A Brief History of the United StatesMcMaster, John Bach
History
A Brief History of the United States
McMaster, John Bach
United States -- History
When, therefore, Pontiac, a chief of the Ottawas, in 1762 sent out among
the Indian nations ambassadors with the war belt of wampum, and tomahawks
stained red in token of war, the tribes everywhere responded to the call.
[14] From the Ohio and its tributaries to the upper lakes, and southward
to the mouth of the Mississippi, they banded against the British, and
early in 1763, led by Pontiac, swept down on the frontier forts. Detroit
was attacked, Presque Isle was captured, Le Boeuf and Venango were burned
to the ground, Fort Pitt was besieged, and the frontier of Pennsylvania
laid waste. Of fourteen posts from Mackinaw to Oswego, all but four were
taken by the Indians. It seemed that not a settler would be left west of
the Susquehanna; but a little army under Colonel Bouquet beat the Indians,
cleared the Pennsylvania frontier, and relieved Fort Pitt in 1763; another
army in 1764 passed along the lake shore to Detroit and quieted the
Indians in that region, while Bouquet (1764) invaded the Ohio country,
forced the tribes to submit, and released two hundred white prisoners.
SUMMARY
1. The war which followed the defeat of Washington is known as the French
and Indian War.
2. Fearing that the French Acadians in Nova Scotia would become
troublesome, the British dispersed them among the colonies.
3. The strongholds of the French were Louisburg, Quebec, Crown Point,
Niagara, and Fort Duquesne.
4. The first expedition against Fort Duquesne ended in Braddock's defeat;
expeditions against other strongholds came to naught, and during the early
years of the war the French carried everything before them.
5. But when Pitt rose to power in England, the tide turned: Louisburg and
Fort Duquesne were captured (in 1758); Niagara, Ticonderoga, Crown Point,
and Quebec were taken (in 1759); and Montreal fell in 1760.
6. Spain now joined in the war, whereupon Great Britain seized Cuba and
the Philippines.
7. Peace was made in 1762-63: the conquests from Spain were restored to
her, but Florida was ceded to Great Britain; and France gave up her
possessions in North America.
8. Canada, Cape Breton, and all Louisiana east of the Mississippi, save
New Orleans and vicinity, went to Great Britain.
9. New Orleans and Louisiana west of the Mississippi went to Spain.
10. Great Britain then established the new provinces of Quebec and East
and West Florida, and drew the Proclamation Line.
11. A great Indian uprising, known as Pontiac's War, followed the peace,
but was quickly put down.
FOOTNOTES
[1] New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York,
Pennsylvania, and Maryland were the only colonies represented.
[2] There was an old superstition that if a snake were cut into pieces and
the pieces allowed to touch, they would join and the snake would not die.
Franklin meant that unless the separate colonies joined they would be
conquered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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