No, It Wasn't French vs. Indians

Re-enactors fire their muskets at British soldiers near Fort Ticonderoga. There are as many as 3,000 French and Indian War
re-enactors in the United States and another 800 in Canada.

It seems that New York would like to be known as the French and Indian War State, since it will serve as host of a national, and international, five-year-long commemoration of the many battles that took place within its borders.

"Well, for starters, this war is why we speak English and not French today," said Bob Bearor, a French and Indian War re-enactor from Newcomb, N.Y., who has written five books about New York as the bloody ground for French insurgent fighters and their Indian allies.

To history lovers, the conflict is increasingly seen as a crucible for the American Revolution and a war college for George Washington. "Most of the battles were fought in this state," Mr. Bearor added. "It was a war for an empire, and it changed the fate of the world."

The latest rediscovery of an under-heralded war prompted Gov. George E. Pataki to sign legislation in November creating the New York State French and Indian War 250th Anniversary Commemoration Commission, a 19-member group charged with organizing, promoting and carrying out a series of "re-enactment tourism events," the act says. The panel will also encourage studies of the French and Indian War from kindergarten through Grade 12 in New York State schools.

The unpaid commissioners are soon to be appointed, and meetings to determine a schedule of commemorative events will begin this winter.

"The battles of the French and Indian War," the governor said in a statement, "were the driving force for inspiring the values and ideals that led to the successful drive toward American independence, and the birth of freedom and democracy in the New World."

And there is always visitorship. The war's anniversary "is a major historic event that could be important for tourism upstate," said State Senator George D. Maziarz, Republican of Niagara County, who was a champion of the legislation. About that name: in Europe they call the French and Indian War the Seven Years' War. French Canadians call it la Guerre de Sept Ans. Other Canadians have termed it the War of the Conquest. And just like Civil War battles that were differently designated in the North and South, the New York conflicts have competing names above and below the Canadian border.

For example, Fort Ticonderoga was known by the French as Fort Carillon, and Lac du Saint Sacrement was renamed Lake George by the English in honor of their king.

It was Winston Churchill who, in "History of the English-Speaking Peoples," called the Seven Years' War the first world war, since it was the first conflict of European countries fought out in North America, the Caribbean, West Africa, India and the Philippines. But the war has often been relegated to footnote status, since "historians tended to write out everything that didn't lead directly to the Revolutionary War," said Dr. Fred Anderson, professor of history at the University of Colorado at Boulder and an expert on the Seven Years' War.

The French and Indian War was a flashpoint of the maritime and colonial conflict between France and England - which had previously been contending for domination of the North American continent for more than a century - and it began with a land dispute over control of the Ohio Valley.

None other than the inexperienced 22-year-old George Washington was a catalyst, triggering the war on May 28, 1754, when the contingent of Virginia soldiers and native warriors he was leading ambushed a French detachment and killed its commander, Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville.

Though the French had many early victories, the tide ultimately turned in favor of the English, and they won control of Canada in 1760, a year after their victory on the Plains of Abraham at what is now Quebec City. The war continued in Europe, Africa and Asia until 1763, when the Treaty of Paris formally concluded hostilities. France lost all of its colonies in North America to the English, except for two coastal islands.

Historians had long discounted the importance of Indians in the French and Indian War "because the attitude was that they chose the wrong side and they were doomed," said Dr. Anderson.

But, he said, research in recent years has shown "that Indians controlled every single historical outcome on the North American continent from the 1500's to the middle of the 18th century. They had always managed to play one side off against the other, but it didn't work in the Seven Years' War."

Ultimately, "though the British booted the French out of the North American continent, they ended up with an empire they couldn't control and with debts they couldn't pay," Dr. Anderson said. England's imposition of new taxes alienated not only the colonies but also that former Anglophile, George Washington.

Indeed, "it is the Seven Years' War that makes Washington as we know him possible - it shaped his attitudes and made him a competent military commander," Dr. Anderson said, adding that the war also taught colonists how to establish a militia and gave them a taste for controlling their own destiny.

To Dr. Anderson, without the French and Indian War, "it is impossible for me to imagine that the American Revolution would have taken place," he said.

The dominoes dislodged by Washington in 1754 just kept falling: the French and Indian conflict led, ultimately, to disaster for the French, Dr. Anderson said. They got their revenge for losing "by helping the Americans to win the war against the English," he said. "But that left the French crown so deeply in debt that the result was the French Revolution."

Dr. Anderson foreshadowed some of those insights in his book "Crucible of War," published in 2000, and has gone further in putting the Seven Years' War at the center of American history in "Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, 1500-2000," which he wrote with Andrew Caton, to be published next week by Viking.

A painting that was commissioned by the Glens Falls Insurance Company in the early 20th century is titled the "Surrender
of Fort William Henry, Lake George, N.Y. 1757."

"Our schools teach a lot about the Revolutionary War, but not about the French and Indian War," Senator Maziarz said. Mr. Bearor has long tried to raise consciousness about the conflict, and credited the late David L. Dickinson, Niagara County historian, with heading the recognition effort.

Among the literary reimaginings of the era were "Northwest Passage" by Kenneth Roberts, as well as James Fenimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales" (in the 1992 film "The Last of the Mohicans," Daniel Day-Lewis played the role of Hawkeye). But there is live drama in the French and Indian War re-enactments, a colorful mix of those wearing the red of British regulars, as well as Highlanders with bagpipes, not to mention colorful French militia and marine units, as well as those portraying Indians.

Mr. Bearor estimates that there are as many as 3,000 "F&I" re-enactors in the United States and another 800 in Canada. Some of them had tired of the same-old "rev war" and "civ war" events, as they term them, and became "F&I" devotees. "The French and Indian War opened up a whole new genre," said Mr. Bearor, a retired Troy, N.Y., firefighter whose best-known history book is "The Battle on Snowshoes," (Heritage Books, 1997).

Canadian re-enactors, too, will be participating in the New York events. One of them will be Daniel Roy, the direct descendant of a French marine who arrived in New France in 1720. "The French lost the empire but no one ever conquered the French spirit," said Mr. Roy, a warrant officer in the Canadian Air Force who has been a re-enactor for 12 years. He carries an epee and flintlock pistol and portrays Captain Lacorne, a marine commander. "I feel we are helping Canadians to rediscover their own culture."

The schedule of French and Indian War re-enactments began last summer in Pennsylvania and commemorated George Washington's 1754 battle at Fort Necessity. Future re-enactment events in New York are likely to include Lake George this summer, Fort Bull in 2006, Fort William Henry in 2007, Fort Ticonderoga in 2008, Fort Niagara in 2009, and Fort Levis in 2010.

"I'm so glad that New York is giving recognition to this history," said George Larrabee, a 70-year-old re-enactor from Woodbury, Vt., who said he was proud of his Indian blood.

Since 1982, he has been portraying the character of Peskunck, an Abenaki warrior, paddling a 16-foot birch-bark canoe, carrying his flintlock musket and wearing a headdress of wild turkey feathers painted to resemble those of the spotted eagle, a protected species.

"I don't know that Indians regretted picking the wrong side," Mr. Larrabee said. "Even if Indians had picked the English side, it wouldn't have done them any good, because the English thought of them as dirty savages and treated them terribly."

INCIDENTS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND, 1841, P46

“Blessings,” says Dwight, “have in many instances been given after fervent prayers have ascended to God, when none but God could have contributed to their existence; when they were utterly unattainable by any human efforts, and after all hope of obtaining them, except by prayer, had vanished.

“I am bound as an inhabitant of New England, solemnly to declare, that, were there no other instances to be found in any other country, the blessings communicated to this, would furnish ample satisfaction concerning the subject, to every sober, much more to every pious man. Among these, the destruction of the French Armament under the Duke D’Anville, in the year 1746, ought to be remembered with gratitude and admiration by every by every inhabitant of this country. This fleet consisted of 40 ships of war; was destined for the destruction of New England; was of sufficient force to render that destruction in the ordinary progress of things, certain; sailed from Chebuc to, in Nova Scotia, for this purpose; and was entirely destroyed, on the night following a general fast throughout New England, by a terrible tempest. Impious men, who regard not the work of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands, and who, for that reason, are finally destroyed, may reuse to give God the glory of this most merciful interposition. But our ancestors had, and it is to be hoped their descendants ever will have, both piety and good sense sufficient to ascribe to Jehovah the Greatness, and the Power, and the Victory, and the Majesty; and to bless the Lord God of Israel forever and ever.”

INCIDENTS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND, 1841, P46

And, from Nathaniel Hawthorne::
In the year 1746 great terror was excited by the arrival of a formidable French fleet upon the coast. It was commanded by the Duke d'Anville, and consisted of forty ships of war, besides vessels with soldiers on board. With this force the French intended to retake Louisburg, and afterwards to ravage the whole of New England. Many people were ready to give up the country for lost.

But the hostile fleet met with so many disasters and losses by storm and shipwreck, that the Duke d'Anville is said to have poisoned himself in despair. The officer next in command threw himself upon his sword and perished. Thus deprived of their commanders, the remainder of the ships returned to France. This was as great a deliverance for New England as that which Old England had experienced in the days of Queen Elizabeth, when the Spanish Armada was wrecked upon her coast.

http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/gc207.html
From Grandfather's Chair, 1840
By Nathaniel Hawthorne

The preparations for attack by both sides went on vigorously from the date of the capture of Louisbourg. On the one side it was proposed to attack Quebec, and on the other a harassing series of hostilities was kept up against Nova Scotia. On the 9th April, 1746, the Duke of Newcastle wrote to Pepperrell that five battalions under St. Clair had been sent for the reduction of Canada, giving orders at the same time that Pepperrell's and Shirley's regiments were to be kept in Louisbourg whilst the expedition was in progress. During the winter of 1745-6 the mortality in the garrison was serious, 1,200 having died; those who survived till spring recovered and reinforcements had arrived, but the state of the fort of Louisbourg was very bad, repairs requiring an immense expense. By September these had been completed, but the garrison was again in a bad state of health, caused, it is supposed, by the bad water, and the mortality was great. The timely arrival of the French fleet under d'Anville would, in the opinion of all the officers, have secured the recapture of Nova Scotia. but a heavy gale off Sable Island wrecked some of the ships and scattered the others, so that when d'Anville arrived at Chebucto, that is Halifax, but few of his vessels were with him, and he died, it is said, from grief at the loss of his fleet and at the report that heavy reinforcements had arrived for the support of Nova Scotia. The early reports did not give intelligence of the subsequent movements of the fleet, which it was reported was to winter at Chebucto and fortify it, and Shirley wrote on the 7th October to Admiral Knowles that if the French took Nova Scotia they must be driven out or they would become masters of the continent. It was on the 12th of November that Mascarene, writing to the Secretary of State, reported the fate of Destourmel, who succeeded d'Anville, and becoming crazed committed suicide. In the same letter he reported the attack on, and successful defence of, Annapolis and the retreat of the French fleet. In a letter of the 20th January, 1747, Admiral Knowles reports to the Secretary of State the wonderful snow fall, which may be true but is very improbable. The passage is given in full in the calendar. An examination of the calendar will show the activity on both sides in attack and defence, in the midst of which it is complained that the traders of New York were supplying the French with stores, to the great hurt of the other colonies.

http://fortress.uccb.ns.ca/search/RPAC1894_xii.html

In the year 1746 the French Government, on receiving intelligence of the fall of Louisburg, became exasperated at the loss of such a fortress, which had cost an enormous sum of money and twenty-five years of incessant labor to render it, as it was supposed, impregnable, and at once directed an armament to be prepared of greater force than had ever yet been sent to America. Accordingly, during the winter and spring of that year an expedition was fully equipped consisting of 70 vessels, among which were 11 ships of the line and 30 frigates, and 30 transports carrying 3000 soldiers, which sailed the following June under command of Duke D'Anville, whose instructions were to retake and dismantle Louisburg, capture Annapolis, destroy Boston, and ravage the New England coast. This fleet had barely got clear of the French coast when it encountered westerly gales, which so retarded its progress that it did not reach the longitude of Sable Island until early in September, when nearly all the ships were dispersed in a violent storm during which several were lost on that island. D'Anville, with only two ships of the line and a few transports, arrived at Chebucto after a passage of ninety days. In the harbor he found one of the fleet, and in the course of the next few days several transports arrived. But D'Anville was so agitated and distressed by the misfortune which had befallen the fleet that he fell suddenly ill and died, it is said, in a fit of apoplexy. In the afternoon of the same day the Vice-Admiral, D'Estournelle, arrived with three ships of the line and succeeded to the command of the expedtion, while Jonquière -- a naval officer who had come out in the flagship as Viceroy of Canada -- was made second in command. Finding the expedition so greatly reduced in strength by the dispersion of the ships and the sickness of the men, D'Estournelle held a council of war on board the Trident, and proposed to abandon the enterprise and return to France. Jonquière and nearly all the officers were of the opinion that Annapolis, at all events, should be reduced before they returned. After a long debate the council decided to attack Annapolis. Irritated at the opposition he met with the Vice-Admiral grew fevered and delirious in which he imagined himself a prisoner, ran himself through the body with his sword and expired a few hours afterwards. On the following day both the Admiral and Vice-Admiral were buried side by side on a small island near the entrance to the outer harbor, said to be Georges Island.

During the long voyage across the Atlantic a scourbatic fever had broken out and carried off more than 1200 men before the ships reached Chebucto. As the ships arrived the sick were landed and encamped on the south shore of Bedford Basin. But in spite of every care and attention over 1100 died during five weeks' encampment. The Indians also, who flocked thither for arms, ammunition and clothing, took the infection, which spread with such great rapidity among them that it destroyed more than one-third of the whole tribe of Mic-macs. At length, however, its ravages were stayed by the seasonable arrival of supplies of fresh meat and vegetables brought to them by the Acadians from the interior.

On the 11th of October several of the fleet arrived. The next day a cruiser came in with a vessel captured off the harbor carrying dispatches from Boston to Louisburg. Among the papers was a communication from Governor Shirley to Commodore Knowles, informing him that Admiral Lestock was on his way from England with a fleet of 18 vessels, and might be hourly expected. It is said these dispatches were allowed to fall purposely into the hands of the French to induce them to leave Chebucto. The intelligence of the nearness of Lestock so alarmed the French in their crippled condition, they determined on sailing immediately for Annapolis. The encampment was broken up; the crews hurried on board; those ships that had lost their crews were either scuttled or burnt, together with several prizes captured off the coast. And on the 13th of October, with five ships of the line and twenty transports -- five of which were used as hospital ships, Jonquière sailed from the inner harbor of Chebucto -- now Bedford Basin. They were, however, again doomed to disapointment. Off Cape Sable the fleet encountered a severe storm which once more dispersed the ships and compelled them to return to France in a sinking condition. The number destroyed in Bedford Basin is uncertain. The naval chronicle states the flagship was sunk and the Parfait -- 54 guns, and the Caribou -- 60 guns, were accidently burnt. Other accounts state that from circumstances attending the death of the Admiral, the crew who were encamped on shore refused from superstitious motives to embark in her again. For this reason, and also she being very much injured during the storm, Jonquière decided on scuttling her, while the prizes and several of the smaller ships were burnt. Those lost on Sable Island were -- three ships of the line, one transport, and a fire ship.
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/halew/Wrecks.html

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