The Winners and Losers of the
French and Indian War
I. The French Colonies
A. Geography & the Population Problem
B. Fur Traders, Soldiers &
Missionaries
C. Royal Control  Few Religious or
Political Freedoms
William Bradford & the Pilgrims Settle at Plymouth (1620)
•Some 100 people,
many of them seeking
religious freedom in the
New World, set sail
from England on the
Mayflower in 1620.
•The ship landed on the
shores of Cape Cod, in
present-day
Massachusetts.
•These original settlers
of Plymouth Colony are
known as the Pilgrim
Fathers, or simply as
the Pilgrims.
Squanto
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The native inhabitants of the region around Plymouth Colony were the various
tribes of the Wampanoag people, who had lived there for some 10,000 years
before the Europeans arrived.
Soon after the Pilgrims built their settlement, they came into contact with
Tisquantum, or Squanto, an English-speaking Native American.
Squanto was a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been seized by the explorer
John Smith’s men in 1614-15.
Meant for slavery, he somehow managed to escape to England, and returned to
his native land to find most of his tribe had died of plague.
In addition to interpreting and mediating between the colonial leaders and Native
American chiefs (including Massasoit, chief of the Pokanoket), Squanto taught the
Pilgrims how to plant corn, which became an important crop, as well as where to
fish and hunt beaver.
In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims famously shared a harvest feast with the native
people; the meal is now considered the basis for the Thanksgiving holiday.
After attempts to increase his own power by turning the Pilgrims against
Massasoit, Squanto died in 1622, while serving as Bradford’s guide on an
expedition around Cape Cod.
Wampanoag
King Phillip’s War
Last major effort to drive English out of New England.
• Other tribes, such as the Massachusetts and Narragansetts, were
not so well disposed towards European settlers, and Massasoit’s
alliance with the Pilgrims disrupted relations among Native
American peoples in the region.
• Over the next decades, relations between settlers and Native
Americans deteriorated as the former group occupied more and
more land.
• In 1675, Bradford’s predictions came true, in the form of King
Philip’s War. (Philip was the English name of Metacomet, the son of
Massasoit and leader of the Pokanokets since the early 1660s.)
• That conflict left some 5,000 inhabitants of New England dead,
three quarters of those Native Americans.
• In terms of percentage of population killed, King Philip’s War was
more than twice as costly as the American Civil War and seven
times more so than the American Revolution.
Region involved in King Philip’s War
II. WAGS and the Clash of Empires
A. King William’s
War (1689-1697)
B. Queen Anne’s
War (1702-1713)
C. King George’s
War (1740-1748)
D. Seven Years War
(French and Indian War)
• British v.
French
• Native
Americans
on both
sides
III. THE FRENCH & INDIAN WAR (1754-1763)
A. George Washington’s Defeat at Fort Necessity
- Consequences for the colonies!
Ft. Necessity
B. General Braddock Blunders at Fort Duquesne
Importance of Fort Duquesne
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The British made two efforts to regain control of the position, one by
George Washington later in 1754 and another larger venture under Edward
Braddock in 1755.
Those events were among the earliest engagements in the French and
Indian War, the final conflict in the struggle between France and Britain for
control in North America.
The British suffered a series of defeats in the war's opening years, but the
tide turned in 1758. John Forbes gathered a force of 6,000 men at Fort
Cumberland in western Maryland. This army included Washington’s
contingent of 2,000 Virginia militiamen
Weakly defended Fort Duquesne was the target of this venture, but an
early debate raged over the route to be taken to the Forks.
Washington pressed hard for using the already existing Braddock Road, the
path that had laboriously been cleared before the disaster of 1755
Others, including some with business interests in Pennsylvania, urged the
construction of a new road through the central portions of that colony.
Forbes eventually gave approval to the latter plan.
Progress on the new road was exceedingly slow; huge trees and almost
impenetrable brush had to be cleared.
Washington seethed over the wasted time, fearing that Fort Duquesne
might be reinforced.
Eventually the Alleghenies were crossed, which brought the British army
close to its objective.
An initial decision to delay the offensive until the next spring was forced by
deteriorating weather conditions. However, Washington's soldiers
managed to capture several enemy scouts and learn from them how poorly
Fort Duquesne was manned.
Few regular French soldiers were on hand and the Indian allies had
deserted in large numbers. Washington ordered an immediate advance on
the fort.
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On November 24, the French commander recognized that he faced total
disaster if he were to resist.
Under the cover of night, the French withdrew from Fort Duquesne, set it
afire and floated down the Ohio River to safety. The British claimed the
smoldering remains on November 25 and were horrified to finds the heads
of some of Grant’s Highlanders impaled on stakes with their kilts displayed
below.
A contingent of British forces remained on the site and began to construct
the new Fort Pitt, named in honor of the secretary of state who had done
so much to fashion a winning war strategy.
The capture of Fort Duquesne coincided with the fall of Fort Frontenac and
the fortress at Louisbourg. Considered together, they marked a great
turning point in the war. The lesson was not lost on the Indian allies, many
of whom deserted the French cause at this time.
The village that developed around the fort was called Pittsburgh.
C. Turning Point: Battle of Quebec
D. The British Victory and the Peace Treaty at Paris
IV. Winners and Losers
A. France as Losers?
B. Pontiac’s Rebellion & Native
Americans as Losers
Ottawa Chief Pontiac
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Pontiac's Rebellion begins when a confederacy of Native
American warriors under Ottawa chief Pontiac attacks
the British force at Detroit. After failing to take the fort in
their initial assault, Pontiac's forces, made up of Ottawas
and reinforced by Wyandots, Ojibwas, and Potawatamis,
initiated a siege that would stretch into months.
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As the French and Indian Wars came to an end in the
early 1760s, Native Americans living in former French
territory found the new British authorities to be far less
generous than their predecessors.
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In 1762, Pontiac enlisted support from practically every
Indian tribe from Lake Superior to the lower Mississippi
for a joint campaign to expel the British from the
formerly French lands.
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According to Pontiac's plan, each tribe would seize the
nearest fort and then join forces to wipe out the
undefended settlements.
Chief Pontiac leads coalition
Beginning with Fort Detroit
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In April, It was decided that Pontiac
and his warriors would gain access to
the British fort at Detroit under the
pretense of negotiating a peace
treaty, giving them an opportunity to
seize forcibly the arsenal there.
However, the British learned of the
plot, and Pontiac was forced to begin
a siege.
At the same time, his allies in
Pennsylvania began a siege of Fort
Pitt, while other sympathetic tribes,
such as the Delaware, the Shawnees,
and the Seneca, prepared to move
against various British forts and
outposts in Michigan, New York,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.
Frontier Posts Destroyed
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On July 31, a British relief expedition attacked Pontiac's camp but suffered heavy
losses and were repelled in the Battle of Bloody Run. Nevertheless, they had
succeeded in providing the fort at Detroit with reinforcements and supplies,
which allowed it to hold out against the Indians into the fall.
The major forts at Pitt and Niagara likewise held on, but the united tribes
captured eight other fortified posts. At these forts, the garrisons were wiped
out, relief expeditions were repulsed, and nearby frontier settlements were
destroyed.
Pontiac’s War
End of Pontiac’s
Rebellion
In the spring of 1764, two British armies were sent out, one into Pennsylvania and Ohio under Colonel
Bouquet, and the other to the Great Lakes under Colonel John Bradstreet.
Bouquet's campaign met with success, and the Delaware and the Shawnee were forced to sue for peace,
breaking Pontiac's alliance.
Failing to persuade tribes in the West to join his rebellion, and lacking the hoped-for support from the French,
Pontiac finally signed a treaty with the British in 1766.
In 1769, he was murdered by a Peoria Indian while visiting Illinois. His death led to bitter warfare among the
tribes, and the Peorias were nearly wiped out.
C. The British as Long Term Losers
Taxes for Revenue to pay War Debt
D. The British Colonists as
Long Term Winners