CHAPTER XXXV

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

EARLY EXPLORATIONS IN AMERICA SPANISH CLAIMS-ENGLISH CLAIMS-FRENCH CLAIMS-LA SALLE-FRENCH AND ENGLISH RIVALRY-WASHINGTON'S MISSION-FRANCE DECLARES WAR-BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT-WILLIAM PITT'S POLICYENGLISH VICTORIES-DETROIT IN THE WAR-BELESTRE SURRENDERS-END OF THE WAR.

The causes of the conflict between France and England about the middle of the Eighteenth Century date back to the first explorations and settlements made in America by European nations. In the East the struggle took the name of the "French and Indian War", for the reason that the tribes of that section were supplied with arms and ammunition by the French and incited. to attack the English settlers. The British retaliated by arming the Iroquois and their allied tribes and inducing them to make war on the French. Upon the restoration of peace, the western people referred to the conflict as the "Seven Years' War", but historians generally have adopted the eastern name.

SPANISH CLAIMS

In 1493, the year following the first voyage of Columbus to the New World, the pope granted to the king and queen of Spain "all countries inhabited by infidels". At that time the extent of the American Continent was unknown, but as the native inhabitants were regarded as infidels, this papal grant included, in a vague way, all the present State of Michigan. The grant of the pope was strengthened by the expedition of Hernando de Soto (1540-42) into the interior and the discovery of the Mississippi River, by which Spain laid claim to "all the lands bordering on the great river and the Gulf of Mexico".

ENGLISH CLAIMS

Henry VII, King of England, in 1496 granted to John Cabot and his sons a patent of discovery, possession and trade "to all lands they may discover and lay claim to in the name of the English Crown". During the next three years the Cabots explored the Atlantic Coast and made discoveries upon which England, at the beginning of the Sixteenth Century, claimed all the central portion of North America. The charter granted by the English Crown to the Plymouth Company in 1620 included "all the lands between the fortieth and forty-eighth parallels of north latitude from sea to sea". This grant included all of the present State of Michigan and the northern half of Ohio and Indiana

FRENCH CLAIMS

Through the voyages and discoveries of Jacques Cartier, France laid claim to the Valley of the St. Lawrence River and the country about the Great Lakes. Explorations were then pushed westward toward the headwaters of the Mississippi River and southward into the Ohio Valley. As early as 1611 Jesuit missionaries were among the Indians that dwelt along the shores of Lakes Huron,

Michigan and Superior. In 1634 Jean Nicollet passed still farther to the westward and reached the country around the Fox River, in what is now the State of Wisconsin.

Claude Allouez, one of the most zealous of the Jesuit fathers, held a council in 1665 with the chiefs and head men of the leading western tribes at the Chippewa Village, on the south shore of Lake Superior. At this council the Chippewa, Illini, Sac and Fox, Sioux and Pottawatomi were represented. Allouez promised them the protection of the great French father and thus opened the way for a profitable trade with the natives. Three years later, Fathers Jacques Marquette and Claude Dablon founded the mission of St. Mary's, the oldest white settlement within the present State of Michigan.

The accounts of the country carried back to Quebec by explorers and missionaries led the Canadian authorities to send Nicholas Perrot to arrange for a grand council with the western tribes. The council met at St. Mary's late in May, 1671, and before the close of that year Father Marquette founded the mission of Point St. Ignace, which for many years was regarded as the key to the great, unexplored West.

LA SALLE

In 1678, Louis XIV, then King of France, granted to Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, a patent to explore the western parts of New France, as the French possessions in America were then called. Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet had discovered the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Wisconsin in June, 1673, and had descended it to the mouth of the Arkansas. La Salle's first expedition to the west was unsuccessful, though he finally explored the Mississippi to its mouth, where on April 9, 1682 he formally claimed all the country drained by the great river and its tributaries in the name of France and gave to this vast expanse of country the name of Louisiana, in honor of the French king.

FRENCH AND ENGLISH RIVALRY

Following the usage of nations of that period, by which title to land was claimed "by right of discovery", it is not surprising that in course of time a controversy arose as to which nation was really the rightful owner of the soil.

Spain's claim to the interior was never strongly asserted and it soon came to pass that most of the European nations acknowledged that France possessed the better title, based upon the discovery of La Salle. But the Plymouth Company's grant of 1620, extending from "sea to sea", overlapped a large section where the French were actually in possession. The Hudson's Bay Company was chartered by the British Government on May 2, 1670, and its trappers and traders went into all parts of the Great Lakes country in spite of the French claim to the territory. Under these conditions, France and England were soon aroused by the conflict of their respective claims.

Several times the English were accused of inciting the Indians to attack French posts. In 1749 Comte de la Gallissoniere, then governor of New France, sent Pierre de Celeron, Sieur de Blainville, with 300 soldiers from Montreal to take formal possession of the Ohio Valley. Celeron was supplied with leaden plates, each bearing an inscription setting forth the claims of France and a formal declaration that France thus took possession of the Ohio Valley. Celeron planted the plates at various points along the Ohio River, after which he went.

to Detroit, arriving there on October 6, 1749.

Gallissoniere also made special efforts to encourage immigration to the western posts by offering special privileges and supplies to the immigrants. Under these liberal offers a number of people came to Detroit during the next five years.

La Salle's claim to the region drained by the Mississippi River extended on the east to the summit of the Alleghany Mountains. On the other hand the English Colony of Virginia claimed territory northwest of the Ohio River. Shortly after Celeron's expedition, citizens of Virginia, hoping to offset the activities of the French, organized what was known as the Ohio Company, which was granted 500,000 acres of land northwest of the Ohio, on condition that 100 families should be settled thereon within seven years.

WASHINGTON'S MISSION

The first open rupture between the two nations did not come until 1753. The Ohio Company commenced a fort at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, where the City of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, now stands, but it was captured by the French before it was completed and named Fort Du Quesne. In 1753 the French began building a line of forts from the Ohio River to the Great Lakes to prevent the English from extending their settlements west of the mountains. The territory upon which some of these forts were located was claimed by Virginia. Governor Dinwiddie, of that colony, after consultation with Governor Clinton, of New York, decided to send an embassy to the commandant of Fort Du Quesne, to demand an explanation for the armed invasion of English domain while the nations were supposed to be at peace.

Governor Dinwiddie selected George Washington, just turned twenty-one, to bear the remonstrance to Fort Du Quesne. One reason for Washington's being chosen was that he understood land surveying and was instructed not only to remonstrate against the French trespass, but also to survey and locate the lands of the Ohio Company.

Legardeur St. Pierre de Repentigny, the commandant at Fort Du Quesne, received Washington courteously, though the only explanation he would offer was that the Ohio Valley had been generally recognized as French territory since 1682. Nor would he permit Washington to make any surveys northwest of the Ohio River. Washington then visited Fort Le Boeuf, a few miles up the Allegheny River, where he was treated in the same manner. Rebuffed at every point, Washington moved over to Monongahela, where be began the construction of a fort, but was driven out by a detachment of French troops, commanded by Captain Contrecoeur, and returned to Virginia.

Fort Du Quesne was then made a strong post by the French, who in 1754 had a chain of sixty forts (mostly blockhouses) between Quebec and New Orleans. One of these was the post at Detroit.

FRANCE DECLARES WAR

In 1754 Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, was again sent into the disputed territory. This time he was supplied with a detachment of troops and was instructed "to complete the fort already commenced by the Ohio Company at the forks of the Ohio, and to kill, capture or drive out all who attempted to interfere with the English posts". This aroused the indignation of France and that nation formally declared war against Great Britain. New Brunswick

and Nova Scotia had fallen into the hands of the English at the time of King George's War, but the French inhabitants, called Acadians, were permitted to remain in possession of their homes. Immediately after the declaration of war by France, the English ordered the expulsion of the Acadians from the two provinces, except such as would take the oath of allegiance to the English crown. About seven thousand people were thus rendered homeless. A few of the exiles found refuge in the French settlements of Canada and about the Great Lakes, some of them coming to Detroit, but by far the greater portion of them went to the French settlements in Louisiana. This unhappy incident was made the subject of Longfellow's poem "Evangeline".

BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT

The first active campaign of the English was directed against Fort Du Quesne. Its geographical position at the head of the Ohio River made it a post of great strategic importance and the British authorities saw that whichever side held the fort would hold the key to the Ohio Valley. In the spring of 1755, General Braddock, recognized as one of the best English military commanders, was placed at the head of a large force of regulars and colonial militia for the capture of the fort. His army was the largest military force which, up to that time, had ever crossed the Alleghany Mountains.

Braddock moved forward with "pomp and circumstance", his colors flying, fifers and drummers playing, and his troops marching in solid column, according to the established customs of civilized warfare. Col. George Washington, who commanded the Virginia troops, and who was well acquainted with the Indian characteristics, fearing an ambush, tried to persuade General Braddock, but his suggestions were spurned.

"High times, high times," retorted the pompous commander, "when a young buckskin presumes to teach a British general how to fight."

Washington's fears were realized. While marching through a narrow valley a few miles east of the fort, where the Town of Braddock is now located, the Indians opened fire from all sides, accompanied by the most blood-curdling yells. At the first volley the British regulars, brave enough men, but unused to fighting with an unseen foe, were thrown into confusion and General Braddock was killed. Washington then took command, covered the retreat with his Virginians, and saved a remnant of the army. There is a tradition that General Braddock's body was buried in the road and the wagons and artillery driven over the grave to prevent its discovery and desecration by the savages.

WILLIAM PITT'S POLICY

During the year 1756 there was not much activity displayed by either side. General Montcalm arrived at Quebec in May and on August 14th captured Fort Ontario, at Oswego, New York, which was the most important military event of the year.

In 1757 the British Government adopted the vigorous policy, proposed by William Pitt, of sending a large force of troops and efficient commanders to America. General Amherst was sent against Ticonderoga, General Wolfe was ordered to lay siege to Quebec, and General Prideaux was directed to effect the capture of the fort at Niagara. Before the close of the year Louisburg, which had been captured by Gen. William Pepperell during King George's

War and returned to the French in 1748, was taken by Generals Wolfe and Amherst and the place was destroyed.

On October 15, 1758, an English force commanded by Major Grant made a determined attack on Fort Du Quesne, but the attempt failed, the assailants being driven off with considerable loss in killed and wounded. General Forbes was then sent with a larger force against the fort and on November 28th the French abandoned the post, after burning the stores and some of the buildings, and made their way to Detroit. The English rebuilt the fort and gave it the name of Fort Pitt.

The year 1759 saw the English arms victorious at almost every point. General Amherst took the two forts-Crown Point and Ticonderoga-on Lake Champlain. On July 24th General Prideaux captured or dispersed a reinforcement of 1,200 men sent from Detroit and other western posts to the relief of Fort Niagara and the next day the fort capitulated. The surrender of Niagara broke the French line of cummunication with the posts at Presque Isle, Venango and Le Boeuf. These forts were then blown up and the garrisons retired to Detroit. The influx of so many troops caused a scarcity of provisions. It is said that "meat without bread or corn was distributed to the soldiers and there was much distress". On September 13, 1759, Quebec, the stronghold of the French, capitulated. Montreal then was the only eastern post of consequence remaining in the hands of the French.

Early in the year 1760 three divisions of the British Army moved by different routes toward Montreal, sweeping everything before them, and on Septemper 8, 1760, Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor of New France, surrendered Montreal and all its dependencies to the British Crown. Pitt's policy had proved successful.

DETROIT IN THE WAR

In 1751, before the actual beginning of the war, the garrison at Detroit was increased and in 1754 the fort was enlarged. During the next three years the stockade was extended, inclosing additional ground. Late in the year 1754 or early in 1755 the intendant of Canada sent Hugues Jacques Pean with 400 militia and large supplies to Detroit. It is believed that some of these troops later went east and took part in the defeat of General Braddock.

Soon after the declaration of war by France, the government of that country sent large quantities of military supplies to America, and some of these supplies were stored at Detroit. That the post was depended upon to a considerable extent during the war as a base of supplies is seen in a letter of Governor Vaudreuil, dated July 12, 1757, and addressed to M. de Moras, in which he says: "I have already written several letters to the commandants and Illinois, to put themselves at that moment in a condition to transmit at the opening of navigation, for the victualling of the posts on the Beautiful River (the Ohio), the largest quantity of provisions of all descriptions that they could spare, by restricting the settlers to mere subsistence".

After the capture of Fort Du Quesne in the fall of 1758, General Forbes planned an attack on Detroit. Concerning this movement, one of the publications of the Quebec Literary and Historical Society states:

"Sieur de Bellestre, having heard that the enemy was marching, put himself at the head of the Hurons and other Indians to give an attack to the advance