Cause and objects of these wars.

THE

CHAPTER XVI.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS.

HE terrible "French and Indian wars," in which all the colonies were more or less involved, took place in this way. As the white settlements increased, the native tribes steadily diminished; so that by 1675, when there were fifty-five thousand whites in New England, there were but some thirty thousand Indians, or, as some think, not nearly so many. The Indians' lands had been bought by the new comers, or obtained by treaty, or seized after war, till they were reduced to mere strips of territory here and there. Then the white men were much better armed, even after the natives had learned the use of fire-arms. So the Indians could not cope with the English without some aid; and, unhappily, the French settlers in Canada were very willing to render this aid. For the tions of the French had been the first explorers of the interior regions of the continent. They had gone from Canada, along the Great Lakes, and down the Illinois and Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; and they wished to keep the English out of all that region, and not even to let them trade with the Indians. Moreover, the French Roman Catholic missionaries had converted many of the Indians to their form of Christianity; and these converts naturally took the part of their priests against

Explora

French.

the English settlers, who were almost ali Protestants. Besides all this, the French had treated the Indians with more consideration than the English had shown. The French had adopted the Indian ways when among them; and many had even married Indian wives: so it was natural that the native tribes should have more liking for the French. Yet some of the shrewder men among them did not love either of these nations of foreigners. One of them said to an English visitor,

66

You and the French are like the two edges of a pair of shears; and we are the cloth which is cut to pieces

between you."

names.

All this led to a series of wars which were far worse Their than the early Indian wars, because the French supplied the native tribes with much better weapons than they had before used, and taught them how to build forts in a stronger way. These wars were called by different names; as, King William's War (1689), Queen Anne's War (1702), King George's War (1744), and, finally, "The Old French and Indian War" (1755 to 1763). This last was the most important; but the whole series made really one long war, sometimes pausing, and then beginning again, the object being to decide whether the French or the English should control the continent.

of warfare.

In these wars the Indians rarely met the whites in The mode open field, but trusted rather to sudden surprises, nightattacks, and swift marches. The chief terrors came upon lonely families and small villages. When the inhabitants were asleep, they were liable to be awakened by the sound of the Indian war-whoop, or the glare of houses in flames. Then the men must get

Story of
Thomas
Duston.

down their loaded muskets; and the women must take the bullet-moulds, and begin melting lead to make bullets; or must load the guns as fast as they were fired. Sometimes, when the lead was gone, they picked the bullets of the Indians from the walls where they had struck, or spread blankets to collect them as they rattled against the chimney, and fell. Or they watched their opportunity to flee to the "block-house," or "garrison-house," that was often placed in or near a village. This was usually a small wooden fort of two stories; the lower story being sunk a few feet into the ground, and the upper projecting a few feet beyond the lower. The first story was made of squared logs, as much as a foot and a half in diameter, though smaller logs were used above. There were loop-holes through which guns could be fired, and gratings in the roof, where smoke could escape. Sometimes these block-houses were held for many days against the Indians; since the attacking-party had no cannon, and could not approach near enough to set the house on fire, without being shot down.

When the Indians attacked by day, they selected houses from which the men were absent. Thus they approached the house of a man named Thomas Duston or Dustin in Haverhill, Mass. He was absent in the fields, and reached the house too late to defend his wife, who was ill in bed, and had her young infant with her. He collected seven of his children, however, and sent them running along the road; then seized his gun, and mounted his horse, with the intention of taking up before him the child he loved best, and defending the others as he could. But he could not possibly decide

which child to take: so he hurried the little party along, loading, and firing at the Indians, who fired in vain at him, until he reached a place of safety a mile away. Meanwhile the Indians compelled Mrs. Duston to go with them, together with her baby and nurse and young boy. The baby was soon killed, as being a

hindrance to the march; but the others were led for several days through the forest. At last, when they were encamped on an island in the Merrimack River, the prisoners discovered that they were to be put to death with tortures at the end of the journey, and resolved to save themselves. At night, when their Escape of captors were asleep, the three prisoners killed with

the prison.

ers.

The attack on Deer

field.

the cap

tomahawks ten of the twelve Indians, and escaped to the white settlements.

At another time the French and Indians attacked the town of Deerfield, in the western part of Massachusetts. It was in February, 1704. The attacking party came down on snow-shoes from Canada, for the purpose. It consisted of both French and Indians, and was commanded by Hertel de Rouville, a French leader, who was a great terror to the colonists in those days. The people of the village had been warned of their danger, and had built a barricade around their houses, and kept a watch every night. One very cold night the sentinel went to sleep, and the poor people were awakened by the war-whoop. The marks of tomahawks are still to be seen on the door of the old

parsonage house, which was attacked. Rev. John Williams, who lived there, was captured with his wife and six children; and they were all carried away to Canada, with nearly a hundred others. It was a terribly cold winter.

The Indians took the clothes from some of the captives; and many had only a blanket apiece, and only moccasons on their feet. During all their terrible march, they had scarcely any food except ground-nuts and acorns. Two or three Cruelty to times only they had dog's flesh. They were compelled to walk twenty or thirty miles a day, carrying burdens for their new masters. Sometimes the children were treated kindly by the Indians, and were carried in their arms, or on rude sleds for the purpose; but in other cases, when they lagged behind, they were killed with tomahawks. Mrs. Williams, the minister's wife, was also killed in this way. When the survivors reached

tives.