Colonial American military history is the military record of the
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America.
The Thirteen C ...
from their founding to the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
in 1775.

Beginning when on August 29, 1643, the Plymouth Colony Court allowed & established a military discipline to be erected and maintained.
Rangers

Rangers in North America served in the 17th and 18th-century wars between colonists and Native American tribes. Regular soldiers were not accustomed to frontier warfare and so Ranger companies were developed. Rangers were full-time soldiers employed by colonial governments to patrol between fixed frontier fortifications in reconnaissance, providing early warning of raids. In offensive operations, they were scouts and guides, locating villages and other targets for task forces drawn from the militia or other colonial troops.
The father of American ranging is
Colonel Benjamin Church (c. 1639–1718).
[John Grenier. The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier. Cambridge University Press. 2005. p. 35] He was the captain of the first
Ranger force in America (1676). Church was commissioned by
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...
Governor
Josiah Winslow to form the first ranger company for
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...
. He later employed the company to raid
Acadia
Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...
during
King William's War and
Queen Anne's War.
Benjamin Church designed his force primarily to emulate Native American patterns of war. Toward this end, he endeavored to learn ''from'' Native Americans how to fight ''like'' Native Americans.
Americans became rangers exclusively under the tutelage of the Indian allies. (Until the end of the colonial period, rangers depended on Indians as both allies and teachers.) Church developed a special full-time unit mixing white colonists, selected for frontier skills, with allied Native Americans to carry out offensive strikes against hostile Native Americans in terrain where normal militia units were ineffective.
Under Church served the father and grandfather of two famous rangers of the eighteenth century:
John Lovewell and
John Gorham, respectively.
Rogers' Rangers was established in 1751
[''Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception, 1914–1945'' ( Rankin, Nicholas). p. 454 (2008 paperback)] by
Major Robert Rogers, who organized nine Ranger companies in the American colonies. These early American light
infantry
Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...
units organized during the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...
were called "Rangers" and are often considered to be the spiritual birthplace of the modern Army Rangers.
Provincial troops

Provincial troops were raised by the colonial governors and legislatures for extended operations during the
French and Indian Wars. The provincial troops differed from the militia, in that they were a full-time military organization conducting extended operations. They differed from the regular British Army, in that they were recruited only for one campaign season at the time. These forces were often recruited through a quota system applied to the militia. Officers were appointed by the provincial governments. During the eighteenth century militia service was increasingly seen as a prerogative of the social and economic well-established, while provincial troops came to be recruited from different and less deep-rooted members of the community.
["From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 19 December 1756." ''Founders Online.''](_blank)
Retrieved 2017-02-19.
Retrieved 2017-02-11.
The first provincial forces in
British North America were organized in the 1670s, when several colonial governments raised
ranger companies for one year's paid service to protect their borders (see above). The major operations during
King William's War were conducted by provincial troops from Massachusetts Bay. During
Queen Anne's War, provincial troops from Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Hampshire made up the bulk of the English forces. During
King George's War, the land forces that took
Louisbourg were entirely supplied by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. During the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...
, the
British government in London took an increasingly more leading part, relegating the provincial troops to a non-combat role, largely as pioneers and transportation troops, while the bulk of the fighting was done by the regular British Army. However the contributions of Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island were essential.
Militia
The beginning of the United States military lies in local governments which created militias that enrolled nearly all free white men. The militia was not employed as a fighting force in major operations outside the local jurisdiction. Instead, the colony asked for (and paid) volunteers serving in ranger and other provincial troops (see above), many of whom were also militia members. The local Indian threat ended by 1725 in most places, after which the militia system was little used except for local ceremonial roles.
[John Shy, ''A People Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American Independence'' (2nd ed. 2008)]
The militia system was revived at the end of the colonial era, as the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
approached; weapons were accumulated and intensive training began. The militia played a major fighting role in the Revolution, especially in expelling the British from Boston in 1776 and capturing the British invasion force at
Saratoga in 1777. However most of the fighting was handled by the Continental Army, comprising regular soldiers.
Indian wars
Military actions in the colonies were the result of conflicts with Native Americans in the period of the
colonization by the settlers, such as the
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place in 1636 and ended in 1638 in New England, between the Pequot nation and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Na ...
of 1637,
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...
in 1675, the
Susquehannock war in 1675–77, and the
Yamasee War
The Yamasee War (also spelled Yamassee or Yemassee) was a conflict fought in South Carolina from 1715 to 1717 between British settlers from the Province of Carolina and the Yamasee, who were supported by a number of allied Native Americans in ...
in 1715.
Father Rale's War (1722–1725) happened in
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
and
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
. There also occurred
slave uprisings, such as the
Stono Rebellion in 1739. Finally, there was
Father Le Loutre's War, which also involved
Acadians
The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French colonial empire, French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern Americ ...
, in the lead-up to the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...
.
Dutch wars
Kieft's War was a conflict between Dutch settlers and Indians in the colony of
New Netherland from 1643 to 1645. The fighting involved raids and counter-raids. It was bloody in proportion to the population; more than 1,600 natives were killed at a time when the European population of New Amsterdam was only 250.
Spanish wars
The British fought the Spanish in the
War of Jenkins' Ear
The War of Jenkins' Ear was fought by Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and History of Spain (1700–1808), Spain between 1739 and 1748. The majority of the fighting took place in Viceroyalty of New Granada, New Granada and the Caribbean ...
, 1739–1748. After 1742, the war merged into the larger
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...
involving most of the powers of Europe. Georgia beat back a
Spanish invasion of Georgia in 1742, and some sporadic border fighting continued. The war merged into
King George's War, which ended with the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.
France and Britain at war
Beginning in 1689, the colonies also frequently became involved in a
series of four major wars between
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
(later
Britain) and France for control of North America, the most important of which were
Queen Anne's War, in which the British won French
Acadia
Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...
(Nova Scotia), and the final
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...
(1754–1763), when France lost all of Canada. This final war gave thousands of colonists military experience, including
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
, which they put to use during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
.
Britain and France fought a series of four
French and Indian Wars, followed with another war in 1778 when France joined the Americans in the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
. The French settlers in New France were outnumbered 15–1 by the 13 American colonies, so the French relied heavily on Indian allies.
The wars were long and bloody, causing immense suffering for everyone involved. In the long run, the Indians were the biggest losers; many were on the losing side, as Spain and France were defeated as thus could provide no further support to them.
Frontier settlers were exposed to sudden Indian raids; many were killed or captured, and even more were forced back from the frontier. One profitable form of wartime activity in which colonists engaged was privateering—legalized piracy against enemy merchant ships. Another was hunting enemy Indians for the purpose of scalping them and claiming the cash bounty offered by colonial governments.
King William's War: 1689–1697
King William's War (1689–97) (also known as the "Nine Years' War") was a phase of the larger Anglo-French conflict which occurred
in India as well as North America. New France and the
Wabanaki Confederacy joined forces to launch several raids against New England settlements south of present-day Maine, whose border New France defined as the
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 natural river within the U.S. state of Ma ...
in southern Maine.
•
•
Sir William Phips moved with his New England militia in 1690 to take the French strongholds at
Port Royal and at Quebec, the latter commanded by Comte de Frontenac, the governor of New France. Phips
conquered the capital of Acadia and various other communities in the colony (e.g.,
Battle of Chedabucto). (Present-day Maine and New Brunswick remained contested territories between New England and New France.) Phips's written ultimatum demanding Fontenac's surrender at Quebec prompted Frontenac to say that his reply would come only "from the mouths of my cannon and muskets."
The New England militia had to reckon with Quebec's formidable natural defenses, its superior number of soldiers, and the coming of winter, and Phips finally sailed back to Boston with his hungry, smallpox-ridden, and demoralized force. His failure shows a growing recognition of the need to replicate European combat techniques and to move closer to the war policy in London in order to achieve military success.
The Iroquois suffered heavily in King William's War and were brought into the French trading network, along with other western Indians. The colonists' treatment of Indian tribes after King Philip's War led directly the
Wabanaki tribe's involvement in the war. It retained significant power relative to the colonists, unlike tribes in southern New England, and rejected attempts to exert authority over them. Treaties made during 1678–84 included concessions to Indian sovereignty, but such concessions were largely ignored in practice. Expanding settlements fueled tensions and led to Indian threats of a repeat of the violence of King Philip's War and offered an opportunity to the French, who formed several new alliances. The lack of stability and authority evidenced by the imprisonment of Governor Andros in 1689 combined with existing grievances and French encouragement led to Wabanaki attacks on settlements on the Northeast coast, a pattern that was repeated until the withdrawal of the French in 1763.
Queen Anne's War

Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the colonial side of the
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...
which was fought primarily in Europe on European issues, The conflict also involved a number of
American Indian tribes and Spain, which was allied with France.
Carolina governor
James Moore led an
unsuccessful attack in 1702 on St. Augustine, the capital of
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida () was the first major European land-claim and attempted settlement-area in northern America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and th ...
, and led one of
several raiding expeditions in 1704-6 that wiped out much of Florida's Indian population.
Thomas Nairne, the
Province of Carolina's Indian agent, planned an expedition of Carolinan militia and their Indian allies to destroy the French settlement at
Mobile and the Spanish settlement at
Pensacola. The expedition never materialized, but the Carolinans did supply their allies with firearms, which the
Tallapoosas used in their
siege of Pensacola. These warriors proved their effectiveness in combining native tactics and European arms, but the colonists failed to compensate them adequately and seriously underestimated their importance as the key to the balance of power in the southeastern interior. Consequently, the Tallapoosas and other tribes had shifted allegiance to the other side by 1716 and prepared to use what they had learned against South Carolina settlements.
The French and
Wabanaki Confederacy sought to thwart the expansion of New England into Acadia, whose border New France defined as the
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 natural river within the U.S. state of Ma ...
in southern Maine.
Toward this end, they executed raids against targets in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
(including present-day
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
), starting with
Northeast Coast Campaign.
In 1704, French and Indian forces attacked a number of villages and Deerfield, Massachusetts was prepared for an attack.
The attack came during the night of 28 February 1704; much of the village was burned, many were killed, and others were taken captive. Seventeen of the captives were killed along the way to Canada, as they were injured and could not keep up, and starvation took additional lives.
Major
Benjamin Church retaliated by raiding
Acadia
Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...
(see
Raid on Grand Pre) and captured prisoners for ransom, the most famous Acadian captive being
Noel Doiron. Eventually, 53 New England captives returned home, including one of the targets of the invaders, the Reverend John Williams. His accounts of the experience made him famous throughout the colonies.
South Carolina was especially vulnerable, and Charleston
repulsed an attempted raid by French and Spanish fleets in the summer of 1706.
French privateers inflicted serious losses on New England's fishing and shipping industries. The privateering was finally curbed in 1710 when Britain provided military support to its American colonists resulting in the British
Conquest of Acadia (which became peninsular
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
), the main base used by the privateers.
The war ended with a British victory in 1713. By the
Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaty, peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vac ...
, Britain gained Acadia, the island of
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...
, the
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...
region, and the Caribbean island of
St. Kitts. France was required to recognize British influence in the Great Lakes region.
Following Queen Anne's War, relations deteriorated between Carolina and the nearby Indian populations, resulting in the
Yamasee War
The Yamasee War (also spelled Yamassee or Yemassee) was a conflict fought in South Carolina from 1715 to 1717 between British settlers from the Province of Carolina and the Yamasee, who were supported by a number of allied Native Americans in ...
of 1715.
Father Rale's War a few years later, shifted power in the northeast.
Father Rale's War
War continued in Acadia, however. Father Rale's War (1722–1725), also known as Dummer's War, was a series of battles between New England and the
Wabanaki Confederacy, who were allied with
New France
New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...
. After the New England
Conquest of Acadia in 1710, mainland Nova Scotia was under the control of New England, but both present-day
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
and virtually all of present-day Maine remained contested territory between New England and New France. New France established
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
missions among the three largest native villages in order to secure their claim to the region: one on the Kennebec River (
Norridgewock
Norridgewock (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Nanrantsouak'') was the name of both an Indigenous village and a Band society, band of the Abenaki ("People of the Dawn") Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans/First Nations in Canada, ...
), one further north on the
Penobscot River (
Penobscot), and one on the
St. John River (
Medoctec).
The war began on two fronts when New England expanded through Maine and when New England established a settlement at
Canso, Nova Scotia. Maine fell to the New Englanders with the defeat of Father
Sébastien Rale at Norridgewock and the subsequent retreat of the Indians from the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers to
St. Francis and
Becancour, Quebec.
King George's War
King George's War (1744–48) was the North American phase of the
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...
. In 1745, naval and ground forces from Massachusetts captured the strategic French base on
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...
in the
Siege of Louisbourg. During the war, the French made four attempts to regain
Acadia
Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...
by capturing the capital
Annapolis Royal, the most famous attempt being the failed
Duc d'Anville expedition. They regained fortress Louisbourg at the peace treaty.
The French led Indian allies in numerous raids, such as the one on Nov. 28, 1745 which destroyed the village of Saratoga, New York, killing and capturing more than one hundred of its inhabitants. The war merged into
War of Jenkins' Ear
The War of Jenkins' Ear was fought by Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and History of Spain (1700–1808), Spain between 1739 and 1748. The majority of the fighting took place in Viceroyalty of New Granada, New Granada and the Caribbean ...
against Spain and ended with the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.
Father Le Loutre's War
Within Acadia and Nova Scotia,
Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755) began when the British founded
Halifax. During Father Le Loutre's War, New France established three forts along the border of present-day
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
to protect it from a New England attack from Nova Scotia. The war continued until British
victory at Fort Beausejour, which dislodged Father Le Loutre from the region, thereby ending his alliance with the Maliseet, Acadians, and Mi'kmaq.
French and Indian War: 1754–1763
Provincial troops, as distinct from the militias, were raised by the
thirteen colonial governments in response to annual quotas established by the British commanders-in-chief. These troops saw service in most campaigns and employment throughout North America during the Seven Years' War.
Pennsylvania
The war began in 1754 as Virginia militia led by Colonel
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
advanced into French-held territory near modern-day Pittsburgh. Washington
was captured at
Fort Necessity after
ambushing a French company and released. He returned with the 2,100 British regulars and American colonials under British General
Edward Braddock, which was
decisively destroyed at the
Battle of the Monongahela in July 1755.
Acadia / Nova Scotia
Despite the British
Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Acadia/ Nova Scotia remained dominated by Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. The British did not make a concerted military effort to control the region until 1749 when they founded
Halifax, which sparked
Father Le Loutre's War. The French and Indian War spread to the region with a British victory in the
Battle of Fort Beauséjour (1755). Immediately after this battle the New England and British forces engaged in numerous military campaigns aimed at securing their control of the region.
New York
Upper New York Province: 8 September 1755 and Commander William Johnson leading in the 'Battle of Lake George' (formerly known as Lac du saint Sacrement)
Battle of Lake George.
British defenders at
Fort William Henry (at the southern end of
Lake George)
were surrounded by an overwhelming French force and their Indian allies from many tribes in August 1757. The British surrendered to the French after being offered terms that included protection from the Indians. Nonetheless, the Indian warriors' customs permitted the enslavement of some captured enemy soldiers and the scalping of others, and they ignored French efforts to prevent the massacre. They killed or captured hundreds of the surrendered force, including women and children. Some of those scalped had smallpox, and the scalps were brought to numerous Indian villages as trophies, where they caused an epidemic that killed thousands of Indians.
In early July 1758, British General
James Abercromby with a force of over 15,000 attacked General
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and his garrison of 3,500 French and Canadian troops at
Fort Carillon, which overlooked
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain ( ; , ) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec.
The cities of Burlington, Ve ...
. The British had 44 cannons, the heaviest weighing more than 5,000 pounds. The fort was later called
Ticonderoga by the British, and it controlled access to French Canada. Abercromby's force included 5,825 red-coated British regulars, including the Royal Highlanders. He had 9,000 colonial soldiers from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. Some 400 Mohawk warriors joined in. Abercromby's attack became disorganized and he suffered the worst British defeat of the war, with over 2,000 killed. He retreated and the campaign ended in failure.
Louisbourg

Meanwhile, Lord
Jeffery Amherst captured the great French stronghold of
Louisbourg on
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...
(now part of Nova Scotia). Amherst's large British naval force of over 170 ships and 13,000 men came under furious attack by French defenders until British General
James Wolfe found a safe landing spot out of sight of the French. The ultimately successful siege lasted seven weeks. With the fall of Louisbourg, the
Acadians
The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French colonial empire, French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern Americ ...
were soon
expelled from Acadia to places such as France and Louisiana.
Canada
In London, Prime Minister
William Pitt named Amherst as his new commander-in-chief of North America for 1759. The Louisbourg victory opened the St. Lawrence River to the British, and Amherst devised a three-pronged attack against French Canada: a push up the St. Lawrence to attack
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, another northward invasion from Albany by way of lakes George and Champlain, and pressure against the French in the west at Fort Niagara. The 1759 battle for Quebec City was
fought on the Plains of Abraham and decided the future of Canada, as British forces under General
James Wolfe defeated the French army of General Louis-Joseph Montcalm. Both generals were killed.
Legacy
Anderson (2006) suggests that the war played a pivotal precipitating role in the American Revolution. He believes that the United States managed to become a nation through the influence of this war, and suggests that it should perhaps be known as "the War That Made America."
The Fort William Henry massacre has shaped American cultural attitudes toward Indians. It was only one of many episodes of indiscriminate bloodshed and captive-taking and deranged relations between Indians and American colonists. Even in Pennsylvania, a colony that had never known an Indian war before 1755, resentment against Indians became something like a majority sentiment by 1764. Most Indian groups sided with the British in the Revolutionary War, and the animosity only grew.
American novelist
James Fenimore Cooper wrote ''
The Last of the Mohicans'' in 1826, a widely read novel that was adapted for several Hollywood films. Cooper refers to the dangerous "savages" and shows their willingness to kill. The book creates a lasting impression of the untrustworthiness and dangerousness of Indians in general, according to Michael Hilger. One long-standing theme in American popular culture has portrayed the Indians as revenge-seeking savages looking to scalp their enemies.
The victory of Wolfe over Montcalm was a decisive moment in shaping the self-image of
English-Canadians, while
Francophone Canada has refused to allow commemorations.
Pontiac's War
In 1760, British commander Lord Amherst abruptly ended the
distribution of gifts of ironware, weapons, and ammunition to the Indians, a French practice that the Indians had become dependent upon.
Chief Pontiac (1720–1769) was a chief of the Ottawa tribe who assumed leadership in the Detroit area; other chiefs in the loose confederation of tribes
directed attacks on all British forts in the Great Lakes area in the spring of 1763. Eight outposts were overrun, and British supply lines were cut across Lake Erie; Indian sieges failed at Fort Detroit and Fort Pitt. At this point, news arrived of the complete French capitulation and withdrawal from North America, and the Indian initiative quickly collapsed. Few American military units were involved, as British regulars handled the action. The
British Crown
The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
issued a proclamation in October 1763 forbidding American settlers to enter Indian territory west of the Appalachian Mountains, hoping to minimize future conflict and laying plans for an Indian satellite state in the Great Lakes region.
By ejecting the French from North America, the British victory made it impossible for the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...
and other native groups to play off rival European powers against one another. The Indians who had been allied with France realized their weak position when Amherst cancelled the gift-giving. They reacted quickly to Britain's abrupt changes in the terms of trade and suspension of diplomatic gift giving, launching an offensive aimed at driving British troops from their forts and sending raiding parties that caused panic as American refugees fled east. The Indian coalition forced the British authorities to rescind the offending policies and renew giving gifts. By 1764, the various tribes came to terms with Britain, and Indian leaders realized that their ability to organize and wage war was not as powerful as it had once been. Without a competing European power to arm and supply them, they simply could not keep fighting once they ran out of gunpowder and supplies.
The
Proclamation of 1763 angered American settlers eager to move west; they largely ignored it, and saw the British government as an ally of the Indians and an obstacle to their goals. As Dixon (2007) argues, "Frustrated by their government's inability to contend with the Indians, back country settlers concluded that the best way to insure security was to rely on their own devices". Such actions eventually pushed them into direct conflict with the British government and ultimately proved one of the main forces leading to backcountry support for the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
.
[David Dixon, ''Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America'' (2005), quoting p. xii]
See also
*
Military history of the United States
*
French and Indian Wars
*
Social history of soldiers and veterans in the United States
References
Further reading
* Allison, William Thomas, Jeffrey Grey, and Janet G. Valentine. ''American Military History'' (Routledge, 2016), Ch 1.
* Anderson, Fred. ''The War That Made America a Short History of the French and Indian War'' (2006
online* Anderson, Fred. "A People's Army: Provincial Military Service in Massachusetts during the Seven Years' War." '' William and Mary Quarterly'' (1983) 40#4: 500-52
online
* Beattie, Daniel J. (1986). “The Adaptation of the British Army to Wilderness Warfare, 1755-1763”, Adapting to Conditions: War and Society in the Eighteenth Century, ed. Maarten Ultee (University of Alabama Press), 56–83.
* Campbell, Alexander V. ''The Royal American Regiment: An Atlantic Microcosm, 1755–1772'' (U of Oklahoma Press, 2014).
* Chartrand, René. ''Colonial American Troops 1610–1774'' (Osprey, 2002), heavily illustrated; focus on uniforms and equipment.
* Chet, Guy. “The Literary and Military Career of Benjamin Church: Change or Continuity in Early American Warfare,” Historical Journal of Massachusetts 35:2 (Summer 2007): 105-112
* Chet, Guy (2003). Conquering the American Wilderness: The Triumph of European Warfare in the Colonial Northeast. University of Massachusetts Press.
* Drenth, Wienand and Jonathon Riley. ''The First Colonial Soldiers: A Survey of British overseas territories and their garrisons, 1650 - 1714. Volume 2: The Americas and the Caribbean'' (Eindhoven: Drenth Publishing, 2015)
* Ferling, John E. ''Struggle for a Continent: The Wars of Early America'' (1993), to 1763
* Gallay, Alan, ed. ''Colonial Wars of North America, 1512–1763: An Encyclopedia'' (1996)
* Grenier, John. ''The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607–1814'' (Cambridge University Press, 2005)
* Grenier, John. "Warfare during the Colonial Era, 1607–1765." In ''Companion to American Military History'' ed by James C. Bradford, (2010) pp 9–21. Historiography
* Leach, Douglas Edward. ''Arms for Empire: A Military History of the British Colonies in North America, 1607–1763'' (1973).
* Leach, Douglas Edward. ''Roots of Conflict: British Armed Forces and Colonial Americans, 1677-1763'' (Univ of North Carolina Press, 1989
online
* Lee, Wayne E. "Fortify, Fight, or Flee: Tuscarora and Cherokee Defensive Warfare and Military Culture Adaptation." ''Journal of Military History'' (2004) 68.3 pp: 713–770
* LePore, Jill. ''In the Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity'' (Knopf, 1998)
* Little, Ann. ''Abraham in Arms: War and Gender in Colonial New England'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007)
* Martin, James Kirby, and Mark Edward Lender. ''A Respectable Army: The Military Origins of the Republic, 1763-1789'' (John Wiley & Sons, 2015).
* Martino, Gina M. ''Women at War in the Borderlands of the Early American Northeast'' (University of North Carolina Press, 2018).
* Pargellis, Stanley McCrory. "Braddock’s Defeat", ''American Historical Review'' 41 (1936): 253–269
online* Pargellis, Stanley McCrory. ''Lord Loudoun in North America'' (Yale University Press, 1833).
* Peckham, Howard H. ''The Colonial Wars'' (1965)
excerpt and text search* Ramsey, William L. ''The Yamasee War: A Study of Culture, Economy, and Conflict in the Colonial South'' (University of Nebraska Press, 2008).
* Rodger, N. A. M. ''The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649–1815'' (2006)
* Starkey, Armstrong. ''European and Native American Warfare 1675-1795'' (Routledge, 2002)
* Warren, Jason W. ''Connecticut Unscathed: Victory in the Great Narragansett War, 1675–1676'' (U of Oklahoma Press, 2014).
* Zelner, Kyle F. ''A Rabble in Arms: Massachusetts Towns and Militiamen during King Philip's War'' (New York: New York University Press, 2009
excerpt and text search
Historiography and memory
* Blackburn, Marc K. ''Interpreting American Military History at Museums and Historic Sites'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016).
* Carp, E. Wayne. "Early American Military History: A Review of Recent Work," ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' 94 (1986) 259–84
* Grenier, John. "Recent Trends in the Historiography on Warfare in the Colonial Period (1607–1765)." ''History Compass'' (2010) 8#4 pp: 358–367. DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00657.x
External links
{{United States topics
Colonization history of the United States
Military history of Canada
18th-century conflicts
Colonial United States (British)
Louisiana (New France)
Colonial United States (Spanish)
Military history of the Thirteen Colonies
Military history of the Kingdom of France (987–1792)
Military history of Great Britain
Military history of England
Military history of Spain