WARS WITH THE FRENCH
KING WILLIAM'S WAR.--When James II was driven from his throne (p. 93), he
fled to France. His quarrel with King William was taken up by Louis XIV,
and in 1689 war began between France and England. The strife thus started
in the Old World soon spread to the New, and during eight years the
frontier of New England and New York was the scene of French and Indian
raids, massacres, and burning towns.
[Illustration: SCENE OF THE EARLY WARS WITH THE FRENCH.]
THE FRONTIER.--The frontier of English settlement consisted of a string of
little towns close to the coast in Maine and New Hampshire, and some sixty
miles back from the coast in Massachusetts; of a second string of towns up
the Connecticut valley to central Massachusetts; and of a third up the
Hudson to the Mohawk and up the Mohawk to Schenec'tady. Most of Maine and
New Hampshire, all of what is now Vermont, and all New York north and west
of the Mohawk was a wilderness pierced by streams which afforded the
French and Indians easy ways of reaching the English frontier.
The French frontier consisted of a few fishing towns scattered along the
shores of Acadia (what is now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and eastern
Maine), arid a few settlements along the St. Lawrence to Fort Frontenac,
just where the river leaves Lake Ontario.
Between these frontiers in Maine and New Hampshire were the Abenaki (ab-
nahk'ee) Indians, close allies of the French and bitter enemies of the
English; and in New York the Iroquois, allies of the English and enemies
of the French since the day in 1609 when Champlain defeated them (p. 115).
[1]
THE FRENCH ATTACK THE ENGLISH FRONTIER.--The governor of New France was
Count Frontenac, a man of action, keen, fiery, and daring, a splendid
executive, an able commander, and well called the Father of New France.
Gathering his Frenchmen and Indians as quickly as possible, Frontenac
formed three war parties on the St. Lawrence in the winter of 1689-90:
that at Montreal was to march against Albany; that at Three Rivers was to
ravage the frontier of New Hampshire, and that at Quebec the frontier of
Maine. The Montreal party was ready first, and made its way on snowshoes
to the little palisaded village of Schenectady, passed through the open
gates [2] in a blinding storm of snow, and in the darkness of night
massacred threescore men, women, and children, took captive as many more,
and left the place in ashes.
[Illustration: THE ATTACK AT SCHENECTADY.]
The second war party of French and Indians left the St. Lawrence in
January, 1690, spent three months struggling through the wilderness, and
in March fell upon the village of Salmon Falls, laid it in ashes, ravaged
the farms near by, massacred some thirty men, women, and children, and
carried off some fifty prisoners. This deed done, the party hurried
eastward and fell in with the third party, from Quebec. The two then
attacked and captured Fort Loyal (where Portland now stands), and
massacred or captured most of the inhabitants.
END OF KING WILLIAM'S WAR.--Smarting under the attacks of the French and
Indians, New England struck back. Its fleet, with a few hundred militia
under William Phips, captured and pillaged Port Royal, and for a time held
Acadia. A little army of troops from Connecticut and New York marched
against Montreal, and a fleet and army under Phips sailed for Quebec. But
the one went no farther than Lake Champlain, and Phips, after failing in
an attack on Quebec, returned to Boston. [3]
For seven years more the French and Indians ravaged the frontier [4]
before the treaty of Ryswick (riz'wick) put an end to the war in 1697.
QUEEN ANNE'S WAR.--In the short interval of peace which followed, the
French made a settlement at Biloxi, as we have seen, and founded Detroit
(1701). In Europe the French king (Louis XIV) placed his grandson on the
throne of Spain and, on the death of James II, recognized James's young
son as King James III of England. For this, war was declared by England in
1701. The struggle which followed was known abroad as the War of the
Spanish Succession, but in our country as Queen Anne's War. [5]
Again the frontier from Maine to Massachusetts was the scene of Indian
raids and massacres. Haverhill was laid waste a second time, [6] and
Deerfield in the Connecticut valley was burned.
THE ATTACK ON DEERFIELD was a typical Indian raid. The village, consisting
of forty-one houses strung along a road, stood on the extreme northwestern
frontier of Massachusetts. In the center of the place was a square wooden
meetinghouse which, with some of the houses, was surrounded by a stockade
eight feet high flanked on two corners by blockhouses. [7] Late in
February, 1704, a band of French and Indians from Canada reached the town,
hid in the woods two miles away, and just before dawn moved quietly across
the frozen snow, rushed into the village, and, raising the warwhoop, beat
in the house doors with ax and hatchet. A few of the wretched inmates
escaped half-clad to the next village, but nine and forty men, women, and
children were massacred, and one hundred more were led away captives. [8]
END OF QUEEN ANNE'S WAR.--As the war went on, the English colonists twice
attacked Port Royal in vain, but on the third attack in 1710 the place was
captured. This time the English took permanent possession and renamed it
Annapolis in honor of the queen. To Acadia was given the name Nova Scotia.
Encouraged by the success at Port Royal, the greatest fleet ever seen, up
to that time, in American waters was sent against Quebec, and an army of
twenty-three hundred men marched by way of Lake Champlain to attack
Montreal.
But the fleet, having lost nine ships and a thousand men in the fog at the
mouth of the St. Lawrence, returned to Boston, and the commander of the
army, hearing of this, marched back to Albany. When peace was made by the
treaty of Utrecht (u'trekt) in 1713, France was forced to give up to Great
Britain [9] Acadia, Newfoundland, and all claim to the territory drained
by the rivers that flow into Hudson Bay (map, p. 131).
THE FRENCH BUILD FORTS IN LOUISIANA.--Thirty-one years now passed before
France and Great Britain were again at war, and in this period France took
armed possession of the Mississippi valley, constructed a chain of forts
from New Orleans to the Ohio, and built Forts Niagara and Crown Point.
This meant that the French were determined to keep the British out of
Louisiana and New France and confine them to the seacoast. But the French
were also determined to regain Acadia, and on the island of Cape Breton
they built Louisburg, the strongest fortress in America. [10]
KING GEORGE'S WAR.--Such was the state of affairs when in 1744 Great
Britain and France again went to war. As George II was then king of Great
Britain, the colonists called the strife King George's War. The French now
rushed down on Nova Scotia and attacked Annapolis. It seemed as if the
whole of Nova Scotia would be conquered; but instead the people of New
England sent out a fleet and army and captured Louisburg. [11]
[Illustration: PLAN OF LOUISBURG, 1745.]
When peace was made (1748), after two years more of fighting, Great
Britain gave Louisburg back to France.
THE FRENCH IN THE OHIO VALLEY.--The war ended and no territory lost, the
French at once laid plans to shut the British out of the Ohio valley,
which France claimed because the Ohio River and its tributaries flowed
into the Mississippi. In 1749, therefore, a party of Frenchmen under
Céloron (sa-lo-rawng') were sent to take formal possession of that region.
[12]
[Illustration: ONE OF THE LEAD PLATES BURIED BY CÉLORON. In the possession
of the Virginia Historical Society.]
THE BURIED PLATES.--Paddling up the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, these
men carried their canoes around Niagara Falls, coasted along Lake Erie to
a place near Chautauqua Lake, and going overland to the lake went down its
outlet to the Allegheny River. There the men were drawn up, the French
king was proclaimed owner of all the region drained by the Ohio, and a
lead plate was buried at the foot of a tree. The inscription on the plate
declared that the Ohio and all the streams that entered it and the land on
both sides of them belonged to France.
The party then passed down the Allegheny to the Ohio, and down the Ohio to
the Miami, burying plates from time to time. [13]
THE FRENCH FORTS.--Formal possession having been taken, the next step of
the French was to build a log fort at Presque Isle (on Lake Erie where the
city of Erie now is), and also Forts Le Boeuf and Venango, on a branch of
the Allegheny.
THE OHIO COMPANY.--But the English colonists likewise claimed the
Mississippi valley, by virtue of the old "sea to sea" grants, and the same
year that Céloron came down the Allegheny, they also prepared to take
possession of the Ohio valley in a much more serious way. The French were
burying plates and about to build forts; the English were about to plant
towns and make settlements.
Already in Pennsylvania and Virginia population was pushing rapidly
westward. Already English traders crossed the mountains and with their
goods packed on horses followed the trails down the Ohio valley, going
from village to village of the Indians and exchanging their wares for
furs.
[Illustration: EARLY FORDS IN THE OHIO VALLEY.]
Convinced that the westward movement of trade and population was favorable
for a speculation in land, some prominent men in Virginia [14] formed the
Ohio Company, and obtained from the British king a grant of five hundred
thousand acres in the Ohio valley on condition that within seven years a
hundred families should be settled on it and a fort built and garrisoned.
GOVERNOR DINWIDDIE ALARMED--When, therefore, Governor Dinwiddie of
Virginia heard that the French were building forts on the Allegheny, he
became greatly alarmed, and sent a messenger to demand their withdrawal.
But the envoy, becoming frightened, soon turned back. Clearly a man was
wanted, and Dinwiddie selected George Washington, [15] a young man of
twenty-one and an officer in the Virginia militia.
WASHINGTON'S FIRST PUBLIC SERVICE.--Washington was to find out the
whereabouts of the French, proceed to the French post, deliver a letter to
the officer in command, and demand an answer. He was also to find out how
many forts the French had built, how far apart they were, how well
garrisoned, and whether they were likely to be supported from Quebec.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON AT FORT LE BOEUF.]
Having received these instructions, Washington made his way in the depth
of winter to Fort Le Boeuf, delivered the governor's letter, and brought
back the refusal of the French officer to withdraw. [16]
FORT DUQUESNE (1754)--Dinwiddie now realized that the French held the
Allegheny, and that if they were to be shut out of the Ohio valley,
something had to be done at once. He therefore sent a party of
backwoodsmen to build a fort at the forks of the Ohio (where Pittsburg now
is). While they were at work, the French came down the Allegheny, captured
the half-built fort, and in place of it erected a larger one which they
named Duquesne (doo-kan').
GREAT MEADOWS.--Meantime Washington had been sent with some soldiers to
Wills Creek in western Maryland. When he heard of the capture of the fort,
he started westward, cutting a road for wagons and cannon as he went, and
camped for a time at Great Meadows, in southwestern Pennsylvania. There,
one night, he received word from Half King, a friendly Indian encamped
with his band six miles away, that a French force was hidden near at hand.
Washington with some forty men set off at once for the Indian camp, and
reached it at daylight. A plan of attack was agreed on, and the march
begun. On Washington's approach, the French flew to arms, and a sharp
fight ensued in which the French commander Jumonville [17] and nine of his
men were killed.
FORT NECESSITY.--At Great Meadows Washington now threw up an intrenchment
called Fort Necessity. Some more men having reached him, he left a few at
the fort and went on westward again. But he had not gone far when word
came that the French were coming to avenge the death of Jumonville.
Washington therefore fell back to the fort, where he was attacked and on
July 4, 1754, was forced to surrender, but was allowed to return to
Virginia with his men.
All previous wars between France and England had begun in the Old World,
but now a great struggle had begun in the New.
SUMMARY
1. When William and Mary became king and queen of England, war with France
followed. In the colonies this was called King William's War (1689-97).
2. The French from Canada ravaged the New England frontier and burned
Schenectady in New York. The English colonists captured Port Royal, but
failed to take Montreal and Quebec.
3. After four years of peace (1697-1701), war between France and England
was renewed. This was called Queen Anne's War (1701-13).
4. The great event of the war was the conquest of Acadia. Port Royal was
named Annapolis; Acadia was called Nova Scotia.
5. Thirty-one years of peace followed. During this time the French
occupied the Mississippi valley, and built the fortress of Louisburg on
Cape Breton Island.
6. During King George's War (1744-48), Louisburg was captured, but it was
returned by the treaty of peace.
7. France now proceeded to occupy the Ohio valley, and built forts on a
branch of the Allegheny.
8. The British also claimed the Ohio valley, and started to build a fort
on the site of Pittsburg, but were driven off by the French.
9. Troops under George Washington, on their way toward the fort, defeated
a small French force, but were themselves captured by the French at Fort
Necessity (July 4, 1754).
FOOTNOTES
[1] It was only a few years after this defeat that the Dutch planted their
trading posts on the upper Hudson. They made friends of the Iroquois, and
when the English succeeded the Dutch, they followed the same wise policy,
encouraged the old hatred of the Indians for the French, and inspired more
than one of their raids into Canada. The Iroquois thus became a barrier
against the French and prevented them from coming down the Hudson and so
cutting off New England from the Middle Colonies.
[2] The inhabitants, mostly Dutch, had been advised to be on their guard,
but they laughed at the advice, kept their gates open, and, it is said, at
one of them put two snow men as mock sentinels.
[3] It was expected that the plunder of Quebec would pay the cost of the
expedition. Failure added to the debt of Massachusetts, and forced the
colony to issue paper money or "bills of credit." This was the first time
such money was issued by any of the colonies. (For picture of a bill of
credit, see p. 204.)
[4] They captured, plundered, and burned York, were beaten in an attack on
Wells, burned houses and tomahawked a hundred people at Durham, and burned
the farmhouses near Haverhill.
[5] Queen Mary died in 1694, and King William in 1702. The crown then
passed to Anne, sister of Mary. The war, therefore, was fought mostly
during her reign.
[6] Read Whittier's poem _Pentucket_, and his account in prose called
_The Border War of 1708_.
[7] Formidable as was the fort, the snow of a severe winter had been
suffered to pile in drifts against the stockade till in places it nearly
reached the top, so that the stockade was no longer an obstacle to the
French and Indians.
[8] Read Parkman's _Half-Century of Conflict_, Vol. I, pp. 52-66.
[9] Ever since the accession of King James I (1603) England and Scotland
had been under the same king, but otherwise had been independent, each
having its own Parliament. Now, in Queen Anne's reign, the two countries
were united (1707) and made the one country of Great Britain, with one
Parliament.
[10] It was during these years of peace that Georgia was planted. The
Spaniards at St. Augustine considered this an intrusion into their
territory, and protested vigorously when Oglethorpe established a line of
military posts from the Altamaha to the St. Johns River. When word came
that Great Britain and Spain were at war, Oglethorpe, aided by British
ships, (1740) attacked St. Augustine. He failed to capture the city, and
the Spaniards (1742) invaded Georgia. Oglethorpe, though greatly
outnumbered, made a gallant defense, forced the Spaniards to withdraw, and
(1743) a second time attacked St. Augustine, but failed to take it.
[11] The expedition was undertaken without authority from the king. The
army was a body of raw recruits from the farms, the shops, lumber camps,
and fishing villages. The commander--Pepperell--was chosen because of his
popularity, and knew no more about attacking a fortress than the humblest
man in the ranks. Of cannon suitable to reduce a fortress the army had
none. Nevertheless, by dint of hard work and good luck, and largely by
means of many cannon captured from the French, the garrison was forced to
surrender. Read Hawthorne's _Grandfather's Chair_, Part ii, Chap. vii;
also Chaps. viii and ix.
[12] Read Parkman's _Montcalm and Wolfe_, Vol. I, pp. 20-34, for a
comparison of the French and English colonies in America.
[13] One of these plates was soon found by the Indians and sent to the
governor of Pennsylvania. Two more in recent years were found projecting
from the banks of the Ohio by boys while bathing or at play.
[14] Among the members of the company were Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia,
and two brothers of George Washington.
[15] George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, at Bridges Creek, in
Virginia. At fourteen he thought seriously of going to sea, but became a
surveyor, and at sixteen was sent to survey part of the vast estate of
Lord Fairfax which lay beyond the Blue Ridge. He lived the life of a
frontiersman, slept in tents, in cabins, in the open, and did his work so
well that he was made a public surveyor. This position gave him steady
occupation for three years, and a knowledge of woodcraft and men that
stood him in good stead in time to come. When he was nineteen, his brother
Lawrence procured him an appointment as an adjutant general of Virginia
with the rank of major, a post he held in October, 1753, when Dinwiddie
sent him, accompanied by a famous frontiersman, Christopher Gist, to find
the French.
[16] On the way home Washington left his men in charge of the horses and
baggage, put on Indian walking dress, and with Christopher Gist set off by
the nearest way through the woods on foot. "The following day," says
Washington, in his account of the journey, "just after we had passed a
place called Murdering town, ... we fell in with a party of French
Indians, who had lain in wait for us. One of them fired at Mr. Gist or me,
not fifteen steps off, but fortunately missed." The next day they came to
a river. "There was no way of getting over but on a raft, ... but before
we were half over we were jammed in the ice.... I put out my setting pole
to try and stop the raft that the ice might pass by, when the rapidity of
the stream threw it with such force against the pole, that it jerked me
out into ten feet of water, but I fortunately saved myself by catching
hold of one of the raft logs." They were forced to swim to an island, and
next day crossed on the ice. Read Parkman's _Montcalm and Wolfe_, Vol. I,
pp. 132-136.
[17] The French claimed that Jumonville was the bearer of a dispatch from
the commander at the Ohio, that after the Virginians fired twice he made a
sign that he was the bearer of a letter, that the firing ceased, that they
gathered about him and while he was reading killed him and his companions.
Jumonville's death has therefore been called an "assassination" by French
writers. The story rested on false statements made by Indians friendly to
the French. In reality, there is ample proof that Jumonville made no
attempt to deliver any message to Washington.
[Illustration: EASTERN NORTH AMERICA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FRENCH AND
INDIAN WAR.]