2. Settlers in the
Ohio Valley

 1730-1755: Transitional period.
 Lifestyle on frontier was
changing.
 Transients:
 Explorers who investigated the
land, then moved on to new
lands.
 Settlers:
 wanted permanency.
 Frontier continued to move west
with more settlers.

3. Conflicting Land Claims

 Rivalry between France and
Great Britain
 Series of wars for 100 years
 Seven Years War:
(1756-1763)
 Last seven years of the
wars and fighting in
Europe
 Known as the French and
Indian War in North
America

4. Think ahead:

1. Why do you think the war is known as the French
and Indian War? Why not the British and French War?
2. What are allies?
3. Who do you think become allies, if any, when
fighting occurs in North America?
 French and Native Americans?
 British and Native Americans?
 No allies. Everyone fights against everyone?

5. Claims of the Ohio River
Valley
de
 1669: French – Robert Cavelier
La Salle’s exploration of the Ohio
River
 1671: British - Batts and Fallam
exploration of New River
 Waters flow into the
Kanawha, Ohio, and Mississippi
rivers.
 1749: French strengthened –
Celeron de Blainville buried lead
plates along the Ohio River

6. Lead Plate found in Point Pleasant


7. Lead Plate Translation

 In the year 1749, reign of Louis XV., King of
France, We, Celeron, commandant of a detachment sent by
Monsieur the Marquis de la Galissoniere, Commandant
General of New France, to re-establish tranquillity in some
Indian villages of these cantons, have buried this plate at the
mouth of the river Chinodashichetha, the 18th August, near the
river Ohio, otherwise Beautiful River, as a monument of
renewal of possessions, which we have taken of the said river
Ohio, and of all those which fall into it, and of all the lands on
both sides, as far as to the sources of said rivers; the same as
were enjoyed or ought to have been enjoyed, by the preceding
Kings of France, and that they have maintained it by their arms
and by treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and
Aix-la- Chapelle.

8. Views on Treaties and
Land Ownership
 Indians:

 British:
 Avoided difficulties by  Treaties are seen as the
negotiating treaties with end of warfare or as
Indians trade agreements
 Treaties had nothing to
 Used treaties to take do with land ownership
control of property
 Saw treaties as
 Saw treaties as binding changeable.
 French:
 Permanent ownership of land was not
a major consideration.
 More interested in fur trade.
 Did not pose a threat to Indians.

9. Setting the Scene

 Nemacolin Path:
 Path cut by Nemacolin (Delaware Indian) and
Thomas Cresap
 Wills Creek in Cumberland, Maryland to beginning of
Ohio River, near Pittsburgh.
 Brought French and British into direct contact with
the Ohio Valley
 Treaty of Logstown:
 Signed by Christopher Gist of the Ohio Land
Company, Delaware, and Shawnee tribes
 Gave Virginia control of the Ohio Valley

10. 
Treaty of
Logstown

11. Governor Dinwiddie’s
Proposal

 (1753) Virginian Governor
Robert Dinwiddie:
 Diplomatic mission to Fort
LeBouef, near Lake Erie.
 Led by 21 year old George
Washington.
 Mission was to ask the
French to leave the Ohio
Valley

12. George Washington

 Followed the Nemacolin
Path to the forks of the
Ohio River where
Monongahela and
Allegheny rivers meet.
 There, joined by:
 Christopher Gist
 Jacob Van Braam, French
interpreter
 Half King, Indian
chieftain and guide

13. Fort LeBouef


14. George Washington at
Fort LeBouef

 Washington met with
French leader, Jacques
Legardeur de Saint Pierre
 Dinwiddie’s proposal was
rejected
 Group prepared to go
home.
 Found out that the French
had bribed the Half-King
to convince him to stay
with them. (didn’t
succeed)

15. War Breaks Out

 Captain William Trent
 Ordered by Dinwiddie to build a
fort at the forks of the Ohio River.
 May 1754: Washington sent as
back up.
 Learns of Trent’s defeat
 French destroyed British’s
partially built fort
 Replaced with Fort Duquesne
 French actions are considered an
act of war.
 Washington prepares to march
against the French.

16. Let the War Begin!
 Washington and 40 men

 French scouting party
 Skirmish is over in 15
minutes:
 Washington’s troops had
killed 10 men, including
French leader, Joseph
Coulon de Villers de
Jumonville.
 Marks the beginning of the
French and Indian War.

17. Advantages

 French:  British:
 Larger land claim  Larger population
 Already-existing  Powerful Iroquois
system of forts in the allies
Ohio Valley  Control of the oceans
 Majority of Indian  Population that was
allies concentrated in a very
 Superior military small area
officers and army.  Desire to protect their
own property

18. Disadvantages

 French:  British:
 Sparse Population  Military organization
 Soldiers with no  Poorly organized
personal interest in the frontier volunteers
land  Less qualified officers.
 Poor lines of supply

19. Battle at Fort Necessity

 Immediate retaliation from the
French:
 Set out in search of those
responsible for Jumonville’s
death
 Washington ordered the
completion of Fort Necessity at
Great Meadows
 July 3, 1754:
 1,600 French soldiers and Indians;
300 British men
 1/3 of Washington’s men were
sick or wounded
 Washington surrendered

20. Terms of Surrender

 Washington was required to
leave the Ohio Valley and
not return to build forts for
a year.
 Washington agreed to
return all prisoners taken in
Jumonville battle.
 French agreed to return Fort
Duquesne and build no
more forts in the Ohio
Valley

21. Battle of the
Monongahela

 Dinwiddie asked the King
of England for
reinforcements.
 Sent two regiments of
British Regulars
 General Edward Braddock
 Started training 1,000
Virginia Militia – disliked
them, and saw them as
undisciplined
 Aided by George
Washington

22. Braddock’s force
 All met at Fort
 Made up of:
Cumberland, then
 1,400 British soldiers
headed to Fort
 60 sailors Duquesne
 2,400 colonial troops
 300 Indians
 150 wagons
 2,000 horses

23. Braddock’s Road


24. Braddock’s Defeat


25. The Shawnee and
Mary Draper Ingles

 Attacked a settlement at Draper’s Meadows the
day before Braddock’s defeat.
 Killed many and took prisoners:
 Took Mrs. William Ingles (Mary Draper
Ingles), her two sons, her sister-in-law (Mrs. Mary
Draper), and Henry Lenard prisoners.
 Mary Ingles gave birth to her third child a few
days after her abduction.
 Group was split up; Mary Ingles and her baby
were taken to a salt lick near Cincinnati, Ohio.

26. Escape

 Mary Ingles and a Dutch woman
managed to escape.
 Mary left her baby behind.
 They had no supplies
 Lived off the land: ate berries and
nuts
 Followed the rivers for six weeks
and covered 500 miles.
 The Dutch woman turned on
her, even tried to kill Mary.
 They separated, but both reached
Draper’s Meadow.

27. Native
Americans
Fight Back  Major Andrew Lewis and a
 After Braddock’s defeat, the
Indians waged war against company of militia were sent
beyond the Ohio River. (340
the settlers. men)
 Pioneers took refuge in  Ran short of supplies.
forts:  Made canoes to try to save
 Fort Pleasant, Edward’s what they had, but hit rapids
and lost most of what they
Fort, Forman’s Fort, Evans’ had.
Fort, Fort Ashby  Men threatened to desert.
 Settlers asked for help from  Lewis disbanded men in at
Dinwiddie Devon in Mingo county.
 Never reached Shawnee
towns.

28. Tides of War

 April 1756
 Group of French and Indians attacked Edward’s Fort in
Hampshire County.
 Totally wiped out British forces
 Four months later, Dinwiddie issued a formal declaration of
war.
 May 1758
 Band of Shawnee attacked Fort Seybert in Pendleton
County
 Indians promised that if the frontiersmen surrendered, their
lives would be spared.
 It was a trick. All eleven who surrendered were put to death.

29. Success with William Pitt

 British government changed priorities. They put William Pitt in
charge of the war.
 Pitt
 reorganized armed forces
 Poured money and supplies into the war effort
 Instantly saw positive results.
 July 26, 1758: British defeat French at Louisburg and Fort
Frontenac.
 British gained control over Lake Ontario
 French were stopped from reinforcing their forts in the Ohio
Valley
 British moved toward Ft. Duquesne, but French blew it up and
left.
 British rebuilt it and renamed it Fort Pitt.

30. Battle of Quebec

 British victories at Ft. Niagara, Ft.
Ticonderoga, and Crown Point preceded
the Battle of Quebec.
 September 12, 1759, Quebec
 Both French and British generals were
killed.
 French retreat signaled beginning of the
end of the French empire in North
America.
 Great Britain gained control of all of the
land east of the Mississippi River.
 British won the war.