FRENCH AND INDIAN WARIn the 1750's, the British and French were bickering over territory in the Ohio Valley. The

French had conducted fur trade with the native Iroquois in the Valley for years, while the British had recently gained rights from the Iroquois to build settlements.

In 1754, British Governor Robert Dinwiddie of colonial Virginia sent a small militia under the command of Major George Washington to defend their claim to the land. The Battle of Fort Necessity broke out when French soldiers and their Indian allies attacked Washington and forced him to surrender. This incident began the French and Indian War.

British troops came to America to help the colonial forces fight the war. British War policies angered the colonists. They hated having to house and fed British soldiers. Colonial officers resented Royal officers who were given higher ranking. And colonials also resented paying more taxes to support the war. Worst of all, the British army refused to change their war tactics. They insisted on marching in long lines. Soldiers in this formation became easy targets for the French and Indian soldiers who attacked from the cover of the wilderness.

In 1755, the British learned the danger of European tactics. British Major General Edward Braddock and his troops were marching towards the French Fort Duquesne when French and Native forces ambushed them. Braddock refused to break formation, or allow his soldiers to counterattack. Braddock was killed and two-thirds of his command were killed or wounded in the melee. Colonial soldiers understood the need for new tactics in American terrain. Roger's Rangers, a famous special force in the Colonial Army used guerilla tactics to launch several surprise attacks on French and Native forces.

Despite participation of groups like Roger's Rangers, the war went badly for the British in the beginning. The British launched unsuccessful attacks against the French at Fort Carillon (now Ticonderoga) and Crown Point. In 1756, the

French commander, the Marquis de Montcalm, captured Fort William Henry from the British. France's Native allies then massacred the defeated British troops as they retreated towards Albany.

French victories brought them closer to controlling the Lake Champlain/Hudson River waterway. If they could command this waterway, they could cut New England off from the other colonies and disable the British.

British war effort changed when William Pitt the Elder was made Prime Minister of Britain in 1757. He stopped forcing colonists to provide for the British soldiers and sent more soldiers. He also

appointed two new commanders, James Wolfe and Jeffrey Amherst. These new policies turned the tide of war. First, the British captured Louisbourg, a fort that controlled the mouth of the St. Lawrence. Then Amherst captured both Fort Carillon and Crown Point Britain to regain control of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain.

In 1760, General Wolfe attacked the main French stronghold, Quebec City. Although both Wolfe and Montcalm were killed during the battle, Britain captured the city. Victory was sealed when the Governor de Vaudrevil of Montreal surrendered his town on September 8.

The Treaty of Paris ended the war in 1763. Because they lost the war, France had to give up all of its land east of the Mississippi River to Britain. But Britain paid a high price for its victory. They began increased the colonists' taxes to pay for their enormous war debt. Also, in an attempt to ease tensions with the Native Americans who had also lost the war, since many had fought with the French, Britain announced the Proclamation of 1763. This new law forbid British colonists to move west of the Appalachian Mountains and protected the territory for Native American tribes. Having won a war for their mother country, American colonists felt betrayed and angry. Twelve years later, the colonists revolted against Britain's taxation and unfair laws and won their independence.