Chapter 3 French and Indian War (1754-1762)
Courting of allegiances among the Native Americans, 1749. (Source)
To recap, though it wasn’t the scheme that Chew and Franklin desired: coordinating militias, raising troops, and building forts; Shirley’s plan to approve a native representative was already paying dividends with the Iroquois assistance in Braddock’s expedition. Numerous more incentivized Native tribes were joining this alliance, fueled by the desire to join a British-Iroquois faction that was laying the first seeds of cooperation. Changes were already afoot due to this divergence...
The battle lines and alliances are drawn in 1754. (Source)
All across the New World, French troops and British troops skirmished, reaching from the shores of frosty Quebec to balmy Grenada. Although part of a greater Seven Years War in Europe, the American front was named the French and Indian war after their French enemies and the mostly allied native Indian tribes. The French also maintained their own native allies, mostly descended from unions between french trappers and native women, but the English had cleverly courted the powerful Iroquois Confederacy, earlier in fact than in our world. Other players came to involve the Spanish who had allied with France late in the war, despite not having the Navy to protect her distant colonies and the German mercenaries who poured into the British colonies. The reliance on the latter group proved to be a costly burden for the crown, but a necessary one in light of Braddock’s victory, so Parliament wanted to recoup this loss from the colonies. First, though we need to investigate what led the British to spend so much on this battle with their constant rival. In addition to this, the British no longer feel the need to raise the required military efforts from the local population to fortify the Americans, while also accepting William the Pitt’s strategy of focusing on America.
This was rooted in the notion of the changing conflict in the frontier. The mighty Mississippi was the lynchpin of inland trade in the Americas and France claimed all of it. Though French settlers were small in numbers they had allied with many tribes along the Acadia region, Ohio River Valley, and Great Lakes region. Success by General Braddock at the battle of Monongahela helped build up momentum in the south ATL. Braddock’s success had justified sending more trained soldiers, on William Pitt’s orders, from Britain as well as German mercenaries to his command. These experienced soldiers with assistance from Native scouts mopped up the various french forts with limited opposition, but the costs were mounting as the number of boots on the ground increased. The need to adapt never enters the minds of the Crown ATL, content with the British officers. Instead, Grenville was planning taxes post-war to recoup this cost. At this point one could acknowledge that British and French tactics had practically switched ATL- Pierre de Rigaud would rely increasingly on native and colonial guerillas to help his troops after the defeat in Monongahela, while the British preferred professional troops imported from Europe with natives acting as auxiliaries. While innocuous at first, this would do much to protect the core of French Canada itself - specifically the future impregnable Lower and Upper Canada.
Respite from combat for the British soldiers and colonial militias, 1757 (Source)
The retreat of Rogers Rangers, 1758.
By 1756, while Braddock was seeing immense success in the south, the Northern front made up of colonial volunteers and Iroquois warriors were not progressing smoothly. Governor Shirley of Massachusetts has not been made Chief of the Army and continues to lead the motley band in skirmishes with French colonists and Wabanaki tribesmen, from Oswego to Niagara. Discipline was a problem among both sides, and Shirley also had trouble cooperating with William Johnson who led the Iroquois along with a New Yorker, James DeLancey, both of whom didn’t support Shirley’s interests and wanted to fight in the frontiers. The French now surmised of Braddock’s success capitalized on this lack of cohesion by bringing experienced soldiers to advance from Fort Niagara and attack Shirley’s forces at the Battle of Oswego. This battle was nothing less of a painful, absolute bloodbath. Shirley lost to Montcalm, in a battle that was the first in the history of the continent to use traditional European strategies. The British government was left scrambling in the stalemate to find a new Chief of Army, raise new divisions from Europe, and promote Johnson as a commanding general for his continued success in the frontier. This was in part due to Johnson’s success at the ATL Battle of Lake George as native guerillas managed to successfully harass French troops making a united attack impossible. With the command of his own troops, his sweep emboldens many natives to continue to remain neutral. At the same time, Braddock continually moves North now to Niagara which he would win, and gain some Native allies along the way. Meanwhile in the east, helped by the presence of Acadian guerillas, Monckton was able to keep a surprise win at the Battle of Beauséjour. This loss, however, did not mean that land reinforcements needed to be diverted but rather contributed to his tactical move exiling Acadians to the south.
With the 1757 Battle on Snowshoes, Captain Robert Rodgers would be wounded after his unit was ambushed by a mixed troop of French regulars, Canadiens, and Indians. Robert Rodgers died on January 21, 1757. This event marks the turning point in the application of light forces during this war. The defeat of Rogers Rangers and the lack of commitment to muster and equip such light forces among the British commanders would further lead to progressive disuse of such forces on the British side. A side note of this is that the Rangers never make it to Acadia to carry out the expulsion. Without the presence of forces, ATL the expulsion is slow and more gradual, something that would help in Anglo-French relations in the future.
Tracts are written on the deprivation of the colonists of Britain and France during the war (Source: Assassin’s Creed 3)
On the way south, storms force ships to temporarily stop in Massachusetts. With Shirley busy on the battlefield, Spencer Phips became the acting governor of Massachusetts and agreed with the Albany Assembly to let the Acadians stay in Massachusetts to wait out the winter. The Acadians are given food and clothing by Quakers, authorized by the Crown in hopes of winning over soon-to-be British citizens in Maine. This ATL was different from Shirley who heartlessly preferred to let them starve on ships. This moment marks the first steps of what would be the Acadian diaspora in British North America. Contact with otherwise foreign people would see the colonial taverns see this war as more of a distant conflict, that civilians were caught between. This act of kindness would do much to ingratiate Acadians with the New Englanders. In this interest, 6000 Acadians would settle in Massachusetts, while the rest would move on into the interior and Maryland. And while this sentiment of thanks would extend to the colonies, it wouldn’t elevate up as men like Shirley would blast in the news how these “filthy Papists have embarked”.
Speaking of Shirley, he was getting into hot water with the British administration. With news circulating more of his attention to the presses than on the battlefield, he is strongly reprimanded by superior officials. This was further marked a continuous feud between him and Johnson’s native troops. General paranoia among Shirley in part contributes to a disastrous expedition into Quebec, the first mainstream defeat for the British in the war.
While he is never removed by the British Crown, his consideration for promotion to commander-in-chief is tossed out the window. While the progression of the war in many ways is ahead of OTL, occupying Lower and Upper Canada continues with a slog. William Johnson moves beyond Fort Ticonderoga, while Shirley retreats back to Ft Will Henry. It is there the ATL despicable massacre is perpetrated on British soldiers, not American pioneers, leading to a complete collapse of native relations at the juncture, one that remains chilly with both governments during the course of the war. The British troops, not one to be sitting ducks, strike back viciously leading to a smaller smallpox outbreak. Any further attempts to take Quebec would need an influx of colonial troops from both the British, especially with the arrival of French reinforcements, who ATL was able to surpass Loundon's blockade. Braddock seamlessly takes Niagara and comes to befriend tribal leaders like Joseph Brant, who they now coordinate with to take Lower Canada. The Iroquois are happy to liberate “indentured” tribesmen they find on Quebec farms. Another shipment of foreign troops has been authorized under Lord Howe, and Grenville begins to panic over the balance sheet.
Vicious fighting between British armies and native war parties, 1759. (Source)
The events at Fort William Henry lead to a need to end the native client states' involvement in the War. As a whole, Amerindians became increasingly not trusted with guns; and as the English casualty rate akin to France. Phips sends trusted envoys to the Wabanaki in hopes of seeing a return to neutrality. As the final straw arrived when the French were decisively defeated at the Battle of Fort Ticonderoga, Native Americans would begin a drawn-out surrender or return to neutrality to the British and Iroquois leaders. The Abenaki lands were divided between the Iroquois and English. Unlike OTL, Brant would incorporate Abenaki villagers into the Iroquois under a peace treaty, a shift from usual inter-tribal violence among the Iroquois Confederacy. After this, native contributions to the war effort effectively fizzled out, as a smallpox outbreak found Brant scrambling to institute variolation he learned from the war.
With the end of the “la petite guerre”, Montcalm is able to see a stalemate with the Battle of Louisbourg. With Dupleix at sea, French naval strategists change their doctrine and begin trans-oceanic expeditions. While the Second Battle of Quebec was rapidly approaching, Governor Lawrence of Nova Scotia would only have success capturing the French fortresses of Louisbourg much later with substantial difficulties.
Nightly attack on a coastal fortification on the way to Quebec City. (Source: Assassin’s Creed 3)
Eventual success in the Maritimes opened the sea lanes for a push into the capital of Quebec City going swimmingly with a combination of British marines and German Infantry. Braddock would advance North and merge with Johnson’s forces; his troops now were able to cross over into Upper Canada and begin their advance towards Montreal. Montreal was being advanced on by both sides, and it seemed inevitable that New France would fall. Montreal was attacked from 3 sides with up to 19,000 British forces surrounding the city. Most Canadians surrendered or deserted and only low-level guerilla fighting continued until the end of the war in the other theaters.
Minor theaters in the Americas included the surprise attack of the French at Newfoundland, although the colony was retaken. After Spain joined, the British seized Havana for future negotiations. By the end of the war Guadeloupe and Martinique, along with a number of other islands, was sieged proving to be a valuable bargaining chip due to its sugar wealth. The Treaty of Paris outlined these territorial changes in the Americas including for the full relinquishing of New France (minus St. Pierre et Miquelon), eastern Louisiana as well as Dominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tobago to the British Crown in exchange for Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint Lucia. France had secretly given Spain Western Louisiana, but would not move there for Spain had Havana returned in exchange for East Florida. France was absolutely destroyed in finances from the loss of the sugar islands, and the British now had all the land east of the Mississippi River. ATL, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 is not signed; to pay for the greater expenses of the war many European continental troops were promised deferred land claims beforehand to settle in the Ohio Valley. Native tribes and Franklin would see this as a worrying sign of future disregard for their lands. The British were exhausted, debt-riddled and angry.
Iroquois prepared to defend their land claims, 1765.
Already unsure what to do with Catholics, British colonists did not look forward to the addition of many more. What wasn’t tolerated were the new taxes on a number of goods as well as the forced quartering of British troops and German mercenaries in the colonists' homes. And this was just the beginning. Their victory should have made the colonists excited, but the mood was more dower from Halifax to Savannah. What’s the point in winning a war, when you can’t even use the land you fought for?
ATL, the near entire transfer of communication and diplomacy from British government officials to colonial agents led to a massive improvement in relations with many several tribes across the frontier. Among every settlement, a colonial envoy like William Johnson was stationed to negotiate and end attacks among settlers. As smallpox devastated tribes, many leaders searched for a solution, anything from variolation to sequestering residents in sweat lodges. Johnson would personally find that natives who raised cattle from Moravian missionaries seemed to do better against the disease than others, sharing his findings with Benjamin Franklin and his common-law wife Molly Brant, who would begin research into this for the remainder of her life.
1- Of minor note, ATL is the liberation of 40 slaves under Brant’s possession.
Supplies reaching the Thirteen Colonies amidst the war, 1760. (Source)
Wartime conditions take a toll on the weary colonial society, 1760. (Source)
Governor William Shirley- Governor of Massachusetts and in OTL became the temporary commander in chief after Braddock’s death. Also refused to allow ships containing Acadians to land in Massachusetts in the winter leading to starvation and death for many.
Governor Charles Lawrence- Led the conquest of Acadia and expulsion of the Acadians after they refused to declare loyalty to the king.
Expulsion of the Acadians- A removal of 12,000 Acadians to the colonies opening up Nova Scotia for English Settlers. Most Acadians returned to France or traveled to Spanish Louisiana after the war as the British considered their assimilation a failure.
. Things should be faster now.