Colonial American military history

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Colonial American military history is the military record of the Thirteen Colonies from their founding to the American Revolution in 1775.

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George Washington in 1772 as colonel of the Virginia Regiment; painting by Charles Willson Peale Washington 1772.jpg
George Washington in 1772 as colonel of the Virginia Regiment; painting by Charles Willson Peale

Beginning when on August 29, 1643, the Plymouth Colony Court allowed & established a military discipline to be erected and maintained. [1]

Rangers

First Muster, Spring 1637, Massachusetts Bay Colony First Muster 1637.jpg
First Muster, Spring 1637, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Rangers in North America served in the 17th and 18th-century wars between colonists and Native American tribes. Regular soldiers were not accustomed to frontier warfare and so Ranger companies were developed. Rangers were full-time soldiers employed by colonial governments to patrol between fixed frontier fortifications in reconnaissance, providing early warning of raids. In offensive operations, they were scouts and guides, locating villages and other targets for task forces drawn from the militia or other colonial troops. [1]

The father of American ranging is Colonel Benjamin Church (c. 1639–1718). [2] He was the captain of the first Ranger force in America (1676). [3] Church was commissioned by Plymouth Colony Governor Josiah Winslow to form the first ranger company for King Philip's War. He later employed the company to raid Acadia during King William's War and Queen Anne's War.

Benjamin Church designed his force primarily to emulate Native American patterns of war. Toward this end, he endeavored to learn from Native Americans how to fight like Native Americans. [2] Americans became rangers exclusively under the tutelage of the Indian allies. (Until the end of the colonial period, rangers depended on Indians as both allies and teachers.) [4] Church developed a special full-time unit mixing white colonists, selected for frontier skills, with allied Native Americans to carry out offensive strikes against hostile Native Americans in terrain where normal militia units were ineffective.

Under Church served the father and grandfather of two famous rangers of the eighteenth century: John Lovewell and John Gorham, respectively. [5] Rogers' Rangers was established in 1751 [6] by Major Robert Rogers, who organized nine Ranger companies in the American colonies. These early American light infantry units organized during the French and Indian War were called "Rangers" and are often considered to be the spiritual birthplace of the modern Army Rangers.

Provincial troops

The Virginia Regiment under Colonel Washington, was a provincial regiment. Washington 1772.jpg
The Virginia Regiment under Colonel Washington, was a provincial regiment.

Provincial troops were raised by the colonial governors and legislatures for extended operations during the French and Indian Wars. The provincial troops differed from the militia, in that they were a full-time military organization conducting extended operations. They differed from the regular British Army, in that they were recruited only for one campaign season at the time. These forces were often recruited through a quota system applied to the militia. Officers were appointed by the provincial governments. During the eighteenth century militia service was increasingly seen as a prerogative of the social and economic well-established, while provincial troops came to be recruited from different and less deep-rooted members of the community. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

The first provincial forces in British North America were organized in the 1670s, when several colonial governments raised ranger companies for one year's paid service to protect their borders (see above). [17] The major operations during King William's War were conducted by provincial troops from Massachusetts Bay. During Queen Anne's War, provincial troops from Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Hampshire made up the bulk of the English forces. [18] During King George's War, the land forces that took Louisbourg were entirely supplied by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. [19] During the French and Indian War, the British government in London took an increasingly more leading part, relegating the provincial troops to a non-combat role, largely as pioneers and transportation troops, while the bulk of the fighting was done by the regular British Army. However the contributions of Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island were essential. [20]

Militia

The beginning of the United States military lies in local governments which created militias that enrolled nearly all free white men. The militia was not employed as a fighting force in major operations outside the local jurisdiction. Instead, the colony asked for (and paid) volunteers serving in ranger and other provincial troops (see above), many of whom were also militia members. The local Indian threat ended by 1725 in most places, after which the militia system was little used except for local ceremonial roles. [21]

The militia system was revived at the end of the colonial era, as the American Revolution approached; weapons were accumulated and intensive training began. The militia played a major fighting role in the Revolution, especially in expelling the British from Boston in 1776 and capturing the British invasion force at Saratoga in 1777. However most of the fighting was handled by the Continental Army, comprising regular soldiers. [21]

Indian wars

Military actions in the colonies were the result of conflicts with Native Americans in the period of the colonization by the settlers, such as the Pequot War of 1637, King Philip's War in 1675, the Susquehannock war in 1675–77, [22] and the Yamasee War in 1715. Father Rale's War (1722–1725) happened in Maine and Nova Scotia. There also occurred slave uprisings, such as the Stono Rebellion in 1739. Finally, there was Father Le Loutre's War, which also involved Acadians, in the lead-up to the French and Indian War.[ citation needed ]

Dutch wars

Kieft's War was a conflict between Dutch settlers and Indians in the colony of New Netherland from 1643 to 1645. The fighting involved raids and counter-raids. It was bloody in proportion to the population; more than 1,600 natives were killed at a time when the European population of New Amsterdam was only 250.

Spanish wars

The British fought the Spanish in the War of Jenkins' Ear, 1739–1748. After 1742, the war merged into the larger War of the Austrian Succession involving most of the powers of Europe. Georgia beat back a Spanish invasion of Georgia in 1742, and some sporadic border fighting continued. The war merged into King George's War, which ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.

France and Britain at war

Beginning in 1689, the colonies also frequently became involved in a series of four major wars between England (later Britain) and France for control of North America, the most important of which were Queen Anne's War, in which the British won French Acadia (Nova Scotia), and the final French and Indian War (1754–1763), when France lost all of Canada. This final war gave thousands of colonists military experience, including George Washington, which they put to use during the American Revolution.

Britain and France fought a series of four French and Indian Wars, followed with another war in 1778 when France joined the Americans in the American Revolution. The French settlers in New France were outnumbered 15–1 by the 13 American colonies, [23] so the French relied heavily on Indian allies.

The wars were long and bloody, causing immense suffering for everyone involved. In the long run, the Indians were the biggest losers; many were on the losing side, as Spain and France were defeated as thus could provide no further support to them. Frontier settlers were exposed to sudden Indian raids; many were killed or captured, and even more were forced back from the frontier. One profitable form of wartime activity in which colonists engaged was privateering—legalized piracy against enemy merchant ships. Another was hunting enemy Indians for the purpose of scalping them and claiming the cash bounty offered by colonial governments. [24]

King William's War: 1689–1697

"I have no reply to make to your general other than from the mouth of my cannons and muskets." Frontenac famously rebuffs the English envoys at the Battle of Quebec (1690) Frontenac receiving the envoy of Sir William Phipps demanding the surrender of Quebec, 1690.jpg
"I have no reply to make to your general other than from the mouth of my cannons and muskets." Frontenac famously rebuffs the English envoys at the Battle of Quebec (1690)

King William's War (1689–97) (also known as the "Nine Years' War") [25] was a phase of the larger Anglo-French conflict which occurred in India as well as North America. New France and the Wabanaki Confederacy joined forces to launch several raids against New England settlements south of present-day Maine, whose border New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine. [26]

Sir William Phips moved with his New England militia in 1690 to take the French strongholds at Port Royal and at Quebec, the latter commanded by Comte de Frontenac, the governor of New France. Phips conquered the capital of Acadia and various other communities in the colony (e.g., Battle of Chedabucto). (Present-day Maine and New Brunswick remained contested territories between New England and New France.) Phips's written ultimatum demanding Fontenac's surrender at Quebec prompted Frontenac to say that his reply would come only "from the mouths of my cannon and muskets."

The New England militia had to reckon with Quebec's formidable natural defenses, its superior number of soldiers, and the coming of winter, and Phips finally sailed back to Boston with his hungry, smallpox-ridden, and demoralized force. His failure shows a growing recognition of the need to replicate European combat techniques and to move closer to the war policy in London in order to achieve military success. [27]

Iroquois 6 Nations map c1720.png

The Iroquois suffered heavily in King William's War and were brought into the French trading network, along with other western Indians. The colonists' treatment of Indian tribes after King Philip's War led directly the Wabanaki tribe's involvement in the war. It retained significant power relative to the colonists, unlike tribes in southern New England, and rejected attempts to exert authority over them. Treaties made during 1678–84 included concessions to Indian sovereignty, but such concessions were largely ignored in practice.[ citation needed ] Expanding settlements fueled tensions and led to Indian threats of a repeat of the violence of King Philip's War and offered an opportunity to the French, who formed several new alliances. The lack of stability and authority evidenced by the imprisonment of Governor Andros in 1689 combined with existing grievances and French encouragement led to Wabanaki attacks on settlements on the Northeast coast, a pattern that was repeated until the withdrawal of the French in 1763. [28]

Queen Anne's War

Francis Nicholson, commander during the Conquest of Acadia Francis nicholson Dahl.jpg
Francis Nicholson, commander during the Conquest of Acadia

Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the colonial side of the War of the Spanish Succession which was fought primarily in Europe on European issues, The conflict also involved a number of American Indian tribes and Spain, which was allied with France. [29]

Carolina governor James Moore led an unsuccessful attack in 1702 on St. Augustine, the capital of Spanish Florida, and led one of several raiding expeditions in 1704-6 that wiped out much of Florida's Indian population. Thomas Nairne, the Province of Carolina's Indian agent, planned an expedition of Carolinan militia and their Indian allies to destroy the French settlement at Mobile and the Spanish settlement at Pensacola. The expedition never materialized, but the Carolinans did supply their allies with firearms, which the Tallapoosas used in their siege of Pensacola. These warriors proved their effectiveness in combining native tactics and European arms, but the colonists failed to compensate them adequately and seriously underestimated their importance as the key to the balance of power in the southeastern interior. Consequently, the Tallapoosas and other tribes had shifted allegiance to the other side by 1716 and prepared to use what they had learned against South Carolina settlements. [30]

The French and Wabanaki Confederacy sought to thwart the expansion of New England into Acadia, whose border New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine. [26] Toward this end, they executed raids against targets in Massachusetts (including present-day Maine), starting with Northeast Coast Campaign.

In 1704, French and Indian forces attacked a number of villages and Deerfield, Massachusetts was prepared for an attack. The attack came during the night of 28 February 1704; much of the village was burned, many were killed, and others were taken captive. Seventeen of the captives were killed along the way to Canada, as they were injured and could not keep up, and starvation took additional lives.

Major Benjamin Church retaliated by raiding Acadia (see Raid on Grand Pre) and captured prisoners for ransom, the most famous Acadian captive being Noel Doiron. Eventually, 53 New England captives returned home, including one of the targets of the invaders, the Reverend John Williams. His accounts of the experience made him famous throughout the colonies. [31] South Carolina was especially vulnerable, and Charleston repulsed an attempted raid by French and Spanish fleets in the summer of 1706.

French privateers inflicted serious losses on New England's fishing and shipping industries. The privateering was finally curbed in 1710 when Britain provided military support to its American colonists resulting in the British Conquest of Acadia (which became peninsular Nova Scotia), the main base used by the privateers. [32] The war ended with a British victory in 1713. By the Treaty of Utrecht, Britain gained Acadia, the island of Newfoundland, the Hudson Bay region, and the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. France was required to recognize British influence in the Great Lakes region.

Following Queen Anne's War, relations deteriorated between Carolina and the nearby Indian populations, resulting in the Yamasee War of 1715. Father Rale's War a few years later, shifted power in the northeast.

Father Rale's War

War continued in Acadia, however. Father Rale's War (1722–1725), also known as Dummer's War, was a series of battles between New England and the Wabanaki Confederacy, who were allied with New France. After the New England Conquest of Acadia in 1710, mainland Nova Scotia was under the control of New England, but both present-day New Brunswick and virtually all of present-day Maine remained contested territory between New England and New France. New France established Catholic missions among the three largest native villages in order to secure their claim to the region: one on the Kennebec River (Norridgewock), one further north on the Penobscot River (Penobscot), and one on the St. John River (Medoctec). [33] [34]

The war began on two fronts when New England expanded through Maine and when New England established a settlement at Canso, Nova Scotia. Maine fell to the New Englanders with the defeat of Father Sébastien Rale at Norridgewock and the subsequent retreat of the Indians from the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers to St. Francis and Becancour, Quebec. [35]

King George's War

The Capture of Louisburg, 1745 by Peter Monamy Louisbourg assiegee en 1745.jpg
The Capture of Louisburg, 1745 by Peter Monamy

King George's War (1744–48) was the North American phase of the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1745, naval and ground forces from Massachusetts captured the strategic French base on Cape Breton Island in the Siege of Louisbourg. During the war, the French made four attempts to regain Acadia by capturing the capital Annapolis Royal, the most famous attempt being the failed Duc d'Anville expedition. They regained fortress Louisbourg at the peace treaty.

The French led Indian allies in numerous raids, such as the one on Nov. 28, 1745 which destroyed the village of Saratoga, New York, killing and capturing more than one hundred of its inhabitants. The war merged into War of Jenkins' Ear against Spain and ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.

Father Le Loutre's War

Within Acadia and Nova Scotia, Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755) began when the British founded Halifax. During Father Le Loutre's War, New France established three forts along the border of present-day New Brunswick to protect it from a New England attack from Nova Scotia. The war continued until British victory at Fort Beausejour, which dislodged Father Le Loutre from the region, thereby ending his alliance with the Maliseet, Acadians, and Mi'kmaq. [36]

French and Indian War: 1754–1763

Provincial troops, as distinct from the militias, were raised by the thirteen colonial governments in response to annual quotas established by the British commanders-in-chief. These troops saw service in most campaigns and employment throughout North America during the Seven Years' War.

Pennsylvania

The war began in 1754 as Virginia militia led by Colonel George Washington advanced into French-held territory near modern-day Pittsburgh. Washington was captured at Fort Necessity after ambushing a French company and released. He returned with the 2,100 British regulars and American colonials under British General Edward Braddock, which was decisively destroyed at the Battle of the Monongahela in July 1755. [37] [38]

Acadia / Nova Scotia

St. John River Campaign: A View of the Plundering and Burning of the City of Grimross (present day Arcadia, New Brunswick) by Thomas Davies in 1758. This is the only contemporaneous image of the Expulsion of the Acadians. A View of the Plundering and Burning of the City of Grymross, by Thomas Davies, 1758.JPG
St. John River Campaign: A View of the Plundering and Burning of the City of Grimross (present day Arcadia, New Brunswick) by Thomas Davies in 1758. This is the only contemporaneous image of the Expulsion of the Acadians.

Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Acadia/ Nova Scotia remained dominated by Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. The British did not make a concerted military effort to control the region until 1749 when they founded Halifax, which sparked Father Le Loutre's War. The French and Indian War spread to the region with a British victory in the Battle of Fort Beauséjour (1755). Immediately after this battle the New England and British forces engaged in numerous military campaigns aimed at securing their control of the region.[ citation needed ]

New York

Upper New York Province: 8 September 1755 and Commander William Johnson leading in the 'Battle of Lake George' (formerly known as Lac du saint Sacrement) Battle of Lake George.

British defenders at Fort William Henry (at the southern end of Lake George) were surrounded by an overwhelming French force and their Indian allies from many tribes in August 1757. The British surrendered to the French after being offered terms that included protection from the Indians. Nonetheless, the Indian warriors' customs permitted the enslavement of some captured enemy soldiers and the scalping of others, and they ignored French efforts to prevent the massacre. They killed or captured hundreds of the surrendered force, including women and children. Some of those scalped had smallpox, and the scalps were brought to numerous Indian villages as trophies, where they caused an epidemic that killed thousands of Indians.[ citation needed ]

In early July 1758, British General James Abercromby with a force of over 15,000 attacked General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and his garrison of 3,500 French and Canadian troops at Fort Carillon, which overlooked Lake Champlain. The British had 44 cannons, the heaviest weighing more than 5,000 pounds. The fort was later called Ticonderoga by the British, and it controlled access to French Canada. Abercromby's force included 5,825 red-coated British regulars, including the Royal Highlanders. He had 9,000 colonial soldiers from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. Some 400 Mohawk warriors joined in. Abercromby's attack became disorganized and he suffered the worst British defeat of the war, with over 2,000 killed. He retreated and the campaign ended in failure.[ citation needed ]

Louisbourg

Siege of Louisbourg (1758) Destruction du vaisseau le Prudent et capture du Bienfaisant a Louisbourg 1758.jpg
Siege of Louisbourg (1758)

Meanwhile, Lord Jeffery Amherst captured the great French stronghold of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island (now part of Nova Scotia). Amherst's large British naval force of over 170 ships and 13,000 men came under furious attack by French defenders until British General James Wolfe found a safe landing spot out of sight of the French. The ultimately successful siege lasted seven weeks. With the fall of Louisbourg, the Acadians were soon expelled from Acadia to places such as France and Louisiana.[ citation needed ]

Canada

In London, Prime Minister William Pitt named Amherst as his new commander-in-chief of North America for 1759. The Louisbourg victory opened the St. Lawrence River to the British, and Amherst devised a three-pronged attack against French Canada: a push up the St. Lawrence to attack Quebec, another northward invasion from Albany by way of lakes George and Champlain, and pressure against the French in the west at Fort Niagara. The 1759 battle for Quebec City was fought on the Plains of Abraham and decided the future of Canada, as British forces under General James Wolfe defeated the French army of General Louis-Joseph Montcalm. Both generals were killed.

Legacy

Anderson (2006) suggests that the war played a pivotal precipitating role in the American Revolution. He believes that the United States managed to become a nation through the influence of this war, and suggests that it should perhaps be known as "the War That Made America."

The Fort William Henry massacre has shaped American cultural attitudes toward Indians. It was only one of many episodes of indiscriminate bloodshed and captive-taking and deranged relations between Indians and American colonists. Even in Pennsylvania, a colony that had never known an Indian war before 1755, resentment against Indians became something like a majority sentiment by 1764. Most Indian groups sided with the British in the Revolutionary War, and the animosity only grew. [39]

American novelist James Fenimore Cooper wrote The Last of the Mohicans in 1826, a widely read novel that was adapted for several Hollywood films. Cooper refers to the dangerous "savages" and shows their willingness to kill. The book creates a lasting impression of the untrustworthiness and dangerousness of Indians in general, according to Michael Hilger. One long-standing theme in American popular culture has portrayed the Indians as revenge-seeking savages looking to scalp their enemies. [40]

The victory of Wolfe over Montcalm was a decisive moment in shaping the self-image of English-Canadians, while Francophone Canada has refused to allow commemorations. [41]

Pontiac's War

Zone of action in Pontiac's War Pontiac's war region.png
Zone of action in Pontiac's War

In 1760, British commander Lord Amherst abruptly ended the distribution of gifts of ironware, weapons, and ammunition to the Indians, a French practice that the Indians had become dependent upon. Chief Pontiac (1720–1769) was a chief of the Ottawa tribe who assumed leadership in the Detroit area; other chiefs in the loose confederation of tribes directed attacks on all British forts in the Great Lakes area in the spring of 1763. Eight outposts were overrun, and British supply lines were cut across Lake Erie; Indian sieges failed at Fort Detroit and Fort Pitt. At this point, news arrived of the complete French capitulation and withdrawal from North America, and the Indian initiative quickly collapsed. Few American military units were involved, as British regulars handled the action. The British Crown issued a proclamation in October 1763 forbidding American settlers to enter Indian territory west of the Appalachian Mountains, hoping to minimize future conflict and laying plans for an Indian satellite state in the Great Lakes region. [42]

By ejecting the French from North America, the British victory made it impossible for the Iroquois and other native groups to play off rival European powers against one another. The Indians who had been allied with France realized their weak position when Amherst cancelled the gift-giving. They reacted quickly to Britain's abrupt changes in the terms of trade and suspension of diplomatic gift giving, launching an offensive aimed at driving British troops from their forts and sending raiding parties that caused panic as American refugees fled east. The Indian coalition forced the British authorities to rescind the offending policies and renew giving gifts. By 1764, the various tribes came to terms with Britain, and Indian leaders realized that their ability to organize and wage war was not as powerful as it had once been. Without a competing European power to arm and supply them, they simply could not keep fighting once they ran out of gunpowder and supplies. [43]

The Proclamation of 1763 angered American settlers eager to move west; they largely ignored it, and saw the British government as an ally of the Indians and an obstacle to their goals. As Dixon (2007) argues, "Frustrated by their government's inability to contend with the Indians, back country settlers concluded that the best way to insure security was to rely on their own devices". Such actions eventually pushed them into direct conflict with the British government and ultimately proved one of the main forces leading to backcountry support for the American Revolution. [44]

See also

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Gorham's Rangers was one of the most famous and effective ranger units raised in colonial North America. Formed by John Gorham, the unit served as the prototype for many subsequent ranger forces, including the better known Rogers' Rangers. The unit started out as a Massachusetts provincial company, which means it was not part of the province's normal militia system. Recruited in the summer of 1744 at the start of King George's War, Governor William Shirley ordered the unit raised as reinforcements for the then-besieged British garrison at Fort Anne in Annapolis Royal. The unit was primarily used to secure British control in Nova Scotia, whose population consisted primarily of hostile Acadian and Mi'kmaq. Initially a sixty-man all-Indian company led by British officers, the original Native American members of the unit were gradually replaced by Anglo-Americans and recent Scots and Irish immigrants and were a minority in the unit by the mid-1750s. The company were reconnaissance experts as well as renowned for their expertise at both water-borne operations and frontier guerrilla warfare. They were known for surprise amphibious raids on Acadian and Mi'kmaq coastal or riverine settlements, using large whaleboats, which carried between ten and fifteen rangers each. This small unit was the main British military force defending Nova Scotia from 1744 to 1749. The company became part of the British Army and was expanded during the Seven Years' War and went on to play an important role in fighting in Nova Scotia as well as participating in many of the important campaigns of the war, particularly distinguishing itself at the Siege of Quebec in 1759.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of the Mi'kmaq</span> Militias of Mikmaq

The military history of the Mi'kmaq consisted primarily of Mi'kmaq warriors (smáknisk) who participated in wars against the English independently as well as in coordination with the Acadian militia and French royal forces. The Mi'kmaq militias remained an effective force for over 75 years before the Halifax Treaties were signed (1760–1761). In the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq "boasted" that, in their contest with the British, the Mi'kmaq "killed more men than they lost". In 1753, Charles Morris stated that the Mi'kmaq have the advantage of "no settlement or place of abode, but wandering from place to place in unknown and, therefore, inaccessible woods, is so great that it has hitherto rendered all attempts to surprise them ineffectual". Leadership on both sides of the conflict employed standard colonial warfare, which included scalping non-combatants. After some engagements against the British during the American Revolutionary War, the militias were dormant throughout the nineteenth century, while the Mi'kmaq people used diplomatic efforts to have the local authorities honour the treaties. After confederation, Mi'kmaq warriors eventually joined Canada's war efforts in World War I and World War II. The most well-known colonial leaders of these militias were Chief (Sakamaw) Jean-Baptiste Cope and Chief Étienne Bâtard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of the Acadians</span> Aspect of history

The military history of the Acadians consisted primarily of militias made up of Acadian settlers who participated in wars against the English in coordination with the Wabanaki Confederacy and French royal forces. A number of Acadians provided military intelligence, sanctuary, and logistical support to the various resistance movements against British rule in Acadia, while other Acadians remained neutral in the contest between the Franco–Wabanaki Confederacy forces and the British. The Acadian militias managed to maintain an effective resistance movement for more than 75 years and through six wars before their eventual demise. According to Acadian historian Maurice Basque, the story of Evangeline continues to influence historic accounts of the expulsion, emphasising Acadians who remained neutral and de-emphasising those who joined resistance movements. While Acadian militias were briefly active during the American Revolutionary War, the militias were dormant throughout the nineteenth century. After confederation, Acadians eventually joined the Canadian War efforts in World War I and World War II. The most well-known colonial leaders of these militias were Joseph Broussard and Joseph-Nicolas Gautier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunenburg campaign (1758)</span>

The Lunenburg campaign was executed by the Mi'kmaq militia and Acadian militia against the Foreign Protestants who the British had settled on the Lunenburg Peninsula during the French and Indian War. The British deployed Joseph Gorham and his Rangers along with Captain Rudolf Faesch and regular troops of the 60th Regiment of Foot to defend Lunenburg. The campaign was so successful, by November 1758, the members of the House of Assembly for Lunenburg stated "they received no benefit from His Majesty's Troops or Rangers" and required more protection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Sable campaign</span> Military campaign of the French and Indian War

The Cape Sable campaign occurred in the fall of 1758 during the French and Indian War. The British sought to neutralize Acadian support for the French by deporting them. Colonel Roger Morris led a force of 325 British soldiers, aided by Captain Joseph Gorham with 60 rangers and Rogers' Rangers, to destroy the Acadian settlements in present-day Shelburne County and Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, Canada.

References

  1. 1 2 "Records of the colony of New Plymouth in New England : Printed by order of the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts".
  2. 1 2 John Grenier. The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier. Cambridge University Press. 2005. p. 35
  3. John Grenier. The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier. Cambridge University Press. 2005. p. 33
  4. John Grenier, p. 33-34
  5. The first way of war: American war making on the frontier, 1607–1814 By John Grenier, p. 38
  6. Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception, 1914–1945 (Rankin, Nicholas). p. 454 (2008 paperback)
  7. "From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 19 December 1756." Founders Online. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  8. Shrader, Charles Reginald (1991). Reference Guide to United States Military History 1607-1815. New York: Sachem Publishing, p. 5-6.
  9. Robert K.Wright Jr, "Colonial Military Experience." The Society of Colonial Wars in Connecticut. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  10. Stacey, C. P. (1974). "The British Forces in North America during the Seven Years' War." Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, vol. 3, p. xxviii.
  11. Coakley, Robert W. & Conn, Stetson (1975). The War of the American Revolution. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army, p. 11-12.
  12. McConnell, Michael N. (2004). Army & Empire. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, pp. 23, 58.
  13. Anderson, Fred (1984). A People's Army. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, pp. 13. 27, 50-52.
  14. Brumwell, Stephen (2002). Redcoats: The British Soldier and War in the Americas, 1755-1763. Cambridge University Press, p. 23.
  15. Cox, Caroline (2004). A Proper Sense of Honor. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press pp. 7-11.
  16. Newland, Samuel J. (2002). The Pennsylvania Militia: Defending the Commonwealth and the nation, 1669-1870. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Dept. of Military and Veterans Affairs, pp. 36-45.
  17. Shrader 1991, p. 6.
  18. Watkins, Walter Kendall (1898). Soldiers in the Expedition to Canada in 1690. Boston: Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, pp. 2, 26-28.
  19. The Penny Cyclopedia. London: Charles Knight and Co., 1843, p. 8.
  20. Stacey 1974, p. xxviii.
  21. 1 2 John Shy, A People Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American Independence (2nd ed. 2008)
  22. See "The Susquehannock War 1675-77" Archived 2017-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
  23. In 1690, New France had about 12,000 inhabitants, while the American colonists numbered over 200,000. By 1760, the numbers were about 60,000 and 1.6 million, respectively.
  24. Anderson (1960)
  25. A short history is online by Evarts Boutell Greene, Provincial America, 1690-1740 (1905) ch 8 online pp 119-35.
  26. 1 2 Williamson, William D. (1832). The History of the State of Maine: From Its First Discovery, 1602, to the Separation, A. D. 1820, Inclusive. Vol. II. Glazier, Masters & Company. p. 27.
      Griffiths, N.E.S. (2005). From Migrant to Acadian: A North American Border People, 1604-1755. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 61. ISBN   978-0-7735-2699-0.
     Campbell, William Edgar (2005). The Road to Canada: The Grand Communications Route from Saint John to Quebec. Goose Lane Editions. p. 21. ISBN   978-0-86492-426-1.
  27. K. A. J. McLay, "Wellsprings of a 'World War': an Early English Attempt to Conquer Canada During King William's War, 1688–97," Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 2006 34(2): 155–175,
  28. Jenny Hale Pulsipher, "'Dark Cloud Rising from the East': Indian Sovereignty and the Coming of King William's War in New England," New England Quarterly 2007 80(4): 588–613
  29. A short history is online by Evarts Boutell Greene, Provincial America, 1690-1740 (1905) ch 9 online pp 136-153.
  30. Steven Oatis, "'To Eat up a Village of White Men': Anglo-Indian Designs on Mobile and Pensacola, 1705–1715," Gulf South Historical Review 1998 14(1): 104–119,
  31. John Demos, The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America (1995)
  32. Verner W. Crane, "The Southern Frontier in Queen Anne's War," American Historical Review Vol. 24, No. 3 (Apr., 1919), pp. 379–395 JSTOR   1835775
  33. "Meductic Indian Village / Fort Meductic National Historic Site of Canada". Parks Canada. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
  34. John Grenier, The Far Reaches of Empire. University of Oklahoma Press, 2008, p. 51, p. 54.
  35. New Englanders safely settled the land, but Massachusetts did not officially lay claim to the entire Penobscot watershed until the treaty of 1752, and the Pownall Expedition led by Governor Thomas Pownall in 1759 established Fort Pownall on Cape Jellison in what is now Stockton Springs.
  36. John Grenier. The Edge of Empire: War In Nova Scotia. 2008.
  37. "The Battle of the Monongahela". World Digital Library . 1755. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  38. All sites referenced lie within the geographical and historical boundaries of Pennsylvania
  39. Anderson (2006)
  40. Michael Hilger, From Savage to Nobleman: Images of Native Americans in Film (1995); Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor, eds., Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film (1998).
  41. See Desmond Morton, "Who really won on the Plains of Abraham?" Financial Post Nov. 10, 2009 [ dead link ]
  42. Howard H. Peckham, Pontiac and the Indian Uprising (1947); Richard Middleton, Pontiac's War: Its Causes, Course, and Consequences (2007)
  43. Anderson (2006); David Dixon, Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America (2005).
  44. David Dixon, Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America (2005), quoting p. xii

Further reading

Historiography and memory

  • Blackburn, Marc K. Interpreting American Military History at Museums and Historic Sites (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016).
  • Carp, E. Wayne. "Early American Military History: A Review of Recent Work," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 94 (1986) 259–84
  • Grenier, John. "Recent Trends in the Historiography on Warfare in the Colonial Period (1607–1765)." History Compass (2010) 8#4 pp: 358–367. DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00657.x