The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the start of the war, the French colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 settlers, compared with 2 million in the British colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on their native allies.
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was later taken over by the British, and later the Americans, and developed as Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Fort Duquesne was destroyed by the French before its British conquest during the Seven Years' War, known as the French and Indian War on the North American front. The British replaced it, building Fort Pitt between 1759 and 1761. The site of both forts is now occupied by Point State Park, where the outlines of the two forts have been laid in brick.
The Kittanning Expedition, also known as the Armstrong Expedition or the Battle of Kittanning, was a raid during the French and Indian War that led to the destruction of the American Indian village of Kittanning, which had served as a staging point for attacks by Lenape warriors against colonists in the British Province of Pennsylvania. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Armstrong Sr., this raid deep into hostile territory was the only major expedition carried out by Pennsylvanian provincial troops during a brutal backcountry war. Early on September 8, 1756, they launched a surprise attack on the Indian village.
Hendrick Theyanoguin, whose name had several spelling variations, was a Mohawk leader and member of the Bear Clan. He resided at Canajoharie or the Upper Mohawk Castle in colonial New York. He was a Speaker for the Mohawk Council. Hendrick formed a close alliance with Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent of Indian affairs in North America.
The Battle of Lake George was fought on 8 September 1755, in the north of the Province of New York. It was part of a campaign by the British to expel the French from North America, in the French and Indian War.
The Anglo–Spanish War was a military conflict fought between Britain and Spain as part of the Seven Years' War. It lasted from January 1762 until February 1763, when the Treaty of Paris brought it to an end.
Thomas Cumming was an American merchant of the 18th century who built up a large commercial empire in West Africa. He is best known for the role he played in the 1758 Capture of Senegal in which he submitted a plan to the British war leader William Pitt which advocated an attack on France's valuable but ill-defended African colonies.
The Forbes Expedition was a British military campaign to capture Fort Duquesne, led by Brigadier-General John Forbes in 1758, during the French and Indian War. While advancing to the fort, the expedition built the Forbes Road. The Treaty of Easton served to cause a loss of Native American support for the French, resulting in the French destroying the fort before the expedition could arrive on November 24.
The Convention of Klosterzeven was a convention signed on 10 September 1757 at Klosterzeven between France and the Electorate of Hanover during the Seven Years' War that led to Hanover's withdrawal from the war and partial occupation by French forces. It came in the wake of the Battle of Hastenbeck on 26 July in which Hanover had suffered a devastating defeat. Following the battle the Army of Observation had retreated northwards until it had reached Stade.
The siege of Prague was an unsuccessful attempt by a Prussian army led by Frederick the Great to capture the Bohemian city of Prague during the Third Silesian War. It took place in May 1757 immediately after the Battle of Prague. Despite having won that battle, Frederick had lost 14,300 dead, and his severely depleted force was not strong enough to assault Prague. Instead Frederick decided to besiege the city, hoping to force it into submission through lack of supplies. 40,000 Austrian troops were trapped in the city, though they were themselves not strong enough to consider launching a sortie. Frederick attempted to gain intelligence from within Prague by sending the criminal Christian Andreas Käsebier several times into the besieged city.
The Battle of Rheinberg took place on 12 June 1758 in Rheinberg, Germany during the Seven Years' War. A French force under the command of Comte de Clermont and an Anglo-German force under the command of the Duke of Brunswick fought a largely indecisive battle. It was a precursor to the more decisive Battle of Krefeld nine days later.
France was one of the leading participants in the Seven Years' War which lasted between 1754 and 1763. France entered the war with the hope of achieving a lasting victory against Prussia, Britain, and their German allies and with the hope of expanding its colonial possessions.
The Treaty of Versailles, also known as the First Treaty of Versailles, was a diplomatic agreement between France and Austria. It was signed in 1756 at the Palace of Versailles in France. There were four treaties signed on this Agreement.
The Treaty of Versailles was a diplomatic agreement signed between Austria and France at the Palace of Versailles on 1 May 1757 during the Seven Years' War. It expanded on the 1756 First Treaty of Versailles, which had established the Franco-Austrian Alliance. It is thus commonly known as the Second Treaty of Versailles.
The Capture of Gorée occurred in December 1758 when a British naval expedition led by Augustus Keppel against the French island of Gorée off the coast of Senegal during the Seven Years' War. Keppel bombarded the fortress and then landed his marines to take possession. The French commander, Blaise Estoupan de Saint-Jean surrendered the fortress and the island. The 300-man garrison became prisoners of war, and 110 guns and mortars were captured.
The Cider Bill of 1763 was a proposed measure by the British government of Lord Bute to put a tax on the production of cider. Britain's national debt had reached unprecedented levels during the early 1760s following the country's involvement in the Seven Years War which had been very expensive.
Andrew R. L. Cayton was a scholar of early American history. He taught at Harvard, Wellesley, Ball State, and, from 1990 to 2015, at Miami University (Ohio). In 2015 he was appointed Warner Woodring Chair in History at the Ohio State University. He has been the John Adams (Fulbright) Professor of American Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands; a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation Center at Bellagio, Italy; and a resident fellow at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies in Monticello, Virginia; and was the 2012–2013 Frank H. Kenan Fellow at the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
The Burke's Rangers was a company of provincial volunteers organized and led by Major John Burke in Massachusetts just before the French and Indian War. Burke was widely noted for his skill and daring in Indian warfare, and frequently served in campaigns against the Indians. Burke was initially commissioned as an ensign by Governor William Shirley and subsequently commissioned a lieutenant, then a captain. Toward the close of the French and Indian war, in 1760, he was commissioned a major by Governor Thomas Pownall.
The Bloody Springs massacre was an attack by Lenape warriors on homesteads in what is now Berks County, Pennsylvania, on October 1, 1757, during the French and Indian War. The Spatz family and other settlers were killed at a spring near modern-day Strausstown, Pennsylvania, causing the water to run red with the blood of the family. The story of the massacre has been passed down through the Degler family, whose farm was adjacent to the Spatz homestead.
