French And Indian War Thesis

689 Words2 Pages

Mikayla Merkel History 1301.702

The French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years War, according to our book The War that Made America, explains this battle as, “the struggle of two great, fundamentally different empires for preeminence on the continent.” (Anderson xxiii) In lesser terms the British and the French were fighting over settling in “Ohio Country” in the Americas, and each side developed allies throughout the battle which included Europeans and Native Americans which is why it came to be called the French and Indian War. George Washington was a very important figure to the French and Indian War since he was chosen to see the …show more content…

Why Washington accepted this duty was, according to The War that Made America, “…; he had an intense ambition to prove himself worthy of public trust and thus to rise in the ranks of the planter gentry; and he had both the willingness and the hardihood to undertake a five-hundred-mile journey under miserable conditions, in the late fall and winter of the year.” (Anderson 39) Washington was told he would return in the early months of 1754 and report to what he saw in Ohio Country. On November the first in 1753 Washington left for his long journey with an acquaintance of the Ohio Indians, Christopher Gist. When arriving in “Fort Le Boeuf” and delivering the letter from Dinwiddie’s to the captain both messengers were surprised to see and report the news that the French were building fourth fort. Washington described it as, “canoes and bateaux on the banks of the river and in the woods near Fort Le Boeuf, hundreds of them” (Anderson 43) With this news, the generals of the area gathered Native Americans, the Mingo tribe, near them to come and fight to protect the area but most of the Native Americans declined and refused to be allies with the British, leaving Washington to take control and enlist …show more content…

The regiment as a whole was poorly clad, poorly shod, poorly supplied, and as yet wholly untrained.”(Anderson 45) Washington and his men then moved and stayed in a place called “Willis Creek”, around mid-April when Washington was informed that French were soon to attack, so after preparing, they soon marched to an area that was called “the Great Meadows” (Anderson 46). On April 27, the French attacked Washington’s troops, leaving many killed and wounded, including 2 important figures in the French. When discussing the information that the French contained, the murders of all the French soldiers that had survived had happened leaving Washington token back and confused. Washington tried to cover up the events that had happened but had soon caused more trouble when a massacre took place leaving Washington to enlist more men and attack again on the French. In the end, according to The War that Made America, “Only then would the king and his ministers understand that George Washington had done much more that simply fail to eject the French from the Forks of Ohio. He had handed Louis XV all the justification he would never ever need to declare war on Great Britain.” (Anderson

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