Savages In A Civilized War: The Native Americans As French Allies In The Seven Years War, 1754-1763 by Major Adam Bancroft

Author:Major Adam Bancroft [Bancroft, Major Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, Wars & Conflicts (Other), United States, 20th Century, Civil War Period (1850-1877)
ISBN: 9781782899570
Google: DaRvCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2015-11-06T02:58:41+00:00

CHAPTER 5 — A FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND

“I am obligated in humanity, to desire you to surrender your Fort. I have yet in my power to restrain the savages, and oblige them to observe capitulation, as hitherto none of them have been killed, which will not be in my power in other circumstances.”{272} — Lieutenant-General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, Relief Is Greatly Wanted

The fall and spring of 1757-1758 proved to be turning point in the French and Indian War. It was not, however, the decisive point that the French and Canadians sought. Though the French army under Montcalm and French guerrilla fighters using Vaudreuil’s strategy would achieve stunning victories at Fort William Henry and Fort Carollin in New York, the year proved to mark the beginning of the end of France’s reign in North America. This point of tipping point was not due to losses on the battlefield. Indeed, the early part of 1758 proved to be a banner year for the French and their Indian allies. It was this latter factor, the Indian allies that proved to be the undoing of France’s chances to stall the British enough to sue for a peaceful settlement.{273}

For the campaign season of 1758 through the end of the war, the Indians that Vaudreuil and the Canadians put their faith in to match the overwhelming resources of British North America, failed to turn out in the large numbers as they had in the previous years. When the 1759 campaign started, the Canadians were augmented with only 1,800 Indian warriors to combat the British invasion by both irregular and regular means.{274} This is compared to over 2,000 Indians who, drawn by French victories and gifts, assisted in just the battle for Fort William Henry in 1757.{275} It is estimated that at one point, the Indians of the Ohio Valley and the pays d’en haut were a pool of over 16,000 Indian warriors the French could call upon. Without the augmentation of Indians, the British maintained a 2:1 advantage over the French, and more importantly, the war increasingly became Europeanized, and the British drove the French from North America.{276}

The French, separate from the Canadians, had a general misunderstanding and dislike of Indian culture and their way of war by Montcalm and the French officers of the Troupe de Terre possessed this dislike. Montcalm’s general disdain grew from his first major campaigns in 1756, and was clearly shown in his reaction to the “massacre” of British prisoners at Fort William Henry in 1757. This one incident was the turning point for the Indians and the French alliance.{277}

The most prominent reasons the French lost the robust support of their Indian allies was the continued negative reaction to Indian actions and their style of warfare. The most famous was Montcalm’s acceptance of the surrender of Fort William Henry, New York, in 1757 and his reaction to the massacre of the British soldiers and camp followers by his Indian allies after the fort’s surrender. This was the main event that resulted in

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