A School History of the United States Part 9

%85. Braddock's Defeat, July 9, 1755.%--Braddock took command of this last expedition and made Was.h.i.+ngton one of his aids. For a while he found it impossible to move his army, for in Virginia horses and wagons were very scarce, and without them he could not carry his baggage or drag his cannon. At last Benjamin Franklin, then deputy postmaster-general of the colonies, persuaded the farmers of Pennsylvania, who had plenty, to rent the wagons and horses to the general.

All this took time, so that it was June before the army left Fort c.u.mberland and literally began to cut its way through the woods to Fort Duquesne. The march was slow, but all went well till the troops had crossed the Monongahela River and were but eight miles from the fort, when suddenly the advance guard came face to face with an army of Indians and French. The Indians and French instantly hid in the bushes and behind trees, and poured an incessant fire into the ranks of the British. They, too, would gladly have fought in Indian fas.h.i.+on. But Braddock thought this cowardly and would not allow them to get behind trees, so they stood huddled in groups, a fine mark for the Indians, till so many were killed that a retreat had to be ordered. Then they fled, and had it not been for Was.h.i.+ngton and his Virginians, who covered their flight, they would probably have been killed to a man.[1]

[Footnote 1: Read Parkman's _Montcalm and Wolfe_, Vol. I., Chap. 7, pp.

162-187; T.J. Chapman's _The French in the Allegheny Valley_, pp. 60-72; Sargeant's _History of Braddock's Expedition_.]

Braddock was wounded just as the retreat began, and died a few days later.

%86. The Other Expeditions.%--The expedition against Niagara was a failure. The officer in command did not take his army further than Oswego on Lake Ontario.

The expedition against Crown Point was partially successful, and a stubborn battle was fought and a victory won over the French on the sh.o.r.es of that beautiful sheet of water which the English ever after called Lake George in honor of the King.

%87. War declared.%--Up to this time all the fighting had been done along the frontier in America. But in May, 1756, Great Britain formally declared war against France. The French at once sent over Montcalm,[1]

the very ablest Frenchman that ever commanded on this continent, and there followed two years of warfare disastrous to the British. Montcalm took and burned Oswego, won over the Indians to the cause of France, and was about to send a strong fleet to attack New England, when, toward the end of 1757, William Pitt was made virtually (though not in name) Prime Minister of England.

[Footnote 1: Read Parkman's _Montcalm and Wolfe_, Vol. I., pp. 318-380.]

William Pitt was one of the greatest Englishmen that ever lived. He could see exactly what to do, and he could pick out exactly the right man to do it. No wonder, then, that as soon as he came into power the British began to gain victories.

%88. The Victories of 1758.%--Once more the French were attacked at their three vulnerable points, and this time with success. In 1758 Louisburg surrendered to Amherst and Boscawen. In that same year Was.h.i.+ngton captured Fort Duquesne, which, in honor of the great Prime Minister, was called Fort Pitt. A provincial officer named Bradstreet destroyed Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario. This was a heavy blow to the French; for with Fort Frontenac gone and Fort Duquesne in English hands, the Ohio was cut off from Quebec.

An attack on Ticonderoga, however, was repulsed by Montcalm with dreadful loss to the English.

%89. The Victories of 1759; Wolfe.%--But the defeat was only temporary. At the siege of Louisburg a young officer named James Wolfe had greatly distinguished himself, and in return for this was selected by Pitt to command an expedition to Quebec. The previous attempts to reach that city had been by way of Lake George. The expedition of Wolfe sailed up the St. Lawrence, and landed below the city.

Quebec stands on the summit of a high hill with precipitous sides, and was then the most strongly fortified city in America. To take it seemed almost impossible. But the resolution of Wolfe overcame every obstacle: on the night of September 12, 1759, he led his troops to the foot of the cliff, climbed the heights, and early in the morning had his army drawn up in battle array on the Plains of Abraham, as the plateau behind the city was called. There a great battle was fought between the French, led by Montcalm, and the British, led by Wolfe. The British triumphed, and Quebec fell; but Wolfe and Montcalm were among the dead.[1]

[Footnote 1: Parkman's _Montcalm and Wolfe_, Chaps. 25-27; A. Wright's _Life of Wolfe;_ Sloan's _French War and the Revolution_, Chaps. 6-9.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: European Possessions 1763]

Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been captured a few weeks before.

Montreal was taken in 1760, and the long struggle between the French and the English in America ended in the defeat of the French. The war dragged on in Europe till 1763, when peace was made at Paris.

%90. France driven out of America.%--With all the details of the treaty we are not concerned. It is enough for us to know that France divided her possessions on this continent between Great Britain and Spain. To Great Britain she gave Canada and Cape Breton, and all the islands save two in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Entering what is now the United States, she drew a line down the middle of the Mississippi River from its source to a point just north of New Orleans. To Great Britain she surrendered all her territory east of this line. To Spain she gave all her possessions to the west of this line, together with the city of New Orleans. But Great Britain, during the war, had taken Havana from Spain. To get this back, Spain now gave up Florida in exchange.

At the end of the war with France, Great Britain thus found herself in possession of Canada and all that part of the United States which lies between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, the little strip at the mouth of the river alone excepted.

SUMMARY

We have now come to the time when the third European power was driven from our country. The first was Sweden when New Sweden was captured by the Dutch. The second was Holland when New Netherland was captured by the English. The third was France.

1. The struggle for the French possessions in America may be divided into two periods: A. That from 1689 to 1748, when the contest was for Acadia and New France. B. That from 1754 to 1763, when the struggle was for Louisiana as well as New France.

2. The first war, "King William's," was indecisive, but the second, "Queen Anne's," ended (1713) in the transfer of Acadia to England.

3. After the treaty of Utrecht, 1713, the French began seriously to take possession of the Mississippi valley, and began a chain of forts to stretch from New Orleans and Mobile to Montreal.

4. "King George's War" interrupted this work for a few years (1744-1748), but in 1749 Celeron was sent to bury plates in the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio and claim them in the name of France.

5. The next step after claiming the valleys was to take armed possession, and in 1752 the French began to build forts.

6. This alarmed the governor of Virginia, who sent Was.h.i.+ngton to bid the French leave the Allegheny valley. When they refused, troops were sent to build a fort on the site of what is now Pittsburg; but these men, under Trent and Ward, were driven away, as were also the reinforcements under Was.h.i.+ngton (1764).

7. Braddock (with Was.h.i.+ngton) was next sent against the French, who had built Fort Duquesne. He was surprised by the Indians (July 9, 1755), defeated, and killed.

8. The "French and Indian War" thus opened was fought with varying success till 1760, when the British held Quebec, Montreal, Fort Duquesne, and all the other French strongholds in America. In 1763 peace was made, and nearly all the French possessions east of the Mississippi River were surrendered to the British.

THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM AMERICA:

THE STRUGGLE FOR NEW FRANCE AND ACADIA:

King William's War:

1690. Sir W. Phips takes Port Royal.

Sir W. Phips attacks Quebec.

Montreal attacked.

1690-1697. The New York and New England frontier ravaged by the French and Indians.

1697. Peace of Ryswick. Port Royal given back to the French.

Queen Anne's War. Acadia lost to the French:

1702-1713. Frontier of New England ravaged.

1710. Port Royal again taken.

1711. Quebec again attacked.

1713. Peace of Utrecht. Acadia held by the English.

King George's War:

1744. French attack Canso and Annapolis (Port Royal).

1745. Louisburg (Cape Breton Island) taken.

1748. Louisburg given back to the French.

THE STRUGGLE FOR NEW FRANCE AND LOUISIANA.

Occupation of Louisiana:

1699. The French at the mouth of the Mississippi.

1701. The occupation of the valley begun.

1701-1748. The chain of forts joining New Orleans and Montreal.

1749. The French on the Allegheny. Celeron's expedition. The buried plates.

1753. The French fortify the Allegheny valley.