Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to Tales from the French and Indian War. I am your host, Jackson, and by my side, as always, is... Your co-host, Matt. And today we are going to cover the fallout of the Battle for Necessity, which we just went over last episode.
Speaker: How did both sides react to, well, for the French it was a great victory and the British it was a great defeat. What steps are the governments going to take afterwards and how is this all going to culminate in the 1755 campaign season?
Speaker: are you ready matt So ready. I think we're finally getting into the action of the war and it's it's fun to talk about this, although we will leave the listeners with a little bit of a cliffhanger because we're not to actually going to get up to the next military action yet. We are going to talk about just diplomatic ramifications that Fort Necessity had, except that they're important to understand going forward.
Speaker: Yeah, we got to tease out all the big battles, you know. We're grateful that you've stuck with us this far after several episodes of just tensions and diplomatic rebukes and then one battle.
Speaker: But yes, 1755 will be full of different encounters that we will be talking about. But for now... The Battle of Fort Necessity has just ended. Washington and the rest of his Virginia provincials and the redcoats that were there had to leave the fort.
Speaker: It was burned down by the French. and Washington and his troops marched the long, long way back to Virginia. Now, what do the French think of this? As you might expect, they are very pleased.
Speaker: The governor general of New France at this time, the Marquis Duquesne, he writes to Contrecoeur, who was in command of Fort Duquesne at this time. He was the one who dispatched de Villiers to go attack Washington ah for necessity.
Speaker: But he writes, and I'll just read some French real quick and then translate, Rien de plus s'assouer, monsieur, que la jolie affaire qui vient de se passer au haut de la rivière Melonghelie, which means essentially nothing more to be desired, sir, than the lovely affair that just happened above the river Melongahela.
Speaker: So, you they kind of... was just about to say that. Dang it. Yeah. Beat me to it. So they have obviously are very thrilled, especially just the satisfying nature of Jumanville was attacked and killed.
Speaker: And now they got to have their revenge and it played out probably better than they expected, considering that the British had about 400 armed troops barreling up towards the force But luckily those reinforcements came in time. Villiers came and led the revenge attack, succeeded.
Speaker: The French are very satisfied. And then Duquesne goes on in his letter to encourage Contrecoeur to keep staying on the good side of the Indians, because that is a key strategy of the French in the 1750s here in the Ohio country.
Speaker: And he also impresses on them. on the Indians, that is, to not receive any English traitors in their villages and kind of gives them free reign to plunder and pillage any English traitors that are in the Ohio country.
Speaker: And Jackson, just to follow up on that too, was there any mention um from the French account of that event about the the surrender that Washington signed, having admitting to assassinated Jumanville?
Speaker: And that letter specifically, i read through, but I don't... ah don't There was a little bit of discussion about the surrender terms, but I don't think there was ah whole lot there specifically referring to the assassination. I think to the French, that was just like a given. Like, yeah, they viewed it as an assassination, so it wasn't worth talking about as much because they all were on the same page there.
Speaker: But of course, on the British side, that is where the contention and the dispute arises about the language used. But to the French at this time, i think they were all just like... Yep, it was a dirty, low-down assassination, and we avenged ourselves and you know covered our honor.
Speaker: I think, too, I saw this in at least one or two articles I'd seen when I was researching for this episode, that at least some French sources in that area... wrote or distributed distributed on pamphlets um basically phrases saying that Washington was a confessed murderer.
Speaker: um And they had distributed that to locals and natives in the region, which was interesting that you know they're like oh we got him you know he said he said he did it so and then here's his clear french language saying that he killed jumanville which was interesting pretty uh condemning for washington anyway we talked about the difficult such circumstances surrounding that document and the possible lack of good translation but
Speaker: Yeah, to the wider world, it looks pretty clear like, oh, there's the confession. There's the there it is there in clear writing. So that's definitely used as ammunition, diplomatic ammunition against the British.
Speaker: They're like, nobody else could ever interpret this French word as meaning anything other than assassination. It's funny. Except for Van Braum, the interpreter, perhaps.
Speaker: yeah But yes, ah one fun fact before we get into the British reaction. I know you have some accounts, some letters from Washington and Dinwiddie summing up what had just happened in the summer of 1754.
Speaker: But I was looking through this collection of letters and other documents and maps called the Papier Contre-Coeur, one of the primary sources, just collecting a lot of letters between Contre-Coeur and the French government in Quebec or other between other officers, some dialogue with Indians, different maps. But in it, there was, for August and September, there were like a like a garrison, and an expenditure list that mentioned the people in the garrison of the fort.
Speaker: And I was looking through, sometimes it was just a last name. Sometimes there's both first and last names, but I was looking through specifically, I'm like, do will I recognize any of these last names? And then consult the the couple ancestry sites I've used that I rely on.
Speaker: And I did find, i found some where it just said like Gagne. And I was like, well, there's a good chance I'm related to him, but there's no first name. So I can't, you know, I can't get any closer than that. But i kept scrolling and there was a Barthélémy Gagné.
Speaker: And I was like, okay, Barthélémy, which is like the French Bartholomew. That's pretty unique name. I think I could, I could do some searching in these ancestry databases and narrow down if that is related to any of my ancestors. And sure enough,
Speaker: There was a Barthélémy Gagné, my seventh great grand uncle, who would have been about 20 to 25 at that time, perfect military age. And I feel like with all the available information, I can be 90% sure that ah I am related to Barthélémy Gagné, who served at Fort Duquesne.
Speaker: so So there's my every episode. Every episode, we got to find some random connection to a French soldier or officer. So there's the one for this this episode. This can be a drinking game for the listeners. Sometimes Jackson mentions a French figure he's related to. Yes. And I think if you're listening to this in the future, episode after episode, you might get alcohol poisoning.
Speaker: I'd be careful with that. But ah yeah, no, that's funny. I saw that in the show notes and I was like, guys, it's pretty cool that you can actually tie this back so easily. yeah think Because like when I've done some ancestry stuff, you know, like stuff back in the even early eighteen hundreds is hard to find and there's mistranslations and names get mixed up where one name written incorrectly that's scanned in wrong somewhere can throw your entire trail off so i'm pretty impressed you could track it back that far Yeah, i was I was thrilled to see that because, yeah, just like you said, you can't really expect to find much, especially if it's just like a common soldier or a militiaman.
Speaker: So coming across that just while researching this episode was a fun little treat. But we'll get back to the what the listeners actually want to hear about. I've been i've been i've been placated with that Yeah, we'll talk about how the ah the British saw for Fort Necessity and what the impact was on their side.
Speaker: So you would think that the the British right now, especially George Washington, after losing his first real battle in the field, ah would be licking their wounds in a way. in a sense, they were.
Speaker: However, I think the the reaction on the English side was a little bit lessened than what you would expect. And ah Washington got a more favorable reception when he got back to Virginia than I think we would have expected, or he would have expected as well.
Speaker: And i when I was preparing for this episode, i dove back into... both the National Archives and some of the British archives to try to find some original correspondence that Washington had sent to Dinwiddie after this, and then also um what Dinwiddie had sent to the British government, which interestingly enough, he didn't actually communicate directly with the British government. He communicated with the Board of Trade i don't know what the I don't know the British government well enough to know what the relationship between... i think... Now, I also don't know very much, but I think I read somewhere the Board of Trade was like made up of several powerful positions in the British government that... kind of managed economic policies and things like that. So I believe it is, of course, any listeners who are real experts in this time period might be like, come on, how don't, why don't you know about how the British structure? Feel free to correct us in the comments. Feel free to correct us. But I believe it was like a group of very important British officials, essentially, the government. would make sense to why, if they're overseeing the colonies too, if they're in charge of economic affairs, because as we know, the colonies were it meant to,
Speaker: meant to turn a profit and that was about it. so so anyway, so getting into this correspondence, I am first going to read George Washington's account for necessity to directly at Dinwiddie. And he wrote this when he was back in Virginia in July nineteen of Before I begin, i would like to remind our listeners and Jackson confirm what I'm saying as well.
Speaker: So the casualty figures in the Battle for Necessity were about, I think we, did we agree on around like 70 total casualties for the British with about 30 killed? Does that sound about right?
Speaker: So yes, I've got about 30 killed and 70 wounded for the British and then just about three killed and 19 wounded roughly for the French. Okay. Correct. And what was the size of the French force? Was it around 600 was six Let me look through my past. No, French, Indians. So total.
Speaker: 700. Okay. So this just important to remember the context of the battle when I'm reading through these. And you'll see it kind of gets changed a little bit, especially in one important area. And we'll talk about that when we get to it. And I think that might have changed the reception Washington got and the reception that Dinwiddie got when he relayed this back to the British government. but Without further ado, thankfully, i will say that the Founders Archives, who I'm reading this from, they turn Washington's old English into like normal English or not normal English, but common modern day English. It's a lot easier to read than it normally would be.
Speaker: Looking through the original letter, it's very hard to to make out what it's saying. So I appreciate the translation. So it's just titled An Account by George Washington James McKay of the Capitulation of Fort Nesamey.
Speaker: starts, the third of this instant July, about nine o'clock, we received intelligence that the French, having been reinforced with 700 recruits, had left Managahela and were in full march with 900 men to attack us.
Speaker: So I'll stop right there. so nine hundred um there's your first inaccuracy it's it was not 900 as we said it was about 600 and of course to be fair to washington it probably felt like there was a lot more than there were but yes it does seem like 200 french and indians just materialized that's correct and how many uh how many british soldiers were in fort necessity this time believe they 400 roughly so it was versus okay yeah next sentence upon this as our numbers were so unequal our whole force not exceeding 300 we prepared for our defense in the best manner we could by throwing up a small entrenchment which we had not time to perfect before our sentinel gave notice about 11 o'clock of their approach by firing his piece which he did at the enemy and as we learned afterwards killed three of their men
Speaker: so uh right there was quite a cannon shot yeah washington's already claiming that one shot killed the entire number of soldiers that oh yeah in the battle yeah so that would be they they kill three the opening volley and then they don't kill any others for the rest of the day in the fighting so yeah you see kind of where we're where we're going so ah So what she did the enemy fs as we learned afterwards killed three of their men on which they began to fire upon us at about 600 yards distance, but without any effect.
Speaker: They then advanced in a very irregular manner to point to another point of woods about 60 yards off and thence made a second discharge upon which finding they had no intention of attacking us in the open field, we retired into our trenches and still reserved our fire as we expected from their great superiority of numbers that they would endeavor to force our trenches,
Speaker: but finding they did not seem to intend this neither the colonel gave orders to fire which was done with great alastrichty and undauntedness that's some big words we continue this unequal fight with an enemy shelter behind the trees ourselves without a shelter and trenches full of water and a settled rain and the enemy galling us on all sides incessantly from the woods till eight o'clock at night when the french came to parlay from the great alacrity it means liveliness briskness or sprightliness so that was describing their fire i just looked it up real quick thank you for that um
Speaker: We then sent Captain Van Brom and Mr. Peyronie, which I'm not sure if we, do we know who that is? Oh, yes. So I ah learned, just read about him recently as William LaPeronie. He was actually, i believe, a French Huguenot.
Speaker: a French Protestant who had moved to, think Virginia it was, to avoid persecution in France. And he became ah very devoted very devoted like English colonist, essentially. He was very patriotic for Virginia. And of course, this makes sense now because I had read when researching for the Battle of Fort Necessity episode that Washington had sent out two skilled French speakers, obviously, William Peroni.
Speaker: He would have been a native French speaker, Van Braam was from the Netherlands, so he had only learned French as a second language. But it turned out that La Peroni was too wounded from the action to be of any use.
Speaker: And he like came back. And so Van Braam was left on his own. And those, I think, were the only two French speakers in Washington's force. So i'm glad ah I'm glad he specifically called that out and you asked that because I was like, oh, I just learned about this.
Speaker: Yeah, I think I had seen that name before and I wasn't sure if we talked about it. So i'm glad we got to do a little background on him there. Yeah. um Okay, so then to continue. So we sent Captain Van Brahm and Mr. Peroni to receive their proposals, which they did.
Speaker: And about midnight, we agreed that each side should retire without molestation. They backed to their fort at Monongahela and we'd Wills Creek. that we should march away with all the honors of war, with all our stores, effects, and baggage.
Speaker: Accordingly, the next morning, with our drums beating and our colors flying, we begin our march in good order with our stores and in convoy. but we were interrupted by the arrival of a reinforcement of a hundred Indians among the French, who were hardly restrained from attacking us and did us considerable damage by pilfering our baggage.
Speaker: We then proceeded, but soon found it necessary to leave our baggage in stores. The great scarcity of our provisions obliged us to use the utmost expedition and having neither wagons or horses to transport them.
Speaker: The enemy had deprived us of all of our creatures by killing in the beginning of the engagement our horses, cattle, and every living thing they could, even to the very dogs. The number of the killed on our side was 30 and 70 wounded. So, I mean, that's accurate. That accords.
Speaker: Yeah. Our men behaved with singular intrepidity. And we determined not to ask for quarter, but with our bayonets screwed, to sell our lives as dearly as we possibly could. From the numbers of the enemy in our situation, we could not hope for victory.
Speaker: And from the character of those who had to we had to encounter, we expected no mercy, but on terms that we positively resolved not to submit to. that's the main part of his letter. Then we get to the very interesting part.
Speaker: The number killed and wounded of the enemy is uncertain, but by the information given by some Dutch in their service to their countrymen and ours, we learned that it amounted to above 300. Oh, wow. Wow. and we wow juice Yeah. and we are induced to believe it must be very considerable by their being busy all night and buring their dead and yet many remained the next day and their wounded we know was considerable ah one of our men who had been made prisoner by them after signing the article
Speaker: and who on his return told us that he saw great numbers much wounded and carried off upon litters We were also told by some of their Indians after the action that the French had an officer distinguishable rank killed.
Speaker: Some considerable blow they must have received to induce them to call first for a parlay, knowing as they perfectly did the circumstances we were in. i don't know who the officer is that was killed.
Speaker: I don't know about like the secondary officers under Davilier, but obviously Davilier was fine. So yeah yeah the so the Founders Archives a footnote in there.
Speaker: It says Davilier's journal does not mention such a loss. Yeah. Wow. Interesting. That's cool. That is a big disparity. Yeah. Wow. is they They even have in here too that George Washington inflated estimates of French casualties.
Speaker: But those were echoed by other British sources as well. so I mean, you got to imagine some of it might be like legitimate. think I mean, I feel like in a battle like that, you're always going to think you do better than you actually did. But some of it also could be like, oh man, we just we just we weve we're very lucky we escaped with our lives at all.
Speaker: like Let's at least try to make our image look a little bit better by like, oh, but we really gave it to them though, man. Let me tell you. yeah We totally weren't breaking into the rum supply and getting drunk because we thought we were about to get massacred.
Speaker: Absolutely not. No, they were fighting they were fighting with their bayonets screwed. They were ready to kill the enemy. me Wow, that is but is very very interesting. I'm glad you found that.
Speaker: Yeah. And then, so continue on with my reading selection. So now we have, this is Dinwiddie's account to, to the board of trade in England. And unfortunately this is not in the Founders archives. And then I'm reading the original.
Speaker: letter that he had sent so some of this might be a little bit a little rough but i think we'll be able to get the gist of it so this is to like i said to the lords of trade in england this was sent on july 24th so this is five days after he received washington's letter Enclosed, you have copy of my last, to which please be referred. A few days ago, arrived here Colonel Washington, commander of the forces, raised in this domain, and Captain McKay of the Independent Company from South Carolina. Okay, I will pause here. A lot of these words are abbreviated, so it's hard to understand he's saying. So like South Carolina is...
Speaker: or yeah south carolina is So period C A R period. So, uh, that's a, there's a lot of deciphering is necessary.
Speaker: So it says, um, of the independent company from South Carolina, from our camp at the meadows, near the Ohio river, who gave the following melancholy account of an engagement between our forces in the French on the third of this month, the intelligence that the French were reinforced at the fort they took from us in may last near the Ohio was 700 men.
Speaker: And yet they were in full march with 900 men to attack our small camp, which consisted of few more than 300 men besides officers. They immediately connected and prepared to make it the best defense their small numbers would emit by throwing up a small entrenchment, which they had not time to complete before their sentry gave the alarm by firing his gun of the approach the enemy.
Speaker: Immediately they appeared in the sight of the camp and fired at our people at a great distance, which did no harm. Our small forces were drawn up in good order to receive them before the entrancements, but did not return their fire, reserving it until they came nigher.
Speaker: The enemy advanced irregularly within 60 yards of our forces and yet made a second discharge. Colonel gave orders to our people to fire on the enemy, which they did with great briskness. And the officers declare the engagement. Seems like, uh, it seems like he just kind of copy pasted some of Washington's account, right? In that part.
Speaker: Exactly. But I, I didn't know Dinwiddie's account, he's making it seem a lot more defensive too than Washington. Oh yeah. I did. Yeah. yeah He's saying that, you know, they, they were fired upon, they were fired upon again and then see no other attempt of parlay. Then we fired. So it's just interesting. And I think that's because, you know, didn't what he's orders to Washington's were different than didn't what he's orders from the crown. so like Washington knew he had leeway from didn't what he's orders, but I think that what he was like, Oh, we have to, we have to portray this as we were on the defensive
Speaker: Yeah, especially because it was Dinwiddie who organized Washington's expedition and that did not come from the crown. So it does make sense that Dinwiddie is just being like, well, they were just they were just coming at us. that we We tried to stay on the defensive only.
Speaker: correct. So yeah, as you said, he know he's copying a lot of what Washington said here. So he says the engagement continued from 11 o'clock till 8 o'clock at night. they They being without shelter, rainy weather in their trenches to knee and water, whereas the French were sheltered all around our camp by trees.
Speaker: From thence they galled our people all the time above. I mean, he uses the same words like galled and yeah that's some telltale signs here and there and saying like the firing like the briskness of the firing like i can't imagine he had washington's letter right next to him as he was writing this just copying it down um about eight o'clock at night the french called out to parlay on which the commander sent two officers to whom they gave the proposals copy of which i send you here enclosed from our few numbers in our bad situation they our forces were glad to accept them other ways they were determined to lose their lives rather than be taken prisoners
Speaker: The next morning, a party from the French came to possession of our encampment and our people marched off colors flying and beat of drum. But there appeared ah fresh party of 100 Indians joined the French who people much. There again, very copy paste.
Speaker: And i just make I guess it makes sense. I truly don't remember there being a separate party of Native Americans that show up. So I had read and I ended up leaving it out because we were just about hitting an hour. but And it was kind of like a less satisfying ending. Like we ended with Washington marching out with their one little cannon.
Speaker: And like, that was that, but there was ah some Indians that really wanted some extra, some plunder that the French had denied them. And they're like, why are we letting these British just walk away with their supplies and weapons and clothes and all that? So there was some harassment of the British as they were leaving, which made the dignified exit of the fort a little less dignified as they were getting kind of pilfered, like, and robbed along the way for like a,
Speaker: at least a few hours or like the the following day yeah for sure okay that makes more sense then ah it's not a completely made-up story then at that point yeah at least something it probably wasn't like a hundred brand new indians it' was probably just the same ones that were already there or like at least a good chunk of them but yeah so okay i'll skip down because you're right he copies a lot of the letter um yeah so is there any any other interesting nuggets from his account For sure. So we get into the numbers killed. So he says the number of the enemy killed in this action is uncertain, but by account from some Dutch in their service, they they say 300 and many wounded. So he says the same thing to the crown.
Speaker: And then so we get through that part and you know we get down to where Dinwiddie is kind of complaining to the crown um about the lack of assistance that they have gotten in this entire expedition.
Speaker: And we'll see that's kind of where where uh did what he and british kind of push the blame here is not on washington and uh his lack of military command ability but more on the supplies being an issue so uh lack of support from the virginia assembly probably Yeah, so this is kind of where he gets into it. So he says, our few forces have behave great intrepidy and resolution is action i begged leave to observe to your lord's misfortunes attending the extra expedition
Speaker: his major orders of for two of his independent companies was transmitted to me they delay coming here till late in june and we're the twelfth this month only at winchester and their way to our camp they were unprovided with anything for a march they had no tents blankets knapsacks spterdaes or kettle nay only one block of gunpowder quite spoiled and the company not complete the muster role and the captain's certificate for the deficiency of men i have transmitted to the secretary of war and have given them a proper supply of every necessary directed to supplying them and the other companies from south carolina with provisions and hope you will please give orders how i am to draw for reimbursement
Speaker: If these two companies had joined our forces at the time, they should. The French would not have attacked us. Or if they had, if these companies had behaved with the valor and resolution of the others, in all probability, we should have defeated them.
Speaker: The aid given by North Carolina are in their march, but have not yet joined the forces. Their delay is greatly misfortunate. The other colonies have not given any assistance, and I fear do not intend to do anything unless obligated by an act of parliament.
Speaker: I forgot to mention some of the Indians remain with our people, but generally speak these people's side with the conquerors. The French had pretty many Indians they brought from Canada and high up the River Ohio who were in the engagement. I suspect many of our friendly Indians on the Ohio...
Speaker: ah will join them out of fear. As the French are allowed quiet settlement on our river, it's more and it's more than probable they will extend theircursions into our present settlements indeed we had several several families settled within a few miles of the fort they took from us ah shall comply with the articles agreed on returning the prisoners in order to recover our two captains who are hostages for the performance error of under these misfortunes i thought proper to order the building of a fort near wills creek about seventy miles from place of action
Speaker: and to build a magazine for provisions and to keep people and pay until I hear from Britain and have orders what to do hereafter in regard to the expedition. So he he goes on to talk about more about the supply and ah the bravery of the men. But I think that kind of, that conveys the general attitude that Dinwood he had towards Washington's expedition, that well, you know, it does happen, but if, you know, we would have been supported properly by the other colonies and they would have been given necessary supplies, then it wouldn't have happened.
Speaker: So yeah, I got, I got two notes about that. ah One, his prediction was spot on about how now that the French have installed themselves, if they're allowed to just remain there, they will continue to turn the Ohio Indians to their side and,
Speaker: He was absolutely right. We'll definitely see that next 1755 and 1756 especially. he was spot with that prediction.
Speaker: so he was he was spot on with that prediction um I also, oh, the other thing I wanted to bring up, I can assume that some of the other colonies' reluctance to really buy into Dinwiddie's actions are that. We got to remember, this wasn't just governmental incentives or overall British colony strategy, but it was Ohio company speculation that Dinwiddie was involved in, and one of the reasons he so ardently wanted to secure the forks of the Ohio and kick out the French. So,
Speaker: I can imagine some of the other colonies would be like, why would I help you line your pockets by securing this land you're speculating on? And he, uh, so he, and I didn't get to this part, but in one of the last sentences of the letter, he says that I shall wait with great impatience for orders, how to proceed for the future.
Speaker: And I doubt not your Lords will think no time is to be lost in forcing the French from the Ohio. So it's pretty clear there in this use of Jackson, like he has significant financial, um,
Speaker: Financial gains in this area that he's concerned about, and he's that he's not backing down from the stance that the French have to be kicked out. This isn't a matter of, oh, you know, we can back off, let him have it, avoid a bigger conflict. He wants authorization to kick them out.
Speaker: And you know, right on that, I was reading through some of Washington and Dinwiddie's letters back and forth right after this. And I was surprised to learn that in early August, pretty much like right when Washington and the the exhausted Virginians returned back to where they had started from, which was either, I think, Williamsburg or Alexandria, Virginia, one of those two.
Speaker: Dinwiddie almost like immediately orders him to get his regiment back up to strength and march back out there and take Fort Decayne, which I did not know that before. I thought just like after Fort Necessity, like that was it for the year. But Dinwiddie almost immediately wanted to send them back out there.
Speaker: Washington, in letters to other people, I think to like Lord Fairfax, he complains about this, mentioning it's completely impractical. The number of his men, their morale, their low supplies, like especially with fall coming quickly and then the bitter cold that he just experienced last winter in the Ohio country.
Speaker: He's like, no, this this is a ridiculous demand. And then sure enough, yeah, go ahead. i was going to say, I read the exact same thing. That like, it was ah over half of his force was wounded and severely wounded too and they made that huge that very long journey so you can imagine like just the anger that you would feel when you get back and he's like nope turn around go back yeah try again and they obviously they didn't have good supplies either so I'm sure these men were starving know trying to make sure what level they had and yet they were turned around yeah they didn't have much when the French attacked and I'm sure after the long march back they really didn't have much but
Speaker: And in any regard, by September, Dinwiddie was fighting with the assembly, of the Virginia assembly, and he could not get those extra supplies or expenditures for another campaign. So that plan fizzled out and there was no more large scale action, military action for the rest of 1754. Yeah. If you are just look in in the the table contents of the ah volume of his correspondence I'm reading, the amount of letters that he sent between July of 1754 and about like August, September of that year is insane. Like he was obviously shooting out letters to every member of parliament and I'm sure the House of Lords complaining about what was to come and
Speaker: So that just kind of backs up there. I just noted that like the amount, I think he sent, i think I have at least 15 letters here that are dated July 24th. Oh, wow. And one that's a lot of writing or dictation at least.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Okay. I've got, uh, I want to take a look at some European French attitudes, not just not specifically regarding Fort necessity, but this, this awkward period where Britain and France are not at war yet, but you know, these every, it feels like every month, there's just some kind of new escalation.
Speaker: Uh, did you have anything else you wanted to talk about Fort necessity or the British reaction to that before I look at some of these broader perspectives? ah No, I think i think we're we're good on that, and I think that we should probably start getting into like what happened in 1755, and as we kind of lead up to, eventually we'll get up to Braddock's expedition, but I'll let you let you take it away.
Speaker: Okay. So yeah, I had, to this is mainly drawing from the book La Guerre de Satan, or The Seven Years' Edmond Zimbowski.
Speaker: It's kind of like, i think it's like the the standard, like, comprehensive history of The Seven Years' War in French. But he devotes a lot of time to the diplomatic side of things.
Speaker: It's just Very exhaustively researched, quotes so many different sources. Very impressive work. But I'm mostly going to be pulling from some of his work for this next section. So I wanted to look at some of the attitudes of the of the European French.
Speaker: How do they view this increasing conflict in the new world? We'll see. And how do they view possibly confronting Britain officially about it?
Speaker: Well, there's a a range of different opinions, and I'll just read some here and translate if I hadn't already translated. but So one common view from the European French is mirrors that of Voltaire, who has a famous quote when when thinking about fighting this war or possibly fighting this war.
Speaker: He mentions, translated, like fighting for a few acres of snow populated by ah bears and beavers so that's a a pretty common view that's where live he's like why on earth would we be fighting over over canada and the ohio country like it's just some few acres of snow and animals like this is this is not worth our attention our time getting in the trouble of going to war with britain that That view is shared widely, also by the French ambassador to Great Britain at this time, Mierpoix.
Speaker: He just can't believe that these two countries would go to war over these, in his view, kind like colonial squabblings. He says, and I'll translate, you know, it's like my heart bleeds to see us on the edge of getting in a scuffle, of getting in a fight for objects or goals so puny as those of the current question.
Speaker: So this is like right at the beginning of 1755, as there's a lot of diplomatic attempts and feints and pretenses between the two countries as they're trying to figure out like, well what are how are we going to resolve this?
Speaker: But he's just like, ah he just cannot believe that there might be a possibility of the two countries going to war over you know some border disputes in the Ohio country.
Speaker: Now, there are a few other more, uh, quite different responses, but there were some in the government who were, you know, very much like war hawks. They, uh, they said it's necessary to, you know, like to bear our fangs, to bear our teeth.
Speaker: Others, like the Duke de Coy, who was a high-ranking military officer, maybe a marshal at this point, he, probably knowing a good deal of inside information about the strength of the French army and navy, said, well, if you want to bare your fangs, you first need to have it.
Speaker: That's essentially what he's quoted as saying. Basically, like we're not ready for war. we If you want to like play a real hard line with Britain over this stuff, we just don't have the strength to to back that up.
Speaker: And I know we noted, i think, an episode or two ago where the Marquis Duquesne, governor general of New France, had specifically noted the poor situation of the king's finances, essentially the poor economic state of France and its empires at the time, where you know building all these forts was already expensive enough. So he had an inside view on that.
Speaker: So to kind of respond to Voltaire and Mircroix, those who couldn't believe that such a invaluable to their eyes, territory, unprofitable territory in Canada, and the Ohio country, in Louisiana, why it might be worth standing up for that or fighting for that strategic area for France is a different view from ah Jacob Nicolas Moreau.
Speaker: who was, among other things, a French historian who lived through and wrote ah different like newspapers. or He wrote different things during the war.
Speaker: and I will translate this this section here for us because he gives a pretty intelligent and far-seeing look at the situation where some of his other compatriots in France, in the upper echelons of the government, do not.
Speaker: So he's writing here November of 1755, so not too long after these events, technically still before war has been declared. But he says, like, I bring my, I turn my regard to the French colonies and I start with that of Canada, considered by itself or in relation to the islands in the Caribbean's that it protects.
Speaker: I said in my first letter that Canada, at least up to the present, costs more to France than it produces. It is the boulevard of the islands. There is its greatest advantage.
Speaker: So he's referring to the direct route from Canada down the waterways through Louisiana and to the Caribbean islands and then also waterways in the ocean. Oh, he's talking about through the Mississippi River. That and he's also being more like metaphorical and he'll explain here why, what he exactly means about this connection between Canada and the very lucrative sugar colonies and other tropical plants, colonies of France in the Caribbean, which...
Speaker: produce a lot of money for France, unlike Canada, even with the fur trade. So he says this second source of commerce for the French will vanish once the English are possessors of the country that France possesses on the continent. So he's saying like when the but If the English were to take Canada and the Ohio country and Louisiana, then the very lucrative islands of the Caribbean are going to be toast. There's no way they could they could be held against if there's no French presence in North America.
Speaker: he says, the fertile provinces occupied by the english colonies on the edge of the atlantic ocean are today by their cares and their works rich states as flourishing as several kingdoms of europe commerce has introduced there arts the arsenals are full of weapons They put out every year vessels constructed in the country and the establishments of the English on the coast furnish currently more to Europe than they take away.
Speaker: If these people who are becoming terribly warlike are no longer, were no longer contained by the French of Canada, if they form a plan to take the islands, they The arming would be done and the expedition completely ready before the news reaches Europe.
Speaker: The... enterprise the plan would be, will be executed before in the ports of France and Spain, we had even time to equip the vessels necessary to oppose it.
Speaker: So he's recognizing that a strong French presence in North America can counterbalance the almost overwhelming presence of the British colonies by keeping them distracted, keeping their focus split, because if canada and the ohio country and louisiana and acadia if that all falls then there is nothing to stop a rapid strike against the very lucrative spice and sugar islands of the caribbean that definitely that definitely makes sense i never thought about it in that light but um i think that's a much more insightful view of it seeing canada as a piece in in the mini car or in the
Speaker: There's a cog in the many gears of the French economy rather than just seeing it as yeah just barren colonial soil. There are more benefits and disadvantages to areas than just the profit that they bring in. There's a lot of strategic interests that aren't being taken into account by some in the French government.
Speaker: But yeah. So which, which I guess in your opinion, which view do you think won out primarily for the French government in this in this area or this era? Well, as we go through this podcast and go through the years, both you and the listeners will see what what kind of attitude the French opt for. But to do a little bit of spoiler alert, they will prioritize the conflict in Europe and the situation in Europe to the detriment of the situation in the New World. And that will yeah really take effect later in and the middle ah and later of the war.
Speaker: Which makes sense because the idea of Eurocentricism does not die out after the French-Indian War. And we'll see that's one of the main reasons that the American Revolution started. It's because of Eurocentricism. So I think that definitely makes sense. Whereas the globalistic view, I guess, would not carry the day.
Speaker: globalistic view i guess would but not but not ah carried the day Yes. No. it's it It would be ridiculous in the minds of the vast majority of French and British citizens at that ah the colonies across the ocean, those backwards places that they are on equal footing with the mother country.
Speaker: And at this time, the British, they, in this, you know, kind of in-between period where the action of 1754 eases up and then winter comes on where no real, you know, expeditions or large scale actions can take place anyway. and going into the spring of 1755,
Speaker: The British are not idle. So as early as September 1754. seventeen fifty four So this is just two months after Battle of Fort Necessity, probably just like one month or less than when the news reaches ah England.
Speaker: The British high command are already planning their next moves for 1755. So led mostly by Newcastle or the Duke of Newcastle, who is the prime minister and like the leader of the government at this time, other than the king.
Speaker: He is going to begin developing plans for 1755 of a ah quick, overwhelming surgical strike against New France, again, without being at war, to kind of just seize the head of the government and, you know, strike so overwhelmingly hard and quick that France will just be forced to cede their claims to the Ohio country. And they'll just have to kind of go along with what Britain wants in the New World.
Speaker: But he's quickly joined in his planning by the Duke of Cumberland, who is also like the high commander of the British forces, and he's captain general of the British army, and King George II's favored son.
Speaker: and So he gets involved in the planning, and he quick It quickly develops into a very sprawling campaign. So it's the still the goal is still to hit the French hard and fast in the New World, but rather than what Newcastle was originally planning, which I think would have probably just been like a quick attack against Quebec and you know seizing the you know the capital of New France.
Speaker: I'm assuming that's more what he was thinking. It becomes this these plans for a massive four-pronged attack, coordinated attack against New France.
Speaker: ah So they end up developing, they'll have one attack going against the rest of French Acadia, which had not yet been... given to the British, the western part of Acadia.
Speaker: And then then there would be two prongs in what is now upstate New York, one going up north through Lake George. forget the other the other lake that's over there, but like the i think it's the Richelieu River up to like towards Montreal.
Speaker: Then another upstate New York thrust against Fort Niagara. And then finally, another thrust back up the pretty much the same route that Washington took, going to finally take Fort Duquesne.
Speaker: So it's a very ambitious, very sprawling plan that... doesn't really take into account the difficulty of coordinating four separate offenses at the same time, and especially in so many of these areas which are still very much wilderness and unsettled and don't have infrastructure to move large armies. But...
Speaker: Very quickly, this develops. Was this prior to William Pitt being? Yes. so he William Pitt was in the government as like a, I don't know what the title would be, like a commoner, like in the commons, like a senator kind of.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah and the In the legislature, but he is not at the head of the government yet. okay Yeah, because I remember ah from learning about this a few years ago that I believe he was good friends with King George III when King George III takes fire, which we'll see. if This is all a spoiler and stuff. But I know he is not favored by King George II.
Speaker: He's playing by Newcastle. I mean, mostly ca the Duke of Cumberland, which would be... Is it comfortable? ah Yeah, it's one one of King George II's sons.
Speaker: Yeah, the favorite son. i know that William Pitt will eventually pose these plans and stuff. and We'll see what happens, but I just wanted to make sure my timelines were lined up there. Yeah.
Speaker: Yep. So as a Britain, the higher ups in the British government are developing the 1755 campaign plans. They are also trying to throw off France diplomatically where they'll make it look like, yeah, we want peace. We want peace. And then they'll kind of like drag on the talks.
Speaker: And of course, France, they're not being super accommodating either. You know, they don't want to give up any concessions in the new world, in the Ohio country. But Britain, especially, let's see, I think I've got it here. Oh, yeah. Sir Thomas Robinson, one of the diplomats in the House of Commons, he was writing to Newcastle on April 5th, 1755. And it was funny because I found this quoted in that French article.
Speaker: book but i could not find the english quote so i'm it'll be a little off what it actually is because i'm going to translate it from french into english even though the original language of the quote was english but he said the king wonders if it would not be better to have war since the france is so low and we are so superior on the seas england will never have such a beautiful occasion And then Newcastle, just a month or couple months later in June, beginning of June, as these military expeditions are already underway, they've all either...
Speaker: Yeah, they've all landed in the new world and they've begun or about to begin marching towards their objectives. Newcastle wrote that, again, I don't have the original English quote, but until the present, France has lost by giving us the time to make our preparations in such a complete manner.
Speaker: So let's look at some of the different opinions and some of the the events that are happening. in this weird droll de paix, an odd peace. The two countries are at peace, but they're actively moving against each other. They're sending multiple invasion armies over into the new world, but it's still a time of peace. It's just a very odd peace.
Speaker: Yeah, it's like a cold war, essentially. Yes, it's a cold war that is in the process of turning very, very hot. Yeah. so what the French, I'm assuming this time, they were taking...
Speaker: defensive measures, is that right? Since you know England was on the offensive, I'm assuming. Yes, so that's a great segue into the last main thing I have to talk about here which will might wrap us up just about an hour, which would be good. But eventually the French do catch wind of what the British are up to. They have spies in England, of course. They see some of these invasion forces are being shipped off to the New World. So they eventually catch on that, okay, the British are not interested in peace and working this out.
Speaker: um On May 3rd, France will dispatch about 3,000 regulars to New France for defense. Now, importantly, just a week prior, the British had launched a fleet under Admiral Boscoen with the explicit orders of patrolling the Newfoundland and opening of the St. Lawrence River area, which is the main way that France would get ah ships into New France, into Quebec.
Speaker: But Boscoen is to patrol those areas and seize any ships of war. Again, before war has been declared. But a week later, France sends out 3,000 troops. So if Boscoen surprises and seizes these troops, all of New France's reinforcements for that year are gone.
Speaker: And that would be a devastating blow. And these all these British offenses... which are very ambitious, might then just plow through new France. When early June arrives and the french the French fleet, French reinforcement fleet, which they had these ships of war refitted to just hold more troops, so they're already at a ah vulnerable moment where they don't have as many cannons as they normally would have.
Speaker: In early June, they're finally approaching the foggy banks and the waters around Newfoundland, not knowing that Boscoen is patrolling around with his superior fleet.
Speaker: And on June 6th, the French ships in that area are spotted. Well, at first, they're they go through these foggy areas and they start to get separated.
Speaker: Then the British fleet is spotted. So the French, their hope is just we got to slip through undetected, try to keep sticking to the fog. They had 14 ships total. 11 will successfully escape the British, but three of them are spotted and pursued by Boscoen.
Speaker: Don't have all three of the ships' names, but two of them are the Alcide, and the other one is the Lys. I think the other one was like the Dauphin or something like that, but... The Alcide, which has most of its guns still intact, remains back to cover the other two, hoping that they will get away.
Speaker: And I'll just read a paragraph or so from the book, The French and Indian War by Walter Bornman, which kind of summarizes what happens at this moment as the British ship is closing in.
Speaker: it summarizes it very concisely. So let's see here. Yes. As the British ships closed in on the Alcide with gun ports open, Captain Hocard, which was the captain of the French ship, the Alcide, he was determined not to be the aggressor.
Speaker: If this was Newcastle's limited war, so be it. But France would not be the one to start it. As the Dunkirk bore down on the Alcide, Hockar called out in English, "'Are we at peace or at war?' When there was no answer, Hockar hailed a second time and a third time with the same query, "'Are we at peace or at war?' Finally, the Dunkirk's captain, Richard Howe, replied in French, La paix, la paix, which means at peace, at peace.
Speaker: Scarcely had the words died away when the Dunkirk's cannon belched a broadside at close range. So, and then with that, a very brief sea battle begins where Boscoen, obviously with that with that first broadside unopposed, cripples the Alcide and they catch up to another boat, the Lys, and they capture about 300 French regulars in that act.
Speaker: And when that becomes known, It will be an even, along with the Jumonville affair, ah this will become another huge diplomatic scandal for the British because it is essentially just an act of piracy against an enemy with no war declared.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, that's huge. And I wonder, too, like if that single broadside was intentional or if it was a ah misfire by a bike crew member or something, or a jumpy crew member. But ah nevertheless, it's a bad PR stunt for the ah for the British um mounting on their...
Speaker: bad PR they're already getting uh not only with the Juvenville affair but then you know Washington signed uh signed admittance to the assassination and now we're sinking French ships in neutral waters without being at war and um you know let's just kind of keep some piling up for the British Yeah, and there's a great quote here from Lord Chancellor Philip Hardwick to Newcastle, ah writing about right about this time. I don't know if it's before Bosquin's attack or after.
Speaker: i think it was after they had like sent all the expeditions out, and we're still waiting to see what would happen. But he writes, what we have done is either too little or too much. The disappointment gives me great concern. Yeah.
Speaker: So, yeah, I think he was kind of on it. Was it too little or too much? If they had like overwhelming force, if they completely captured the French fleet and it was over in one campaign, that might have been you know enough to force France's hand. Or if they had backed off and remained committed to diplomatic solutions of figuring out the boundaries of the Ohio country and who owned it That would be the other in the other side of the spectrum. But they are worried as they send off these thousands of soldiers, dozens of ships for a a season of war in 1755. The higher-ups in the British command are wondering, and i like what did what we do exactly? did we
Speaker: Was it too much or too little? don't think it was the right to do. But... to do but Well, as we will see, money and economic interest will always win out in situations like these. And I think the ah the extent of Britain's economic interest in developing the colonies further kind of came out over any and all reason. And think that's what you see.
Speaker: England spring to action so quickly in the offensive because the the fate of the colonies, if they were and the French were to take the Ohio country and oppose, even the thought of that happening would be an extreme detriment to any financial success they could see in the colonies. So I think that ah kind of always trumps human reason, which is not a great thing.
Speaker: Yeah, so as we end this episode, we are setting the stage for some immediate battles in Acadia, upstate New York, and back again in the Ohio country, which we will cover a couple of those battles in the next episode, probably the action in Acadia and when Edward Braddock goes marching through to take Fort Duquesne.
Speaker: But yeah, we got a lot of action-packed episodes coming up. But yeah, there we're still in this odd piece where there's going to be some large-scale military action in 1755.
Speaker: Still a year or just under a year before the official declaration of war. was going to say, we are actually getting into ah real acts of warfare now. Not saying that the the Battle of Fort Incestity wasn't, but I think it would be more classified as as skirmish compared to what we will see happen in the next year. So it'll be fun to dive into that and yeah really start flushing out this war.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, do you have anything else to add before we close the episode? I don't think so. I'm just excited to hear who you're related to next episode. so I think it's a mandatory thing now. You're going to have to find at least one person that you're related You can rest assured that I will try to find the weakest possible family connection to every significant French-Canadian character of this war.
Speaker: I that. All right. Well, sounds good. Yeah. Thanks for listening again and catch you guys next time.
