Editing French and Indian War (section)

==Background==
[[File:François Mercier, voyageur canadien.jpg|thumb|upright|The {{lang|fr|[[coureurs des bois]]}} were French-Canadian [[North American fur trade|fur traders]], who did business with natives throughout the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] and [[St. Lawrence River|St. Lawrence watershed]].]]
At this time, North America east of the Mississippi River was largely claimed by either Great Britain or France. Large areas had no colonial settlements. The French population numbered about 75,000 and was heavily concentrated along the [[St. Lawrence River]] valley, with some also in Acadia (present-day [[New Brunswick]] and parts of [[Nova Scotia]]), including Île Royale ([[Cape Breton Island]]). Fewer lived in [[New Orleans]]; [[Biloxi, Mississippi]]; [[Mobile, Alabama]]; and small settlements in the [[Illinois Country]], hugging the east side of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. French fur traders and trappers traveled throughout the St. Lawrence and Mississippi watersheds, did business with local Indian tribes, and often married Indian women.<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Powell |title=Encyclopedia of North American immigration |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofno0000powe |url-access=registration |year=2005 |location=New York |publisher=Facts on File |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofno0000powe/page/204 204] |isbn=0816046581 }}</ref> Traders married daughters of chiefs, creating high-ranking unions.

British settlers outnumbered the French 20 to 1<ref>John Wade, "British History Chronologically Arranged, 2: Comprehending a Chamfied Analysis of Events and Occurencis in Church and State ... from the First Invasions by the Romans to A.d. 1847", p.46 [https://books.google.com/books?id=CA5oV-kN6NMC&pg=PA446]</ref> with a population of about 1.5&nbsp;million ranged along the Atlantic coast of the continent from Nova Scotia and the [[Colony of Newfoundland]] in the north to the [[Province of Georgia]] in the south.<ref>{{cite book |first=Francis D. |last=Cogliano |title=Revolutionary America, 1763–1815: A Political History |year=2008 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=32 |isbn=9780415964869 }}</ref> Many of the older colonies' land claims extended arbitrarily far to the west, as the extent of the continent was unknown at the time when their provincial charters were granted. Their population centers were along the coast, but the settlements were growing into the interior. The British captured Nova Scotia from France in 1713, which still had a significant French-speaking population. Britain also claimed [[Rupert's Land]] where the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] traded for furs with local Indian tribes.
[[File:5NationsExpansion.jpg|thumb|Iroquois expansion, 1711. By the mid-18th century, the [[Iroquois Confederacy]] had expanded from Upstate New York to the [[Ohio Country]].]]
Between the French and British colonists, large areas were dominated by Indian tribes. To the north, the [[Mi'kmaq]] and the [[Abenaki people|Abenakis]] were engaged in [[Father Le Loutre's War]] and still held sway in parts of Nova Scotia, Acadia, and the eastern portions of the [[Canada, New France|province of Canada]], as well as much of Maine.<ref>Jennings, pp. 9, 176</ref> The [[Iroquois Confederation]] dominated much of upstate New York and the [[Ohio Country]], although Ohio also included [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking populations of [[Lenape|Delaware]] and [[Shawnee]], as well as [[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian]]-speaking [[Mingos]]. These tribes were formally under Iroquois rule and were limited by them in their authority to make agreements.<ref name=A2K_23>Anderson (2000), p. 23</ref> The Iroquois Confederation initially held a stance of neutrality to ensure continued trade with both French and British. Though maintaining this stance proved difficult as the Iroquois Confederation tribes sided and supported French or British causes depending on which side provided the most beneficial trade.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bleiweis |first1=Sam |title=The Downfall of the Iroquios |journal=Emory Endeavors in World History |date=2013 |volume=5 |pages=84–99 |url=http://history.emory.edu/home/documents/endeavors/volume5/gunpowder-age-v-bleiweis.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://history.emory.edu/home/documents/endeavors/volume5/gunpowder-age-v-bleiweis.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Southeast interior was dominated by Siouan-speaking [[Catawba (tribe)|Catawbas]], [[Muskogean languages|Muskogee]]-speaking [[Creek (tribe)|Creeks]] and [[Choctaw]], and the Iroquoian-speaking [[Cherokee]] tribes.<ref>Jennings, p. 8</ref> When war broke out, the French colonists used their trading connections to recruit fighters from tribes in western portions of the [[Great Lakes region (North America)|Great Lakes region]], which was not directly subject to the conflict between the French and British; these included the [[Wyandot people|Hurons]], [[Mississaugas]], [[Ojibwas]], [[Winnebago (tribe)|Winnebagos]], and [[Potawatomi]].

The British colonists were supported in the war by the Iroquois [[Iroquois Confederacy|Six Nations]] and also by the Cherokees, until differences sparked the [[Anglo-Cherokee War]] in 1758. In 1758, the [[Province of Pennsylvania]] successfully negotiated the [[Treaty of Easton]] in which a number of tribes in the Ohio Country promised neutrality in exchange for land concessions and other considerations. Most of the other northern tribes sided with the French, their primary trading partner and supplier of arms. The Creeks and Cherokees were subject to diplomatic efforts by both the French and British to gain either their support or neutrality in the conflict.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hamer |first1=P. M. |title=Anglo-French Rivalry in the Cherokee Country, 1754–1757 |journal=The North Carolina Historical Review |date=July 1925 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=303–322 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23514555 |access-date=29 March 2024 |publisher=North Carolina Office of Archives and History |jstor=23514555 |issn=0029-2494 |oclc=9973993536}}</ref>{{additional citation needed|date=March 2024}}
[[File:Three Cherokee.jpg|thumb|The [[Cherokee]], c. 1762. The Cherokee were subject to diplomatic efforts from the British and French to gain their support or neutrality in the event of a conflict.]]
At this time, Spain claimed only the province of Florida in eastern America. It controlled Cuba and other territories in the [[West Indies]] that became military objectives in the Seven Years' War. Florida's European population was a few hundred, concentrated in [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Corbett|first=Theodore G.|title=Population Structure in Hispanic St. Augustine, 1629–1763|publisher=Florida Historical Society|year=1976|issue=3|volume=54|journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly|page=264|jstor=30151286|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30151286}}</ref>
[[File:General-james-wolfe.jpg|thumb|General James Wolfe, British commander]]
There were no French regular army troops stationed in America at the onset of war. New France was defended by about 3,000 [[troupes de la marine]], companies of colonial regulars (some of whom had significant woodland combat experience). The colonial government recruited militia support when needed. The British had few troops. Most of the British colonies mustered local militia companies to deal with Indian threats, generally ill trained and available only for short periods, but they did not have any standing forces. Virginia, by contrast, had a large frontier with several companies of British regulars.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

When hostilities began, the British colonial governments preferred operating independently of one another and of the government in London. This situation complicated negotiations with Indian tribes, whose territories often encompassed land claimed by multiple colonies. As the war progressed, the leaders of the British Army establishment tried to impose constraints and demands on the colonial administrations.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

===Céloron's expedition===
New France's Governor-General [[Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière]] was concerned about the incursion and expanding influence in the Ohio Country of British colonial traders such as [[George Croghan]].  In June 1747, he ordered [[Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville|Pierre-Joseph Céloron]] to lead a military expedition through the area. Its objectives were:
[[File:La Galissonière-French school 18th century img 3172.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière]], Governor of New France, sent an expedition in 1749 into the Ohio Country in an attempt to assert French sovereignty.]]
* to reaffirm to New France's Indian allies that their trading arrangements with colonists were exclusive to those authorized by New France
* to confirm Indian assistance in asserting and maintaining the French claim to the territories which French explorers had claimed
* to discourage any alliances between Britain and local Indian tribes
* to impress the Indians with a French show of force against British colonial settler incursion, unauthorized trading expeditions, and general trespass against French claims<ref name=A2K_26>Anderson (2000), p. 26.</ref>

Céloron's expedition force consisted of about 200 [[Troupes de la marine]] and 30 Indians, and they covered about {{convert|3000|mi|km}} between June and November 1749. They went up the St. Lawrence, continued along the northern shore of [[Lake Ontario]], crossed the portage at Niagara, and followed the southern shore of [[Lake Erie]]. At the [[French Portage Road|Chautauqua Portage]] near [[Barcelona, New York]], the expedition moved inland to the [[Allegheny River]], which it followed to the site of [[Pittsburgh]]. There Céloron buried lead plates engraved with the French claim to the Ohio Country.<ref name=A2K_26/> Whenever he encountered British colonial merchants or fur-traders, he informed them of the French claims on the territory and told them to leave.<ref name=A2K_26/>

Céloron's expedition arrived at [[Logstown]] where the Indians in the area informed him that they owned the Ohio Country and that they would trade with the British colonists regardless of the French.<ref name="fowler 14">Fowler, p. 14.</ref> He continued south until his expedition reached the confluence of the Ohio and the [[Great Miami River|Miami]] rivers, which lay just south of the village of [[Pickawillany]], the home of the [[Miami tribe|Miami]] chief known as "[[Old Briton]]". Céloron threatened Old Briton with severe consequences if he continued to trade with British colonists, but Old Briton ignored the warning. Céloron returned disappointedly to Montreal in November 1749.<ref name="ParkLoram">[http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/magazinehome/magazine/sprsum2006/parkspotlight/tabid/310/Default.aspx "Park Spotlight: Lake Loramie"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017104252/http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/magazinehome/magazine/sprsum2006/parkspotlight/tabid/310/Default.aspx |date=2013-10-17 }}, ''Ohio State Parks Magazine'', Spring 2006</ref>

Céloron wrote an extensively detailed report. "All I can say is that the Natives of these localities are very badly disposed towards the French," he wrote, "and are entirely devoted to the English. I don't know in what way they could be brought back."<ref name="fowler 14"/> Even before his return to Montreal, reports on the situation in the Ohio Country were making their way to London and Paris, each side proposing that action be taken. [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]] governor [[William Shirley]] was particularly forceful, stating that British colonists would not be safe as long as the French were present.<ref name="fowler 15">Fowler, p. 15.</ref>

===Negotiations===
[[File:Nouvelle-France map-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|European colonies in North America, c. 1750. Disputes over territorial claims persisted after the end of [[King George's War]] in 1748.]]
The [[War of the Austrian Succession]] ended in 1748 with the signing of the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]], which was primarily focused on resolving issues in Europe. The issues of conflicting territorial claims between British and French colonies were turned over to a commission, but it reached no decision. Frontier areas were claimed by both sides, from Nova Scotia and Acadia in the north to the Ohio Country in the south. The disputes also extended into the [[Atlantic Ocean]], where both powers wanted access to the rich fisheries of the [[Grand Banks of Newfoundland|Grand Banks]] off [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]].{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

In 1749, the British government gave land to the [[Ohio Company of Virginia]] for the purpose of developing trade and settlements in the Ohio Country.<ref>Alfred P. James, ''[[The Ohio Company: Its Inner History]]'' (1959) pp. 26–40</ref> The grant required that it settle 100 families in the territory and construct a fort for their protection. But the territory was also claimed by Pennsylvania, and both colonies began pushing for action to improve their respective claims.<ref>Jennings, p. 15</ref> In 1750, [[Christopher Gist]] explored the Ohio territory, acting on behalf of both Virginia and the company, and he opened negotiations with the Indian tribes at Logstown.<ref>Jennings, p. 18</ref> He completed the [[Logstown#Treaty of Logstown, 1752|1752 Treaty of Logstown]] in which the local Indians agreed to terms through their "Half-King" [[Tanacharison]] and an Iroquois representative. These terms included permission to build a strong house at the mouth of the [[Monongahela River]] on the modern site of [[Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania.<ref>Anderson (2000), p. 28</ref>

===Escalation in Ohio Country===
Governor-General of New France [[Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel de la Jonquière, Marquis de la Jonquière|Marquis de la Jonquière]] died on March 17, 1752, and he was temporarily replaced by Charles le Moyne de Longueuil. His permanent replacement was to be [[Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville|the Marquis Duquesne]], but he did not arrive in New France until 1752 to take over the post.<ref>Anderson (2000), p. 27</ref> The continuing British activity in the Ohio territories prompted Longueuil to dispatch another expedition to the area under the command of [[Charles Michel de Langlade]], an officer in the Troupes de la Marine. Langlade was given 300 men, including [[French-Canadians]] and warriors of the [[Ottawa (tribe)|Ottawa tribe]]. His objective was to punish the Miami people of Pickawillany for not following Céloron's orders to cease trading with the British. On June 21, the French war party [[Raid on Pickawillany|attacked the trading center]] at Pickawillany, capturing three traders<ref name="ParkLoram"/> and killing 14 Miami Indians, including Old Briton. He was reportedly ritually cannibalized by some Indians in the expedition party.

====Construction of French fortifications====
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2017}}
[[File:Fort Le Boeuf.jpg|thumb|[[Fort Le Boeuf]] in 1754. In the spring of 1753, the French began to build a series of forts in the Ohio Country.]]
In the spring of 1753, [[Paul Marin de la Malgue]] was given command of a 2,000-man force of Troupes de la Marine and Indians. His orders were to protect the King's land in the Ohio Valley from the British. Marin followed the route that Céloron had mapped out four years earlier. Céloron, however, had limited the record of French claims to the burial of lead plates, whereas Marin constructed and garrisoned forts. He first constructed [[Fort Presque Isle]] on Lake Erie's south shore near [[Erie, Pennsylvania]], and he had a road built to the headwaters of [[LeBoeuf Creek (Pennsylvania)|LeBoeuf Creek]]. He then constructed a second fort at [[Fort Le Boeuf]] in [[Waterford, Pennsylvania]], designed to guard the headwaters of LeBoeuf Creek. As he moved south, he drove off or captured British traders, alarming both the British and the Iroquois. [[Tanaghrisson]] was a chief of the [[Mingo]] Indians, who were remnants of Iroquois and other tribes who had been driven west by colonial expansion. He intensely disliked the French whom he accused of killing and eating his father. He traveled to Fort Le Boeuf and threatened the French with military action, which Marin contemptuously dismissed.<ref name="fowler 31">Fowler, p. 31.</ref>

The Iroquois sent runners to the manor of [[Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet|William Johnson]] in upstate New York, who was the British Superintendent for Indian Affairs in the New York region and beyond. Johnson was known to the Iroquois as ''Warraghiggey'', meaning "he who does great things." He spoke their languages and had become a respected honorary member of the [[Iroquois|Iroquois Confederacy]] in the area, and he was made a colonel of the Iroquois in 1746; he was later commissioned as a colonel of the Western New York Militia.

The Indian representatives and Johnson met with Governor [[George Clinton (Royal Navy officer)|George Clinton]] and officials from some of the other American colonies at [[Albany, New York]]. [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]] [[Chief Hendrick]] was the speaker of their tribal council, and he insisted that the British abide by their obligations{{which|date=April 2017}} and block French expansion. Clinton did not respond to his satisfaction, and Hendrick said that the "[[Covenant Chain]]" was broken, a long-standing friendly relationship between the Iroquois Confederacy and the British Crown.

====Virginia's response====
[[File:Washington 1772.jpg|thumb|upright|In 1754, [[George Washington]] of the [[Virginia Regiment]] was dispatched to warn the French to leave Virginian territory.]]
Governor [[Robert Dinwiddie]] of Virginia was an investor in the Ohio Company, which stood to lose money if the French held their claim.<ref>O'Meara, p. 48</ref> He ordered 21-year-old Major [[George Washington]] (whose brother was another Ohio Company investor) of the [[Virginia Regiment]] to [[George Washington in the French and Indian War|warn the French to leave Virginia territory]] in October 1753.<ref name=A2K_42_3>Anderson (2000), pp. 42–43</ref> Washington left with a small party, including [[Jacob Van Braam]] as an interpreter, [[Christopher Gist]] (a company surveyor working in the area), [[Guyasuta]] (a [[Mingo]] warrior), Jeskakake (a [[Cayuga people|Cayuga]] chief),  Kaghswaghtaniunt (a [[Seneca people|Seneca]] leader),<ref>[https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/kaghswaghtaniunt_3E.html William A. Hunter, “KAGHSWAGHTANIUNT (Coswentannea, Gaghswaghtaniunt, Kachshwuchdanionty, Tohaswuchdoniunty) (Belt of Wampum, Old Belt, Le Collier Pendu, White Thunder),” in ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography,'' vol. 3, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed May 2, 2025]</ref> and Tanaghrisson. On December 12, Washington and his men reached Fort Le Boeuf.<ref>Anderson (2000), p. 43</ref><ref>Jennings, p. 63</ref>

[[Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre]] succeeded Marin as commander of the French forces after Marin died on October 29, and he invited Washington to dine with him. Over dinner, Washington presented Saint-Pierre with the letter from Dinwiddie demanding an immediate French withdrawal from the Ohio Country. Saint-Pierre said, "As to the Summons you send me to retire, I do not think myself obliged to obey it."<ref name="fowler 35">Fowler, p. 35.</ref> He told Washington that France's claim to the region was superior to that of the British, since [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]] had explored the Ohio Country nearly a century earlier.<ref name="ellis 5">Ellis, ''His Excellency George Washington'', p. 5.</ref>

Washington's party left Fort Le Boeuf early on December 16 and arrived in [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]] on January 16, 1754. He stated in his report, "The French had swept south",<ref name="fowler 36">Fowler, p. 36.</ref> detailing the steps which they had taken to fortify the area, and their intention to fortify the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers.<ref>O'Meara, pp. 37–38.</ref>