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King Philip's War
In New England, the years following the end of the Pequot War in 1638 were
marked by a deterioration in the relationship between American Indians and
colonists. Many colonial elders who had established a working relationship with
the tribes had died, and as a result, policy making devolved to a new generation,
perhaps less inclined to be as accommodating as its predecessors. The
relationships among Indian tribes had also changed, as they sought to effect
arrangements with the white colonies that would improve their own positions.
Those conditions, coupled with a diminution of both the fur and wampum trades—and the insatiable thirst for
more land on the part of the growing New England colonies—led eventually to King Philip's War, fought primarily
during 1676.
In 1661, Wamsutta gained the sachemship of the Wampanoags. He sold parcels of tribal land to Rhode Island, a
move that proved politically unwise, as Plymouth Colony coveted the same lands. Wamsutta was arrested and
brought before the Plymouth authorities to answer charges of conspiracy. He died while journeying homeward
after being released. Many, including his brother, Metacomet (called Philip by the English), believed Wamsutta
had been poisoned during his interrogation. Thus, when he succeeded to the sachemship after his brother's
death, Metacomet possessed an increasingly hardened attitude toward the colonists.
A further point of aggravation occurred when Plymouth established a new settlement at Swansea (near Fall
River) in 1667. The site was not only practically on Metacomet's doorstep but also on land not owned by the
colony. An angry Metacomet protested and threatened reprisal but was subsequently persuaded to back down
and even to surrender his firearms. His appeal was heard by the United Colonies, which rejected his claim and
levied such a heavy fine that Metacomet was forced to sell the land. The resulting sale, however, produced
enough revenue for Metacomet to purchase additional firearms after paying the fine.
A Christian Indian named John Sassamon, who had at one time acted as an aide to Metacomet, was persuaded
by the English to serve as an ambassador of sorts to Metacomet. Sassamon reported back that Metacomet was
preparing for war. Shortly thereafter, Sassamon was murdered, for which three Wampanoags were tried,
convicted, and executed, thereby triggering the war that followed. In the wake of the executions, Swansea was
evacuated, and the settlement was looted by angry Wampanoags.
The colonists were divided over whether their response ought to be offensive or defensive. Massachusetts Bay
Colony, which itself had been coveting nearby Narragansett land, elected to mobilize its forces along with
Plymouth. Indeed, the basis for the United Colonies—Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and
Connecticut—was to provide a unanimity of spirit and action when threatened by a common foe.
Thus far, Metacomet had been largely unsuccessful in persuading the Narragansetts to ally with him. Metacomet
nevertheless launched a series of raids that virtually paralyzed the English settlements. He completely frustrated
a combined Plymouth-Massachusetts Bay campaign. The English strategy was primarily defensive, although a
few individuals, including Rhode Island's Benjamin Church, believed a more aggressive policy should be
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pursued. Church, who argued that militia units needed to adopt Indian tactics, was eventually granted the
freedom to put his theories into practice and did so with considerable success.
Having been at least temporarily stymied in their quest to defeat Metacomet, the United Colonies chose to attack
the Narragansetts, a formidable foe in their own right, during the winter of 1675-1676. The attacking force, nearly
1,000 strong, was led by Plymouth's governor Josiah Winslow. Although the attack was a tactical success, it
forced the Narragansetts into an alliance with Metacomet.
In February 1676, Metacomet attacked and burned Lancaster, Massachusetts, killed many of the inhabitants, and
captured a number of others, including Mary Rowlandson. The raids continued. Medfield, Weymouth, Groton,
Plymouth, and Rhode Island all felt the wrath of Metacomet's warriors.
In mid-August 1676, Metacomet's army was surprised in the Assowamset Swamp near Mount Hope (present-day
Bristol, Massachusetts). Metacomet himself was shot and killed—ironically, by an Indian ally. Metacomet's head
was displayed for many years atop a pole at Plymouth's Fort Hill.
Metacomet's death did not bring an immediate end to the fighting. By the summer of 1677, the war had reached
New Hampshire and Maine. The reestablishment of a fort at Pemaquid (in Maine) provided a strong enough
presence to encourage treaty discussions that led ultimately to the Peace of Casco (1678), which officially
marked the end of the conflict.
King Philip's War was the costliest in New England history. An estimated 3,000 Indians were killed, perhaps onethird Wampanoag. The colonists, too, suffered heavy casualties, including an estimated 1,300 soldiers and 1,000
civilians. Some 90 towns were attacked during the course of the war; many were burned, and 12 were completely
destroyed. In addition, the Indian capacity for resistance in New England was largely crushed, and the political
structure of the colonies changed.
Further Reading
Bourne, Russell, The Red King's Rebellion: Racial Politics in New England, 1675-1678, 1990; Jennings, Francis,
The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest, 1975; Steele, Ian K. Warpaths:
Invasions of North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
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Massacre of 1622
On March 22, 1622, Powhatan Indians in Virginia, led by their chief Opechancanough,
attacked white settlements on the James River in what has become known as the
Massacre of 1622. The attack came as a complete surprise to the colonists, and before
the day was over, nearly 350 settlers were killed, representing one-third of the European
population in the colony.
Although relations between the English colonists and the Powhatans had been fairly good
up to this point (despite some periodic outbreaks of violence), this attack marked a
definitive change in how the two groups viewed each other. The Powhatans had hoped to
drive the Europeans from the New World in an effort to reclaim the land they had lost and
reassert their autonomy. The English, who had cautiously viewed the Indians as helpful neighbors before the
massacre, now viewed them as sworn enemies and advocated the complete elimination of Native Americans
near their settlements.
Further Reading
Gleach, Frederic W., Powhatan's World and Colonial Virginia: A Conflict of Cultures, 1997; Rountree, Helen C.,
Pocahontas' People: The Powerful Indians of Virginia through Four Centuries, 1990; Rountree, Helen C., The
Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture, 1989.
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Entry ID: 252774
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Bacon's Rebellion
A controversial episode in Virginia history, Bacon's Rebellion was actually an
outgrowth of the Indian War of 1675-1676, which began as a dispute between
some Maryland Nanticoke (Doeg) Indians and a Virginia planter named Thomas
Mathew. Convinced that the planter had cheated them, the Indians murdered him,
thereby triggering reprisals from both sides, including an accidental attack on a
friendly Susquehannock village, which was actually a palisaded settlement located
on Piscataway Creek. That attack, known as the siege of Fort Piscataway, was
carried out by Virginia militia and caused the death of five Susquehannock chiefs under a flag of truce.
A full-scale investigation was immediately launched by Virginia's governor, William Berkeley, who feared that the
situation might escalate into a broader conflict like King Philip's War, then raging in New England. Berkeley
addressed the crisis by adopting a defensive strategy, which included constructing a series of forts into which
colonists could retire when threatened. Berkeley also prohibited unauthorized campaigns against the Indians, a
departure from the more aggressive posture he adopted during the Powhatan War. Berkeley drew the ire of many
colonists with the order forbidding independent campaigns, which some chose to ignore regardless. Those
events set the stage for one Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy young planter from Henrico County and a member of the
Virginia Council who was related to the governor by marriage.
In the spring of 1676, Bacon presented himself to the governor in Jamestown, requested a commission, and
offered to lead an expedition against the Indians. The request was denied, but Bacon nevertheless organized and
led a force of 200 men against some alleged Susquehannock raiders. Unsuccessful in locating his quarry, Bacon
then entered an alliance of sorts with some Occaneechees who offered to attack their old enemy, the
Susquehannock. They subsequently did and captured some 30 in the process. After torturing the
Susquehannock, Bacon suddenly turned on the Occaneechee, apparently in a dispute over captured booty, and
killed 50 while losing 12 himself. As a result, Berkeley declared Bacon to be in rebellion and removed him from
the Virginia Council. Notwithstanding his public censure, Bacon savored the adulation accorded a popular hero.
Although he was elected to the new Virginia Council, Bacon was captured by Berkeley and persuaded to admit
the error of his ways, whereupon he was pardoned. Berkeley's victory, however, was only temporary, because
Bacon returned to Jamestown in June accompanied by 500 followers. Confronted by this show of support for
Bacon, Berkeley reluctantly issued him a commission. Now backed by the force of a coerced commission, Bacon
launched a campaign against area Indians and even attacked a village of friendly Pamunkeys, many of whom
were killed. Although Bacon's ruthless and indiscriminate behavior was supported by some council members who
favored enslaving the Indians, Berkeley repudiated the act and repealed Bacon's commission. Learning of the
governor's action against him, Bacon returned and laid siege to Jamestown. Using hostages, he forced Berkeley
out of the stockaded settlement and into exile on Virginia's Eastern Shore; he then put Jamestown to the torch.
In October, Bacon succumbed to the effects of dysentery, and without his leadership, the movement lost much of
its impetus. By January, Berkeley had mustered enough support to end what was left of the rebellion. Bacon's
leaders were executed and their property confiscated. Any servant who was found guilty of aiding the rebellion
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had his term of indenture extended.
The effects of Bacon's uprising were far-reaching. For all practical purposes, the Occaneechee ceased to be a
presence of any importance in the area, and as a consequence, the Virginia settlements then had direct access
to the Cherokee villages to the south. The rebellion also prompted an inquiry that subsequently resulted in
Berkeley's dismissal as governor. In addition, the Virginia Council authorized the sale of Indian lands to
underwrite the cost of the war and also sanctioned the sale and enslavement of Indians. Those laws were
repealed by the Treaty of Middle Plantation (1677).
Further Reading
Axelrod, Alan, Chronicle of the Indian Wars from Colonial Times to Wounded Knee, 1993; Steele, Ian K.
Warpaths: Invasions of North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
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Little Turtle's War
Little Turtle's War (1786-1795) represented a continuation of the struggle for the Ohio
River country. The struggle increased sharply in the years after the American Revolution,
as veterans, awarded land grants in the military reserve in lieu of payment, swelled the
ranks of immigrants. Although England had agreed to surrender its claim to all lands in the
Old Northwest Territory as a result of the Treaty of Paris (1783), the British were able to
retain a strong de facto presence in the area by refusing to relinquish key outposts, and
the United States lacked the resources to enforce the treaty. Motivated by the lucrative
economics of their trade with American Indians, the British continued to encourage and
support Indian resistance to American settlements.
In January 1786, in response to increasing Indian raids, the United States assembled a conference at Fort
Finney, near the confluence of the Ohio and Miami rivers. Shawnees argued that the lands in question belonged
to them; Indian commissioners Richard Butler and George Rogers Clark threatened war if the Indians did not
acquiesce. Although the threat caused some of the Shawnee chiefs to back down, others like Little Turtle and
Blue Jacket maintained their militant stand.
The passage of the Northwest Ordinance (1787) created the Northwest Territory. Arthur St. Clair was appointed
governor of the new territory. Officially, the federal government was then obliged to defend that country and to
turn back illegal squatters. Yet the enactment of the Northwest Ordinance also provided a source of needed
revenue for the hard-pressed U.S. government, which sold land to such speculators as the Ohio Company.
Between 1784 and 1794, the year of Gen. Anthony Wayne's deciding victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, a
number of treaties were entered into, but none did much to resolve the fundamental sticking point, namely, that
Americans wanted the Ohio country, which Indians did not wish to give up. By 1790, in response to public
demands for protection against Indian raids, a punitive expedition under the command of Gen. Josiah Harmar
was soundly whipped by Shawnees under the able warrior Blue Jacket.
Emboldened by their success against Harmar, the Indians increased their raids throughout the Ohio country
settlements. Fearing that the increased Indian raids might result in a strong reaction from the United States that
would affect their presence in the region, the British offered to negotiate a peace between the tribes and the
United States. The proposal was rejected, however, and in the fall of 1791, a second expedition was launched,
that one under the command of St. Clair himself, who was still territorial governor.
On November 4, 1791, a powerful force of Shawnees and Miamis under Little Turtle and Blue Jacket launched a
surprise attack against St. Clair's camp near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana and killed and wounded more than
1,000. The defeat was staggering—the worst ever suffered by the U.S. Army up to that time in terms of the
numbers engaged. Disgraced, St. Clair resigned his commission, though he remained governor of the territory.
The defeat moved Congress to consider a larger army, which was finally authorized in 1792.
President George Washington chose Wayne to organize the army and conduct a successful campaign against
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the Ohio Indians. By the spring of 1793, Wayne was able to get under way and moved his army to Fort
Washington, near present-day Cincinnati. The campaign was put on hold, however, when the government,
attempting to resolve the crisis without military action, agreed to meet with tribes during the summer of 1793. For
its part, the United States agreed to relinquish all claims north of the Ohio River except for the immediate area
around Cincinnati. The Indians, however, rejected the offer and demanded the departure of all settlers from the
region.
In August 1794, allied Indians under Blue Jacket and Tecumseh prepared to attack Wayne. Little Turtle, who by
that time had come to believe that the only way for the Indians to truly defeat the Americans was with massive
British aid, counseled against the attack, but the strident voices of Blue Jacket, Tecumseh, and others were not
to be denied.
Moving toward the suspected site of the Indian villages, Wayne's command was struck in a surprise attack along
the Maumee River in an area of dense undergrowth and downed trees known as Fallen Timbers. Although
momentarily stunned, Wayne recovered, and in one of the most decisive battles between Indians and whites, he
inflicted a stunning defeat, which led to the signing of the Treaty of Greenville (1795) and a decade of peace in
the Ohio River country.
Further Reading
Gilbert, Bil, God Gave Us This Country: Tekamthi and the First American Civil War, 1989; Hurt, R. Douglas, The
Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830, 1996; Sword, Wiley, President Washington's Indian
War: The Struggle for the Old Northwest, 1790-1795, 1985.
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Pontiac's Rebellion
The fall of Montreal in 1760 marked the effective end of the Seven Years' War in the
Upper Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes regions. The defeat of their French allies left many
of the natives forced to negotiate peace agreements with the British. General Amherst,
commander in chief of British forces in North America, set the stage for the parlays in
1761 by forbidding the customary practice of gift giving to native leaders. Amherst also
raised the prices for most trade goods, making it difficult for native peoples to get needed
supplies. Trade for certain items, most notably gunpowder, was severely restricted.
Amherst's actions angered and offended native leaders and their followers. The Seneca in
New York attempted to seize upon native disillusionment by calling in 1761 for the
creation of a confederacy, but their call for war did not elicit the desired response. Despite
advice from people experienced in native affairs, such as Sir William Johnson and George Croghan, Amherst
continued to sow seeds of discontent. He ordered the construction of a number of forts and then encouraged
British colonists to build communities around the structures.
The growing presence of British colonists and soldiers and an outbreak of famine and disease during the early
1760s were used as evidence by Neolin, the Delaware Prophet, that native peoples needed to rid themselves of
European influences and return to traditional ways. Neolin's religious message resonated among native peoples
of many groups because it helped explain their continued suffering and gave them hope for a brighter future. At a
meeting convened on the Ecorse River during April 1763, attended by the Wyandot, Ottawa, Potawatomi, and
Ojibwas, Pontiac embraced Neolin's doctrines with the condition that the French be the exception to the rejection
of European influences. He then called on the respective native groups to join him in expelling the British from
their homelands. With Neolin's assistance, Pontiac subsequently utilized the Delaware Prophet's existing
intertribal religious revitalization movement to help craft a loosely organized Native American military
confederacy.
On May 7, 1763, Pontiac and a force made up of Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Huron warriors initiated the conflict
known as Pontiac's Rebellion when they attempted to take Fort Detroit through subterfuge. They had made
arrangements with Major Henry Gladwin to stage a ceremonial dance within the fort with the intent of attacking its
unsuspecting defenders with concealed weapons. Someone forewarned Gladwin of the plot, thus he and his men
were fully armed and prepared. Upon seeing the readiness of the fort's defenders when he entered the fort,
Pontiac called off the planned attack. Pontiac's decision infuriated the warriors. To placate his critics, he then
attempted to lure Gladwin outside the fort under the pretense of negotiations to force his surrender, but that ploy
also failed. Since native warriors were leery of sustaining heavy casualties in a direct assault on Fort Detroit,
Pontiac opted to besiege the fortified post.
Trickery proved an effective tactic for other Native American leaders early in the conflict because intercultural
relationships were everyday occurrences at British posts. Native American warriors utilized this familiarity and
feigned friendships to further their military aims. Fort Sandusky fell on May 16 after its defenders agreed to a
council with war leaders of a force comprised of Ottawas and Hurons. At the onset of negotiations, the warriors
overpowered the small garrison and claimed an easy victory. Fort Miamis was taken on May 27 with the aid of
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the native mistress of ensign Robert Holmes, the fort's commander. She enticed her lover to leave the fort to help
bleed a native woman who had fallen ill. Holmes was slain as he exited the fort, and his garrison was quickly
overwhelmed.
The final fort to fall as a result of deception was Fort Michilimackinac. On June 2, Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Sauk
warriors engaged in a game akin to lacrosse outside of the fort. The spectators included the fort's defenders, who
felt so secure that they did not even close the fort's entrance during the event. During the game, which had
already lasted several hours, someone slung the ball into the fort. As they entered the fort to ostensibly retrieve
the ball, the warriors were handed weapons that had been concealed by native women under blankets. Fifteen of
the garrison's 35 defenders were quickly killed, as was a trader. The remaining colonists in the fort were taken
prisoner. The loss of Fort Michilimackinac was particularly damaging because it had not only been strategically
located at the confluence of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, but its storehouse of supplies contained firearms
and a significant amount of gunpowder.
Following so many examples of native creativity in attacking British forts, word was sent to the remaining British
garrison to be on their guard. The warning to Fort Venango was ignored by its commanding officer, Lieutenant
Francis Gordon. When the Seneca chief Kayashuta approached the fort with a force that included Shawnee and
Delaware warriors on June 13, they were welcomed into the fort. The native warriors quickly killed the fort's
defenders, leaving only Gordon alive. Gordon was then forced to document Kayashuta's grievances, which
included the presence of British forts on native lands and the deliberate effort of British officials to deny native
peoples access to gunpowder. Once his task was completed, Gordon was tortured until he died.
Kayashuta's force was then joined by another war party comprised of Ojibwa, Ottawa, Huron, and Mississauga
warriors for an assault a week later at Fort Presque Isle. The fort's defenders were forced to surrender the post
on June 23 after two days of fighting. The Senecas then turned their attention to Fort Le Boeuf. The attack was
launched on June 18. During the fighting, the fort's blockhouse caught on fire. The smoke helped cover the
retreat of the British soldiers as they fled into the night to Fort Pitt.
Mid-June 1763 marked the height of the Native American offensive. Native warriors had taken eight forts,
including Fort St. Joseph and Fort Ouiatenon. Their military successes had forced the abandonment of Forts
Burd and Edward Augustus. Active sieges were underway at Forts Pitt, Ligonier, Bedford, and Detroit. The ease
of so many of the victories had obscured the problems that were beginning to affect the war effort. Epidemic
diseases, most notably smallpox, had begun to ravage Native American communities. Also, the long-desired
support from the French had failed to materialize. While limited supplies were flowing to native forces from
French outposts in Illinois, virtually no support was coming from Canada. The French in Canada justifiably feared
that any assistance to the native cause would result in severe retribution by Great Britain. Pontiac's confederates
were also unable to gain the support of the majority of the six nations of the Iroquois. Although the Seneca took
part in the conflict, the Oneida, Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Tuscarora followed the advice of Sir William
Johnson and used their demonstrated friendship to forge closer economic and military ties with Great Britain.
Although it was obvious by mid-July 1763 that General Amherst had grossly underestimated the capabilities of
his native opposition, he placed the blame for the fall of so many forts on the commanders and soldiers at the
respective posts. He was incredulous that so many of his subordinates had been so gullible as to fall for the
number of incidences of subterfuge that occurred, considering that he himself had constantly warned them of
what he believed to be the duplicitous nature of Native Americans in general. Amherst believed that the forts
reflected the military might of Great Britain and thus their loss served to give the native warriors the mistaken
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impression that the British were militarily impotent on the frontier. Regardless of Amherst's views, the British were
incapable of protecting their interests in both the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes region. The common thread in
all of the forts that were either taken or abandoned in the early weeks of Pontiac's Rebellion was that they were
all defended by 35 men or fewer. The forts that were well manned, such as Forts Pitt and Detroit, were able to
repel repeated assaults by native warriors. Given the state of affairs, Amherst determined that the only solution
was to annihilate the opposition by any means necessary. The depths of the British resolve toward that end
became evident at Fort Pitt on June 24, 1763.
Fort Pitt had been forewarned of a native attack on May 30, when the survivors from another fort began
straggling in with tales of butchery. Believing that they would receive no quarter from native warriors, the fort's
defenders determined to fight to the finish once they were finally attacked. They then began destroying the
outbuildings in the vicinity of the fort so that they could not be used by attackers. The soldiers also commenced
hoarding supplies and food in preparation for a siege. Delaware warriors assailed the fort on June 22 with little
success. On June 24, Delaware negotiators Turtle's Heart and Mamaltee were received outside of the fort under
the pretense of discussing possible resolutions to the conflict. In truth, Fort Pitt's commander, Captain Simeon
Ecuyer, wanted to negotiate with the Delaware so that he could present them with blankets and handkerchiefs
that had been intentionally retrieved from smallpox patients who were being treated in the fort's hospital. It was
hoped that the vestiges of smallpox on the linens would spark an outbreak of smallpox among the warriors.
Whether coincidental or a result of Ecuyer's gift, a smallpox outbreak did erupt among the native peoples in the
vicinity of Fort Pitt by the end of the month. Curiously, the native victims of the epidemic did not include Turtle's
Heart. Amherst was subsequently blamed for the stratagem of using smallpox for germ warfare, but evidence
suggests that he approved of the action after it had actually occurred.
Following the initial Native American victories, the second phase of the conflict turned to British efforts to
reinforce and resupply their besieged garrisons at Forts Detroit and Pitt. Pontiac's warriors were able to prevent
access to Fort Detroit by land, thus the British resorted to moving personnel and supplies through Lake Erie and
the Detroit River. The British used two ships, the Huron and the Michigan, during the siege. Both ships carried
enough cannons and guns to prevent assaults on Fort Detroit by water. The warriors under Pontiac's command
attempted to catch the ships on fire by floating burning rafts towards them, but the effort went for naught. During
the month of July, the British were able to expand their dominance on the water with the addition of four
gunboats. As the siege of Fort Detroit wore on, it was Pontiac who began having supply troubles. Native warriors
who had begun to question Pontiac's leadership from the time he had aborted the initial attack on Fort Detroit
saw his inability to acquire needed supplies from the French as further evidence of his ineffectiveness in the field.
Disillusioned, they quit the fight and began returning to their home communities. By November 1763, the siege
had been abandoned, and Pontiac had retreated to a village on the Maumee River.
On July 7, Amherst ordered Colonel Henry Bouquet to gather troops to relieve the garrison at Fort Pitt. While en
route, Bouquet's soldiers helped break the sieges at Forts Ligonier and Bedford. The relief column was attacked
by Delaware, Huron, Mingo, Shawnee, and Wyandot warriors on August 5 at Bushy Run. During the two-day
Battle of Bushy Run, Bouquet sustained heavy casualties but ultimately succeeded in driving off his attackers.
Bouquet's force arrived on August 10 at Fort Pitt with much needed supplies and reinforcements. The ability of
the British to break the native siege led to the abandonment of the native effort to seize Fort Pitt.
Pontiac's Rebellion was ultimately brought to a conclusion using the traditional diplomatic methods that Amherst
had eschewed from the time he had first arrived in North America. Sir William Johnson took the lead in using
diplomacy to break the Native American confederacy. Through his experiences with native peoples, especially
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the Iroquois, Johnson knew that individual native leaders had joined the conflict to fulfill their personal agendas.
Johnson had counseled Amherst on how to use diplomacy to mollify individual native groups, but Amherst had
stubbornly insisted on bringing them to submission militarily. Belatedly realizing that Amherst himself was largely
responsible for the outbreak of the conflict, British officials recalled him to London during November 1763. Sir
William Johnson was subsequently empowered by General Thomas Gage, Amherst's successor, to address the
grievances of the respective native groups in the traditional fashion. Being an astute diplomat, Johnson had
anticipated that he would eventually be given that power and had acted accordingly.
In meetings held with Iroquois delegations during the months of June and September 1763, Johnson managed to
convince them to aid the British effort to end the conflict. Amherst had disapproved of the negotiations because
the Seneca were included in the discussions. Johnson's efforts resulted in the Seneca joining the other members
of the Iroquois Confederacy in calling for the other native groups to lay down their arms and make peace with the
British. The Iroquois did not act out of loyalty to the British, but rather felt that being allied to the British would
strengthen their claims to sovereignty over the Ohio Valley.
The support of General Thomas Gage and the backing of the Iroquois enabled Sir William Johnson to host a
peace conference at Fort Niagara in January 1764 that was attended by the leaders of most of the native groups
that had participated in Pontiac's Rebellion. During the monthlong meeting, Johnson proved a gracious host who
fed his guests well and who plied them with an abundance of gifts. The goodwill that was generated resulted in a
number of native nations allying themselves with the British and pledging to fight against their former native allies.
Although the sieges had been broken at Fort Pitt and at Fort Detroit and many of the warriors, such as Pontiac,
had retreated westward, that did not mean that the British considered the war to be over. Two British armies
invaded the Ohio Valley during the summer of 1764. Colonel John Bradstreet led a force that was nearly 2,000
men strong, including Iroquois warriors, from Fort Niagara. Colonel Henry Bouquet launched his expedition from
Fort Pitt. The British assault towards their home communities convinced those native leaders who had wanted to
continue fighting the British that further resistance was futile, thus they too eventually came to terms. Pontiac held
out until he was forced to capitulate at Fort Oswego in 1766.
Further Reading
Calloway, Colin. The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2006; Dixon, David. Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and the Fate of the British
Empire in North America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005; Middleton, Richard. Pontiac's War: Its
Causes, Course and Consequences. New York: Routledge, 2007; O'Toole, Fintan. White Savage: William
Johnson and the Invention of America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005; Ward, Matthew C. Breaking
the Backcountry: The Seven Years' War in Virginia and Pennsylvania, 1754–1765. Pittsburgh, PA: University of
Pittsburgh Press, 2003; White, Richard, The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes
Region, 1650-1815, 1991.
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French and Indian War
The final intercolonial war between France and Great Britain, the French and
Indian War, like the three wars before it, had European roots. Called the Seven
Years' War in Europe, the French and Indian War actually began two years earlier
than its European counterpart. The three prior French-English conflicts in America
were largely centered in the Northeast, but the French and Indian War shifted to
the Ohio River Valley, an area that had become increasingly important as
European interests began to reach west beyond the Appalachians.
The French, who sought a corridor of trade to connect the Mississippi River and Louisiana with their outposts on
the Great Lakes and beyond, built a series of forts in the Ohio Valley, the most important being Fort Duquesne
(Pittsburgh). At the same time, the British Crown, with a continuing eye toward colonization, had offered large
land grants for settlement. Under the circumstances, it was inevitable that the two powers would collide.
The opening stages of the war saw the advantage go to the French. As early as 1754, a young Virginian named
George Washington distinguished himself in an unsuccessful attempt to capture Fort Duquesne. The following
year saw a second, more determined effort, albeit one that was to end ignominiously. A column of British regulars
under the command of Gen. Edward Braddock was ambushed and routed by the French and their Indian allies in
July 1755. British casualties were heavy; Braddock himself was mortally wounded. Humiliated and devastated,
the British column was forced to withdraw. The Ohio Valley Indians, concerned with the growing threat of
settlements, viewed Braddock's defeat as an opportunity to strike a further blow against the English. In the
following year, thousands of white settlers from Virginia and Pennsylvania to South Carolina felt the fury of Indian
attacks.
The British position continued to deteriorate. Increasingly, Indian nations and tribes, some from as far west as the
Great Lakes, threw their support behind the French; they saw an opportunity not only to drive back the hated
white settlers but to plunder as well. Despite the efforts of Sir William Johnson, Indian agent, the British, who had
seen the powerful Delaware and Shawnee nations ally with the French, feared the Iroquois might also join the
enemy.
In August 1756, a combined French and Indian force captured Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario and the following
year took Fort William Henry, situated at the foot of New York's Lake George. Following the capture of Fort
William Henry, immortalized in James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans, many of the British garrison,
including women and children, were massacred by Indian allies of the French as they marched out of the fort,
despite customary assurances of honorable treatment as prisoners of war. The French, mortified at the slaughter,
were unable to control their allies.
The 1757 appointment of the controversial William Pitt, the Elder as British prime minister was perhaps the
turning point in the French and Indian War. One of Pitt's first steps was to strengthen the British forces in North
America and appoint able commanders to prosecute the war to a successful conclusion. He also instituted a
stronger policy regarding the employment of Indian allies. No less important, particularly in the area of Indian
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relations, was the work of Sir William Johnson, whose tireless efforts to convince the Iroquois to remain neutral at
last bore fruit. The Iroquois, in turn, persuaded the Delawares to cease warfare against the British. The tide was
beginning to turn.
During the summer of 1758, a strong British force failed to take Fort Ticonderoga (Fort Carillon to the French),
but that failure was offset by the capture of Louisbourg, on Cape Breton Island, and Fort Frontenanc, both
located in Ontario. British fortunes were also improving in the south, where Gen. John Forbes cut a new trail
through the Pennsylvania wilderness in yet another effort to take Fort Duquesne.
Forbes' strategy produced the Treaty of Easton, in which the British managed to enlist strong Indian support for
their effort to take Fort Duquesne, which many of the Indians were anxious to see abandoned—regardless of
whom it belonged to. In return for the Indians' support, the British provided certain financial considerations and
their promise to withdraw from the Ohio River country. Surrounded and unable to be supplied, the French
abandoned Fort Duquesne, which Forbes promptly occupied and renamed Fort Pitt.
A year later, in 1759, a mixed force of British regulars and Iroquois allies took Fort Niagara. Sensing the
vulnerability of their position, the French then abandoned Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga) and Crown Point and
withdrew to Canada. In September 1759, British general James Wolfe's defeat of the French Army, commanded
by Marquis Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, on the Plains of Abraham resulted in the surrender of Quebec. The
deaths of the two generals, Wolfe and Montcalm, has made the British victory one of the epic stories of history.
For all intents and purposes, the British victory at Quebec marked the end of the French and Indian War,
although some historians believe France had privately conceded victory to the British.
The Treaty of Paris (1763) officially ceased the intercolonial wars between England and France. The conclusion
of the French and Indian War was a watershed event that marked the end of French power in North America. As
a result of the treaty, England acquired Canada and all of Spanish Florida. For the next two decades, England
would be the sole, dominant power in North America.
Further Reading
Hurt, R. Douglas, The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830, 1996; Leach, Douglas, Arms for
Empire: A Military History of the British Colonies in North America, 1607-1763, 1973; Steele, Ian K. Warpaths:
Invasions of North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
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Entry ID:
282154
"French and Indian War." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.
http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/282154?sid=282154&cid=0&view=pri... 9/27/2013