begun. the british government makes the decision to send two regiments of troops totaling nearly 2,000 men to north america to join in the conflict there. even though britain and france are not yet at war in europe, but the british government is thinking that north america is sufficiently important that we have to stop the french possession and capture of the ohio country. we cannot tolerate that. it's strategically important to us to be involved here. and the man who was appointed the head of the two british regiments was a veteran soldier, a veteran general, general edward braddock, and here we see a portrait of braddock.

braddock entered the american scene very confident thinking that his regulars would carry the day. and not only he thought take ft. duquesne but march onward to niagara and other points and defeat the french. this was braddock's conception. no doubt he was overconfident. he landed -- where did his troops first come? they came to virginia and then moved into maryland and then northwestward toward ft. duquesne. accompanying him were virginia militia men. and george washington was at the head of those virginia militia assisting general braddock. so here we have colonials, british colonials from virginia

working with the british commander general braddock. braddock didn't find everything easy. he found that the colonists weren't necessarily simply cooperative with the british war effort, especially farmers, and it took benjamin franklin's intervention to help procure wagons and horses for the british army. and franklin acted as an agent for general braddock and advertised in pennsylvania's rural counties, and basically a cooperate with the king. he is here to defend us. his troops that is. and if you cooperate, the king will pay well for your horses and carts. do not be afraid. you can come along as teamsters as well as the men who would

manage the carts or drive them, and you will get good pay, but if you do not cooperate, then the king's business must be done and you will lose your wagons and horses and get nothing. so, of course, the farmers did cooperate. and the king paid in good hard money. well, here we see roughly the path of braddock from virginia and then maryland along north of the potomac and then long journey through the heavily wooded terrain finally approaching ft. duquesne in july 1754. there he encounters a force of roughly a thousand in the enemy camp. they are -- have come out of the ft. duquesne.

they didn't necessarily expect to meet braddock and his men, but they did. and the fierce fight ensued. opposing braddock were several hundred french soldiers and perhaps 600 natives of the potawatomis, miamis, some shawnees and delawares, peoples who lived in the ohio country in the vicinity and who believed that france was now strong in the region and their best bet lay in allying with france and strengthening their ties to the french. also significant was the fact that braddock had rejected assistance from delaware and shawnee chiefs and told one delaware chief that the indians would not inherit the land, that it was the british land. braddock, in other words, believed he needed no native help.

he was terribly wrong as events would prove. instead, he alienated the delawares and shawnees. some aided the french. the french had other native allies in the ohio country and its western margins, and the result was a staggering british defeat. out of braddock's men who were engaged, out of the number of 1,400, 1,000 were either killed or wounded. out of the number of 1,400, 1,000 were either killed or wounded. over 400 killed out of a force of about 1,400 in the advance line and 400 wounded. many officers were killed or wounded. braddock himself was shot and killed. mortally wounded. and after he died, he was buried

in the road. washington had several horses shot out from under him. he was lucky that he survived this campaign. the troops themselves beat a hasty retreat going all the way back to philadelphia. so in this first major conflict between the british and french in north america, with their respective colonists involved especially here, colonists from virginia and there were some french canadians assisting the french war effort here, the british side suffered a great defeat. and one of the reasons, of course, was the french had the native support, and the british in this battle had virtually none. so the year again is 1755. and now it's apparent, war is in full tilt. well, let's now move to another important theater of the war. now, again, remember that acadia

today called nova scotia, province of canada, is in the maritime zone of the atlantic. and french colonists had settled here going back to the mid to late 1600s. and also, there was a good native population in acadia mainly of the micmacs and another group as well, and the point was that the situation of acadia was very tricky at the beginning of the war, very complex, uncertain and fraught with conflict. let me just back up for a minute and say why. and maybe we can going to an overall map of north america to come back and explain this point. in 1713 after the british had

conquered and the british in that war relied on new england troops principally from massachusetts to take hold of acadia. in 1713, after a war between britain and france, france ceded or surrendered acadia to the british. the british will rename that province nova scotia. the french, however, were still in the region. first of all, most of the colonists, the great, great majority in acadia, were french. second of all, the french retained, according to the peace treaty, this island, which is cape breton island today. it's hard to see that it's an

island on the map, but it is. there's a narrow channel between it and the rest of nova scotia or acadia. so the french did retain this island and also this island off the coast of acadia. besides that, this region was also part of french canada. the point is this. 1713, going back to an earlier french/british war, after all, this was an era of french/british conflict and the seven years war that we talk about today is the culmination of this really in the colonial period. in 1713, when the british gained governance of nova scotia or

acadia, the colonists were french. so what did the british say to the french then? they basically wanted them to remove. they wanted the french colonists out if they could effect that. and then they would bring in -- british colonists, protestants, remove the french catholics if they could to better control the territory which, after all, was close to the gulf which borders the gulf of s saint lawrence and the entry to the saint lawrence river. the point is though, the british military in acadia was weak. they only had a few hundred men. and even though they would have liked to have removed the french catholics if they could have in 1713, they did not. and they found it more politic and wiser to allow them to

remain, and they did remain. and basically over the next several decades, the french population grew. it had a very high birth rate, higher than the number of deaths even though the population was small. nevertheless, it was growing by the time we're talking about in the 1750s. there were about 13,000 french colonists in the area of acadia and cape breton island and this island which was called by the french the isle st. jean. now is prince edward island and in surrounding areas. there were about 13,000 french. well, a couple of things happened to lead to the main topic that i'm going to talk about next. that is thpu acadians. please.

>> when did you say there were 13,000 french? >> the population reached 13,000 french colonists in nova scotia by the 1750s. it had been much smaller than that back 50 years before then or 40 years when the british had gained the governance. >> you said something about prince edward island? >> prince edward island is today this island here. that's its flame in canada. however, in this period, the french, and we have to remember that they first gave colonial names to this region, the french using the name acadia or acadi in french to indicate what we call nova scotia, and they called the prince edward island the isle st. jean. okay. well there were several things which determined british authorities on the expulsion of

the acadians in the mid-1750s, and it occurred during this war in north america that we talked about that began in the ohio country. as french-british tensions built to a pitch, certain british officials determined or decided that it would be in their empire's interests to evict and deport the acadians, the french settlers in acadia. who were the main actors in this? and why was the decision taken and what was the acadian position at the time? we could devote a whole class to that. so i can only hit a few high points here. let's go back to the map of acadia. and we come to the rationale of the british. the rationale was that a small

minority of the acadians, even though living under british rule had assisted the french in warfare during the 1740s. and then a small number had assisted the french in warfare in this region in 1754-'55. what was the position of most of the acadian settlers, the great majority? the great majority wanted to stay neutral. they said let us be subjects of the king of britain. that's fine. but we insist on two conditions basically. and one of these conditions we'll see was the most important. the first condition was we should not be forced to make war against our own countrymen or natives, indians. we will be loyal to britain. we will not, of course, take up war, arms against britain. but nor should we be compelled

as subjects to take up arms against the french. the french in canada are, after all, our kin, our relative. we would be loyal to britain if we may be neutral. second of all, we expect the british to respect our religious freedom and to grant us the right to have as many catholic priests as we need, even though they are trained in france, even though their loyalties are fr free to minister to our religious needs. there might have been some give on the question of religion, but in the time of war there was none. finally on this question of loyalty allegiance and what the british governor of nova scotia

is the time. there is war with the french. we know it's happening in virginia. braddock's defeat. we cannot trust the acadians. they say they will stay out of the conflict. but we know they may give secret assistance to the french on the nearby cape breton island, the isle st. jean or in quebec. they must be ena they must be basically expelled, deported. the key officer there was a governor, the governor of nova scotia, a man named charles lawrence. lawrence was acting with the basic approval of the british government in london. although they did not give him explicit instructions, they gave him enough leeway where he could order the evacuation of the acadians if he chose.

the evacuation of the acadians only became possible during war. and only because massachusetts sent 2,000 men to attack french forts in the region of acadia and the border lands. and there was no clear boundary between british and french territory. where were the french forts located here? on this isthmus between acadia and what is today the province of new brunswick. it wasn't called that then. this was part of french canada. this was under british rule. there's no clear boundary in the early 1750s, the french establish a couple of forts here. some acadians, the minority living in the area assist the french.

most of the acadians wanted nothing to do with the conflict. they wanted to stay out. they wanted to keep their land. they would be willing british subjects if they were allowed to be neutral and respected in religion. the british authorities, governor lawrence, governor shirley in massachusetts, and the men of massachusetts said now is the time to strike at acadia and nova scotia. what can we do there? if we push out the french, we will settle there. the land will be ours. it's wartime. the enemy cannot be trusted. and so the key to the expulsion was the new england invasion assisted and, of course, the new

englanders were coming to nova scotia which was british territory, but they were to making war against the french forts in the border region. that was what was occurring. and if those attacks were successful, then they could go about the expulsion and only if the attacks were successful. it was wartime again. and sure enough, the new england men, 2,000, with some british support, most of the troops were new england, they had some british ships assisting them and a couple hundred british troops. they took over the french canadian forts, and then shortly after those forts were taken over, the year was 1755. it was the summer. the government in nova scotia, the british government decided to go ahead with the evacuation. well, the only way governor lawrence could accomplish that was through the massachusetts troops. and that is what occurred. and it was a very, very sad tragic train of events where -- and the news spread to boston

tragic train of events where -- and the news spread to boston from halifax. halifax is a city, as you know, in nova scotia today named for the earl of halifax, a major leader in the british government. and a report came out of halifax to boston. we are now upon a great and noble scheme of sending the neutral french out of this province who have always been secret enemies and have encouraged the savages to cut our throats. we can't trust them, they say. neutral. they want to stay out of the conflict. they will even give us intelligence on what the french- most of them were. they wanted -- acadians wanted to be neutral and to retain their property and lands. they didn't want to be embroiled and caught in this conflict beyond their control, but the fact is here they were dragged

in in a terrible way, and the british authorities, with the support of the new england troops and colonel winslow, john winslow of massachusetts, conveyed the news to the french inhabitants gathered in towns and churches and brought into forts, and the way the british authorities did this was by subterfuge, it's true. how could they evacuate a population in those days with the limited technology? they basically said this. we order all men to come into the fort or to meet at this church. you will be safe. we will discuss the situation about your lands. we will have some discussions. then they said you are now under arrest, and then they sent word to the women and children in the villages. if you want to see your man, you come to the fort. that's the next stage to

expulsion, and that's how it was done. it was done through deceit. it was a calculated policy. they wanted to remove the french, strengthen the british interest, give room to the new englanders to colonize and to have a protestant-dominated colony. john winslow said to the inhabitants, most who could not speak english, he said it through an interpreter. gentlemen, your land and cattle and livestock of all sorts are forfeited to the crown with all your effects saving your money and household goods and that you yourselves, the whole french inhabitants from these districts, are to be removed from this province.

winslow himself thought it very disagreeable he wrote was his word. he was not one who went about this task with any smile. rather, it was with sorrow, but they thought it, quote, necessary, and a massachusetts captain remarked that the inhabitants gathered together before embarkation, and when they were told they are going to be expelled with, quote, lamentation, i must confess it seemed to be something shocking. one acadian woman writing of her husband at the time and in a family account said her husband remained seated for a long time. mr. leblanc in front of the hearth, his head in his hands and his face bathed in tears. he said not a single word, but he began to collect all the with them. in other words, they would only be allowed to carry what they could. all their livestock, all their physical property was seized and

forfeited to the british crown. please. >> where exactly did they expel the acadians to? >> well, that's an excellent point, and the next slide. here is a portrait of colonel winslow of massachusetts who was very much involved in the expulsion under governor , anthn illustration by a -- by an acadian artist or a canadian artist, excuse me, of the early 20th century imagining what this may have been like when the british passed word to the acadian men gathered in a church that you are now to be expelled. all your lands and livestock forfeit to the government, and imagining what that scene may ve so this scene lives in the memories, of course, of acadians and their descendants to the

day, and, of course, it's th's y important in the history of canada and north america in genera you can't really separate, you see, the history of the british colonies that later become the united states from the history of north american general and canada. now, where did they go? first of all, it is remarkable that the british gathered some 7,000 men, women and children in 1755 with the new england men, troops, being the heart of the british effort. 7,000 were gathered that year. three years later another 3,100 were captured, okay, so the

total was 10,000 basically. 10,000 were expelled. how many remained? perhaps 3,000, 4,000 remained. they fled into the woods. they fled to quebec. they fled to other areas nearby. many had first fled to the isle st. jean or what is today prince edward island, but when the british took that over in 1758 they deported the 3,000 refugees there even though they were in miserable condition, those poor people.ti policy here? to deport the acadians, not to french canada where they might add to the strength of that colony, not -- but rather to send them to the british colonies and to various british colonies, to scatter them so they would never pose any, quote, danger to britain again, and, of course, many historians

would question whether they posed a significant danger where they were living in the firspleo be simply neutral. that was the position. the point is that they were shipped to the mainland colonies from massachusetts, to south carolina, and -- and virginia didn't even want the 1,000 acadians that the british shipped to them. they said we don't want these poor people. we don't want to support them, so the british shipped those to england and then to france, those 1,200 people. they shipped the 3,000 here to france, but of those 3,000 in 1758, 1,658 died in crossing the atlantic. ships going down at sea or of malnourishment and disease and exposure.

eventually, of course, some of way to louisiana and bom people we know as the cajuns from their ancestral home in acadia from which they were expelled. and they will come to louisiana once that colony will pass from french to spanish governance in the mid to late 1760s, and perhaps 2,000 will come, 2,500 will come to louisiana in the mid to late 1760s and establish lives there. and in a totally different environment. well, the descendants of those people today, as you may know, still maintain contact with the acadians, the french descendants of the french colonials of acadia in nova scotia today and cape breton island.

they have associations, meetings because they are from the same family of people. so that's an important aspect of the french and indian war. now, what about the fighting in the lake champlain corridor? here we have an interesting image of an iroquois chief called hendrick by the english and the dutch in new york, and he was an influential mohawk chief for many years, and he made a visit to england about 1740, and perhaps for that reason at one point he didn't necessarily normally wear a british coat like that of an as a badge of honor that he felt a loyalty he