Colonial forces, but on his way to oust the French would capitulate. Under the treaty, France was THE from Fort Duquesne he was surprised by the forced to surrender all of her American French and badly routed, losing his life in the possessions to the British and the Spanish. The French and Indian War, a colonial extension of process. the Seven Years War that ravaged Europe from Although the war with the French ended in 1763, 1756 to 1763, was the bloodiest American war in After a year and a half of undeclared war, the the British continued to fight with the Indians over the 18th century. It took more lives than the French and the English formally declared war in the issue of land claims. "Pontiac's War" flared American Revolution, involved people on three May 1756. For the first three years of the war, the shortly after the Treaty of Paris was signed, and continents, including the Caribbean. The war was outnumbered French dominated the battlefield, many of the battlefields—including Detroit, Fort the product of an imperial struggle, a clash soundly defeating the English in battles at Fort Pitt, and Niagara—were the same. The Indians, between the French and English over colonial Oswego and Ticonderoga. Perhaps the most however, already exhausted by many years of territory and wealth. Within these global forces, notorious battle of the war was the French victory war, quickly capitulated under the ferocious the war can also be seen as a product of the at Fort William Henry, which ended in a massacre British retaliation; still, the issue remained a localized rivalry between British and French of British soldiers by Indians allied with the problem for many years to come. colonists. French. The battle and ensuing massacre was The results of the war effectively ended French captured for history—though not accurately—by political and cultural influence in North America. Tensions between the British and French in James Fenimore Cooper in his classic The Last of England gained massive amounts of land and America had been rising for some time, as each the Mohicans . side wanted to increase its land holdings. What is vastly strengthened its hold on the continent. The now considered the French and Indian War The tide turned for the British in 1758, as they war, however, also had subtler results. It badly (though at the time the war was undeclared), began to make peace with important Indian allies eroded the relationship between England and began in November 1753, when the young and, under the direction of Lord William Pitt Native Americans; and, though the war seemed to Virginian major George Washington and a number began adapting their war strategies to fit the strengthen England's hold on the colonies, the of men headed out into the Ohio region with the territory and landscape of the American frontier. effects of the French and Indian War played a mission to deliver a message to a French captain The British had a further stroke of good fortune major role in the worsening relationship between demanding that French troops withdraw from the when the French were abandoned by many of England and its colonies that eventually led into territory. The demand was rejected. In 1754, their Indian allies. Exhausted by years of battle, the Revolutionary War. Washington received authorization to build a fort outnumbered and outgunned by the British, the Early Battles and Fort Necessity near the present site of Pittsburgh. He was French collapsed during the years 1758-59, unsuccessful because of the strong French climaxing with a massive defeat at in Summary presence in the area. In May, Washington's troops September 1759. clashed with local French forces, a skirmish that In 1753, French forces began to build a series of By September 1760, the British controlled all of ultimately resulted in Washington having to Forts along the Allegheny River in Ohio territory, the North American frontier; the war between the surrender the meager fort he had managed to impinging upon land claimed by Virginia in its two countries was effectively over. The 1763 build just one month later. The incident set off a charter of 1609. Robert Dinwiddie, the Virginia's Treaty of Paris, which also ended the European string of small battles. In 1755, The British sent Lieutenant Governor, sent George Washington, a Seven Years War, set the terms by which France General Edward Braddock to oversee the British 21-year-old major, to warn the French captain Legareur de Saint-Pierre of his troops' trespass. On Jumonville's "defeat." The battle thus precipitated Virginia was a particularly crowded territory and his way to deliver Dinwiddie's message, a war of propaganda right along with the physical could not expand, since it was hemmed in on all Washington attempted to enlist the help of a large battles that were to follow. three sides by French territory and natural group of Ohio Indians, with no success. Once he obstacles. Robert Dinwiddie had no illusions about did arrive, the message was ignored; the French Washington returned to Virginia on July 17 and the circumstances his colony faced: he expected refused to recognize the Virginia charter. Though gave an account of the battle at Great Meadows his message to the French to meet with the failure he returned to Virginia with nothing to show for to the Virginia council. The council blamed him for that it did. He did not, however, anticipate his trip, Washington was nonetheless promoted to most of the failure. Humiliated, Washington Washington's tremendous miscalculation the Lieutenant Colonel and, in the spring of 1754, resigned his position, though he later returned to following spring. given the mission of removing the French from the battle as a volunteer under General Edward Ohio region. Braddock. Though George Washington later gained fame as a war hero, he cut his teeth during the French and Because of the powerful presence of the French, Commentary Indian War—and, like most newcomers, he failed who had completed their string of forts along the miserably. It was his difficult experience during In the years leading up to 1753, the English had far Allegheny, Washington was unsuccessful in is the French and Indian, some argue, that helped to less territory than the French. English settlements attempt to build a fort near Pittsburgh. Then, at make him the general he eventually became. clustered between the Appalachian Mountains dawn on May 28, 1754, a Mingo Indian named Interestingly enough, though, even Washington's and the Atlantic coast, though many colonies had Tanaghrisson who had agreed to scout for early failures have come to take on a heroic cast in charters granting them land west of the Washington spotted a French patrol stalking American history. After Washington's great mountains. French settlements, though more Washington's men. Tanaghrisson showed success in the Revolutionary War, Fort Necessity sparsely populated covered far more land, Washington how to surprise the French; in the came to stand as a metaphor for the rugged originating out of fur-trading outposts, extended ensuing attack the French commander Jumonville colonial spirit. That metaphor persists even today, through the interior of the continent, as far north was killed. That the French would retaliate was although historians have proven that the fort was as Quebec, as far south as New Orleans, and all obvious, and Washington's men retreated to little more than a few logs lashed together to the way to St. Louis in the west. The French hoped Great Meadows, PA, where, against the advice of surround Washington's hapless army. to keep the British pinned between the mountains their Indian guides, they hastily threw up a and the ocean. The British, alternatively, stockade, nicknamed Necessity. The Indians, The French and Indian War in Historical Context desperately wanted to expand westward, as a disgusted, abandoned Washington and his small speculative outlet for their growing population The French and Indian War, a colonial contingent of Virginia militiamen. Sure enough, and because they wanted further access to the manifestation of the same forces and tensions the French outnumbered him and took the fort profitable fur trade. Competing land claims and that erupted in the European Seven Years' War, easily on July 4, 1754. disputes over encroachment had been going on was, quite simply, a war about imperialism. The This battle proved a catalyst in the deteriorating between the French and the English for almost a French and the English were competing for land relationship between the English and the French. hundred years and through three minor wars, by and trading rights in North America; these In a famous affadivit, the French claimed that the early , tensions had begun to swell once strivings resulted in a great deal of disputed land, Jumonville had been "assassinated." The English more. particularly that of the rich Ohio Valley. Each insisted that this word be translated as nation saw this territory as vital in its effort to increase its own power and wealth while Before the French and Indian War broke out, the permanent settlement. That same year the French simultaneously limiting the strength of its rival. main issue facing the two colonial powers was began sending diplomats to the British, Although the war itself therefore stemmed from a division of the continent. The English were settled demanding that Fort Oswego be abandoned and fairly simple motivation, its consequences were along the eastern seaboard, in Georgia, the that England recognize French land boundaries. far- reaching. The English victory in the war Carolinas, and what is now the Northeastern The next year a conference was held in Paris in an decided the colonial fate of North America, and United States. The French controlled Louisiana in attempt to sort out some of the conflicting claims. yet at the same time sowed the seeds of the the South and, to the far North, Acadia (Nova No progress was made. In 1752, the Marquis eventual colonial revolution. After the war, the Scotia) and Northeast Canada. The Cherokee, Duquesne assumed the office of governor of New British ended their century-long policy of salutary Catawabas, Creeks, Choctaws and Chickasaws France, with specific instructions to secure neglect, attempting to keep the colonials under a inhabited the mountainous region in between the possession of the Ohio Valley. All of these small more watchful eye. The British also raised taxes in two powers and attempted to maintain their agitations set the stage for the French and Indian an effort to pay for the war. Both of these postwar autonomy by trading with both nations. Based War to explode. policies resulted in massive colonial discontent primarily on the travels of the explorer Rene- and added to the budding nationalism that Robert Cavelier de Salle in 1682, France regarded While the War has often been portrayed as merely eventually exploded in the Revolutionary War. itself as possessor of all disputed lands in the a fight between England and France, the many west, including the Ohio Valley. The English Indian nations that lived in these regions played a The French and Indian War also had lasting (and needless to say, disputed the French claim. pivotal role in both the instigation and the devastating) effects for the Native American tribes Although the French lay claim to far more territory outcome of the conflict. The fight for control of of North America. The British took retribution than the English did, the French territory was the continent was a fight between three nations, against Native American nations that fought on sparsely populated. Often French territory was not and until the late 18th century it was not at all the side of the French by cutting off their supplies marked by the existence of outposts or towns but certain which one would win. The Indians, and then forcibly compelling the tribes to obey the simple forts manned by only a few men. English especially the Five nations of the Iroquois, were rules of the new mother country. Native territory, by contrast, was rapidly being exceptionally good at playing the French and the Americans that had fought on the side of the populated. The pressures of a growing population, English against each other in order to maximize British with the understanding that their the desire for expansion, and impatience to gain their own benefits. The French and Indian War cooperation would lead to an end to European access to the profitable fur trade of the Great was a guerrilla war of small skirmishes and encroachment on their land were unpleasantly Lakes region impelled an intense English desire to surprise attacks. The terrain was unfamiliar to surprised when many new settlers began to move extend westward during the 18th century. both the French and the English; the involvement in. Furthermore, with the French presence gone, of the Indian nations as allies in battle made an there was little to distract the British government During the first half of the 18th century, the British enormous difference. In fact, some historians have from focusing its stifling attention on whatever slowly moved to expand their land base. In 1727, hypothesized that the turning point in the war Native American tribes lay within its grasp. All of they constructed a trading fort, Oswego, on the came when many of the Indian nations changed these factors played into the multinational Indian banks of . In 1749, the Ohio their war policies and turned their backs on the uprising called "Pontiac's War" that erupted Company, a consortium of Virginian speculators, French. Faced with the greater resources of the directly following the end of the French and Indian successfully petitioned the English crown for lands British and lacking the advantage of their Indian War. in the Ohio region with the purpose of building a allies, the French were left with little hope, and soon lost the continent. adapted from:

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The French and Indian War (1754-1763).” SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/fre nchindian/ (accessed September 17, 2015).