Conflicts between France and England were common throughout the early eighteenth century.
While previous wars were about succession,
or who would take control of what country
in Europe, the French and Indian War stands
out, because it didn't start in Europe, nor
was it about succession - it was over territories
and trade.
American historians consider the French and
Indian War to be its own internal conflict,
completely separate from the goings-on in
Europe.
European historians, however, consider the
French and Indian War to be the North American
off-shoot of the Seven Years War; a much larger
conflict happening in Europe around the same
time.
In the 1750s, the three largest populations
living in North America were French colonists,
English colonists, and Native American tribes.
All three groups traded, and built a rapport
with each other.
For example, the Native Americans wanted guns
and ammunition, to make their warriors more
effective fighters; on par with their European
neighbors.
However, as North America was in the process
of settlement, it was only inevitable that
the three forces would eventually clash.
Both the French and the English eyed the Ohio
Valley area, between the forks of the Ohio.
The French and Indian War was, in a nutshell,
a territorial tug-of-war for control of the
Ohio Valley.
And unfortunately, for the Native Americans
living there, they were caught in the middle
of the conflict.
At this time, the British outnumbered the
French population around twenty to one.
This is why the French relied heavily on alliances
made with their Native American neighbors,
such as the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Abenaki,
and Algonquin.
French fur traders and trappers often married
Indian women, and some even married the daughters
of Indian chiefs, to create even stronger
unions.
Despite the name "French and Indian War,"
not all Native Americans fought for the French.
Some Indian tribes, such as the Iroquois Confederacy,
and the Catawba, fought for the British.
Other tribes, like the Cherokee, shifted allegiances,
and some tribes remained neutral, wanting
no part in the conflict.
So why did the British and the French want
control of the Ohio Valley?
They both felt the Ohio Valley belonged to
them.
For France, the Ohio Valley was an essential
link between its colony in Canada, and the
lands claimed along the Mississippi River.
For the British, however, the French were
interfering with land grants to the Ohio Company
in the region, founded by Virginian colonists,
despite French opposition.
The goal of Native Americans on both sides
was the same: to prevent the other side from
gaining more territory.
The Algonquin tribes had a feud with the Iroquois,
who had previously pushed them further west.
The French took advantage of this bitterness
to get the Algonquins to side with them.
In turn, the British supplied the Iroquois
with arms and ammunition, and encouraged them
to attack French settlements in the area.
Tensions between the French and the English
escalated, when French soldiers led a group
of Algonquin warriors to attack Pickawillany:
Britain's largest and richest settlement in
the area.
The raid sent many British settlers back across
the mountains.
In 1752, Marquis Duquesne was appointed governor
of New France.
Duquesne, with instructions to assert control
of the Ohio territory, established a string
of forts south of the Great Lakes, which won
further support from the Algonquin allies.
The British were determined to resist this
French advance.
Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie wrote to
the Board of Trade in London, seeking feedback
on how to deal with the French threat.
The Board responded: "You have the king's
orders - build forts of your own to protect
his majesty's territories.
Any resistance by the French will be considered
acts of war.
Gov. Dinwiddie commissioned then 21-year-old
Major George Washington to deliver a letter
to Captain Jacques Saint-Pierre, commander
of Fort Le Boeuf.
The letter contained Gov. Dinwiddie's demands
for the French to leave the area, but Capt.
Saint-Pierre refused, stating that the French
held a stronger claim to the area than the
British.
Major Washington marched back to Williamsburg
to bear the bad news.
Gov. Dinwiddie responded by sending fur trader
William Trent, along with a group of carpenters
to begin construction on a new British fort,
which was to be named Fort Prince George.
The French were not going to allow this new
fort to be built in a territory they believed
was theirs, so on April 18, 1754, French Captain
Pierre de Contrecoeur took a company of 600
soldiers, and captured the partially completed
stockade.
Just to spite the British, the French tore
down what Trent's men built, and constructed
an even larger, better- defended fortress
in its place, named Fort Duquesne.
Back in Virginia, Washington, now a Lieutenant
Colonel, had been ordered to march a larger
force to aid Trent with the construction of
the fort.
Only when Washington was 60 miles away did
he find out about Trent's surrender.
Soon after on May 28, 1754, Washington, with
the help of Indian leader Mingo sachem Tanaghrisson,
retaliated while en route to Fort Duquesne,
by crushing a nearby French scouting party.
This engagement, known as the Battle of Jumonville
Glen, is considered the first battle of the
French and Indian War.
Soon afterwards, Washington pulled his exhausted
troops a few miles back, and established Fort
Necessity.
French Canadian troops attacked Fort Necessity
a few months later in July, and Washington
was forced to retreat.
British colonials realized then that they
would need help from their Native American
neighbors.
Between June and July 1754, the Albany Congress,
led by New York Lt. Gov. James DeLancey, was
formed with the goals of easing tensions between
the Indians and the colonists, and to better
prepare for the coming war ahead.
This plan would be known as the Albany Plan.
One of the delegates at this meeting was Benjamin
Franklin, who advocated hard for the colonies
to work together.
Franklin designed this now-famous woodcut
of a snake, with the words "Join or Die" inscribed
underneath.
Franklin's illustration sent a clear message:
the British colonies will not survive if they
don't work together.
The Albany Plan, while adopted by the Congress,
was ultimately rejected by their home legislatures.
The attack at Fort Necessity would be the
first of many setbacks the English would experience
in the early years of the French and Indian
War.
News of Washington's defeat at Fort Necessity
spread throughout the colonies, and had reached
London.
In 1755, British officials sent two Irish
brigades, under the command of Major General
Edward Braddock, to North America with one
goal in mind: to take back control of the
Ohio Valley as soon as possible.
One of Braddock's objectives was to take back
Fort Duquesne.
Britain's Native American allies offered to
help Braddock in this campaign, however Braddock,
overconfident that European military tactics
would work in the Ohio wilderness, refused
help from the Indians.
This refusal led to disastrous consequences
for Braddock.
While en route to Fort Duquesne, Braddock's
forces were ambushed and annihilated by French
and Native American forces in the Battle of
Monongahela.
General Braddock did not survive the attack.
