The conflict known in America as the _French and Indian War_, and in
Europe as the _Seven Years' War_, originated in disputes between the
French and English colonists, in the New World, concerning territorial
limits. For a century the colonies of the two nations had been
gradually expanding and increasing in importance. The English, more
than a million in number, occupied the seaboard from the Penobscot to
the St. Mary's, a thousand miles in extent; all eastward of the great
ranges of the Alleganies, and far northward toward the St. Lawrence.
The French, not more than a hundred thousand strong, made settlements
along the St. Lawrence, the shores of the great lakes, on the
Mississippi and its tributaries, and upon the borders of the gulf of
Mexico. They early founded Detroit, Kaskaskia, Vincennes, and New
Orleans.
The English planted agricultural colonies--the French were chiefly
engaged in traffic with the Indians. This trade, and the operations of
the Jesuit missionaries, who were usually the self-denying pioneers of
commerce in its penetration of the wilderness, gave the French great
influence over the tribes of a vast extent of country lying in the
rear of the English settlements.
The ancient quarrel between the two nations, originating far back in
the feudal ages, and kept alive by subsequent collisions, burned
vigorously in the bosoms of the respective colonists in America, where
it was continually fed by frequent hostilities on frontier ground.
They had ever regarded each other with extreme jealousy, for the prize
before them was supreme rule in the New World. The trading-posts and
missionary-stations of the French, in the far Northwest, and in the
bosom of the dark wilderness, several hundred miles distant from the
most remote settlements on the English frontier, attracted very little
attention until they formed a part of more extensive operations. But
when, after the capture of Louisburg, by the English, in 1745, the
French adopted vigorous measures for opposing the extension of British
power in America; when they built strong vessels at the foot of Lake
Ontario--made treaties of friendship with powerful Indian
tribes--strengthened their fort at the mouth of the Niagara river--and
erected a cordon of fortifications, more than sixty in number, between
Montreal and New Orleans,--the English were aroused to immediate and
effective action in defence of the territorial limits given them in
their ancient charters. By virtue of these, they claimed dominion
westward to the Pacific ocean, south of the latitude of the north
shore of Lake Erie; while the French claimed a title to all the
territory watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, under the
more plausible plea that they had made the first explorations and
settlements in that region. The claims of the real owner--the
Indian--were lost sight of in the discussion; and it was a significant
question asked by an Indian messenger of the agent of the English
_Ohio Company_: "Where is the Indian's land? The English claim it all
on one side of the river, and the French on the other: where does the
Indian's land lie?"
The territorial question was brought to an issue when, in 1753, a
company of English traders and settlers commenced exploring the
head-waters of the Ohio. The French opposed their operations by force.
George Washington was sent by the Virginia authorities to remonstrate
with the French. It was of no avail. The English determined to oppose
force to force; and in the vicinity of the now-flourishing city of
Pittsburg, in western Pennsylvania, the "French and Indian War" began.
Provincial troops were raised, and armies came from England. Extensive
campaigns were planned, and attempts were made to expel the French
from Lake Champlain and the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Finally,
in 1758, three armies were in motion at one time against French posts
remote from each other--Louisburg, in the extreme east; Ticonderoga,
on Lake Champlain; and Fort Du Quesne, where Pittsburg now stands.
General Sir James Abercrombie commanded the expedition against
Ticonderoga, accompanied by young Lord Howe as his lieutenant. The
French were under the command of the marquis Montcalm, who was killed
at Quebec the following year. The English and provincial troops
rendezvoused at the head of Lake George, went down that sheet of
water, attacked Ticonderoga, and were repulsed with great loss. It was
this portion of that campaign in which the soldier served who kept the
Journal given in the succeeding pages. It is a graphic outline
picture, in few and simple words, of the daily life of a common
soldier at that time.
During the campaign of 1759, Quebec was captured by the army under
Wolfe; Lord Amherst, more successful than Abercrombie, drove the
French from Lake Champlain; Sir William Johnson captured Fort Niagara;
and all Canada was in virtual possession of the English, except
Montreal. That fell early in the Autumn of 1760; and the struggle for
supremacy in America, between the French and English, was ended for
ever.