew up on his family’s farm near mod-ern-day Concord, New Hampshire. During his youth, the areawhere he lived consisted mostly of wilderness, with a fewsmall farms and villages scattered throughout. Since Rogers

177

Robert Rogers. Reproducedby permission of the Corbis Corporation.

Robert RogersBorn November 7, 1731

Methuen, Massachusetts

Died May 18, 1795London, England

American wilderness fighter, scout,and leader of Rogers’ Rangers


was needed to work on the farm, he received little formal ed-ucation. As he grew older, he spent all his spare time in thewilderness—hunting, exploring, and trading with the Indianswho lived there. By the time the French and Indian Warbroke out, Rogers had developed into a rugged frontiersman.

The French and Indian War began in 1754 in NorthAmerica, where both Great Britain and France had establishedcolonies (permanent settlements of citizens who maintainties to the mother country). The British colonies, known asAmerica, stretched along the Atlantic Ocean from present-dayMaine to Georgia. The French colonies, known as NewFrance, included eastern Canada, parts of the Great Lakes re-gion, and the Mississippi River basin.

Both the British and the French hoped to expandtheir land holdings into the Ohio Country, a vast wildernessthat lay between their colonies and offered access to valuablenatural resources and important river travel routes. But theOhio Country was controlled by the Iroquois Confederacy, apowerful alliance of six Indian nations whose members hadlived on the land for generations. As Iroquois influence start-ed to decline in the mid-1700s, however, the British andFrench began fighting to claim the Ohio Country and takecontrol of North America. Once Great Britain and France offi-cially declared war in 1756, the conflict spread to Europe andaround the world.

In the early years of the French and Indian War, theFrench formed alliances with many Indian nations. TheFrench and their Indian allies worked together to hand theBritish and their American colonists a series of defeats. Part ofthe reason for the French success was that they learned someof the Indians’ methods of wilderness fighting. For example,they often hid in the woods and launched sneak attacks. Incontrast, the British soldiers wore bright red uniforms andwere trained to stand and fight in formation.

Leads wilderness fighters known asRogers’ Rangers

Rogers joined the army in 1755 and became a captainin the forces led by William Johnson (1715–1774; see entry).



In September of that year, Johnson led thirty-five hundredcolonial troops and Indian warriors on a mission to attackFort St. Frédéric, a French stronghold located on Lake Cham-plain in northern New York. Rogers used his wilderness expe-rience and outdoor skills to scout enemy forces and gather in-formation. He was also able to recruit and train other NewHampshire frontiersmen to perform this valuable service forJohnson’s army. Although Johnson’s forces did not captureFort St. Frédéric, they did defeat the French and their Indianallies in the Battle of Lake George. This was the first impor-tant British victory of the war, and it also stopped the Frenchfrom advancing further into New York.

In recognition of Rogers’ talents, Johnson gave himcommand of his own unit of wilderness fighters—known asRogers’ Rangers—in 1756. Two years later, Rogers was pro-moted to the rank of major and placed in charge of nineranger companies. The rangers were tough and hardy out-doorsmen who adopted the Indians’ methods of wildernesswarfare. For example, they learned skills like tracking, camou-flage, signaling, and ambush.

Rogers came up with a detailed list of rules to guidethe behavior of his rangers. The rangers wore dark green uni-forms and black hats with a feather in them. They usuallymoved at night, under cover of darkness. They traveled acrosslakes in canoes or on ice skates, and they moved silentlythrough the woods wearing moccasins or snowshoes. Whenthey saw enemy forces, Rogers would give a hand signal thatmeant “tree all,” and the rangers would disappear into theunderbrush. Each ranger fought alongside a partner, so thatone could shoot while the other reloaded his weapon. Whenthe fighting became too intense, the rangers would scatterinto the woods and regroup at a meeting place miles away.

Rogers’ Rangers help the Britishwar effort

Throughout the course of the war, Rogers’ Rangersfought in a number of battles. In the early spring of 1758, forexample, they scouted enemy forces near Fort Carillon. ThisFrench stronghold, known as Ticonderoga by the British, was

Robert Rogers 179


located on Lake George in New York. British leaders wereplanning a major expedition against the fort that summerand sent Rogers and 180 rangers to gather information. Butthe French and their Indian allies knew the rangers were com-ing and set a trap for them. The rangers came upon a smallgroup of Indians in the woods and started to chase them,when they suddenly ran into more than 500 Canadian andIndian forces. Rogers and his men made a fighting retreat, butdozens of rangers were killed or captured. Rogers himself es-caped by sliding down a steep hill into the icy waters of the


American author James FenimoreCooper lived most of his life in the nine-teenth century, but his most famousnovel—The Last of the Mohicans—was set acentury earlier, at the height of the Frenchand Indian War.

Born September 15, 1789, inBurlington, New Jersey, Cooper was raised inwealthy surroundings. He spent most of hischildhood in Cooperstown, New York, a set-tlement founded by his father, the prominentWilliam Cooper (1754–1809). Here, WilliamCooper—a judge, real estate investor, andmember of the U.S. House of Representa-tives—built a large family mansion to househis thirteen children. James and his brotherscould often be found roaming the foreststhat surrounded the village, and it was theseboyhood adventures that fueled Cooper’slifelong love for the outdoors.

Cooper was a reckless youth, andhis wild behavior convinced Yale Universityadministrators to expel him from the schoolin 1805. He then served for six years as a

Merchant Marine (a sailor on a commercialship) and as a sailor in the U.S. Navy beforebeginning a business career. In 1820, hebegan a long and successful writing careerby publishing his first novel, titled Precau-tion. Over the next three decades, he wrotenumerous novels, volumes of military histo-ry, and books of social criticism that madehim one of the world’s leading literary fig-ures. The most famous of these works werehis Leatherstocking Tales. These five nov-els—The Pioneers (1823), The Last of theMohicans (1826), The Prairie (1827), ThePathfinder (1840), and The Deerslayer(1841)—told the story of a brave eigh-teenth-century frontiersman named NattyBumppo, who was nicknamed Leather-stocking because of his clothing.

All five of Cooper’s Leatherstockingbooks explored European settlers’ bravestruggles to develop the North Americancontinent, as well as the unfortunate de-struction of nature that accompanies suchdevelopment. The most famous of the

James Fenimore Cooper, Author of Last of the Mohicans


lake. Only 54 rangers made it back to their headquarters atFort Edward.

British leaders also ordered Rogers and his rangers toconduct numerous raids against French forts and Indian vil-lages. They made one of their most famous raids against theSt. Francis Abenaki Indians in 1759. The Abenaki lived nearthe St. Lawrence River, between Montreal and Quebec. Theywere responsible for a series of bloody attacks that killed anestimated six hundred American colonists. Rogers and his

Robert Rogers 181

Leatherstocking tales is Last of the Mohicans,which describes Bumppo’s adventures as ascout for the British during the French andIndian War. The novel follows Bumppo—nicknamed Hawkeye at this point in hislife—as he and his noble Mohican Indian

friends, Chingachook and Uncas, try to savethe Munro sisters from the evil Magua andhis fellow Iroquois warriors. Last of the Mo-hicans is marred by several historical inaccu-racies, but it is also an exciting adventuretale that was hugely popular with criticsand readers alike. Today, it remains themost widely read of Cooper’s many stories,and Natty Bumppo continues to rank as “acharacter of genuine mythic proportions,”according to the Times Educational Supple-ment (January 16, 1987, p. 32).

Later in his career, Cooper wroteworks ranging from social criticism to nauti-cal adventures about pirates and maroonedsailors. These writings never achieved thepopularity of his Natty Bumppo books,however. In the late 1840s, liver problemstook a heavy toll on Cooper’s health, andhe died on September 14, 1851, just oneday shy of his sixty-second birthday.

Source: Encyclopedia of World Biography.Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Detroit:Gale, 2002.

James Fenimore Cooper. Illustration by CacilieBrandt. Reproduced by permission of the NationalPortrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.


rangers made a dangerous three-hundred-mile journeythrough enemy territory to attack the Abenaki. They killed upto two hundred Indians and burned the village to the ground.

Later in 1759, Rogers took part in the successful Britishattack on Fort St. Frédéric. The following year—just a few daysafter the French surrendered at Montreal—Rogers accepted thesurrender of Fort Detroit to end the French and Indian War inNorth America. By this time, Rogers was famous throughoutGreat Britain and the American colonies. Stories of his courageand daring had made him a hero. In 1761, he married Eliza-beth Browne, the daughter of a minister. Later that year, hetook a company of rangers to South Carolina to help putdown a Cherokee Indian uprising. In 1763, he fought in sev-eral battles against Indians during a large-scale rebellion led byan Ottawa chief named Pontiac (c. 1720–1769; see entry).


The following passages are fromRobert Rogers’s account of the disastrous1758 scouting mission against Fort Caril-lon, which took the lives of over one hun-dred rangers.

March 10, 1758. I was ordered byCol. [William] Haviland [the British com-mander of Fort Edward] to the neighbour-hood of Ticonderoga [site of a French forton Lake George], not with 400 men, aswas at first given out, but with 180, offi-cers included.… I acknowledge that I en-tered upon this service, with this small de-tachment [group] of brave men, with nosmall uneasiness of mind. We had everyreason to believe that [a colonial soldierwho had recently been taken prisoner bythe French] had informed the enemy of ourintended expedition, and the force to beemployed.…

[Rogers and his men left Fort Ed-ward that day and started across thefrozen surface of Lake George. When they

neared Ticonderoga on March 13, theybegan moving through the woods on snow-shoes.] On our left, at a small distance, wewere flanked by a rivulet [stream], and bya steep mountain on the right. Our mainbody kept close under the mountain, thatthe advanced guard might better observethe brook, on the ice of which they mighttravel, as the snow was now four feet deep,which made the travelling very bad evenwith snow shoes. In this manner we pro-ceeded a mile and a half, when our ad-vance informed us that the enemy were insight; and soon after, that his force con-sisted of ninety-six, chiefly Indians. Weimmediately threw down our knapsacksand prepared for battle, supposing that thewhole of the enemy’s force were approach-ing on our left, upon the ice of therivulet.… We gave them the first fire,which killed more than forty and put theremainder to flight [caused them to re-treat], in which one half of my men pur-sued, and cut down several more of themwith their hatchets and cutlasses [short

Excerpt from Rogers’s Journal


Struggles with debts and illegal dealingsOnce peace returned to North America, Rogers found

himself without a way to earn a living. His debts mounted, andhe got into trouble for trading illegally with Indians. In 1765,he moved to England in hopes of cashing in on his fame. Dur-ing his years there, he published Reminiscences of the FrenchWar, a lively account of his wilderness battles that was drawnfrom his journals. He also published his views of the Americancolonies in A Concise Account of North America. Finally, he wrotePonteach, or the Savages of America: A Tragedy, which was one ofthe first plays written by a native New Englander.

British leaders rewarded Rogers for his service by giv-ing him command of Fort Michilimackinac, located in a re-mote region of Michigan. Rogers and his wife returned to

Robert Rogers 183

swords]. I now imagined they were totallydefeated.… [But] the party we had routedwas only the advanced guard of six hun-dred Canadians and Indians, who werenow coming up to attack the Rangers. Thelatter now retreated to their own ground,which was gained at the expense of fiftymen killed. There they were drawn up ingood order, and fought with such intrepid-ity [courage], keeping up a constant andwell directed fire, as caused the French,though [outnumbering the rangers by]seven to one in number, to retreat a secondtime. We however being in no condition topursue, they rallied again, recovered theirlost ground, and made a desperate attackupon our front, and wings.…

[The enemy continued attackingand pushed the rangers up the mountain-side.] A constant fire continued for anhour and a half, from the commencement[start] of the attack, during which time welost eight officers and one hundred pri-vates killed upon the spot. After doing all

that brave men could do, the Rangers werecompelled to break, each man looking outfor himself.…

[After spending two nights in thecold, the surviving rangers arrived back atFort Edward on March 15.] I will not pre-tend to say what would have been the re-sult of this unfortunate expedition, hadour numbers been four hundred strong, aswas contemplated [considered]; but it isdue to those brave officers and men whoaccompanied me, most of whom are nowno more, to declare that every man in hisrespective station [rank or position], be-haved with uncommon resolution andcoolness; nor do I recollect an instance,during the action, in which the prudence[judgment] or good conduct of one of themcould be questioned.

Source: Rogers, Robert. Reminiscences of the FrenchWar: With Robert Rogers’ Journal and a Memoir ofGeneral Stark. 3d ed. Freedom, NH: FreedomHistorical Society, 1988.


North America in 1767 and lived at this remote outpost onLake Huron for two years. During this time, Rogers againfound himself in trouble for trading illegally with the Indi-ans. He returned to England in 1769 and struggled to make aliving. Failure to pay his debts eventually landed him inprison, but his brother arranged his release.

Rogers returned to America in 1775, hoping to jointhe colonial army and fight in the American Revolution. ButGeneral George Washington (1732–1799; see entry) did nottrust Rogers and refused to offer him a command. Rogers wasput in prison as a suspected spy for the British the followingyear, but he escaped. He then openly supported the Britishside and recruited a company of wilderness fighters known asthe Queen’s American Rangers. He lost his command aftersuffering a defeat near White Plains, New York.

Rogers was divorced in 1778, and a short time later hewas banished from New Hampshire. He fled to England in1780, where he lived his last years in hardship and poverty.He died in a London boarding house on May 18, 1795. Therules that Rogers established for the conduct of his rangers arestill studied and used today (in a modernized form) by theelite U.S. Army Rangers, known as the Green Berets.

For More InformationCuneo, John R. Robert Rogers of the Rangers. New York: Oxford University

Press, 1959. Reprint, Ticonderoga, NY: Fort Ticonderoga Museum,1998.

Dictionary of American Biography. Reproduced in Biography Resource Cen-ter. Detroit: Gale, 2002.

“Robert Rogers.” History Detroit: 1701–2001. http://www.historydetroit.com/people/robert_rogers.asp (accessed January 30, 2003).

“Rogers’ Rangers.” Digital History Ltd.: The Gateway to the Past. http://digitalhistory.org/rogers.html (accessed January 30, 2003).

Rogers, Robert. Reminiscences of the French War: With Robert Rogers’ Jour-nal and a Memoir of General Stark. 3d ed. Freedom, NH: Freedom His-torical Society, 1988.



George Washington is one of the most famous figures inworld history. As a young soldier in the French and In-

dian War (1754–63; known in Europe as the Seven Years’War), he was known throughout the American colonies forhis bravery, fighting skills, and leadership abilities. His fameincreased dramatically during the American Revolution,when he commanded all the colonies’ armies. His guidanceof the colonies’ armed forces ultimately helped America gainits independence from Britain. Washington then agreed toserve two four-year terms as the first president of the UnitedStates. He guided the nation through its first uncertain yearsof existence, and in the process he helped lay the founda-tion for many of the nation’s most important financial,legal, and political institutions.

French and Indian War brings trialsand triumphs

George Washington was born and raised in a wealthyfamily of Virginia planters. Born on February 22, 1732, he

185

George Washington.Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

GeorgeWashington

Born February 22, 1732Bridges Creek, Virginia

Died December 14, 1799Mount Vernon, Virginia

American military leader who took part inearly battles of the French and Indian

War; later became first president of theUnited States


was the oldest son of Augustine Washington, a plantationowner with significant land holdings, and his second wife,Mary Ball. Washington’s father died when he was elevenyears old. He spent his teen years living with his mother andother relatives, including a half-brother who lived at MountVernon, a prosperous family farm.

In 1749, Washington was named county surveyor, aposition that called for him to travel deep into forests, mead-ows, and other sparcely populated areas to measure propertyboundaries. In 1752, he was named a major in the Virginiamilitia. One year later, the lieutenant governor of the Virginiacolony, Robert Dinwiddie (1693–1770; see box in chapter 2),selected Washington for an important mission that wouldtake him deep into the Ohio Country.

Over the previous few years, ownership of the OhioCountry region of North America had severely strained rela-tions between the European powers of Great Britain andFrance. Both countries had already established large colonies(permanent settlements of citizens who maintain ties to themother country) throughout the eastern half of the conti-nent. The British colonies, known as America, stretched alongthe Atlantic Ocean from present-day Maine to Georgia. TheFrench colonies, known as New France, included easternCanada, parts of the Great Lakes region, and the MississippiRiver basin. Both the British and French hoped to expandtheir land holdings into the Ohio Country, which lay be-tween their colonies. This region offered access to valuablenatural resources and important river travel routes. But theOhio Country was controlled by the Iroquois Confederacy, apowerful alliance of six Indian (Native American) nationswho had lived on the land for generations. When the influ-ence of the Iroquois Confederacy began to decline in themid-1700s, the British and French began maneuvering toclaim the region for themselves.

Washington’s mission was to travel through the vastwilderness of the Ohio Valley and tell French officials thatthey were trespassing on British land. Washington and asmall band of soldiers set out for the Ohio Country in Octo-ber 1753. Braving cold weather and deep forests that lackedtrails, Washington delivered his message to the French, whowere building a number of forts in the region. But the French



rejected Britain’s claim that it owned the land, and Washing-ton barely survived the dangerous winter journey back to Vir-ginia. The following year, Washington’s widely published ac-count of his experiences in the wilderness (see box in chapter2) made him famous throughout the colonies.

Washington’s second campaign into theOhio Country

In 1754, Washington was promoted to lieutenantcolonel and sent back into the Ohio Country with two hun-dred soldiers. This expedition was not successful, however.His army was too small to seize Fort Duquesne, a Frenchstronghold located on the banks of the Ohio River. He alsoclashed with French troops near an area called Red StoneFort on May 28. Washington’s force won the skirmish andcaptured several French soldiers, including a young officernamed Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville (1718–1754). But an Indian chief named Tanaghrisson (?–1754; seebox in chapter 3), who had helped Washington track theFrench, murdered Jumonville without warning. Tanaghris-son’s warriors then turned on several other French prisonersand killed them. Washington was shocked by the suddenturn of events. He set out for home with his army, butFrench troops based at Fort Duquesne gave chase, joined bytheir Indian allies. The French surrounded Washington’s ex-hausted troops at a makeshift outpost called Fort Necessity.But since war had not formally been declared betweenFrance and Great Britain, the French commander was notsure that he could take Washington and his men prisoner.He eventually decided to let them go after Washingtonsigned a document in which he accepted responsibility forthe death of Jumonville.

A disheartened Washington and his troops returnedto Virginia. But as it turned out, his clashes with the French—and his admission that Jumonville had been killed while inhis custody—brought the simmering hostilities betweenFrance and Great Britain to a boil. In 1755, a British effort topush the French out of the Ohio Country ended in humiliat-ing defeat, and one year later the two nations formally de-clared war against one another for control of North America.

George Washington 187


Washington had served as a military aide to GeneralEdward Braddock (1695–1755; see entry) on the disastrousBritish military campaign of 1755. In fact, he was one of thefew British and colonial officers to escape without injury, de-spite his courageous action during the fighting. But after theFrench and Indian War formally erupted in 1756, he partici-pated in no more assaults against the French. Instead, he wascharged with helping English frontier settlements improvetheir defenses against Indian attacks.


In July 1754, Colonel GeorgeWashington signs adocument at Fort Necessityaccepting responsibility forthe death of French officerJoseph Coulon de Villiers deJumonville. Reproduced bypermission of Getty Images.


One of Virginia’s leading citizensIn 1758, Washington was elected to the Virginia House

of Burgesses (a representative body made up of Virginiacolonists but under the authority of British rule). For the re-mainder of the French and Indian War, he divided his time be-tween legislative duties, service as a county judge, and supervi-sion of the large family farms he owned. On January 6, 1759,he married a widow named Martha Dandridge Custis, and set-tled down with her on the family estate at Mount Vernon.

From 1760 to 1775, Washington tirelessly tended hismany farm operations, but he also remained one of thecolonies’ most visible legislators. During this period, he andmany other Americans became very angry about British poli-cies toward the colonies. Washington and countless othercolonists believed they needed to be independent from GreatBritain in order to create a free and democratic society. In1775, the differences between the British and the Americansfinally erupted into war. America’s First Continental Con-gress—a group of representatives from all of the colonies—unanimously selected Washington to command the coloniesin their bid to gain independence. The Virginian was chosennot only because of his reputation for bravery and honesty,but also because of his knowledge of the British military. Inaddition, Washington’s southern background helped addressthe concerns of some Americans that the northern coloniesof New England were pushing all the colonies into war.

Commander of the colonial armyWhen Washington agreed to lead the colonial army,

he privately wondered if he was up to the task. After all, henot only had to create, train, and outfit an army within amatter of months, but he also had to make it effectiveenough to stand against British military forces that ranked asthe most powerful in the world.

The first few years of the Revolutionary War (1775–83) against the British were very difficult for Washington andhis army. Hampered by serious supply shortages, officers withlimited experience, and American colonists who wished to re-main part of the British Empire, the colonial forces barely sur-



vived. But Washington’s troops developed a deep loyalty totheir commander and their cause, and the Virginian gained adeep respect for his soldiers as well. In 1778, for example, asnoted in The Writings of George Washington, he wrote that “tosee men without clothes to cover their nakedness, withoutblankets to lay on, without shoes, by which their marchesmay be traced by the blood from their feet, and almost asoften without provisions as with, marching through frost andsnow … is a mark of patience and obedience which … canscarce be paralleled.”

As the War for Independence progressed, Washingtondirected the American war effort with mixed success. In six ofthe nine battles in which he personally fought, his forces ei-ther lost or could claim no better than a draw. But Washingtonalso delivered major victories over the British at Trenton,Harlem Heights, and Yorktown, and he captured Boston fromthe British when he threatened to hammer it with cannons.These triumphs convinced foreign countries—such as France—to provide badly needed assistance to the American cause. Inaddition, Washington refused to steal supplies or take advan-tage of local communities, no matter how desperate his situa-tion became. By conducting the war in this way, he kept thesupport of the American people throughout the long conflict.

In 1783, Great Britain finally gave up on its grimstruggle to keep the American colonies loyal to the BritishCrown. The colonies were now free to create their own gov-ernment, which Washington hoped would be formed with aneye toward ensuring that “our lives, liberties and propertiesshall be preserved.”

On December 23, 1783, Washington resigned his po-sition as commander of America’s armed forces and headedhome to Mount Vernon. He arrived at his farm on ChristmasEve, grateful to return to the life of a farmer. But before long,the newly formed nation he had helped create called on himonce again.

First president of the United StatesIn 1787, leading citizens from across the United States

gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at a Constitutional



Convention. This meeting produced the Constitution of theUnited States—still the cornerstone of America’s legal system—and outlined the type of government under which Americanswould live. At this same meeting, the delegates unanimously se-lected Washington to be the first president of the United States.

Washington was inaugurated as president of the Unit-ed States of America in New York City on April 30, 1789. Heknew that his actions and behavior would shape the coun-try—and the role of the presidency—for generations to come.With this in mind, he paid special attention to behaving inan honorable and truthful fashion at all times. As noted inThe Writings of George Washington, the president declared, “Ihope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough tomaintain the character of an honest man, as well as provethat I am [an honest man].”

In 1790, Washington came down with pneumonia. Ashe fought against the illness, the entire nation expressed con-cern that their fragile nation might fall apart if he died. Afterall, no other figure was as universally loved and respected asthis Revolutionary War hero. “You cannot conceive the pub-lic alarm [at his sickness],” wrote Washington’s secretary ofstate, Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), to a friend. “It proveshow much depends on his life.”

Washington recovered, and during his first four yearsin office he oversaw many significant accomplishments. Heestablished a philosophy of strong national government,helped create the federal court system, and oversaw the devel-opment of a monetary system that soon made the UnitedStates an international economic power.

Washington wanted to retire to his farm at MountVernon after concluding his first four-year term. But thecountry’s leading legislators and political leaders begged himto reconsider. They recognized that the United States was stillin a fragile state. Most lawmakers and citizens had dividedinto separate political camps that wanted to take the countryin different directions. Many Americans worried that withoutWashington’s leadership, the bitter disputes between the po-litical parties might tear apart the country.

Washington reluctantly agreed to a second term, andin 1792, he was unanimously reelected. His second four-year



term was a difficult one in several respects. In 1794, he wasforced to use military power to end the so-called Whiskey Re-bellion—a protest by farmers against a federal tax on whiskey.In addition, he was forced to devote much of his attention todiplomatic maneuvers to avoid being dragged into anotherwar that had flared up between France and Great Britain.Washington strongly believed that the United States, whichwas still struggling to establish itself, could not afford to bedrawn into an expensive war.

As the conclusion of Washington’s second term drewnear, the nation’s first president opted against running for athird time. So in March 1797, Washington’s presidentialtenure ended, and he peacefully handed over the office toJohn Adams (1735–1826), who had been Washington’s vicepresident for both terms. Washington went home to MountVernon, where he resumed the life of a wealthy farmer. In1798, the threat of a French invasion nearly returned Wash-ington to the role of general of the American army. But theUnited States and France settled their differences without vio-lence, and Washington remained in Virginia.

On December 14, 1799, George Washington diedfrom a throat infection that struck him down with stunningsuddenness. News of his death shocked the United States andthe rest of the world. By this time, the country that he hadhelped bring into existence was able to survive the blow. Butthe loss of Washington, who, by now, was known throughoutthe United States as “the father of our country,” still prompt-ed heartfelt tributes and testimonials in cities and villagesacross America.

For More InformationAlden, John R. George Washington: A Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana

State University Press, 1984. Reprint, New York: Wings Books, 1995.

Encyclopedia of World Biography. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center.Detroit: Gale, 2002.

Fitzpatrick, John C., ed. The Writings of George Washington from the OriginalManuscript Sources, 1745–1799. 39 vols. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print.Office, 1931–44. Reprint, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1970.

Jones, Robert F. George Washington. Rev. ed. New York: Fordham Univer-sity Press, 1986.



Marrin, Albert. George Washington and the Founding of a Nation. New York:Dutton Children’s Books, 2001.

McClung, Robert M. Young George Washington and the French and IndianWar, 1753–1758. North Haven, CT: Linnet Books, 2002.

Meltzer, Milton. George Washington and the Birth of Our Nation. New York:F. Watts, 1986.

Randall, Willard S. George Washington: A Life. New York: Henry Holt &Co., 1997.

Spalding, Matthew, and Patrick J. Garrity. A Sacred Union of Citizens:George Washington’s Farewell Address and the American Character. Lan-ham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996.

Wall, Charles Cecil. George Washington, Citizen-Soldier. Charlottesville:University Press of Virginia, 1980.



James Wolfe was a hero for the British during the French andIndian War. After playing an important role in the success-

ful siege of Louisbourg in 1758, he was promoted to the rankof major general and given command of the British attack onQuebec in 1759. Wolfe tried a number of different strategies tocapture the fortress city on a cliff. He finally discovered anovergrown footpath that allowed his troops to move onto theplains behind the city. His British forces defeated the Frenchthere in one of the most pivotal battles of the war.

A rising young officerJames Wolfe was born on January 2, 1727, in Wester-

han, Kent, England. Both his father and grandfather hadserved in the British Army, and James grew up wanting a mil-itary career. He joined his father’s unit at the age of thirteen,and two years later he received a commission as an officer. In1742, he transferred to the Twelfth Regiment of Foot. Wolfefought in Europe during the War of the Austrian Succession(1744-48; also known as King George’s War). He saw action in

194

James WolfeBorn January 2, 1727Westerhan, Kent, England

Died September 13, 1759Quebec, Canada

British general who led the capture of Quebec

James Wolfe. Courtesy of theLibrary of Congress.


several important battles. In fact, one of Great Britain’s topmilitary leaders, William Augustus, the duke of Cumberland(1721–1765), praised his performance in the Battle of Lan-foldt. In 1750, at the age of twenty-three, Wolfe was promot-ed to the rank of lieutenant colonel and given command of aregiment.

Wolfe was a rising young officer when the French andIndian War (1754–63; known in Europe as the Seven Years’War) broke out. This conflict began in North America, whereboth Great Britain and France had established colonies (per-manent settlements of citizens who maintain ties to themother country). The British colonies, known as America,stretched along the Atlantic Ocean from present-day Maineto Georgia. The French colonies, known as New France, in-cluded eastern Canada, parts of the Great Lakes region, andthe Mississippi River basin.


In the early years of the French and Indian War, theFrench formed alliances with many Indian nations. TheFrench and their Indian allies worked together to hand theBritish and their American colonists a series of defeats. In1757, however, William Pitt (1708–1788; see entry) becamesecretary of state in the British government and took chargeof the British war effort. Pitt felt that the key to defeatingFrance was to attack French colonies around the world. Hedecided to send thousands of British troops to North Americaand launch an invasion of Canada. Like other British leaders,Pitt was frustrated by the British Army’s lack of success inNorth America. He believed that part of the problem was alack of strong leadership. When Pitt asked his top military

James Wolfe 195


leaders for the names of talented young officers to direct thewar in North America, one of them recommended Wolfe.

Plays an important role in the captureof Louisbourg

Wolfe traveled to North America in 1758. He served asa brigade commander under General Jeffery Amherst(1717–1797; see entry) during the siege of Louisbourg. Louis-bourg was a fortress city on Cape Breton Island, off the At-lantic Coast of Canada, that guarded the entrance to the St.Lawrence River. Amherst brought twelve thousand Britishtroops up the coast by ship in early June. Wolfe led the firstgroup of soldiers to shore. After a rough landing, they cameunder fire from French forces, but eventually managed to se-cure the beach. Then the British troops hauled artillery onshore to set up a siege (a military strategy that involves sur-rounding a target, cutting it off from outside help and sup-plies, and using artillery to break down its defenses).

Amherst’s forces surrounded the city by early July andbegan pounding it with artillery fire. The British finally brokethrough Louisbourg’s defenses and forced the city to surren-der on July 26. The capture of Louisbourg gave the British aclear path up the St. Lawrence River to attack the importantFrench cities of Quebec and Montreal. Controlling Louis-bourg also helped them to prevent French ships from bring-ing fresh troops and supplies to Canada.

Wolfe returned to England following the successfulcapture of Louisbourg, at which time Pitt promoted him tothe rank of major general and gave him command of a mili-tary campaign against Quebec that was planned for 1759.Since Wolfe was only thirty-two years old at this time, manyolder officers were insulted that he received such an impor-tant command. In fact, some of these officers spread rumorsthat Wolfe was insane. But King George II (1683–1760) re-membered the defeats that his forces had suffered early in thewar. He was ready to make a change in leadership in theNorth American war effort. “Mad is he?” the king repliedupon hearing the rumors about Wolfe. “Then I hope he’ll bitesome of my other generals.”



In fact, Wolfe was an unusual character. He was tall andthin with bright red hair. He suffered from poor healththroughout his life and once described himself as a “skeleton inmotion.” Wolfe was highly emotional and had a quick temper,which sometimes earned him enemies. He also had a passionfor learning that led him to hire tutors in Latin and mathemat-ics and to read countless books about warfare. As a general,Wolfe believed in developing his own methods of doing thingsand often ignored the strict rules of the British Army. For exam-ple, he allowed his troops to wear more comfortable uniformsand outlawed whipping as a punishment. He also liked to recitepoetry to his troops before going into battle. Although his mendid not always like him, they did respect him.

Leads the British attack on QuebecA fleet of British warships set sail up the St. Lawrence

River from Louisbourg and arrived in Quebec in late June1759. These ships carried Wolfe and more than eight thou-sand British troops under his command. When Wolfe got hisfirst glimpse of Quebec, he worried that they were about toattack “the strongest country in the world.” The capital ofNew France sat atop high cliffs overlooking the St. LawrenceRiver, and was surrounded by a large stone wall. The Frenchcommander, Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon deSaint-Véran (1712–1759; see entry), had placed two thou-sand French soldiers within the walls of the city and arrangedhis remaining twelve thousand troops along the bank of theSt. Lawrence. The French defensive line stretched along thecliffs east of the city for seven miles, between the St. Charlesand Montmorency Rivers.

Wolfe set up a base camp on the Île d’Orléans, a largeisland in the middle of the St. Lawrence, just a few miles fromthe city. Over the next two months, the British forces madeseveral attempts to break through the French defensive line.On July 9, Wolfe ordered an attack on the east side of theFrench line, near the Montmorency River, but the Britishtroops were turned back by heavy French gunfire. On July 12,the British forces began firing artillery shells into the cityfrom Point Levis, a tall cliff directly across the river from Que-bec. On July 31, Wolfe ordered another attack on the French

James Wolfe 197


lines below the city. But time after time, Montcalm’s forcesheld off the attacks and refused to be drawn out of theirstrategic positions.

As the summer passed, Wolfe grew more and morefrustrated at his inability to land troops on shore and set up asiege of Quebec. He knew that time was on the side of theFrench. At the first hint of winter, the British fleet would beforced to withdraw from the St. Lawrence, ending the expedi-tion. Another factor in Wolfe’s frustration was his declininghealth. He suffered from painful kidney stones, as well as aterrible fever and cough. As he grew weaker, Wolfe becameconvinced that he was going to die. He decided that he wouldrather die a glorious death on the field of battle than dieslowly from disease.

Dies a heroDesperate to earn a reputation as a brilliant general

before he died, Wolfe began planning a final attack on theFrench lines. This time, the British troops would attempt toland west of Quebec at a spot called L’Anse au Foulon, whichlater became known as Wolfe’s Cove. An overgrown footpathled from the cove to the top of the cliffs a short distance up-river from the city. This path could give the British access tothe Plains of Abraham, broad fields that stretched behindQuebec and provided an ideal place to set up a siege.

On the night of September 12, a few British soldiersscrambled up the path to the top of the cliff and overpowereda small group of French guards. Wolfe followed with fivethousand British troops, which he arranged in battle forma-tion on the Plains of Abraham. Montcalm decided to engagethe British forces in battle before they had a chance to digtrenches and set up a siege. The French general led an armyof forty-five hundred troops across the Plains to begin thebattle. Wolfe’s forces stood their ground and waited until theenemy came within firing range. Then the British opened fireand devastated the French troops. Montcalm and most of hisofficers were killed, and around fourteen hundred French sol-diers were killed or wounded. The inexperienced Frenchtroops then turned around and fled back toward the walls ofthe city.



Wolfe received wounds to the wrist and the abdomenearly in the battle, but he stayed on his horse and continuedto give orders to his troops. As the French forces began to re-treat, however, the British general was shot through thelungs. He died a short time later, although he lived longenough to know that he had won the battle. “Now, God bepraised,” he said as he died. “Since I have conquered, I willdie in peace.” Wolfe’s body was returned to England, wherehe received a hero’s funeral. He was buried in a family vaultat Greenwich. Meanwhile, Quebec surrendered to the Britishon September 18. Wolfe’s victory reduced French territory inNorth America to Montreal and a few forts along the GreatLakes. Montreal surrendered to British forces in 1760 inAmerica to end the French and Indian War and give theBritish control over all French territory in North America.

For More InformationEncyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998.

Garrett, Richard. General Wolfe. London: Barker, 1975.

Hibbert, Christopher. Wolfe at Quebec. Cleveland: World Pub. Co., 1959.Reprint, New York: Cooper Square Press, 1999.

Lloyd, Christopher. The Capture of Quebec. New York: Macmillan, 1959.

Parkman, Francis. Montcalm and Wolfe. Boston: Little, Brown and Com-pany, 1884. Reprint, New York: Modern Library, 1999.

Reilly, Robin. Wolfe of Quebec. London: Cassell, 2001.

Whitton, Frederick. Wolfe and North America. Port Washington, NY: Ken-nikat Press, 1971.

James Wolfe 199


BooksAnderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Em-

pire in British North America, 1754–1766. New York: Knopf, 2000.

Carter, Alden R. The Colonial Wars: Clashes in the Wilderness. New York:Franklin Watts, 1992.

Chidsey, Donald Barr. The French and Indian War: An Informal History.New York: Crown, 1969.

Collier, Christopher, and James Lincoln Collier. The French and IndianWar, 1660–1763. New York: Benchmark Books, 1998.

Hamilton, Edward P. The French and Indian Wars: The Story of Battles andForts in the Wilderness. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962.

Jennings, Francis. Empire of Fortune: Crowns, Colonies, and Tribes in theSeven Years War in America. New York: Norton, 1988.

Kopperman, Paul E. Braddock at the Monongahela. Pittsburgh: Universityof Pittsburgh Press, 1977.

Leckie, Robert. “A Few Acres of Snow”: The Saga of the French and IndianWars. New York: Wiley, 1999.

Marrin, Albert. Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars,1690–1760. New York: Atheneum, 1987.

Minks, Benton, and Louise Minks. The French and Indian War. San Diego:Lucent Books, 1995.

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Where to Learn More

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O’Meara, Walter. Guns at the Forks. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,1965. Reprint, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1979.

Schwartz, Seymour I. The French and Indian War, 1754–1763: The ImperialStruggle for North America. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994.

Web Sites of Selected French and Indian War FortsFort Beauséjour. http://www.fortbeausejour.com/ (accessed February 7,

2003).

Fort Frederick State Park. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/fortfrederick.html (accessed February 6, 2003).

Fort Necessity National Battlefield. http://www.nps.gov/fone/home.htm(accessed February 6, 2003).

Fort Pitt Museum & Bushy Run Battlefield. http://www.fortpittmuseum.com/ (accessed February 6, 2003).

Fort Ticonderoga National Historic Landmark. http://www.fort-ticonderoga.org/ (accessed February 7, 2003).

The Fortress of Louisbourg. http://www.louisbourg.ca/fort/ (accessed Feb-ruary 6, 2003).

The “Official” Web Site of Old Fort Niagara. http://www.oldfortniagara.org/ (accessed February 7, 2003).


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