United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Campaigns; Washington, George, 1732-1799
In 1755, four military expeditions were planned by the Colonies: one
against the French in Nova Scotia; one against Crown Point; one against
Fort Niagara, and the fourth, that of Braddock, against the French posts
along the Ohio river.
In 1758, additional expeditions were undertaken, the first against
Louisburg, the second against Ticonderoga, and the third against Fort Du
Quesne. Washington led the advance in the third, a successful attack,
Nov. 25, 1758, thereby securing peace with the Indians on the border,
and making the fort itself more memorable by changing its name to that
of Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) in memory of William Pitt (Lord Chatham),
the eminent British statesman, and the enthusiastic friend of America.
In 1759, Quebec was captured by the combined British and Colonial
forces, and the tragic death of the two commanders, Wolfe and Montcalm,
made the closing hours of the siege the last opportunity of their heroic
valor. With the capture of Montreal in 1760, Canada came wholly under
British control. In view of those campaigns, it was not strange that so
many Colonial participants readily found places in the Continental Army
at the commencement of the war for American Independence, and
subsequently urged the acquisition of posts on the northern border with
so much pertinacity and confidence.
In 1761, Spain joined France against Great Britain, but failed of
substantial gain through that alliance, because the British fleets were
able to master the West India possessions of Spain, and even to capture
the city of Havana itself.
In 1763, a treaty was effected at Paris, which terminated these
protracted inter-Colonial wars, so that the thirteen American colonies
were finally relieved from the vexations and costly burdens of aiding
the British crown to hold within its grasp so many and so widely
separated portions of the American continent. In the ultimate settlement
with Spain, England exchanged Havana for Florida; and France, with the
exception of the city of New Orleans and its immediate vicinity, retired
behind the Mississippi river, retaining, as a shelter for her fisheries,
only the Canadian islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, which are still
French possessions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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