The French and Indian War was the North American
theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War.
The war was fought between the colonies of
British America and New France, with both
sides supported by military units from their
parent countries of Great Britain and France,
as well as Native American allies.
At the start of the war, the French North
American colonies had a population of roughly
60,000 compared to 2 million in the English
North American colonies.
The outnumbered French particularly depended
on the Indians.
Long in conflict, the metropole nations declared
war on each other in 1756, escalating the
war from a regional affair into an international
conflict.
The name French and Indian War is used mainly
in the United States and in English-speaking
Canada, and refers to the two main enemies
of the British colonists: the royal French
forces and the various indigenous forces allied
with them.
British and European historians use the term
the Seven Years' War, as do many Canadians.
French Canadians call it La guerre de la Conquête.
The war was fought primarily along the frontiers
between New France and the British colonies,
from Virginia in the South to Nova Scotia
in the North.
It began with a dispute over control of the
confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela
rivers, called the Forks of the Ohio, and
the site of the French Fort Duquesne and present-day
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle
of Jumonville Glen in May 1754, during which
Virginia militiamen under the command of 22-year-old
George Washington ambushed a French patrol.
In 1755, six colonial governors in North America
met with General Edward Braddock, the newly
arrived British Army commander, and planned
a four-way attack on the French.
None succeeded and the main effort by Braddock
was a disaster; he was defeated in the Battle
of the Monongahela on July 9, 1755 and died
a few days later.
British operations in 1755, 1756 and 1757
in the frontier areas of Pennsylvania and
New York all failed, due to a combination
of poor management, internal divisions, and
effective Canadian, French regular forces,
and Indian offense.
In 1755, the British captured Fort Beauséjour
on the border separating Nova Scotia from
Acadia; soon afterward they ordered the expulsion
of the Acadians.
Orders for the deportation were given by William
Shirley, Commander-in-Chief, North America,
without direction from Great Britain.
The Acadians, both those captured in arms
and those who had sworn the loyalty oath to
His Britannic Majesty, were expelled.
Native Americans were likewise driven off
their land to make way for settlers from New
England.
After the disastrous 1757 British campaigns,
the British government fell.
William Pitt came to power and significantly
increased British military resources in the
colonies at a time when France was unwilling
to risk large convoys to aid the limited forces
it had in New France.
France concentrated its forces against Prussia
and its allies in the European theatre of
the war.
Between 1758 and 1760, the British military
successfully penetrated the heartland of New
France, and took control of Montreal in September
1760.
The outcome was one of the most significant
developments in a century of Anglo-French
conflict.
France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi
to Great Britain.
It ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi
River to its ally Spain, in compensation for
Spain's loss to Britain of Florida..
France's colonial presence north of the Caribbean
was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre
and Miquelon, confirming Britain's position
as the dominant colonial power in eastern
North America.
Origin of the name
The conflict is known by multiple names.
In British America, wars were often named
after the sitting British monarch, such as
King William's War or Queen Anne's War.
As there had already been a King George's
War in the 1740s, British colonists named
the second war in King George's reign after
their opponents, and it became known as the
French and Indian War.
This traditional name continues as the standard
in the United States, but it obscures the
fact that Indians fought on both sides of
the conflict, and that this was part of the
Seven Years' War, a much larger conflict between
France and Great Britain.
American historians generally use the traditional
name or sometimes the Seven Years' War.
Other, less frequently used names for the
war include the Fourth Intercolonial War and
the Great War for the Empire.
In Europe, the North American theater of the
Seven Years' War usually is not given a separate
name.
The entire international conflict is known
as the Seven Years' War.
"Seven Years" refers to events in Europe,
from the official declaration of war in 1756
to the signing of the peace treaty in 1763.
These dates do not correspond with the fighting
on mainland North America, where the fighting
between the two colonial powers was largely
concluded in six years, from the Battle of
Jumonville Glen in 1754 to the capture of
Montreal in 1760.
In Canada, both French-speaking and English-speaking
Canadians refer to both the European and North
American conflicts as the Seven Years' War.
French Canadians also use the term "War of
Conquest", since it is the war in which New
France was conquered by the British and became
part of the British Empire
North America in the 1750s
At this time, North America east of the Mississippi
River was largely claimed by either Great
Britain or France.
Large areas had no settlements by Europeans.
The French population numbered about 75,000
and was heavily concentrated along the St.
Lawrence River valley, with some also in Acadia).
Fewer lived in New Orleans, Biloxi, Mississippi,
Mobile, Alabama and small settlements in the
Illinois Country, hugging the east side of
the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
French fur traders and trappers traveled throughout
the St. Lawrence and Mississippi watersheds,
did business with local tribes, and often
married Indian women.
Traders married daughters of chiefs, creating
high-ranking unions.
British colonies had a population of about
1.5 million and ranged along the eastern coast
of the continent, from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland
in the north, to Georgia in the south.
Many of the older colonies had land claims
that extended arbitrarily far to the west,
as the extent of the continent was unknown
at the time their provincial charters were
granted.
While their population centers were along
the coast, the settlements were growing into
the interior.
Nova Scotia, which had been captured from
France in 1713, still had a significant French-speaking
population.
Britain also claimed Rupert's Land, where
the Hudson's Bay Company traded for furs with
local tribes.
In between the French and the British, large
areas were dominated by native tribes.
To the north, the Mi'kmaq and the Abenaki
were engaged in Father Le Loutre's War and
still held sway in parts of Nova Scotia, Acadia,
and the eastern portions of the province of
Canada, as well as much of present-day Maine.
The Iroquois Confederation dominated much
of present-day Upstate New York and the Ohio
Country, although the latter also included
Algonquian-speaking populations of Delaware
and Shawnee, as well as Iroquoian-speaking
Mingo.
These tribes were formally under Iroquois
rule, and were limited by them in authority
to make agreements.
Further south the Southeast interior was dominated
by Siouan-speaking Catawba, Muskogee-speaking
Creek and Choctaw, and the Iroquoian-speaking
Cherokee tribes.
When war broke out, the French used their
trading connections to recruit fighters from
tribes in western portions of the Great Lakes
region, including the Huron, Mississauga,
Ojibwa, Winnebago, and Potawatomi.
The British were supported in the war by the
Iroquois Six Nations, and also by the Cherokee
– until differences sparked the Anglo-Cherokee
War in 1758.
In 1758 the Pennsylvania government successfully
negotiated the Treaty of Easton, in which
a number of tribes in the Ohio Country promised
neutrality in exchange for land concessions
and other considerations.
Most of the other northern tribes sided with
the French, their primary trading partner
and supplier of arms.
The Creek and Cherokee were subject to diplomatic
efforts by both the French and British to
gain either their support or neutrality in
the conflict.
It was not uncommon for small bands to participate
on the "other side" of the conflict from formally
negotiated agreements, as most tribes were
decentralized and bands made their own decisions
about warfare.
By this time, in eastern North America Spain
claimed only the province of Florida; it controlled
Cuba and other territories in the West Indies
that became military objectives in the Seven
Years' War.
Florida's European population was a few hundred,
concentrated in St. Augustine and Pensacola.
At the start of the war, no French regular
army troops were stationed in North America,
and few British troops.
New France was defended by about 3,000 troupes
de la marine, companies of colonial regulars.
The colonial government recruited militia
support when needed.
Most British colonies mustered local militia
companies, generally ill trained and available
only for short periods, to deal with native
threats, but did not have any standing forces.
Because of its large frontier, Virginia had
several companies of British regulars.
The colonial governments were used to operating
independently of each other, and of the government
in London, a situation that complicated negotiations
with Native tribes.
Their territories often encompassed land claimed
by multiple colonies.
After the war began, the leaders of the British
Army establishment tried to impose constraints
and demands on the colonial administrations.
Events leading to war
Céloron's expedition
In June 1747, concerned about the incursion
and expanding influence of British traders
such as George Croghan in the Ohio Country,
Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière,
the Governor-General of New France, ordered
Pierre-Joseph Céloron to lead a military
expedition through the area.
Its objectives were to confirm the original
French claim to the territory, determine the
level of British influence, and impress the
Indians with a French show of force.
Céloron's expedition force consisted of about
200 Troupes de la marine and 30 Indians.
The expedition covered about 3,000 miles between
June and November 1749.
It went up the St. Lawrence, continued along
the northern shore of Lake Ontario, crossed
the portage at Niagara, and followed the southern
shore of Lake Erie.
At the Chautauqua Portage, the expedition
moved inland to the Allegheny River, which
it followed to the site of present-day Pittsburgh.
There Céloron buried lead plates engraved
with the French claim to the Ohio Country.
Whenever he encountered British merchants
or fur-traders, Céloron informed them of
the French claims on the territory and told
them to leave.
When Céloron's expedition arrived at Logstown,
the Native Americans in the area informed
Céloron that they owned the Ohio Country
and that they would trade with the British
regardless of the French.
Céloron continued south until his expedition
reached the confluence of the Ohio and the
Miami rivers, which lay just south of the
village of Pickawillany, the home of the Miami
chief known as "Old Briton".
Céloron threatened "Old Briton" with severe
consequences if he continued to trade with
the British.
"Old Briton" ignored the warning.
Disappointed, Céloron returned to Montreal
in November 1749.
In his extensively detailed report, Céloron
wrote, "All I can say is that the Natives
of these localities are very badly disposed
towards the French, and are entirely devoted
to the English.
I don't know in what way they could be brought
back."
Even before his return to Montreal, reports
on the situation in the Ohio Country were
making their way to London and Paris, each
side proposing that action be taken.
William Shirley, the expansionist governor
of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, was
particularly forceful, stating that British
colonists would not be safe as long as the
French were present.
Conflicts between the colonies, accomplished
through raiding parties that included Indian
allies, had taken place for decades, leading
to a brisk trade in European colonial captives
from either side.
Negotiations
In 1749 the British government gave land to
the Ohio Company of Virginia for the purpose
of developing trade and settlements in the
Ohio Country.
The grant required that it settle 100 families
in the territory, and construct a fort for
their protection.
But, as the territory was also claimed by
Pennsylvania, both colonies began pushing
for action to improve their respective claims.
In 1750 Christopher Gist, acting on behalf
of both Virginia and the company, explored
the Ohio territory and opened negotiations
with the Indian tribes at Logstown.
He completed the 1752 Treaty of Logstown in
which the local Indians, through their "Half-King"
Tanacharison and an Iroquois representative,
agreed to terms that included permission to
build a "strong house" at the mouth of the
Monongahela River.
By the late 17th century, the Iroquois had
pushed many tribes out of the Ohio Valley,
and kept it as hunting ground by right of
conquest.
The War of the Austrian Succession formally
ended in 1748 with the signing of the Treaty
of Aix-la-Chapelle.
The treaty was primarily focused on resolving
issues in Europe.
The issues of conflicting territorial claims
between British and French colonies in North
America were turned over to a commission to
resolve, but it reached no decision.
Frontiers from between Nova Scotia and Acadia
in the north, to the Ohio Country in the south,
were claimed by both sides.
The disputes also extended into the Atlantic
Ocean, where both powers wanted access to
the rich fisheries of the Grand Banks off
Newfoundland.
Attack on Pickawillany
On March 17, 1752, the Governor-General of
New France, Marquis de la Jonquière, died
and was temporarily replaced by Charles le
Moyne de Longueuil.
His permanent replacement, the Marquis Duquesne,
did not arrive in New France until 1752 to
take over the post.
The continuing British activity in the Ohio
territories prompted Longueuil to dispatch
another expedition to the area under the command
of Charles Michel de Langlade, an officer
in the Troupes de la Marine.
Langlade was given 300 men, including French-Canadians
and warriors of the Ottawa.
His objective was to punish the Miami people
of Pickawillany for not following Céloron's
orders to cease trading with the British.
On June 21, the French war party attacked
the trading centre at Pickawillany, capturing
three traders and killing 14 people of the
Miami nation, including Old Briton.
He was reportedly ritually cannibalized by
some aboriginal members of the expedition.
French fort construction
In the spring of 1753, Paul Marin de la Malgue
was given command of a 2,000-man force of
Troupes de la Marine and Indians.
His orders were to protect the King's land
in the Ohio Valley from the British.
Marin followed the route that Céloron had
mapped out four years earlier, but where Céloron
had limited the record of French claims to
the burial of lead plates, Marin constructed
and garrisoned forts.
He first constructed Fort Presque Isle on
Lake Erie's south shore.
He had a road built to the headwaters of LeBoeuf
Creek.
Marin constructed a second fort at Fort Le
Boeuf, designed to guard the headwaters of
LeBoeuf Creek.
As he moved south, he drove off or captured
British traders, alarming both the British
and the Iroquois.
Tanaghrisson, a chief of the Mingo, who were
remnants of Iroquois and other tribes who
had been driven west by colonial expansion.
He intensely disliked the French.
Traveling to Fort Le Boeuf, he threatened
the French with military action, which Marin
contemptuously dismissed.
The Iroquois sent runners to the manor of
William Johnson in upstate New York.
The British Superintendent for Indian Affairs
in the New York region and beyond, Johnson
was known to the Iroquois as Warraghiggey,
meaning "He who does great things."
He spoke their languages and had become a
respected honorary member of the Iroquois
Confederacy in the area.
In 1746, Johnson was made a colonel of the
Iroquois.
Later he was commissioned as a colonel of
the Western New York Militia.
They met at Albany, New York with Governor
Clinton and officials from some of the other
American colonies.
Mohawk Chief Hendrick, Speaker of their tribal
council, insisted that the British abide by
their obligations and block French expansion.
When Clinton did not respond to his satisfaction,
Chief Hendrick said that the "Covenant Chain",
a long-standing friendly relationship between
the Iroquois Confederacy and the British Crown,
was broken.
Virginia's response
Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia was
an investor in the Ohio Company, which stood
to lose money if the French held their claim.
To counter the French military presence in
Ohio, in October 1753 Dinwiddie ordered the
21-year-old Major George Washington of the
Virginia Regiment to warn the French to leave
Virginia territory.
Washington left with a small party, picking
up along the way Jacob Van Braam as an interpreter;
Christopher Gist, a mixed-race company surveyor
working in the area; and a few Mingo led by
Tanaghrisson.
On December 12, Washington and his men reached
Fort Le Boeuf.
Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, who succeeded
Marin as commander of the French forces after
the latter died on October 29, invited Washington
to dine with him.
Over dinner, Washington presented Saint-Pierre
with the letter from Dinwiddie demanding an
immediate French withdrawal from the Ohio
Country.
Saint-Pierre said, "As to the Summons you
send me to retire, I do not think myself obliged
to obey it."
He told Washington that France's claim to
the region was superior to that of the British,
since René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
had explored the Ohio Country nearly a century
earlier.
Leaving Fort Le Boeuf early on December 16,
Washington and his party arrived in Williamsburg
on January 16, 1754.
In his report, Washington stated, "The French
had swept south", detailing the steps they
had taken to fortify the area, and their intention
to fortify the confluence of the Allegheny
and Monongahela rivers.
Course of the war
Even before Washington returned, Dinwiddie
had sent a company of 40 men under William
Trent to that point, where in the early months
of 1754 they began construction of a small
stockaded fort.
Governor Duquesne sent additional French forces
under Claude-Pierre Pecaudy de Contrecœur
to relieve Saint-Pierre during the same period,
and Contrecœur led 500 men south from Fort
Venango on April 5, 1754.
When these forces arrived at the fort on April
16, Contrecœur generously allowed Trent's
small company to withdraw.
He purchased their construction tools to continue
building what became Fort Duquesne.
After Washington had returned to Williamsburg,
Dinwiddie ordered him to lead a larger force
to assist Trent in his work.
While en route, Washington learned of Trent's
retreat.
Since Tanaghrisson had promised support to
the British, Washington continued toward Fort
Duquesne and met with the Mingo leader.
Learning of a French scouting party in the
area, Washington, with Tanaghrisson and his
party, surprised the Canadians on May 28 in
what became known as the Battle of Jumonville
Glen.
They killed many of the Canadians, including
their commanding officer, Joseph Coulon de
Jumonville, whose head was reportedly split
open by Tanaghrisson with a tomahawk.
The historian Fred Anderson suggests that
Tanaghrisson was acting to gain the support
of the British and 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 French attacked on July 3.
Washington surrendered; he negotiated a withdrawal
under arms.
One of Washington's men reported that the
French force was accompanied by Shawnee, Delaware,
and Mingo native warriors—just those whom
Tanaghrisson was seeking to influence.
News of the two battles reached England in
August.
After several months of negotiations, the
government of the Duke of Newcastle decided
to send an army expedition the following year
to dislodge the French.
They chose Major General Edward Braddock to
lead the expedition.
Word of the British military plans leaked
to France well before Braddock's departure
for North America.
In response, King Louis XV dispatched six
regiments to New France under the command
of Baron Dieskau in 1755.
The British, intending to blockade French
ports, sent out their fleet in February 1755,
but the French fleet had already sailed.
Admiral Edward Hawke detached a fast squadron
to North America in an attempt to intercept
the French.
In a second British action, Admiral Edward
Boscawen fired on the French ship Alcide on
June 8, 1755, capturing her and two troop
ships.
The British harassed French shipping throughout
1755, seizing ships and capturing seamen.
These actions contributed to the eventual
formal declarations of war in spring 1756.
British campaigns, 1755
The British formed an aggressive plan of operations
for 1755.
General Braddock was to lead the expedition
to Fort Duquesne.
While the Massachusetts provincial governor
William Shirley was given the task of fortifying
Fort Oswego and attacking Fort Niagara, Sir
William Johnson was to capture Fort St. Frédéric.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Monckton was to
capture Fort Beauséjour to the east, on the
frontier between Nova Scotia and Acadia.
Braddock led about 1,500 army troops and provincial
militia on an expedition in June 1755 to take
Fort Duquesne.
The expedition was a disaster.
It was attacked by French and Indian soldiers
ambushing them from up in trees and behind
logs.
Braddock called for a retreat.
He was killed.
Approximately 1,000 British soldiers were
killed or injured.
The remaining 500 British troops, led by George
Washington, retreated to Virginia.
Two future opponents in the American Revolutionary
War, Washington and Thomas Gage, played key
roles in organizing the retreat.
The French acquired a copy of the British
war plans, including the activities of Shirley
and Johnson.
Shirley's efforts to fortify Oswego were bogged
down in logistical difficulties, exacerbated
by Shirley's inexperience in managing large
expeditions.
When it was clear he would not have time to
mount an expedition across Lake Ontario to
Fort Ontario, Shirley left garrisons at Oswego,
Fort Bull, and Fort Williams.
Supplies for use in the projected attack on
Niagara were cached at Fort Bull.
Johnson's expedition was better organized
than Shirley's, which was noticed by New France's
governor, the Marquis de Vaudreuil.
He had primarily been concerned about the
extended supply line to the forts on the Ohio,
and had sent Baron Dieskau to lead the defenses
at Frontenac against Shirley's expected attack.
When Johnson was seen as the larger threat,
Vaudreuil sent Dieskau to Fort St. Frédéric
to meet that threat.
Dieskau planned to attack the British encampment
at Fort Edward at the upper end of navigation
on the Hudson River, but Johnson had strongly
fortified it, and Dieskau's Indian support
was reluctant to attack.
The two forces finally met in the bloody Battle
of Lake George between Fort Edward and Fort
William Henry.
The battle ended inconclusively, with both
sides withdrawing from the field.
Johnson's advance stopped at Fort William
Henry, and the French withdrew to Ticonderoga
Point, where they began the construction of
Fort Carillon.
Colonel Monckton, in the sole British success
that year, captured Fort Beauséjour in June
1755, cutting the French fortress at Louisbourg
off from land-based reinforcements.
To cut vital supplies to Louisbourg, Nova
Scotia's Governor Charles Lawrence ordered
the deportation of the French-speaking Acadian
population from the area.
Monckton's forces, including companies of
Rogers' Rangers, forcibly removed thousands
of Acadians, chasing down many who resisted,
and sometimes committing atrocities.
More than any other factor, the cutting off
of supplies to Louisbourg led to its demise.
The Acadian resistance, in concert with native
allies, including the Mi'kmaq, was sometimes
quite stiff, with ongoing frontier raids.
Other than the campaigns to expel the Acadians,
the only clashes of any size were at Petitcodiac
in 1755 and at Bloody Creek near Annapolis
Royal in 1757.
French victories, 1756–1757
Following the death of Braddock, William Shirley
assumed command of British forces in North
America.
At a meeting in Albany in December 1755, he
laid out his plans for 1756.
In addition to renewing the efforts to capture
Niagara, Crown Point and Duquesne, he proposed
attacks on Fort Frontenac on the north shore
of Lake Ontario and an expedition through
the wilderness of the Maine district and down
the Chaudière River to attack the city of
Quebec.
Bogged down by disagreements and disputes
with others, including William Johnson and
New York's Governor Sir Charles Hardy, Shirley's
plan had little support.
Newcastle replaced him in January 1756 with
Lord Loudoun, with Major General James Abercrombie
as his second in command.
Neither of these men had as much campaign
experience as the trio of officers France
sent to North America.
French regular army reinforcements arrived
in New France in May 1756, led by Major General
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and seconded by the
Chevalier de Lévis and Colonel François-Charles
de Bourlamaque, all experienced veterans from
the War of the Austrian Succession.
During that time in Europe, on May 18, 1756,
England formally declared war on France, which
expanded the war into Europe, which was later
to be known as the Seven Years' War.
Governor Vaudreuil, who harboured ambitions
to become the French commander in chief, acted
during the winter of 1756 before those reinforcements
arrived.
Scouts had reported the weakness of the British
supply chain, so he ordered an attack against
the forts Shirley had erected at the Oneida
Carry.
In the March Battle of Fort Bull, French forces
destroyed the fort and large quantities of
supplies, including 45,000 pounds of gunpowder.
They set back any British hopes for campaigns
on Lake Ontario, and endangered the Oswego
garrison, already short on supplies.
French forces in the Ohio valley also continued
to intrigue with Indians throughout the area,
encouraging them to raid frontier settlements.
This led to ongoing alarms along the western
frontiers, with streams of refugees returning
east to get away from the action.
The new British command was not in place until
July.
When he arrived in Albany, Abercrombie refused
to take any significant actions until Loudoun
approved them.
Montcalm took bold action against his inertia.
Building on Vaudreuil's work harassing the
Oswego garrison, Montcalm executed a strategic
feint by moving his headquarters to Ticonderoga,
as if to presage another attack along Lake
George.
With Abercrombie pinned down at Albany, Montcalm
slipped away and led the successful attack
on Oswego in August.
In the aftermath, Montcalm and the Indians
under his command disagreed about the disposition
of prisoners' personal effects.
The Europeans did not consider them prizes
and prevented the Indians from stripping the
prisoners of their valuables, which angered
the Indians.
Loudoun, a capable administrator but a cautious
field commander, planned one major operation
for 1757: an attack on New France's capital,
Quebec.
Leaving a sizable force at Fort William Henry
to distract Montcalm, he began organizing
for the expedition to Quebec.
He was then ordered by William Pitt, the Secretary
of State responsible for the colonies, to
attack Louisbourg first.
Beset by delays of all kinds, the expedition
was finally ready to sail from Halifax, Nova
Scotia in early August.
In the meantime French ships had escaped the
British blockade of the French coast, and
a fleet outnumbering the British one awaited
Loudoun at Louisbourg.
Faced with this strength, Loudoun returned
to New York amid news that a massacre had
occurred at Fort William Henry.
French irregular forces harassed Fort William
Henry throughout the first half of 1757.
In January they ambushed British rangers near
Ticonderoga.
In February they launched a daring raid against
the position across the frozen Lake George,
destroying storehouses and buildings outside
the main fortification.
In early August, Montcalm and 7,000 troops
besieged the fort, which capitulated with
an agreement to withdraw under parole.
When the withdrawal began, some of Montcalm's
Indian allies, angered at the lost opportunity
for loot, attacked the British column, killing
and capturing several hundred men, women,
children, and slaves.
The aftermath of the siege may have contributed
to the transmission of smallpox into remote
Indian populations; as some Indians were reported
to have traveled from beyond the Mississippi
to participate in the campaign and returned
afterward having been exposed to European
carriers.
British conquest, 1758–1760
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
tribes led many of them to stay away from
trading in 1758.
While many parties to the conflict blamed
others, the disease was probably spread through
the crowded conditions at William Henry after
the battle.
Montcalm focused his meager resources on the
defense of the St. Lawrence, with primary
defenses at Carillon, Quebec, and Louisbourg,
while Vaudreuil argued unsuccessfully for
a continuation of the raiding tactics that
had worked quite effectively in previous years.
The British failures in North America, combined
with other failures in the European theater,
led to the fall from power of Newcastle and
his principal military advisor, the Duke of
Cumberland.
Newcastle and Pitt joined in an uneasy coalition
in which Pitt dominated the military planning.
He embarked on a plan for the 1758 campaign
that was largely developed by Loudoun.
He had been replaced by Abercrombie as commander
in chief after the failures of 1757.
Pitt's plan called for three major offensive
actions involving large numbers of regular
troops, supported by the provincial militias,
aimed at capturing the heartlands of New France.
Two of the expeditions were successful, with
Fort Duquesne and Louisbourg falling to sizable
British forces.
1758
The Forbes Expedition was a British campaign
in September–October 1758, with 6,000 troops
led by General John Forbes to drive the French
out of the contested Ohio Country.
After a British advance party on Fort Duquesne
was repulsed on September 14, the French withdrew
from Fort Duquesne, leaving the British in
control of the Ohio River Valley.
The great French fortress at Louisbourg in
Nova Scotia was captured after a siege.
The third invasion was stopped with the improbable
French victory in the Battle of Carillon,
in which 3,600 Frenchmen famously and decisively
defeated Abercrombie's force of 18,000 regulars,
militia and Native American allies outside
the fort the French called Carillon and the
British called Ticonderoga.
Abercrombie saved something from the disaster
when he sent John Bradstreet on an expedition
that successfully destroyed Fort Frontenac,
including caches of supplies destined for
New France's western forts and furs destined
for Europe.
Abercrombie was recalled and replaced by Jeffery
Amherst, victor at Louisbourg.
In the aftermath of generally poor French
results in most theaters of the Seven Years'
War in 1758, France's new foreign minister,
the duc de Choiseul, decided to focus on an
invasion of Britain, to draw British resources
away from North America and the European mainland.
The invasion failed both militarily and politically,
as Pitt again planned significant campaigns
against New France, and sent funds to Britain's
ally on the mainland, Prussia, and the French
Navy failed in the 1759 naval battles at Lagos
and Quiberon Bay.
In one piece of good fortune, some French
supply ships managed to depart France, eluding
the British blockade of the French coast.
1759–1760
British victories continued in all theaters
in the Annus Mirabilis of 1759, when they
finally captured Ticonderoga, James Wolfe
defeated Montcalm at Quebec, and victory at
Fort Niagara successfully cut off the French
frontier forts further to the west and south.
The victory was made complete in 1760, when,
despite losing outside Quebec City in the
Battle of Sainte-Foy, the British were able
to prevent the arrival of French relief ships
in the naval Battle of the Restigouche while
armies marched on Montreal from three sides.
In September 1760, Governor Vaudreuil negotiated
a surrender with General Amherst.
Amherst granted Vaudreuil's request that any
French residents who chose to remain in the
colony would be given freedom to continue
worshiping in their Roman Catholic tradition,
continued ownership of their property, and
the right to remain undisturbed in their homes.
The British provided medical treatment for
the sick and wounded French soldiers and French
regular troops were returned to France aboard
British ships with an agreement that they
were not to serve again in the present war.
End of the war
Most of the fighting between France and Britain
in continental North America ended in 1760,
while the fighting in Europe continued.
The notable exception was the French seizure
of St. John's, Newfoundland.
When General Amherst heard of this surprise
action, he immediately dispatched troops under
his nephew William Amherst, who regained control
of Newfoundland after the Battle of Signal
Hill in September 1762.
Many troops from North 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.
General Amherst also oversaw the transition
of French forts in the western lands to British
control.
The policies he introduced in those lands
disturbed large numbers of Indians, and contributed
to the outbreak in 1763 of the conflict known
as Pontiac's Rebellion.
This series of attacks on frontier forts and
settlements required the continued deployment
of British troops, and was not resolved until
1766.
The war in North America officially ended
with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on
February 10, 1763, and war in the European
theatre of the Seven Years' War was settled
by the Treaty of Hubertusburg on February
15, 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.
France chose to cede the former, but was able
to negotiate the retention of Saint Pierre
and Miquelon, two small islands in the Gulf
of St. Lawrence, along with fishing rights
in the area.
They viewed the economic value of the Caribbean
islands' sugar cane to be greater and easier
to defend than the furs from the continent.
The British, for their part, were happy to
take New France, as defense was not an issue
and as they already had ample places from
which to obtain sugar.
Spain, which traded Florida to Britain to
regain Cuba, also gained Louisiana, including
New Orleans, from France in compensation for
its losses.
Great Britain and Spain also agreed that navigation
on the Mississippi River was to be open to
vessels of all nations.
Consequences
The war changed economic, political, governmental
and social relations between three European
powers, their colonies and colonists, and
the natives that inhabited the territories
they claimed.
France and Britain both suffered financially
because of the war, with significant long-term
consequences.
Britain gained control of French Canada and
Acadia, colonies containing approximately
80,000 primarily French-speaking Roman Catholic
residents.
The deportation of Acadians beginning in 1755
resulted in land made available to migrants
from Europe and the colonies further south.
The British resettled many Acadians throughout
its North American provinces, but many went
to France, and some went to New Orleans, which
they had expected to remain French.
Some were sent to colonize places as diverse
as French Guiana and the Falkland Islands;
these latter efforts were unsuccessful.
Others migrated to places like Saint-Domingue,
and fled to New Orleans after the Haitian
Revolution.
The Louisiana population contributed to the
founding of the modern Cajun population.
Following the treaty, King George III issued
the Royal Proclamation of 1763 on October
7, 1763, which outlined the division and administration
of the newly conquered territory, and to some
extent continues to govern relations between
the government of modern Canada and the First
Nations.
Included in its provisions was the reservation
of lands west of the Appalachian Mountains
to its Indian population, a demarcation that
was at best a temporary impediment to a rising
tide of westward-bound settlers.
The proclamation also contained provisions
that prevented civic participation by the
Roman Catholic Canadians.
When accommodations were made in the Quebec
Act in 1774 to address this and other issues,
religious concerns were raised in the largely
Protestant Thirteen Colonies over the advance
of "popery"; the Act maintained French Civil
law in the form of the seigneurial system,
a medieval code soon to be removed from France
within a generation by the French Revolution.
The Seven Years' War nearly doubled Britain's
national debt.
The Crown, seeking sources of revenue to pay
off the debt, attempted to impose new taxes
on its colonies.
These attempts were met with increasingly
stiff resistance, until troops were called
in so that representatives of the Crown could
safely perform their duties.
These acts ultimately led to the start of
the American Revolutionary War.
France attached comparatively little value
to its North American possessions, especially
in respect to the highly profitable sugar-producing
Antilles islands, which it managed to retain.
Minister Choiseul considered he had made a
good deal at the Treaty of Paris, and philosopher
Voltaire wrote that Louis XV had lost "a few
acres of snow".
For France however, the military defeat and
the financial burden of the war weakened the
monarchy and contributed to the advent of
the French Revolution in 1789.
For many native populations, the elimination
of French power in North America meant the
disappearance of a strong ally and counterweight
to British expansion, leading to their ultimate
dispossession.
The Ohio Country was particularly vulnerable
to legal and illegal settlement due to the
construction of military roads to the area
by Braddock and Forbes.
Although the Spanish takeover of the Louisiana
territory had modest repercussions, the British
takeover of Spanish Florida resulted in the
westward migration of tribes that did not
want to do business with the British, and
a rise in tensions between the Choctaw and
the Creek, historic enemies whose divisions
the British at times exploited.
The change of control in Florida also prompted
most of its Spanish Catholic population to
leave.
Most went to Cuba, including the entire governmental
records from St. Augustine, although some
Christianized Yamasee were resettled to the
coast of Mexico.
France returned to North America in 1778 with
the establishment of a Franco-American alliance
against Great Britain in the American War
of Independence.
This time France succeeded in prevailing over
Great Britain, in what historian Alfred Cave
describes as "French [...] revenge for Montcalm's
death".
See also
French and Indian Wars
Military history of Nova Scotia
Northwest Indian War
Franco-Indian alliance
Great Britain in the Seven Years' War
New Hampshire Provincial Regiment
American Indian Wars
Footnotes
References
Further reading
External links
The French and Indian War Website
Map of French and Indian War.
French and British forts and settlements,
Indian tribes.
French and Indian War Profile and Videos - Chickasaw.TV
The War That Made America from PBS
FORGOTTEN WAR: Struggle for North America
from PBS
Select Bibliography of the French and Indian
Wars compiled by the United States Army Center
of Military History
Seven Years' War timeline
Montcalm and Wolfe, by Francis Parkman online
ebook
French and Indian War Living History Reenactments
