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	• NEWS >> ATW September 7, 2006 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Short description: The French and Indian War OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to a special edition of Assignment: The World. I’m Teej Jenkins. We’re devoting this week’s show to one topic, the conflict that made America. Before the Civil War, before the American Revolution, the French and Indian War had causes and effects that reached across the globe. CAUSES OF WAR (Teej Jenkins) This is Fort Niagara. It sits at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario. This is Fort Ontario. It is situated near where the St. Lawrence River flows into Lake Ontario. 250 years ago, those were two, key, strategic points in a growing conflict that became known as the 7-Year war, one we now know as the French and Indian War. (Robert Emerson) The French and Indian war is the last great imperial conflict between Britain and France for control of North America and the war begins in the Ohio valley over who is going to control that region. The British of course are occupying the colonies along the Atlantic coast. They're moving west over the mountains into the Ohio Valley. For France this is a big threat because France has colonies along the St. Lawrence in the upper Great Lakes region and in Louisiana and they see the British expansion over the mountains as a wedge between those colonies. (Jerry Knitis) Fur was a big item at that time and beaver was king and whoever controlled North America had the beaver industry in Europe. (George Bray) There were religious rivalries too because basically the 13 colonies were of a Protestant faith and the French Canadians were of a Catholic faith so all these things were factors that led into the French and Indian War. (Teej) The war began in 1754 when an impetuous young soldier named George Washington ambushed a part of Frenchman . (Emerson) The war starts in southwestern Pennsylvania and it spreads to engulf the whole world eventually. You have Prussians fighting Austrians and Russians and Frenchmen in Europe. Combat is taking place in India, on the high seas. Its really a world war. Winston Churchill called it the first world war in reality. But NY plays a pivotal part because of its geographic location. (Teej) This reenactment is a good example of how that war was fought in North America. In March of 1756, Lt. Colonel John Bradstreet led a mix of English soldiers, colonial boatmen and Iroquouis allies north from Albany. (Bray) He was transporting supplies to Ft Ontario, Ft. Oswego, Fort George here at Oswego and he had just gotten through bringing supplies up here and he was on his return trip to Albany to get more supplies because they used the water routes, the Mohawk, Oneida Lake and the creeks in between and then of course the Oswego River to get here so he was going back down the Oswego river to Albany when some French ambushed him down there along the river and this was a reenactment of that engagement. And he was actually able with very few men turn the tide and beat the French and pull a victory off and get safely back to Albany. (Teej) Like Bradstreet, the British learned how to adapt to the very different conditions in North America. After several years of setbacks, the British started to overwhelm French forces and garrisons including Fort Niagara. (Emerson) Western New York is important too because the French are reaching out and trying to capture the Ohio valley and Ft. Niagara is really the choke point for that whole effort. Once Ft. Niagara falls to the British in 1759, all of those French forces that are operating on the Ohio and occupying such places as Detroit are cut off and they ultimately have to surrender their posts to the British. The war continues until 1760 and it is of course a great British victory. 1759, the year that Fort Niagara is captured from the French is a year of great British victories. They take the French fort at Ft. Ticonderoga, they take Quebec and the next year they seize Montreal and force the French to surrender POP QUIZ #1 In our first story about the French and Indian War, by what name did we tell you the rest of the world knows this conflict? Is it 1. Queen Anne’s War 2. The War of Jenkin’s Ear 3. The 7 Years War And the answer is number 3. What we know as the French and Indian War is more commonly known elsewhere as the 7 Years War. French and Indian War: Consequences Intro The French and Indian War officially ended in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris but its effects are still being felt today. And just as that was the first truly global war, those effects are still being felt around the world. Consequences (Teej) If you go to reenactments of the French and Indian War like these at Fort Ontario and Old Fort Niagara, there is a lot of noise and color. Each battle recreates a specific siege or battle. What they don’t do is tell the wider picture of what happened after the smoke cleared and the French left North America. Canada, in French control beginning in 1604, was now English. The wide lands beyond the Allegheny Mountains might now be open for settlement… depending on the native people already living there. But that was only the beginning of what the war would mean. (George Bray) The French and Indian War actually laid the groundwork for the American Revolution to happen. During the French and Indian War the colonials, I'll call them Anglo Americans because we're still British citizens at that point they were looked at as somewhat second- class citizens. The soldiers were not treated as well as British soldiers, there was a rift that was beginning to form and in the end this war cost Britain an awful lot of money so what the British wanted to do and rightfully so was get some of their money back so they started the Townshend Act, the Stamp Tax the sugar tax, all these different taxes. and of course the infamous tea tax. Well they ended up repealing all these taxes with the exception of the tea tax which still infuriated the colonials so that led to the Boston Tea Party as well as know, they threw the tea in the harbor in revolt to that and then as a result things escalated and we got into the Revolution. (Emerson) The other thing that this war does is it completely demystifies the military prowess of the British red coat British redcoats are mowed down at Braddock's defeat. They're mowed down again at the taking or attack of Ft. Ticonderoga in 1758. Colonials dealing with British generals see that they're not the military know it alls that they've been portrayed to be. Another thing that happens is that Americans serving with British generals, British officers learn the trade of warfare. its their first real experience dealing with armies of great size. Bray: The French and Indian War, too, gave people like Washington, Israel Putnam, john Stark, other famous officers of the period, their military experience it would carry them into the Revolution and allow them to fight the British and basically win the war. (Teej) But that only tells the story about what happened to the European and colonial forces involved. (Emerson) For the native people that were very much involved in the war its a seminal moment in their history. Native people supported both sides during the conflict but with the removal of the French at the end of the conflict they really now cannot occupy their position between these two great powers and are forced to deal with just the British and this becomes, this actually becomes a problem for them because the British begin to deal with native people in a very high handed manner. So the legacy of the war for native people is that animosity between European settlers and the native people as a result of frontier warfare that goes on during this war escalates and attitudes about each other really harden during this time. ATW Fact The French and Indian War was actually the fourth colonial conflict fought at least in part in North America. Beginning in 1689, all had the same basic cause: control of the lucrative trade in fur and other American commodities. RE-ENACTORS The French and Indian War, like many historic conflicts, is brought back to life each year by a unique group of men and women. Why do they like going back, even if just for a little while, to living in the distant past? Here’s your chance to meet some of them. F&I Reenactors scripts (Teej) Some people think history is boring. You won’t find any of them among the men, women and children who have chosen to spend time and money to go back 250 years. (Jerry Knitis) It becomes a study and a love of history and if you love history you kind of love doing this. (George Bray) It was totally unexpected. I wouldn’t have ever thought that I'd be where I am today but its a very big part of my life and I feel very passionately about it. (Missy Clark) Its my job, its my passion. (Teej) Missy Clark and her husband go to some two dozen events like this each year. While she does make her living selling authentic clothing to fellow French and Indian and Revolutionary War reenactors. (Clark) I grew up being able to say Colonial Williamsburg long before Disneyland. My parents, they instilled a passion. I started weaving when I was a child. I went out and got my degree in American textile history. I intended on working in museums and weaving reproduction fabric for living history sites and went on to designing and creating 18th century clothing and that's my claim to fame. Historical clothing isn’t just about what people wear. Historical clothing is about who people are, about where they come from, about where they are in their lives, the location that they are at. (Teej) Unlike some other pastimes, clothing is something of interest to both men and women in reenacting. (Knitis) The pants I'm wearing are called slops and they're naval pants but on land craftsmen wore them and as you can see on a warm day they're kind of loose fitting, airy, and you know, keep you cool. Normally, the clothing would be made out of linen or woolen, very little cotton because cotton was expensive. My shirt is a linen shirt or a fustian shirt. It’s checkered but its seen better days out in the sun. I'm wearing a linen vest. Its summertime, you want to be cool and the popular tri-cornered hat. (Teej) Sometimes, the most authentic item is also the simplest. (Clark) My apron holds stuff. I mean it can wipe a tear, it can wipe a nose, it can cover my face. My apron is a tool. My garment that I'm wearing here, it can grow as I grow or shrink as I shrink. I've worn the same clothes since I was a young mother. (Teej) It could cost several thousand dollars to begin reenacting the French and Indian War. Tents, weapons and uniforms… at least, those that are historically accurate… are expensive. (Bray) But the nice thing about it is you can also if you're skilled enough and you have the time and the ambition you could make some of the clothing and save yourself some money that way. (Teej) But reenactors of this or any other historical era will tell you also that the real test doesn’t lie in what you are wearing or using. The real attraction to this lies in finding a way to share your knowledge with others. Some reenactors do that by becoming, if only for a weekend, a man or woman of that era. POP QUIZ #2 What future US President gained valuable military experience in the French & Indian War? Was it 1. John Adams 2. Thomas Jefferson 3. George Washington And the correct answer is number three. George Washington learned much from his time serving in the French & Indian War. CLUES ON THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR And now it’s time for clues to people and places that were important in the French and Indian War: Our first clue is a location… 46 Degrees, 49 minutes north latitude 71 Degrees, 14 minutes west longitude Our second clue is a scrambled letter, two words EGGROE HATINGSNOW And finally, our third clue is a fill in the blanks, three words T__E__TY O__ P__R__S These are clues to people, places and things that all had an important role in the French and Indian or 7 Years War. See if you can solve them and then figure out what that role was. Good luck! Answers GOOD-BYE And that’s it for this week’s show. From all of us here at Assignment: The World, I’m Teej Jenkins. We’ll see you again next week. © 2006 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.