1756-57: The French Gain the Upper Hand

By the time France formally declared war on Great Britain in 1756, the two European powers and their allies had already been fighting in the North American wilderness for two years. The declaration of war marked the beginning of a second phase of the conflict. The French and Indian War, as it was known in North America, spread to Europe and to other French and British colonies around the world. It even gained a new name in Europe—the Seven Years' War.

Events in Europe

Before the French and Indian War, the nations of Europe had formed fairly stable alliances that created a balance of power. Great Britain's allies included Holland and Austria, while France was allied with Prussia (a country containing modern-day Germany and parts of Poland and Russia). In 1756, however, these alliances were turned upside-down. France secretly negotiated an alliance with Austria, while Great Britain made a similar deal with Prussia.

A few weeks after declaring war on Great Britain, France captured a British military base on the Mediterranean island of Minorca. The British responded by taking control of a French factory in India. But the real battles of the European war began in August 1756, when King Frederick II (1712-1786) of Prussia launched military operations against Austria. France had signed a treaty in which it promised to defend Austria. By mid-1757, France had helped its ally turn back the invasion and Prussia withdrew from Austria. Following his defeat, however, King Frederick faced threats from France, Sweden, and Russia.

British leaders could not send troops to help Prussia because their forces were busy in North America or conducting naval operations along the French coast. But Great Britain did provide King Frederick with money that helped him defeat the French in the Battle of Rossbach in November. Prussia claimed another victory over Austria in Silesia in December. By the end of 1757, the European war had turned in Great Britain's favor as France was forced to abandon half the territory it had conquered during the summer.

Loudoun takes charge of British forces in North America

Meanwhile, the fighting continued in North America between the French and their Indian (Native American) allies and the British and their American colonists. British leaders in London were still upset about the defeat of General Edward Braddock (1695-1755; see entry) and the failure of their other military plans. They decided to replace William Shirley (1694-1771), who had become commander-in-chief upon Braddock's death, with an experienced military planner named John Campbell, fourth earl of Loudoun (1705-1782).

Like Braddock, Lord Loudoun held broad powers as commander-in-chief of all British and American armed forces in North America. But when he arrived in mid-1756, he found that Shirley had already planned several military campaigns for the year. For example, Shirley had ordered seven thousand colonial troops to gather at Fort Edward and Fort William Henry, British forts located on the Hudson River and Lake George in northern New York. These forces were to be used in an attack against Fort St. Frédéric, a French stronghold at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. Shirley had also put plans in place to capture French forts on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in order to cut off French supply routes to the west from Montreal.

Since most of the colonial troops were already in place, Loudoun decided to include the attack on Fort St. Frédéric in his plans. But Loudoun did not have much faith in "irregular" colonial troops (volunteers and recruits from the American colonies; they usually received less training than their British counterparts) and preferred to make the attack using "regular" (professional) British Army soldiers. Loudoun knew that there were three thousand highly trained British soldiers waiting for orders in Albany, so he decided to add them to the forces headed for Crown Point. Loudoun did not realize that Shirley had kept the British and colonial soldiers apart on purpose. British leaders in London had recently created new rules that made the colonial troops subject to the same strict discipline and harsh punishments as the regular troops. At the same time, however, colonial officers—regardless of their rank or level of experience—were expected to take orders from regular officers. These rules had made it difficult for Shirley to recruit an army from the colonies. To overcome resistance, he had promised the colonial forces that they would not have to serve alongside any regulars. This way, they would not have to worry about the new rules.

When Loudoun tried to combine the British and colonial forces for the attack on Fort St. Frédéric, the colonials threatened to quit and return to their homes. The commander-in-chief became furious about what he viewed as their unprofessional behavior. He could not believe that the American forces would not submit to British Army rules and discipline. But this incident was only the beginning of Loudoun's problems. He soonbegan using his powers as commander-in-chief to issue orders to the colonial governors. He expected them to provide money, men, and supplies for his armies, but they often stalled or simply refused his requests. Loudoun also expected the people of Albany and other cities to provide shelter for British soldiers. He thought the colonists should gladly offer quarters for the troops that had come to defend them. But most people refused to allow soldiers to stay in their homes unless the army paid for their room and board. These disputes convinced Loudoun that all Americans were ungrateful and did not understand the idea of serving a common cause.

The French military effort also received a new leader in mid-1756 when Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Véran (1712-1759; see entry), arrived in New France. An experienced general, Montcalm would lead the defense of French territory in North America for the next three years. New France also had a new governor general, Pierre François de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil (1698-1778; see box), who had replaced Ange Duquesne de Menneville, marquis de Duquesne (1700-1778) in 1755. Vaudreuil was a strong believer in wilderness warfare. He wanted to use France's Indian allies to conduct raids along the western frontier of the British colonies. If the British had to worry about defending the frontier, Vaudreuil was convinced they would be less able to launch an invasion of Canada. But as a traditional European military leader, Mont-calm was horrified by the style of warfare used by the Indians. He distrusted the Indians and was reluctant to use them in his military operations. He wanted to rely upon regular French Army troops and to conduct the war in a more civilized manner.

French capture Fort Oswego

As Lord Loudoun struggled to organize the British war effort, Montcalm and the French went on the offensive. Their first target was Fort Oswego, located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Oswego River (near the site of modern-day Syracuse, New York). The fort itself was situated on a low rise overlooking the lake. On each side of the fort were steep hills on which the British had built small outposts. Holding the fort for the British were 1,135 troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James Mercer.

On August 10, 1756, Montcalm brought a 3,000-man army to attack the fort. His forces consisted of 1,300 highly trained French soldiers, 1,500 Canadian militia, and 250 Indians from six different nations. The French started out by attacking the two high outposts and capturing them easily. Then they aimed their cannons down at the poorly constructed British fort. One of the cannonballs killed Mercer, and the fort surrendered a short time later. Montcalm's forces destroyed the fort and took all of the boats, cannons, guns, and other supplies they could find. Montcalm ordered that all the remaining British soldiers be taken as prisoners of war. He promised to protect the prisoners and transport them to Montreal for the duration of the war.

But Montcalm's Indian allies had other ideas. Unlike the French and Canadian forces, they were not paid to take part in the battle. They had joined the fight in order to demonstrate their courage. Their only payment came in the form of the trophies they collected—captives, scalps, weapons, and supplies. The Indians became angry when they heard about Montcalm's plan for the British prisoners. They ended up killing between thirty and one hundred British soldiers and taking many more captive. Montcalm was outraged by the Indians' behavior. In fact, he secretly paid ransom to reclaim some of the prisoners.

Following the French capture of Fort Oswego, Loudoun called off the planned attack against Crown Point. Instead, he ordered the colonial soldiers gathered at Fort William Henry to improve the fort and prepare to defend it against an attack by the French. By the end of the summer, the British forces stationed along the northern border of the colonies were there for defensive purposes only.

Loudoun plans attack of Louisbourg

Desperate to undertake some offensive action against the French, Loudoun began planning a huge military campaign for 1757. He decided to attack Louisbourg, an important port city on Cape Breton Island, along the Atlantic coast of New France. If the British captured Louisbourg, they could continue down the St. Lawrence River to attack Quebec and Montreal. Loudoun knew that his plan left the northern frontier of the colonies exposed to attacks by France, but he decided to move forward anyway.

Loudoun had spent the winter of 1756-57 improving the systems for collecting supplies and transporting them around the colonies. He also started recruiting colonial soldiers in small companies instead of large regiments so that he could mix them more easily with British Army units. Finally, Loudoun placed an embargo (a government order that prohibits commercial ships from entering or leaving a port) on the Atlantic coast in an attempt to stop illegal trading with the French in Canada and the West Indies. Only military ships were allowed to come and go in port cities from Maine to Georgia. At first, the colonies willingly obeyed Loudoun's order, believing that it would be a temporary war measure. As the embargo continued for months, however, it began to cause hardships for merchants and farmers who needed to send or receive goods from overseas markets. Over time, people in the colonies came to resent the commander-in-chief. They felt that he did not care about their welfare. Eventually, the colonial governors forced Loudoun to reopen the ports by refusing to supply his army.

Loudoun set sail for Louisbourg from New York on June 20. He took along a force of six thousand men on one hundred ships, making it the largest expeditionary force ever to set sail from an American port. Loudoun's forces arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, ten days later. They waited there another ten days until a Royal Navy squadron (group of ships) came to escort them. Before the attack could begin, however, the Royal Navywanted to find out how many French Navy ships they would face in Louis-bourg. Finally, on August 4, a scout ship returned to report that the French had a huge fleet of three squadrons in Louis-bourg. Since it was too late in the summer to bring more Royal Navy squadrons to the area, Loudoun decided that there was no way his mission would succeed. He reluctantly called off the attack and ordered all the ships to return to New York.

French destroy Fort William Henry

Around the same time as Loudoun left for Louisbourg, he sent fifty-five hundred colonial troops and two regiments of British Army regulars under General Daniel Webb to defend the northern frontier in New York. One of the main British strongholds in this region, Fort William Henry, located at the south end of Lake George, had been damaged by a surprise attack in mid-March. A force of fifteen hundred French, Canadians, and Indians under François-Pierre Rigaud had destroyed several outbuildings as well as some boats and supplies. Although the British had turned back the attack, it had left the fort vulnerable to further attacks via water.

As it turned out, the French were planning a major offensive against Fort William Henry. The series of French military successes over the previous two years—including the defeat of Braddock and the capture of Fort Oswego—had attracted the attention of many Indian nations. The French were able to recruit two thousand warriors from thirty-three different nations to take part in the attack of Fort William Henry. Montcalm brought the Indians, along with six thousand French regulars and Canadian militia, to Fort Carillon at the north end of Lake George.

Defending Fort William Henry were fifteen hundred men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Monro (c. 1700-1757), an aging officer who had never served in the field before. In late July, Monro heard a rumor that eight thousand enemy forces had gathered across the lake from his position. He sent five companies of colonial troops across the lake by boat to check out the rumor, but the British boats were ambushed by five hundred Indians and Canadians. Only four of the twenty-two British boats escaped the trap, and three-quarters of the men were killed or captured. General Webb was making his first visit to Fort William Henry when the survivors straggled back to safety. He retreated to Fort Edward and sent back one thousand reinforcements to help Monro hold the fort.

On the morning of August 3, the British and colonial defenders saw 150 Indian war canoes and 250 French bateaux (small, flat-bottomed boats) coming toward them across the lake. The boats carried sixty-five hundred men and some artillery. Monro knew that Fort William Henry could not withstand artillery fire for very long. He needed troops from Fort Edward to attack Montcalm's forces before they finished setting up the artillery. But Webb refused to send any more troops, deciding that he needed them to defend Fort Edward.

Over the next few days, Fort William Henry was battered by enemy shells. The French used European siege tactics, which involved moving their guns ever closer to the fort. On August 9, Monro was forced to surrender the fort. In his efforts to conduct the war in a civilized manner, Montcalm negotiated honorable terms of surrender with the British forces. He allowed the men to keep their personal possessions and march to Fort Edward, as long as they promised not to fight against the French anymore. Once again, however, Montcalm had failed to consider his Indian allies when making the deal.

Angry at being left out of the settlement, the Indians became determined to take the trophies they felt they had earned. What followed has been called "the massacre of Fort William Henry." As the British forces gathered their wounded and began marching toward Fort Edward, they were brutally attacked by the Indians. Up to 185 men were killed and between 300 and 500 were taken prisoner. Montcalm was horrified at this turn of events. He tried to use his French troops to force the Indians to give up their captives, but the Indians responded by killing the prisoners so that they would have a scalp as a trophy. Once they were satisfied with the trophies they had collected, the Indians slipped into the woods and headed for home.

Over the following days and weeks, Montcalm continued trying to retrieve the British prisoners by paying ransom to the Indians. He knew that his honor was at stake, since he had failed to live up to his end of the surrender agreement. He also worried that the incident would make British leaders less willing to negotiate if they captured French forts in the future. About two hundred prisoners were recovered through Montcalm's efforts, as well as those of Vaudreuil in Montreal. In the meantime, British survivors trickled into Fort Edward for a week after the battle. Their stories created strong feelings against the French and the Indians among British leaders and the American colonists.

The incident at Fort William Henry turned out badly for the Indians as well. The British forces defending the fort had been suffering from smallpox (a disease caused by a virus), which the warriors carried back to their people. It created a terrible epidemic among the western tribes that caused a great deal of suffering and death. Between the smallpox epidemic and Montcalm's actions in negotiating a surrender—which the Indians viewed as a breach of trust—the Indians never turned out in support of the French in such great numbers again.

Following his victory, Montcalm destroyed Fort William Henry and returned to Fort Carillon. He chose not to attack Fort Edward, located a short distance to the south along the Hudson River. After all, most of the Indians had already left, and many of his Canadian troops needed to return home to harvest their crops. Still, the capture of Fort William Henry left the British in a vulnerable position. Only little Fort Edward stood between the French and several important targets, including the trading center of Albany and New York City itself.

Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor General of New France

Pierre François de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, was born on November 22, 1698, in Quebec, the capital of the French colony of New France. His father, Philippe de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil, was the governor general of New France at the time of his birth. The younger Vaudreuil joined the French Army at the age of six and achieved the rank of captain by the time he was a teenager. In 1733, he was appointed governor of the Canadian city of Trois-Rivières, and nine years later he became governor of the French colony of Louisiana.

By the time Vaudreuil returned to France in 1753, he was widely viewed as a capable colonial official. In 1755—just as the French and British began fighting for control of North America—he returned to Quebec as the governor general of New France. Having grown up in Canada, Vaudreuil was familiar with the North American wilderness and felt confident that he knew what sort of warfare would succeed under those conditions. He began sending his Indian allies to conduct violent raids along the frontier of the British colonies. He believed that such raids would prevent British settlers from moving into disputed regions and allow the French to maintain control over the Ohio Country.

In 1756, the French government sent an experienced general, Louis-Joseph, marquis de Montcalm, to take charge of French military forces in North America. Vaudreuil and Montcalm immediately entered into a series of disagreements. As governor of New France, Vaudreuil thought that he should be responsible for the control of the war against the British. But as leader of the troops in the field, Montcalm felt that he should dictate the French military strategy.

One of the main sources of conflict between the two men concerned the use of Indian allies. Vaudreuil felt that Indian allies gave the French an important advantage over the British. He noted that his strategy of conducting raids on British settlements had been successful during the previous year. But Montcalm favored a more traditional approach to warfare. Convinced that the Indians were uncivilized and uncontrollable, Montcalm was reluctant to use them in his military campaigns. In the meantime, corrupt officials in Vaudreuil's government stole money and supplies that the French government sent to support the army. Montcalm suspected that Vaudreuil was involved in these illegal activities.

After Montcalm was killed in the Battle of Quebec in 1759, Vaudreuil collected the French forces and retreated to Montreal. The following year, three British armies converged on the city. Vaudreuil surrendered on September 8, 1760, to end the French and Indian War in North America. Afterward, he sailed to France with other officials from the colonial government. Vaudreuil was charged with corruption and other crimes relating to his service as governor general of New France, but he was found not guilty. Nevertheless, the accusations ended his career in government service. He retired to his estate, where he lived quietly until his death in 1778.

America's Western Frontier Comes Under Attack

By 1756, most of the Indian nations around the Great Lakes and in the Ohio Country had thrown their support behind the French. Some had tried to form an alliance with the British, but British leaders had not been interested. In some cases, the British had offended the Indians and turned them into enemies. In other cases, the French had brought the Indians to their side by negotiating with them and offering gifts.

The alliance between the French and the Indians created a dangerous situation along the western frontier of the American colonies. French leaders encouraged the Indians to conduct raids on British settlements stretching across hundreds of miles in western Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. In these raids, the Indians often killed the British settlers or took them as prisoners. They also stole their belongings and burned down their homesteads. The Indians viewed the raids as a way to get rid of the British and reclaim their land. Indian warriors also earned the respect of their people by demonstrating their bravery in battle. Returning from a raid with trophies—such as live prisoners, the scalps of people they had killed, or valuable items taken from homes or forts—was a way for the warriors to prove their courage.

The constant raids caused the British settlers to live in fear. Many were forced to abandon their homesteads and return to the cities. Others wrote letters to colonial leaders, begging for help in defending themselves. "We are in as bad circumstances as ever any poor Christians were ever in, for the cries of widowers, widows, fatherless and motherless children are enough to pierce the most hardest of hearts," a settler named Adam Hoops wrote to Governor Robert Hunter Morris (1700-1764) of Pennsylvania. "Likewise it's a very sorrowful [sad] spectacle to see those that escaped with their lives with not a mouthful to eat, or bed to lie on, or clothes to cover their nakedness, or keep them warm, but all they had consumed into ashes."

For the most part, the American colonies were not able to protect their frontiers from the Indian raids. The colonies built a weak chain of forts along the western edge of their territories. Only a few of these forts were large and strong enough to serve as a base for soldiers. The others mainly provided traders and settlers with a safer place to stay during raids. The most important of these forts were Fort Augusta on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, Forts Cumberland and Frederick in Maryland, and Fort Loudoun in Virginia.

Maryland spent very little money or effort defending its relatively small frontier. By the fall of 1756, colonial leaders decided that they could no longer defend Fort Cumberland and abandoned it. Virginia sent a regiment of colonial soldiers under the command of George Washington (1732-1799; see entry) to patrol its frontier. But Washington's forces included only between four hundred and seven hundred men, and they were expected to protect 18 forts and 350 miles of frontier. To make the job even tougher, Washington's men received very little pay and often faced supply shortages.

Settlers along the Pennsylvania frontier probably suffered the most from Indian raids. Hundreds of settlers were killed in 1756, when Indian raids swept within seventy miles of Philadelphia. Yet colonial leaders refused to spend money or send troops to defend the frontier. Pennsylvania's assembly was controlled by members of the Quaker religion. One of the guiding principles of Quakerism is pacifism, which prohibits the support of violence or war in any form, regardless of circumstances. Eventually, however, public outcry about the situation on the frontier forced the Quakers to leave public office.

At this point, the Quakers began trying to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Delaware Indians—the largest Indian nation in the area. The Quakers discovered that the raids had created hardships for the Indians as well as for the settlers. Taking part in raids had kept the Delaware men from their usual jobs of hunting and harvesting crops. As a result, the Delaware people faced severe shortages of food and other supplies. By 1757, the Quakers had made some progress in their negotiations, and it looked as if the Delawares might agree to stop the raids in exchange for the return of tribal lands and gifts of trade goods.