But it is round the great contest on the American Continent which was to result in, first, the conquest and retention of Canada, and then the loss of our own possessions in North America, that the national interest centres. By 1755 the French had practically absorbed Canada with its dependencies, and furthermore claimed authority over the whole valley of the Mississippi from its source to its mouth; and had linked its conquests or its occupation together by a series of forts from Quebec on the St. Lawrence river to the point where the Alleghany and Monongahela unite to form the Ohio, and where Pittsburg now stands. Here Fort Duchesne was erected. In fact, the French laid claim to what would now be called the Hinterland of the whole of Eastern North America without possessing much of its coast line, and it was to break through this fancied and fragile chain that the first hostile expedition was despatched. It was commanded by Braddock with a mixed force of colonials and the 44th and 48th Regiments, while on the staff served George Washington; but through gross ignorance and carelessness it fell into an ambush and was heavily routed. Other equally feeble efforts were made on other points in the enemy’s defensive line, but all were more or less ineffective, and this naturally led to reprisals and increased activity on the part of the French. [Illustration: _QUEBEC. (1759.)_] Hence the British army in America, whose headquarters were at New York, was reinforced by the 17th, 42nd, and 2-60th Regiments, and the conquest of Canada was decided on. An attempt against Fort Ticonderoga in 1758, when the 42nd lost 647 men, failed, as did a first expedition against Louisburg, Cape Breton; but in 1758 the Earl of Loudon was despatched to Nova Scotia with the 1st, 17th, 27th, 28th, 43rd, 46th, 53rd, and 56th Regiments, which were formed into three brigades, of which Brigadier-General James Wolfe commanded that composed of the grenadiers, light infantry, and Black Watch, and behaved with distinguished gallantry.