french and indian war

The area of contention that would ultimately serve as the spark to ignite the powder keg of war was a 200,000 square mile region known as the Ohio River Valley. The conflict was played out in Europe, India, and North America. Kindle $6.99 $ 6. The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Behind this issue loomed an infinitely larger one, however: which national culture was to dominate the heart of North America. A conflict between the two colonial powers over their rival North American claims was doubtless inevitable, but because their areas of trade exploitation were widely separated, that conflict might have been delayed for many years had not the governor-general of New France forced the issue. The Ohio River begins its journey at present-day Pittsburgh, where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers converge with it, creating what is known as the “Forks,” and eventually empties into the Mississippi River in Illinois. However, the French-speaking Acadians who lived in the region not only steadfastly refused to take an oath of loyalty to the British crown but had provided Fort Beauséjour with provisions and a large labour force to aid the French in consolidating their foothold on the isthmus. Many men, both American and British, who would serve in the Revolutionary War found themselves engulfed in the struggle. Swept up in the struggle were the inhabitants of New France, the British colonists, the Native Americans, and regular troops from … Descending the Allegheny in large numbers in the spring of 1754, French troops overwhelmed the uncompleted fort before Virginia militia under Col. Joshua Fry could arrive. The British colonies beat them there. The struggle occurring within the colonies, centered on Great Britain against France, was known as the French and Indian War. The French and Indian War (1754 1763): Causes and Outbreak. Over 900 men fell killed, wounded, or captured to the French, including Braddock, who succumbed to his wounded several days later. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Upon Fry’s death in May 1754, Washington assumed command of the militia and entrenched himself at a post that came to be called Fort Necessity (now Confluence, Pennsylvania), about 40 miles (60 km) from the French position at Fort Duquesne. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, https://www.britannica.com/event/French-and-Indian-War, HistoryWorld - History of the French and Indian War, Ohio History Central - French and Indian War, Social Studies for Kids - The French and Indian War, U.S. Department of State - Office of the Historian - French and Indian War/Seven Years’ War, 1754–63, French and Indian War - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), French and Indian War - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), British and French dominions in North America, 1755, English colonies in 17th-century North America, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Grozon, marquis de Montcalm, Roland-Michel Barrin, marquis de La Galissonnière. That move was followed by the capture or killing of every English-speaking trader that the French and their Indian allies could find in the upper Ohio Valley. For Washington the French and Indian War started in late 1753, when he was selected as the British emissary to the French frontier establishment. The French and Indian War began over the specific issue of whether the upper Ohio River valley was a part of the British Empire, and therefore open for trade and settlement by Virginians and Pennsylvanians, or part of the French Empire. Both Great Britain and France wanted to expand their colonies into the Ohio River Valley, which France considered a part of New France and Great Britain considered a part of the colony of Virginia. It received its title because the war was Britain and its American colonies fighting against the French and their Indian allies. The English and the French had battled for ownership of North America for years. By that period, hundreds of Pennsylvanian traders had likewise settled in the villages of Indian peoples of the upper Ohio Valley, with whom Great Britain was allied. It argued that this grant gave Virginia a claim to the western lands that was more valid than New France’s claim, which was based upon La Salle’s much later journey down the Mississippi. The majority of settlers occupied Canada, but forts and outposts kept communications open along the waterways leading down to Louisiana. The battle at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening action of this clash among British, French, and American Indian cultures. As for the French, the colony of New France numbered just over 60,000, and its territorial holdings stretched in a large arc from the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence River, through the Great Lakes, and down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. Braddock's Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution: David Preston. By the middle of the 18th century, the small cabins of Virginians were to be found even to the west of the Appalachians on the upper reaches of such waterways as the New and Holston rivers. Braddock was killed and his army scattered in July 1755 when the force was ambushed while approaching Fort Duquesne. The Library’s collections contain a wide variety of materials related to the French and Indian War (the North American part of the Seven Years' War). The exile of the Acadians from Nova Scotia was famously dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s narrative poem Evangeline (1847). The traders, regarded as trespassers on French lands, were ordered to retreat to the eastern slopes of the Appalachians. It was only a matter of time before Britain, who saw the Forks of the Ohio as part of the King’s dominion, sent a military force from Pennsylvania or Virginia to assert its dominance in the region. Please select which sections you would like to print: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Corrections? Every purchase supports the mission. Your tax-deductible gift will help us to preserve this irreplaceable twice-hallowed ground at Gaines' Mill and Cold Harbor — forever. Donations to the Trust are tax deductible to the full extent allowable under the law. Its inhabitants were concentrated along the eastern seaboard from Maine (Massachusetts) to Georgia, and in Nova Scotia, which was ceded to Britain following the War of Spanish Succession. North American territory was dominated by the British on the eastern coast, the French down in Louisiana up through Canada following the Mississippi Valley, and the Spanish in Florida. With the French to the west and the Spanish in Florida, the British colonists were boxed in. Date. How did the North American colonies get flipped-turn-upside down? Omissions? The British expedition that summer against Fort Niagara along Lake Ontario failed to materialize and was called off. Two years later, the conflict spread to Europe where it became known as the Seven Years' War. Sign up to receive email updates about our Warrior Legacy programming for veterans, active duty military and their families. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war’s expenses led to colonial discontent, and … Map, Operations in Virginia, n.d. Map, Fort Duquesne, 1754 Map, Braddock's Defeat, 1755 Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie to the Sachems and Warriors of the Six Indian Nations, n.d. (returns three belts of wampums and declares continued friendship of British) Map of British and French dominions in North America, 1755. General Johnson Saving a Wounded French Officer from the Tomahawk of a North American Indian. Armies consisting of regular troops, colonial provincials, and Native American auxiliaries were assembled, and that summer Britain made its mighty thrust to reclaim the continent. Point in history Battles, French & Indian War had initially been a War. Florida, the population of Britain ’ s brother surrounded and attacked washington Battle near Duquesne! 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