France supported the U.S. during the Revolutionary War. However, didn't they also back the Native Americans in Canada against the U.S.?
The Treaty of Paris, adopted at the end of the French and Indian War (1754-1763), transferred control of Canada from France to Britain. After the United States later declared independence from Britain, France began offering secret support to the Patriots in the forms of arms, ammunition, economic aid, and technical assistance. Although the French government did not support Native Americans against the United States, some of the French Canadians (Canadiens) who had remained in Canada after the British takeover fought alongside Native American allies against the Patriots.
After acquiring Canada, the British had treated the Canadiens mildly. They allowed the former French citizens to continue practicing their Roman Catholic religion, and although the British required all residents of Canada to use the common law for public and criminal issues, they retained French civil law for private legal matters.
These measures helped the British to win the loyalty of many French Canadians. At the beginning of the Revolution, an American raid on Fort St. Jean, not far from Montreal, alarmed British officials and turned some Montreal residents against the Patriots. America’s wartime exclusion from the British fur trade benefited Montreal merchants, and despite lingering resentment over Britain’s possession of their colony, they decided that their own business interests lay with the preservation of British ties. Other French Canadians followed their religious and political leaders to the British side. Americans, after all, were the same people the Canadiens had just fought in the French and Indian War, when British New Englanders committed such atrocities as seizing farms, livestock, and produce, and stabling horses in their Catholic churches. Canadiens believed that they were better off with the British conquerors than with the American Revolutionaries.
In the territory bordering Canada and the new United States, the Six Nations of the Iroquois were also forced to make decisions with regard to alliances. Although many preferred to remain neutral, Tuscaroras and Oneidas generally chose to ally with the Americans. The rest of the Six Nations, led by the Mohawks, supported the British. Molly Brant, a respected Mohawk and mistress to British Indian Superintendent Sir William Johnson, and her brother Mohawk war chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), convinced the Mohawk to side with the British. In several battles, Iroquois warriors, British regulars, and Canadien militia fought together to retain control over territory far down into Ohio Country and into the area around present-day Detroit.
Although some Canadiens fought with the British, others fought with the Patriots. For example, the 1st Canadian Regiment included Canadiens sympathetic to the American cause. They saw action in the Battles of Quebec (1775), Trois-Rivieres (1776), and Saratoga (1777), among others.
Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
Taylor, Alan. The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland in the American Revolution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
Calloway, Colin G. The American Revolution in Indian Country. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Graymont, Barbara. The Iroquois in the American Revolution. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1972.
Lawson, Phillip. The Imperial Challenge: Quebec and Britain in the Age of the American Revolution. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1994.
Stanley, George. Canada Invaded, 1775-1776. Toronto: Hakkert Press, 1973.
The battle at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening battle of the French and Indian war. The Fort Necessity National Battlefield features a restored Fort Necessity. Trained historical interpreters show visitors what life was like in the mid 18th century and how the battle at Fort Necessity was fought. The National Park Service offers curriculum based classroom educational programs as well as field trips and guided tours of the site.
The site offers visitor information, historical information, information regarding the educational programs offered by the park, an online bookstore, and an events calendar. In order to email the park, use the "contact us" link located on the left side of the webpage.
Professor Colin G. Calloway looks at Native American participation in the French and Indian War, focusing on the motivations and experiences of these individuals.
Professor Wayne Franklin discusses the life and work of James Fenimore Cooper, his inspiration for and work on the French and Indian War novel The Last of the Mohicans, and the influence of his depiction of this war on U.S. popular novels, works on the war, literature and on the colonial-era history of the U.S. Franklin also covers, in relation, the history of fiction-writing and novels in the U.S.
Massachusetts Historical Society director William F. Fowler, Jr., follows the course of the French and Indian War and details its impact on North American history.
Director of the Massachusetts Historical Society William Fowler follows the history of the French and Indian War, emphasizing its importance as a turning point in U.S. history that remains little taught and little known popularly.
Situated in the recreated Monongahela Bastion at Point State Park, the Fort Pitt Museum commemorates the strategic importance of the Forks of the Ohio during the Great War for Empire in which British, French, Colonial, and Native American forces struggled for control of North America. Through exhibits and programs, the museum also addresses the important role of Fort Pitt during the American Revolution and the early development of the city of Pittsburgh. The site presents tours, exhibits, educational programs, and publications to broaden understanding of the significance of the area known as "the Point." In meeting this goal, Fort Pitt Museum closely examines the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the various military fortifications established on the site, the many cultures that influenced the development of the region, and the importance of the fur trade and other early commerce.
The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.
Colonel Henry Bouquet and a force of approximately 400 British soldiers left Carlisle in July to relieve the besieged Fort Pitt and end a series of unchecked attacks against frontier outposts. The opening of western Pennsylvania to settlement was the result of a decisive victory over the Native Americans at the Battle of Bushy Run, August 5th and 6th, 1763.
The site offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).
The site of Maryland's frontier defense during the French and Indian War (17541763), the Fort's stone wall and two barracks have been restored to their 1758 appearance. Historic displays are in the Fort, barracks, and Visitor Center. The park annually holds military reenactments and other special events.
The park offers a short film, exhibits, tours, and living history demonstrations and events.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes Five Indian nations' formation of the Iroquois Confederacy in an effort to protect themselves against European settlers. The confederacy successfully maintained its strength through decades of colonization and warfare.