The French and Indian War (1754–1763) pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France, each side supported by military units from the parent country and by Native American allies. At the start of the war, the French colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 settlers, compared with 2 million in the British colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on the natives. The European nations declared a wider war upon one another overseas in 1756, two years into the French and Indian War, and some view the French and Indian War as being merely the American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War of 1756–63; however, the French and Indian War is viewed in the United States as a singular conflict which was not associated with any European war.
Introduction
French and Indian War
French and Indian War | Introduction
It began with a dispute over control of the confluence of the Allegheny River and Monongahela River and the site of the French Fort Duquesne. The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in May 1754 Arose from a dispute over control of the Forks of the Ohio (the confluence of the Allegheny River and Monongahela River) and the site of the French Fort Duquesne in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It began with a dispute over control of the confluence of the Allegheny River and Monongahela River called the Forks of the Ohio. land claims
who is john sherman?
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He was a politician from the U.S. state of Ohio
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did he stand in any election?
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Yes - in the election of 1880
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what connection does he have with the senate house?
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Sherman was elevated to the Senate in 1861.
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is he related to any war?
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Yes - the American Civil War
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when did he retire?
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1898
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what was his position then in politics?
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A politician from the U.S. state of Ohio, a member of the Republican Party, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State
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is this mentioned state prone to earthquakes?
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Yes -  more than 200 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or higher have occurred in Ohio since 1776.
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who is known as the father of this state?
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Rufus Putnam
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why is he called so?
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He served in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. He organized and led the first group of veterans to the Ohio territory.
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where was he from?
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Massachusetts
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when did his first served war take place?
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1754
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between whom was it fought?
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Britain versus France with each side supported by Native American allies
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any particular reason why it was fought?
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The war between Britain and France was fought on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, it was called the Seven Years' War. Indians fought for both armies. For instance, the Iroquois Confederacy allied itself with the American colonies and the Britain. However, most of the warring tribes in the conflict were allied with the French. The French encouraged their Indian allies to attack the British settlers on the Pennsylvania frontier. The killing and scalping of whole families in isolated cabins on the Pennsylvania frontier was common place. This area of Pennsylvania was the area where the Quigley and Brady families had settled and were determined to live.
Samuel Brady | French and Indian War
French Canadians call it ('War of the Conquest'). The British colonists were supported at various times by the Iroquois, Catawba, and Cherokee tribes, and the French colonists were supported by Wabanaki Confederacy member tribes Abenaki and Mi'kmaq, and the Algonquin, Lenape, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Shawnee, and Wyandot tribes. Fighting took place primarily along the frontiers between New France and the British colonies, from the Province of Virginia in the south to Newfoundland in the north. It began with a dispute over control of the confluence of the Allegheny River and Monongahela River called the Forks of the Ohio, and the site of the French Fort Duquesne in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
French and Indian War | Introduction
A common view is that European combat methods and military tactics were not adapted to the American forests and to the Native American art of war. It is therefore conjectured that the English colonists designed new combat techniques, inspired by the Indian combat methods. These techniques, which included cover and stressed ambushes, is supposed to have been the reason why the colonists finally defeated the French, and then the British army during the American Revolutionary War. In reality, however, the French and Indian wars were finally won by Britain through the application of traditional European tactics. The Fortress of Louisbourg surrendered twice after sieges conducted according to the rules of European warfare, and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham 1759 was a European battle fought in closed formations in the open.
French and Indian Wars | European tactics
John Brady fought in the French and Indian War. The French and Indian War was a colonial war fought between the British, the French and the Indian allies of the French. The British possessions in North America were located on the Atlantic Coast of North America and the French possessions were located in present-day Canada, centered mostly in Quebec. Both the British and the French made conflicting territorial claims on their respective frontiers, principally in present-day Michigan, western Pennsylvania and Ohio. The dispute simmered and flashed for many years. In the end, the Britain declared war on France on May 15, 1756.
Samuel Brady | French and Indian War
Although ultimately futile, the French fought according to the tactical doctrine contemporaries called "la Petite guerre", or today's guerilla warfare. The numerical inferiority of the French forces in North America made it impossible to fight a war according to standard European tactics. Hence the French to a large extent made use of indigenous allies (see below). The small French population; New France's dependence on the fur trade, mutually profitable for both Frenchmen and Native Americans; and the common threat from the British colonies, made the indigenous peoples willing allies. The Battle of the Monongahela was the largest achievement of the petty warfare tactics.
French and Indian Wars | Petty warfare
The French and Indian War was between the nations of Great Britain and France, along with the numerous Native American Nations allied with both. The French and Indian war was the North American theater of the Seven Years' War being fought in Europe at the time. Growing population in British territory throughout North America forced expansion west; however, this was met with resistance from the French and their Native American allies. French forces began entering British territory, building numerous forts in preparation to defend the newly acquired land. The beginning of the war favored the French and their Native American allies, who were able to defeat British forces time and again, and it was not until 1756 that the British were able to hold off their opposition.
Proto-globalization | French and Indian War
France recognized the independence of the Indian tribes while claiming sovereignty over their territory at the same time, as well as the right to plead the cause of their Indian allies in the face of other European powers. The French allies accepted this protectorate since it permitted self-government and a traditional lifestyle. The Mi'kmaq and the Abenaki accepted Catholicism as it confirmed their brotherhood with the French in the struggle against the British. Alongside the Mi'kmaq and the Abenaki, France's chief allies were the "indiens domiciliés" (resident Indians) who lived at the Catholic missions in New France. Religious reasons and the need for a refuge from the English attack motivated their dislocation to French territory.
French and Indian Wars | French allies
The French settlers in New France were outnumbered 15–1 by the 13 American colonies, so the French relied heavily on Indian allies. The wars were long and bloody, causing immense suffering for everyone involved. In the long run, the Indians were the biggest losers; many were on the losing side, as Spain and France were defeated. When the British finally won full control, the Indian power was sharply limited. Frontier settlers were exposed to sudden Indian raids; many were killed or captured, and even more were forced back from the frontier. One profitable form of wartime activity in which colonists engaged was privateering—legalized piracy against enemy merchant ships.
Colonial American military history | France and Britain at war
A pattern of warfare emerged during the clashes between the European colonial powers and the American Indians which characterized the four major French and Indian wars. The complex network of relations was fundamental between some Indian tribes and some colonies, the Indian tribes becoming the allies of the colonial powers. These alliances were a result of the economic ties that had been formed by the fur trade and by the Indian tribes' need for allies against their Indian rivals. The warfare included the widespread and escalating abuse of civilians on all sides, in which settlements were attacked, both Colonial and Indian, the residents killed or abducted, and houses and crops burned.
French and Indian Wars | Indian-White warfare
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the American extension of the general European conflict known as the Seven Years' War. Previous colonial wars in North America had started in Europe and then spread to the colonies, but the French and Indian War is notable for having started in North America and spread to Europe. One of the primary causes of the war was increasing competition between Britain and France, especially in the Great Lakes and Ohio valley. The French and Indian War took on a new significance for the British North American colonists when William Pitt the Elder decided that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America in order to win the war against France.
Colonial history of the United States | French and Indian War
The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts that occurred in North America between 1688 and 1763, some of which indirectly were related to the European dynastic wars. The title "French and Indian War" in the singular is used in the United States specifically for the warfare of 1754–63, which is mostly coincident with the Seven Years' War. The French and Indian Wars were preceded by the Beaver Wars. In Quebec, the various wars are generally referred to as the Intercolonial Wars. Some conflicts involved Spanish and Dutch forces, but all pitted the Kingdom of Great Britain, its colonies, and their Indian allies on one side against France, its colonies, and its Indian allies on the other.
French and Indian Wars | Introduction
In 1755, war engulfed the colonies, spreading also to Europe. Britain and France declared war on each other. The British in America suffered a string of defeats including Braddock's at the Battle of the Monongahela trying to capture Fort Dusquense. Encouraged by the French victories, American Indians launched a series of attacks along the colonial frontier. During the French and Indian War, Israel Putnam (who would go on to later fame in the Revolutionary War) fought as a Connecticut militia captain in conjunction with Rogers, and at one point saved his life.
Robert Rogers (British Army officer) | French and Indian War
There they built a hasty wall of wood and carts and made their stand, supported by cannon and additional forces under General William Johnson. The Indians and Canadians would not attack in the open. When Baron Dieskau was wounded, the entire French force withdrew for Fort Carillon (later called Fort Ticonderoga). Dieskau was captured, and Johnson would build a more permanent Fort William Henry to protect the site.
Seth Pomeroy | French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France, each side supported by military units from the parent country and by Native American allies. At the start of the war, the French colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 settlers, compared with 2 million in the British colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on the natives. The European nations declared a wider war upon one another overseas in 1756, two years into the French and Indian War, and some view the French and Indian War as being merely the American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War of 1756–63; however, the French and Indian War is viewed in the United States as a singular conflict which was not associated with any European war.
French and Indian War | Introduction
In British America, wars were often named after the sitting British monarch, such as King William's War or Queen Anne's War. There had already been a King George's War in the 1740s during the reign of King George II, so British colonists named this conflict after their opponents, and it became known as the "French and Indian War". This continues as the standard name for the war in the United States, although Indians fought on both sides of the conflict. It also led into the Seven Years' War overseas, a much larger conflict between France and Great Britain that did not involve the American colonies; some historians make a connection between the French and Indian War and the Seven Years' War overseas, but most residents of the United States consider them as two separate conflicts—only one of which involved the American colonies, and American historians generally use the traditional name.
French and Indian War | Nomenclature
In 1755, General Edward Braddock led an expedition against Fort Duquesne, and although they were numerically superior to the French militia and their Indian allies, Braddock's army was routed and Braddock was killed. Later that same year at the Battle of Lake George, the British General William Johnson with a force of 1700 American and Iroquois troops defeated a French force of 2800 French and Canadians and 700 Native Americans led by Baron Dieskau (Military commander of New France). The fight for control over Ohio Country led to the French and Indian War, which began as the North American phase of the Seven Years' War (which did not technically begin in Europe until 1756).
New France | French and Indian War
The Anglo-French War, also known as the War of 1778 or the Bourbon War in Britain, was a military conflict fought between France and Great Britain, sometimes with their respective allies, between 1778 and 1783. As a consequence, Great Britain was forced to divert resources used to fight the war in North America to theatres in Europe, India and the West Indies, and to rely on what turned out to be the chimera of Loyalist support in its North American operations. From 1778 to 1783, with or without their allies, France and Britain fought over dominance in the English Channel, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the West Indies.
Anglo-French War (1778–1783) | Introduction
Most of the frontiers experienced Native wars. The "French and Indian Wars" were "imperial wars" between Britain and France, with the French making up for their small colonial population base by enlisting Indian war parties as allies. The series of large wars spilling over from European wars ended in a complete victory for the British in the worldwide Seven Years' War. In the peace treaty of 1763, France lost practically everything, as the lands west of the Mississippi River, in addition to Florida and New Orleans, went to Spain. Otherwise, lands east of the Mississippi River and what is now Canada went to Britain.
American frontier | Wars with French and with Natives
The British had an ulterior motive for much of their interaction with the Iroquois nation, that of trying to win their affiliation against France, their frequent adversary in the quest to control the North American continent. In late summer of 1754, before they were officially at war, France was encouraging certain tribes, such as the Schaghticokes, Onahgungoes, and Orondocks, to take revenge on the British for the wrongs that had been committed against them, and several attacks and murders were committed. In October, Timothy Woodbridge met with some of the Canadian chiefs, to try to determine the reason for their unprovoked attacks, when the two parent nations were at peace (albeit very tenuously).
Timothy Woodbridge | French and Indian War
Vaudreuil and Montcalm were minimally resupplied in 1758, as the British blockade of the French coastline limited French shipping. The situation in New France was further exacerbated by a poor harvest in 1757, a difficult winter, and the allegedly corrupt machinations of François Bigot, the intendant of the territory. His schemes to supply the colony inflated prices and were believed by Montcalm to line his pockets and those of his associates. A massive outbreak of smallpox among western Indian tribes led many of them to stay away from trading in 1758. The disease probably spread through the crowded conditions at William Henry after the battle; yet the Indians blamed the French for bringing "bad medicine" as well as denying them prizes at Fort William Henry.
French and Indian War | British conquest, 1758–1760
The French and Indian War was a local conflict in North America, that occurred in the context of the trans-continental Seven Years' War. In 1755 armed forces of Great Britain under the command of General Edward Braddock invaded the territories of New France (eastern part of modern Canada) and attacked Fort Duquesne. Although numerically superior to the local French militia and their Indian allies, the British army became ensnared in a two-front conflict and was routed.
Two-front war | Seven Years' War
A major cause of the wars was the desire of each country to take control of the interior territories of America, as well as the region around Hudson Bay; both were deemed essential to domination of the fur trade.
French and Indian Wars | Introduction
The French had no interest in trying to compete with the British for trade in the Ohio Country. Due to their high population and large colonial cities, British traders could offer Native Americans cheaper, higher quality goods than could their French counterparts. The French therefore set about keeping the British as far away from the Ohio Country as possible. Authorities in New France became more aggressive in their efforts to expel British traders and colonists from this area, and in 1753 began construction of a series of fortifications in the area. In previous wars, the Québecois had more than held their own against the English colonials.
Battle of Fort Necessity | Background
The war began with the defeat of a Virginia militia contingent led by Colonel George Washington by the French troupes de la marine in the Ohio valley. As a result of that defeat, the British decided to prepare the conquest of Quebec City, the capital of New France. The British defeated France in Acadia in the Battle of Fort Beausejour (1755) and then Île Royale (Cape Breton Island) (which also administered Île Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island) with the Siege of Louisbourg (1758).
New France | French and Indian War
The French and Indian War broke out in 1754 between British and French colonists over territorial disputes along their colonial frontiers, and escalated the following year to include regular troops. By 1756, the French had enjoyed successes in most of their frontier battles against the British. Their only notable failure occurred when the British stopped their southward advance from Lake Champlain in the 1755 Battle of Lake George. From bases at Fort St. Frédéric (located at what is now Crown Point, New York) and Fort Carillon (known to the British as Fort Ticonderoga), the French and their Indian allies continued to scout and probe the British defenses on Lake George and the upper Hudson River.
Battle on Snowshoes | Background
In North America in the 18th century, the British outnumbered the French 20 to 1, a situation that urged France to ally with the majority of the First Nations. According to one observer: At the beginning of the conflict, despite the disproportion of the forces involved, the French and their allies managed to inflict defeats to the British, such as the Battle of Fort Necessity or the Battle of the Monongahela. Following the capture of Fort William Henry, the Marquis de Montcalm agreed to let the British withdraw with full honours of war - a civility that was not understood by some natives who massacred the British and their camp followers on their way to Fort Edward.
Franco-Indian alliance | Seven Years' War
The Baron de Saint-Castin was adopted by an Abenaki tribe and married a native girl. Governor Frontenac danced and sang war songs at an Indian council. While Daniel Liénard de Beaujeu fought bare-chested and covered with war paints at the battle against Braddock. Natives also adopted French habits, like chief Kondiaronk who wanted to be buried in his uniform of captain or Kateri Tekakwitha who became a Catholic Saint. French settlers and natives were allied in every conflict preceding the Seven Years' War: Father Rale's War, King George's War, Father Le Loutre's War. Intermarriages were also frequent in New France, giving rise to the Métis people.
Franco-Indian alliance | Background
The French and British fought each other and made treaties with Native American tribes to gain control of North America. Both nations coveted the Ohio Country and in 1753 a British expedition there led by George Washington clashed with a French force. Shortly afterwards the French and Indian War broke out, initially taking place only in North America but in 1756 becoming part of the wider Seven Years' War in which Britain and France were part of opposing coalitions. The war has been called the first "world war", because fighting took place on several different continents. In 1759 the British enjoyed victories over the French in Europe, Canada and India, severely weakening the French position around the world.
France–United Kingdom relations | Seven Years' War
Allied with the French, the Mysoreans for a time threatened British positions on the east coast. A French fleet commanded by the Bailli de Suffren fought a series of largely inconclusive battles with a British fleet under Sir Edward Hughes, and the only major military land action, the 1783 Siege of Cuddalore, was cut short by news that a preliminary peace had been signed. The French failed to attain their goal of regaining territories in India that were lost in the Seven Years war. The British fought on with Mysores until that conflict ended as "status quo ante bellum" in 1784.
France in the American Revolutionary War | Other theaters
As there was no hope of a successful outcome, Boishébert burned his fort before the enemy arrived and sought refuge among the local populace, continuing meanwhile to fight the enemy.
Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot | French and Indian War
India was a major battlefield, in which France tried to form alliances with Indian states against the British -controlled East India Company. Under Warren Hastings, the British managed to hold their own throughout the war. When the war began Britain quickly seized all of France's Indian possessions, especially Pondicherry. They were returned to France in the 1783 peace treaty. By 1789, the French debt acquired to fight in that war came to a staggering 1.3 billion livres. It "set off France's own fiscal crisis, a political brawl over taxation that soon became one of the reasons for French Revolution." France did obtain its revenge against Britain, but materially it gained little and its huge debts seriously weakened the government and helped facilitate the French Revolution in 1789.
History of French foreign relations | American Revolutionary War
The French and Indian War broke out in 1754 between British and French colonists over territorial disputes along their colonial frontiers, and escalated the following year to include regular troops. By 1756, the French had enjoyed successes in most of their frontier battles against the British. Their only notable failure occurred when the British stopped their southward advance from Lake Champlain in the 1755 Battle of Lake George. From bases at Fort St. Frédéric (located at what is now Crown Point, New York) and Fort Carillon (known to the British as Fort Ticonderoga), the French and their Indian allies continued to scout and probe the British defenses on Lake George and the upper Hudson River.
Battle on Snowshoes (1757) | Background
In the aftermath of the war, both the British and French sought to expand into the Ohio River valley. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the American extension of the general European conflict known as the Seven Years' War. Previous colonial wars in North America had started in Europe and then spread to the colonies, but the French and Indian War is notable for having started in North America and spread to Europe. One of the primary causes of the war was increasing competition between Britain and France, especially in the Great Lakes and Ohio valley. The French and Indian War took on a new significance for the British North American colonists when William Pitt the Elder decided that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America in order to win the war against France.
Thirteen Colonies | French and Indian War
The colonial forces of Washington were overwhelmed by the French and their Indian allies in the Battle of the Great Meadows at Fort Necessity. These battles are considered the opening shots of the French and Indian War which would spread to the Old World and become the Seven Years' War. The loss at Fort Necessity marked Washington's only military surrender. The British ultimately won the French and Indian war and the French were forced to leave western Pennsylvania.
Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania | French and Indian War
The policies which he introduced in those lands disturbed large numbers of Indians and contributed to Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763. This series of attacks on frontier forts and settlements required the continued deployment of British troops, and it was not resolved until 1766. The war in North America officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763, and war in the European theater was settled by the Treaty of Hubertusburg on 15 February 1763. The British offered France the choice of surrendering either its continental North American possessions east of the Mississippi or the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, which had been occupied by the British.
French and Indian War | Peace
Britain and France continued to clash, each with increasingly large forces. Even though the inhabitants of the British colonies hugely outnumbered those of New France, they were unable to exert this advantage partly due to a successful campaign by the French to recruit Native American allies who raided the unprotected frontier of the Thirteen Colonies. The British raised regiments of local militia and shipped in more regular forces from Britain and Ireland. Despite these increased forces Britain continued to fare badly in the battle for control of the Ohio Country and the nearby Great Lakes, and none of their campaigns was successful in 1756.
Great Britain in the Seven Years' War | Further struggles in North America (1756–58)
As the Seven Years' War entered its later stages through 1758 and 1759, French forces and colonies in northeastern North America came under renewed attack from British armies. In 1758 after their defeat in July at the Battle of Carillon, the British took Louisbourg in August, causing Atlantic Canada to fall into their hands, and opening the sea route to attack Quebec. The British also captured Fort Frontenac in the same month, costing the French supplies for the Ohio Valley campaign. When some of the Indian supporters of the French made peace with the British, France was forced to draw its troops back.
Battle of the Plains of Abraham | Overview
Despite the 1669 Treaty of Whitehall, in which European forces agreed that Continental conflicts would not disrupt colonial peace and neutrality, the war was fought primarily by proxy in New France and New England. The British of New York prompted local Iroquois warriors to attack New France's undefended settlements. While the British were preparing to engage in acts of warfare, the inhabitants of New France were ill-prepared to defend against the Indian attacks" due to the isolation of the farms and villages. Denonville was quoted as saying "If we have a war, nothing can save the country but a miracle of God,".
Lachine massacre | Economic motives
But at the end of the French and Indian War British numerical superiority became overwhelming, in spite of almost the whole male population of Canada being mobilized, and standard European tactics won the day and the war.
French and Indian Wars | Petty warfare
Between 1754 and 1763, many Native American tribes were involved in the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War. Those involved in the fur trade in the northern areas tended to ally with French forces against British colonial militias. Native Americans fought on both sides of the conflict. The greater number of tribes fought with the French in the hopes of checking British expansion. The British had made fewer allies, but it was joined by some tribes that wanted to prove assimilation and loyalty in support of treaties to preserve their territories. They were often disappointed when such treaties were later overturned.
History of Native Americans in the United States | 18th century
In the decades before Pontiac's Rebellion, France and Great Britain participated in a series of wars in Europe; they also fought the French and Indian Wars in America in which France lost New France to Great Britain. The British colonists made peace with the Shawnee and Lenape Native Americans in 1758 with the Treaty of Easton, where the British promised not to settle beyond the ridge of the Allegheny Mountains, a demarcation which the king confirmed in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Most fighting in the French and Indian War came to an end after British General Jeffrey Amherst captured Montreal in 1760, the last important French settlement.
Pontiac's War | Background
Although roughly a hundred of the Canadians fled back to the fort, Captain Dumas rallied the rest of the French troops. The Indian tribes allied with the French, the Ottawas, Ojibwa and Potawatomis, used psychological warfare against the British forces. After the Indians killed British soldiers, they would nail their scalps to surrounding trees. During the battle, Indians made a terrifying "whoop" sound that caused fear and panic to spread in the British infantry. As they came under heavy fire, Gage's advance guard began taking casualties and withdrew. In the narrow confines of the road, they collided with the main body of Braddock's force, which had advanced rapidly when the shots were heard.
Battle of the Monongahela | Battle
The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts in North America that represented the actions there that accompanied the European dynastic wars. In Quebec, the wars are generally referred to as the Intercolonial Wars. While some conflicts involved Spanish and Dutch forces, all pitted Great Britain, its colonies and American Indian allies on one side and France, its colonies and Indian allies on the other. The expanding French and British colonies were contending for control of the western, or interior, territories. Whenever the European countries went to war, there were actions within and by these colonies although the dates of the conflict did not necessarily exactly coincide with those of the larger conflicts.
Late modern period | North America
Over the next few weeks, serious negotiations began between Britain, France and Spain (for which Britain's chief negotiator was Alleyne Fitzherbert, and Spain's Count of Aranda). Although a French naval expedition had destroyed British trading posts in Hudson Bay during the summer, no territory had actually been captured. From time to time, news would arrive from India of continuing stalemate, both in the land wars (which involved the French only as supporters to local rulers) and in naval battles; the British still appeared to hold all the French territory there that they had captured in 1778–79, while the French held no British territory.
Anglo-French War (1778–1783) | Peace and end of the war
The colonization of America by the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish was resisted by some Indian tribes and assisted by other tribes. Wars and other armed conflicts in the 17th and 18th centuries included: In several instances, the conflicts were a reflection of European rivalries, with Indian tribes splitting their alliances among the powers, generally siding with their trading partners. Various tribes fought on each side in King William's War, Queen Anne's War, Dummer's War, King George's War, and the French and Indian War, allying with British or French colonists according to their own self interests.
American Indian Wars | Colonial period (1609–1774)
The Treaty of Paris in 1763 concluded the French and Indian War and distributed the lands of New France between Britain and Spain. King George then issued a royal proclamation. In it, he instructed his Royal Governors to issue military land warrants to war veterans, awarding acreage based upon military rank. Also, in recognition that the Cherokee from the south and the many Indian tribes north of the Ohio River hunted but did not reside in the area they called Kentucky, the king declared an Indian Reserve west of the Appalachian Divide by invalidating any land claims and ordering all settlers to vacate the reserve area.
Craig v. Radford | Origin of the Dispute
The 7 Years War, better known as the French-Indian War, was a conflict between the French, British, and Native Americans over land. English land speculators encouraged people to move west and build farms. Mary Draper Ingles’ family was one of many who were recruited to move west of the mountains. As more English settlers moved west towards their lands and hunting grounds; Native American tribes revolted. They invaded English settlements, including that of Mary Draper Ingles.
The Captives (film) | Background
The French and Indian War was a part of the Seven Years' War which pitted Great Britain alongside the Thirteen Colonies and their native allies against the French, New France and "their" native allies. Many American colonists wished to capture the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and displace the indigenous population by settling there. During the outbreak of the war, the American colonists were divided on whether or not to take the risk of actually fighting the French for control of the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. The poster quickly became a symbol for the need of organized action against the threat posed by the French and their native allies during the conflict, as while many Americans were unwilling to participate in combat against the French, many more recognized that if the French colonies were not captured they would always pose a risk to the well-being and security of the Thirteen Colonies.
Join, or Die | Role during the Seven Years' War
The French action drew the attention of not just the British, but also the Indian tribes of the area. Despite good Franco-Indian relations, British traders became successful in convincing the Indians to trade with them in preference to the Canadiens, and the planned large-scale advance was not well received by all. The reason for this was that they had to provide them with the goods that the Anglo-American traders had previously supplied, and at similar prices. This proved to be singularly difficult. With the exception of one or two Montreal merchant traders, the Canadians showed a great reluctance to venture into the Ohio country.
Battle of Fort Necessity | Background
Since the 1720s the colonial rivalry between Britain and France in India had been growing in intensity. Following the French decision to join the War of the Austrian Succession on the opposing side to Britain, the British despatched a Royal Navy squadron under Commodore Curtis Barnett to raid and harass French settlements in India. During 1745 this force attacked a number of French ships, disrupting commerce, and ruining several leading French merchants. In response the French despatched a similarly-sized fleet under the Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais. After fighting an inconclusive battle the two fleets withdrew to repair, with the British retreating to Ceylon and the French using their base at Pondicherry.
Battle of Madras | Background
In addition, the British had the greater ability to resupply their colonies and project military power by sea. In the first three conflicts, the French were able to offset these factors largely by more effective mobilization of Indian allies, but they were finally overwhelmed in the fourth and last war.
French and Indian Wars | Overview
Facing major defeats in the hands of Britain's allies on the European theater of the war and with its navy unable to match the Royal Navy, France was unable to properly supply and support the Canadiens and their indigenous allies. Britain had a string of successes, especially with the Battle of Fort Niagara, and the Franco-Indian alliance started to unravel. At the same time, the British were making promises of support and protection to the natives. Finally, Quebec fell in September following the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
Franco-Indian alliance | Seven Years' War
The Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle prevented direct hostilities between the two powers but soon they were involved in indirect hostilities as the auxiliaries of the local princes in their feuds. The feud Dupleix chose was for the succession to the positions of the Nizam of the Deccan and the Nawab of the dependent Carnatic province. The British and the French both nominated their candidates for the two posts. In both cases, Dupleix's candidates usurped both thrones by manipulation and two assassinations. In mid-1751, the French candidate for the Nawab's post, Chanda Sahib, laid siege to the British candidate Wallajah's last stronghold Trichinopoly, where Wallajah was holed up with his British reinforcements.
Battle of Plassey | Carnatic Wars
The French in Canada and their Abenaki allies, many of whom refugees of King Philip's War and seeking revenge against the English, raided settlements of the Massachusetts Colony. The English colonists enlisted the help of the men of the Indian communities to fight in engagements such as King William's War (1689–1699), Queen Anne's War (1704–1713), Dummer's War (1722–1724), King George's War (1744–1748), Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755) and the French and Indian War (1754–1760). As many of the Abenaki allies were New England Indians they had absorbed, some battles pitted kin against kin. Many fought with distinction as guides, interpreters and scouts in units such as Gorham's Rangers, such as Abraham Speen, John Babysuck and Jonathan Womsquam, all of whom had ties to Natick's old families.
Massachusett | The French and Indian Wars and the American Revolutionary War
In 1700, the French signed an alliance with the Choctaw tribe. In 1702, the French were able to temporarily reconcile the Choctaws and Chickasaws just before the resumption of hostilities between the English and French. Additionally, the French interacted with the Apalachee, Tomeh, Chato, Oumas, and Tawasa tribes. The interaction was detrimental to the regional Indian population which dropped from 5,000 in 1702 to 2,000 in 1711 due primarily to smallpox and other diseases introduced by the colonists.
Old Mobile Site | The struggle to survive and expand
In one piece of good fortune, some French supply ships did manage to depart France and elude the British blockade of the French coast.
French and Indian War | 1758
The East Indies theatre of the French Revolutionary Wars was a series of campaigns related to the major European conflict known as the French Revolutionary Wars, fought between 1793 and 1801 between the new French Republic and its allies and a shifting alliance of rival powers. Although the Indian Ocean was separated by vast distance from the principal theatre of the conflict in Western Europe, it played a significant role due to the economic importance of the region to Great Britain, France's most constant opponent, of its colonies in India and the Far Eastern trade. Protection of British interests in the region fell primarily to the Royal Navy, supported by the military forces of the East India Company.
East Indies theatre of the French Revolutionary Wars | Introduction
Lawrence. The Algonquin tribes were interested in fighting against the Iroquois. Throughout New England, New York, and the North-west Native American tribes formed differing alliances with the major belligerents. In 1756 and 1757 the French captured forts Oswego and William Henry from the British. The latter victory was marred when France's native allies broke the terms of capitulation and attacked the retreating British column, which was under French guard, slaughtering and scalping soldiers and taking captive many men, women and children while the French refused to protect their captives. French naval deployments in 1757 also successfully defended the key Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island called Ile du Roi by the French, securing the seaward approaches to Quebec.
Seven Years' War | North America
In 1777 during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the Americans had captured a British invasion army. This emboldened the French to sign a military alliance with the new United States of America, and declare war on Britain. The French concentrated in the Caribbean islands, and on India. Meanwhile the presidencies of Madras and Bombay became involved in serious quarrels with the greatest of the native states. Madras with the formidable Hyder Ali of Mysore and with the Nizam of Hyderabad, and Bombay with the Marathas. France sent a battle fleet under Admiral Pierre André de Suffren. The combination meant Hastings faced a formidable challenge, with only Oudh as an ally.
Warren Hastings | War with France
In India, the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in Europe renewed the long running conflict between the French and the British trading companies for influence on the subcontinent. The French allied themselves with the Mughal Empire to resist British expansion. The war began in Southern India but spread into Bengal, where British forces under Robert Clive recaptured Calcutta from the Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah, a French ally, and ousted him from his throne at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. In the same year, the British also captured Chandernagar, the French settlement in Bengal. In the south, although the French captured Cuddalore, their siege of Madras failed, while the British commander Sir Eyre Coote decisively defeated the Comte de Lally at the Battle of Wandiwash in 1760 and overran the French territory of the Northern Circars.
Seven Years' War | India
One year after the Albany Purchase, the French and Indian War between Great Britain and France began, with each side seeking control of the North American colonies. Although the Iroquois refused to take sides for the first four years of the conflict and instructed all of the tribes under their protection to do the same, the Lenape and the Shawnee broke ranks and joined northern tribes the Huron, Ottawa and Ojibwe in forging an alliance with the French. On July 9, 1755, the French and their Native American allies decisively defeated a combined force of colonial and British soldiers led by General Edward Braddock at the Battle of the Monongahela in Braddock's Field, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh.
Penn's Creek massacre | French and Indian War
Most of the fighting ended in America in 1760, although it continued in Europe between France and Britain. The notable exception was the French seizure of St. John's, Newfoundland. General Amherst heard of this surprise action and immediately dispatched troops under his nephew William Amherst, who regained control of Newfoundland after the Battle of Signal Hill in September 1762. Many of the British troops who were stationed in America were reassigned to participate in further British actions in the West Indies, including the capture of Spanish Havana when Spain belatedly entered the conflict on the side of France, and a British expedition against French Martinique in 1762 led by Major General Robert Monckton.
French and Indian War | Sporadic engagements, 1760–1763
The British proceeded to wage a campaign in the northwest frontier of Canada in an effort to cut off the French frontier forts to the west and south. They captured Ticonderoga and Fort Niagara, and they defeated the French at the Thousand Islands in the summer of 1759. In September 1759, James Wolfe defeated Montcalm in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham which claimed the lives of both commanders. After the battle, the French capitulated the city to the British. In April 1760, François Gaston de Lévis led French forces to launch an attack to retake Quebec. Although he won the Battle of Sainte-Foy, Lévis' subsequent siege of Quebec ended in defeat when British ships arrived to relieve the garrison.
French and Indian War | 1759–1760
What came to be known as the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) began as a conflict between Great Britain and France in 1754, when the British sought to expand into territory claimed by the French in North America. The war came to be known as the French and Indian War, with both the British and the French and their respective Native American allies fighting for control of territory. Hostilities were heightened when a British unit led by a 22-year-old Lt. Colonel George Washington ambushed a small French force at the Battle of Jumonville Glen on 28 May 1754. The conflict exploded across the colonial boundaries and extended to Britain's seizure of hundreds of French merchant ships at sea.
Seven Years' War | Summary
Heavy and violent fighting between German and French troops resulted in 51 deaths, including one civilian on the French side, and more than 40 wounded for the Germans.
Tata of Chasselay | History
The colonial powers of New France and the British Thirteen Colonies fought for control of the trading routes in the Ohio River Valley in what was at the time the northwestern frontier of America. The French were the first to explore the upper reaches of the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. They built several forts in what is now western Pennsylvania, including Fort Duquesne in what is now Pittsburgh. Fort Duquesne was built on the remains of Fort Prince George which the French had seized from the British. George Washington was sent by the colonial governor of Virginia to try to retake the all-important fort at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.
Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania | French and Indian War
The Battle of Restigouche was a naval battle fought in 1760 during the Seven Years' War (known as the French and Indian War in the United States) on the Restigouche River between the British Royal Navy and the small flotilla of vessels of the French Navy, Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq militias. The loss of the French vessels, which had been sent to support and resupply the troops in New France after the fall of Quebec, marked the end of any serious attempt by France to keep hold of their colonies in North America. The battle was the last major engagement of the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias before the Burying of the Hatchet Ceremony between the Mi'kmaq and the British.
Battle of Restigouche | Introduction
Upstate New York was the scene of fighting during the French and Indian War, with British and French forces contesting control of Lake Champlain in association with Native American allies. Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, and other agents in upstate New York brought about the participation of the Iroquois. The French and their Indian allies laid siege to Fort William Henry at the southern end of Lake George in 1757. The British forces surrendered to the French, but many prisoners were then massacred by the Indians. Some prisoners had smallpox, and when Indians took the scalps to their home villages, they spread a disease that killed large numbers.
Province of New York | French and Indian War
British defenders at Fort William Henry (at the southern end of Lake George) were surrounded by an overwhelming French force and their Indian allies from many tribes in August 1757. The British surrendered to the French after being offered terms that included protection from the Indians. Nonetheless, the Indian warriors' customs permitted the enslavement of some captured enemy soldiers and the scalping of others, and they ignored French efforts to prevent the massacre. They killed or captured hundreds of the surrendered British force, including women, children, servants, and slaves. Some of those scalped had smallpox, and the scalps were brought to numerous Indian villages as trophies, where they caused an epidemic that killed thousands of Indians.
Colonial American military history | New York
Egushawa may have fought against the British during the French and Indian War (1754–1763) as an ally of the French.
Egushawa | Background
In 1753, French troops from Canada marched south and seized and fortified the Ohio Valley. Britain protested the invasion and claimed Ohio for itself. On May 28, 1754, the French and Indian War (the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War) began with the Battle of Jumonville Glen. French Officer Ensign de Jumonville and a third of his escort was killed by a British patrol led by George Washington. In retaliation the French and the Indians defeated the British at Fort Necessity. Washington lost a third of his force, and surrendered. Major General Edward Braddock's troops were defeated in the Battle of the Monongahela, and William Johnson's troops stopped the French advance at Lake George.
Military history of the Acadians | French and Indian War
The British military forces consisted of the British Army's regular regiments and independent companies; the provincial regiments raised by the several colonies in British America, and the colonial militia.
French and Indian Wars | British
We could only wonder how and why the British army ever penetrated such vasts forest and why they could not let the French enjoy their possessions and they (the British) stay at home. However considering the conditions, the Indians who carried the savage warfare, the trackless forests, the big lakes, the mountains, the possibilities of death from starvation, or worse as a captive to Indians, one can easily understand why after the battle Dr Pitt was reported missing; then the Chancery Court took charge of his estate and refused to give anything unless the heirs could bring proof of his death, which of course could not be done".
Charles Pitt | Introduction
The French and Indian War officially ended in 1763, but hostilities between the Indians and the British continued in Pontiac's War. Guyasuta and the Ohio Seneca were allied with Pontiac, and fought the British alongside his warriors at the July 1763 Siege of Fort Pitt, the July 31, 1763 Battle of Bloody Run, the August 5–6, 1763 Battle of Bushy Run, and the September 14, 1763 Devil's Hole Massacre (the deadliest engagement for British soldiers during the war). It's unclear if Simon Girty fought along with Guyasuta in this war. On October 17, 1764, British commander Henry Bouquet demanded that the Ohio Indians return all captives, including those not yet returned from the French and Indian War.
Simon Girty | Guyasuta, Simon Girty's mentor
Control of the area south of the Great Lakes and north of the Ohio River was contested for centuries. European influence first began when the Dutch and English supported the Iroquois in the 17th century Beaver Wars. In the 18th century, the region became a focal point for colonial wars between France and Great Britain, especially in the Ohio Country. The French and Indian War initiated when France and Virginia disputed control of the area, and the different Native nations in the region supported their favored trade partners (French or British) or remained neutral. In the Treaty of Paris (1763), France ceded control of the region to the British, although many French colonials remained and Native nations resisted the arrival of British control in Pontiac's War.
Northwest Indian War | Background
The North American wars, and their associated European wars, in sequence, are: Naming conflicts after the British monarch of the day is a convention in United States history related to its early European settlement as majority-English colonies. Canadian convention uses the name of the larger European conflict (e.g., the "War of the Grand Alliance" rather than "King William's War") or refers to the wars as the Intercolonial Wars. As the wars proceeded, the military advantage moved toward the British side. This was chiefly the result of the greater population and productive capacity of the British colonies compared with those of France.
French and Indian Wars | Overview
Although it eventually became a worldwide conflict known as the Seven Years' War, the French and Indian War began on the Pennsylvania frontier as a struggle for control of the Ohio Country. With the surrender of George Washington at Fort Necessity in 1754 and Braddock's defeat in 1755, the settlers on the Pennsylvania frontier were without professional military protection, and scrambled to organize a defense. The French-allied Indians who had defeated General Edward Braddock at the Monongahela were primarily from the Great Lakes region to the north. The local Indians, mostly Delaware and Shawnee who had migrated to the area after white colonists had settled their lands to the east, had waited to see who would win the contest—they could not risk siding with the loser.
Kittanning Expedition | Background
The great struggle between Great Britain and France for control of the interior of the North American continent (the "French and Indian War") began near Shingas's village close to the forks of the Ohio River. Like most Delawares, Shingas and his villagers stayed neutral in the early stages of the conflict, declining to assist George Washington at Fort Necessity in 1754 and the Braddock Expedition in 1755. The Delawares had no desire to be French subjects either, but when France asserted dominance in the region after Braddock's defeat, the Delawares reluctantly aligned themselves with the French. Shingas took part in the brutal backcountry war with the British colonies, leading raids deep into the Pennsylvania and Virginia settlements.
Shingas | French and Indian War
War between the French Republic and Great Britain began on 1 February 1793, news arriving among the French and British East Indian colonies on 11 June 1793. The strongest French positions in the Indian Ocean were the islands of Île de France and Réunion, which lay substantially to the west of the British bases at Bombay and Madras in British India. A small French frigate squadron, supported by smaller warships and privateers operated from the islands posing a considerable threat to British maritime trade in the Indian Ocean. To counter the threat the British commander in the region, Captain Peter Rainier ordered two of his ships to blockade the island during the summer of 1794.
Battle of Île Ronde | Background
Defeating Louisbourg, would also mean defeating the ally which provided the Miꞌkmaq ammunition to fight.
Military history of the Miꞌkmaq | French and Indian War
Northern America became an important theater of the conflict between France and Great Britain in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), known as the French and Indian War. The royal French forces allied with the various Native American forces in a Franco-Indian alliance. The conflict, the fourth such colonial war between the nations of France and Great Britain, resulted in the British conquest of Canada. The outcome was one of the most significant developments in a century of Anglo-French conflict. To compensate its ally, Spain, for its loss of Florida to the British, France ceded its control of French Louisiana west of the Mississippi.
France–Americas relations | Territorial conflicts in the North
The French and Indian War started in 1754 over territorial disputes between the North American colonies of France and Great Britain in areas that are now western Pennsylvania and upstate New York. The first few years of the war had not gone particularly well for the British. A major expedition by General Edward Braddock in 1755 ended in disaster, and British military leaders were unable to mount any campaigns the following year. In a major setback, a French and Indian army led by General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm captured the garrison and destroyed fortifications in the Battle of Fort Oswego in August 1756.
Siege of Fort William Henry | Background
Between February 1782 and June 1783, Suffren fought the English admiral Sir Edward Hughes, and collaborated with the rulers of Mysore. Suffren fought in the Battle of Sadras on February 17, 1782, the Battle of Providien on April 12 near Trincomalee, the Battle of Negapatam on July 6 off Cuddalore, after which Suffren seized upon the anchorage of Trincomalee compelling the small British garrison to surrender. An army of 3,000 French soldiers collaborated with Hyder Ali to capture Cuddalore. Finally, the Battle of Trincomalee took place near that port on September 3. These battles can be seen as the last battles of the Franco-British conflict that encompassed the American War of Independence, and would cease with the signature of the Treaty of Versailles of 1783 establishing peace and recognizing America independence.
Franco-Indian alliances | Alliance of Louis XVI
On 1 February 1793, amid mounting tensions following the French Revolution of 1789, the recently formed French Republic, already at war with the Austrian Empire and Prussia, declared war on Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. This act spread the French Revolutionary Wars beyond Europe to encompass the British, French and Dutch colonies in the Americas and the East Indies. Britain and France were already rivals in the East Indies, having fought campaigns in the Indian Ocean during both the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) and the American War of Independence (1775–1783). More recently British and French naval forces had fought the Battle of Tellicherry in 1791 as part of the Third Anglo-Mysore War, a conflict between the East India Company (EIC), which controlled British mercantile interests in the East Indies, and the French-supported Kingdom of Mysore in Southern India.
East Indies theatre of the French Revolutionary Wars | Background
This led to ongoing alarms along the western frontiers, with streams of refugees returning east to get away from the action.
French and Indian War | French victories, 1756–1757
Another was hunting enemy Indians for the purpose of scalping them and claiming the cash bounty offered by colonial governments.
Colonial American military history | France and Britain at war
The Crimean War was fought mainly on the Crimean Peninsula by Russia on one side and Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia-Piedmont on the other side for main two reasons. One reason was the Russians' demand for both better treatment of and their right to protect the Ottoman Empire's Orthodox subjects. That would be promised by the sultan at the Congress of Paris. Another reason was a dispute between the Russians and the French about the privileges of the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches in Palestine.
Congress of Paris (1856) | Background
The Battle of Carillon, also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga, was fought on July 8, 1758, during the French and Indian War (which was part of the global Seven Years' War). It was fought near Fort Carillon (now known as Fort Ticonderoga) on the shore of Lake Champlain in the frontier area between the British colony of New York and the French colony of New France. In the battle, which took place primarily on a rise about three-quarters of a mile (one km) from the fort itself, a French army of about 3,600 men under General Marquis de Montcalm and the Chevalier de Levis decisively defeated an overwhelmingly numerically superior force of British troops under General James Abercrombie, which frontally assaulted an entrenched French position without using field artillery, a lack that left the British and their allies vulnerable and allowed the French to win a decisive victory.
Battle of Carillon | Introduction
Historian Fred Anderson suggests that Tanaghrisson was acting to gain the support of the British and to regain authority over his own people. They had been inclined to support the French, with whom they had long trading relationships. One of Tanaghrisson's men told Contrecoeur that Jumonville had been killed by British musket fire. Historians generally consider the Battle of Jumonville Glen as the opening battle of the French and Indian War in North America, and the start of hostilities in the Ohio valley. Following the battle, Washington pulled back several miles and established Fort Necessity, which the Canadians attacked under the command of Jumonville's brother at the Battle of Fort Necessity on July 3.
French and Indian War | Early engagements
Opposition to the costly war was increasing, and in June 1780 contributed to disturbances in London known as the Gordon riots. At the same time France assisted the Spanish in operations against British held Menorca and Gibraltar. In addition France also attempted to displace the British from her Indian territories and fought in a series of naval battles between Admirals Edward Hughes and Pierre André de Suffren The fighting howver resulted in stalemate and only ended upon learning of the provisional Anglo-French-Spanish peace treaties of 1783.
Anglo-French War (1778–1783) | Introduction
The exchanges suited the British as well, as their own Caribbean islands already supplied ample sugar, and, with the acquisition of New France and Florida, they now controlled all of North America east of the Mississippi. In India, the British retained the Northern Circars, but returned all the French trading ports. The treaty, however, required that the fortifications of these settlements be destroyed and never rebuilt, while only minimal garrisons could be maintained there, thus rendering them worthless as military bases. Combined with the loss of France's ally in Bengal and the defection of Hyderabad to the British as a result of the war, this effectively brought French power in India to an end, making way for British hegemony and eventual control of the subcontinent.
Seven Years' War | Outcomes
In June 1754 Chartier was present with his Shawnee warriors and his two sons, Francois and René, at the death of Captain Joseph Coulon de Jumonville at the Battle of Jumonville Glen. In July 1754 he and his sons participated in the French victory over George Washington at the Battle of Fort Necessity. Both of Chartier's sons fought against the British in numerous engagements during the French and Indian War. René may have been killed with Cornstalk when he was detained at Fort Randolph in November 1777.
Peter Chartier | Participation in the French and Indian War
With the arrival of the Europeans, both Great Britain and France claimed the area and both sent fur traders into the area to do business with the Ohio Country Indians. The Iroquois League claimed the region by right of conquest. The rivalry between the two European nations, the Iroquois, and the Ohio natives for control of the region played an important part in the French and Indian War from 1754 through 1760. After initially remaining neutral, the Ohio Country Indians largely sided with the French. Armed with supplies and guns from the French, they raided via the Kittanning Path against British settlers east of the Alleghenies.
Ohio Country | French and Indian War
John Brady was among those who joined the forces to battle the Indian marauders. The French and Indian War ended on February 10, 1763 with the Treaty of Paris, in which France lost all of its North American territory east of the Mississippi and most of Canada.
Samuel Brady | French and Indian War
Braddock rallied his men repeatedly, but fell at last, mortally wounded by a shot through the chest. Although the exact causes of the defeat are debated to this day, a contributing factor was likely Braddock's underestimation of how effectively the French and Indians could react in a battle situation, and how rapidly the discipline and fighting effectiveness of his own men could evaporate.
Edward Braddock | North America
By 1755, conflicts had started in the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War between France and Britain. Both sides made use of Native American allies, especially in the frontier areas where they had few regular forces. One morning in early 1755, a raiding party consisting of six Shawnee Indians and four Frenchmen captured Mary, the rest of her family (except two older brothers), and a young boy from another family. En route to French-controlled Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh), the Shawnee killed Mary's mother, father, and siblings, and ritually scalped them. Mary later learned that it was a Seneca custom, when one of their own was killed or taken prisoner in battle, to take an enemy as prisoner or to take their scalp in a mourning ritual.
Mary Jemison | Biography
Both commanders were a product of the environment of European warfare, which generally took place in open fields with relatively easy mobility, and were thus uncomfortable with woodland warfare. Neither liked the irregular warfare practiced by the Indians and British counterparts like Rogers' Rangers, but saw them as a necessary evil, given the operating environment. Although the French depended on Indian support to increase their comparatively small numbers throughout the war, Indian forces were quite low in this battle, and Montcalm generally disliked them and their practices. Montcalm in particular would have benefited from practicing a more irregular form of warfare.
Battle of Carillon | Montcalm
The French and Indian War, which started in 1754 over territorial disputes in what are now western Pennsylvania and upstate New York, had finally turned in the favor of the British in 1758 following a string of defeats in 1756 and 1757. The British were successful in capturing Louisbourg and Fort Frontenac in 1758. The only significant French victory in 1758 came when a large British army commanded by James Abercrombie was defeated by a smaller French force in the Battle of Carillon. During the following winter, French commanders withdrew most of the garrison from Fort Carillon (called Ticonderoga by the British) to defend Quebec City, Montreal and French-controlled forts on the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River.
Battle of Ticonderoga (1759) | Background
The French capital in India, Pondicherry, fell to the British in 1761; together with the fall of the lesser French settlements of Karikal and Mahé this effectively eliminated French power in India.
Seven Years' War | India
However, colonial disputes were only a minor cause of World War I, as most had been settled by 1914. Economic rivalry was not only a source for some of the colonial conflicts but also a minor cause for the start of World War I. For France, the rivalry was mostly with the rapidly industrializing Germany, which had seized the coal-rich region of Alsace-Lorraine in 1870, and later struggled with France over mineral-rich Morocco. Another cause of World War I was growing militarism which led to an arms race between the powers. As a result of the arms race, all European powers were ready for war and had time tables that would send millions of reserves into combat in a matter of days.
French Army in World War I | Background