THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 115 mouths to the Gulf of Mexico. The Indians were friendly and assured La Salle that he was the first white man to explore the river; he took possession of its banks in the name of the king of France. News of his achievement aroused enthusiasm in France, and in 1684 he set out with a colony and four ships, fitted out by the king, to settle at the mouth of the Mississippi. After many hardships he landed on the Texas coast, whence he started overland to find the river he had traversed and to communicate with Tonti, whom he expected to arrive from Canada. In the interior he was murdered by his own men, 1687, and of his followers only a few survived starvation on the great plains or escaped the hands of the Spaniards. His Death. Louisiana La Salle's unfinished work was taken up in 1698 by d'Iberville and his brother, Bienville, both notable men in New France. In January, 1699, they arrived by sea and planted a trading post at Biloxi, on the mainland near the mouth of the river. Bienville was governor, and the country was called 1699. Louisiana, for Louis XIV. For many years the fate of the place seemed doubtful. The Indian trade was engrossed by the English and Spaniards, and the colonists were not inclined to become agriculturists. In 1712 the monopoly of the Louisiana trade was granted for fifteen years to Crozat, but he managed it so badly that it yielded small returns. Five years later the colony, including trade privileges and the ownership of ungranted lands, passed into the hands of Law's Mississippi Company. Its immense possibilities, which were carefully exploited by the adventurers, gave a basis of confidence to the company; but the final collapse was certain. Before it came, however, New Orleans was founded, 1718, and became the seat of government of Louisiana. In 1731 the company gave up its rights, and the colony was thenceforth governed by the crown. It had no popular assembly, but the authority was in the hands of a governor with local courts, from the decisions of which appeal lay to the king. The population grew slowly, and by the middle of the century it was not more than six thousand, one third being slaves. At this time St. Louis, Natchez, and several other interior posts had been established. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS Three great Frenchmen influenced the history of New France late in the seventeenth century, -Louis XIV, Colbert, his minister, and Frontenac, twice governor of Canada, 1672 to 1682 and Colonial 1689 until his death in 1698. The first and second acted to- Policy. gether, creating in 1664 a consolidated company with trade monopoly for all the French colonies. To it the king offered bounties for all goods exported or imported and generous assistance in the Louis XIV early years of the enterprise. To encourage infant industries liberal grants were made, immigration was stimulated, marriage was encouraged, and large families were rewarded in many and Colbert. ways. Louis XIV watched eagerly the reports of Canadian population. They could have given him little comfort for all he had spent, since in 1679 the colony contained but 9400 whites, and there were only 6983 horned cattle, 719 sheep, and 145 horses. Colbert died in 1683, but his policy in Canada was continued. Frontenac's Frontenac was chiefly notable for his ability in dealing with the Iroquois. In 1673 he made a treaty with them and built a fort where Kingston now stands. He said that with a vessel on Lake Erie and a fort on the Niagara he could now control the upper lakes. The ship, the Griffon, was built by La Salle, but was wrecked on her first voyage. Frontenac supported La Salle's trading enterprise and thus incurred the opposition of the Quebec traders, whose profits were affected. He also incurred the hostility of the Jesuits, whose power by this time was overwhelming. Combining their efforts, his enemies secured his removal in 1682. His successors renewed the war with the Iroquois, who were thus thrown back on the English for support. France By this time the French were aware of the vast possibilities of the interior parts of North America. Of the three river valleys that conduct thither they held two, the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and it seemed necessary to seize the other, the Hudson, ere it was able to defy them. To do so would cut the English settlements in twain and go far toward expelling English authority from the continent. Moreover, the opportunity to realize these plans seemed to come when in 1689 France began war with England on account of the overthrow of James II by William of Orange. King William's War, 1690-1697. Her first care was to send Frontenac back to Canada as governor, and he immediately turned his attention to winning over the Iroquois. In order to impress them with French prowess he sent three expeditions against the English frontier. February 9, 1690, a force of Frenchmen and Indians surprised Schenectady, near Albany, slew 60 whites and led away 27 captives. The second force attacked and destroyed the village of Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, and the third took Fort Loyal, where Portland, Maine, now stands. Each of these Frontenac's affairs was conducted with much cruelty, and cries for vengeance arose from all the northern colonies. congress of delegates from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Plymouth, and New York convened in May, 1690, and planned a retaliatory expedition to take Quebec. It was agreed that New York and Connecticut should raise an army and attack Montreal by way of Lake Raids. A KING WILLIAM'S WAR stroke 117 Champlain. Massachusetts was asked to coöperate by sending a naval force against Quebec. To this request her delegates would not positively agree. At that moment a fleet of her armed merchantmen, under the command of Sir William A CounterPhips, was engaged in an expedition against Port Royal, in Planned. Acadia, a nest from which had gone forth many privateers. Soon Phips appeared in Boston laden with booty and reporting that Port Royal had been subdued and its inhabitants forced to take oaths of loyalty to William and Mary. So great Port Royal. was the enthusiasm that the colony decided to send a strong force against Quebec, believing that a bold stroke would end the French peril in that quarter once for all. Capture of Failure of the Counterstroke. While Massachusetts made ready her attack, the army of the other colonies had assembled and set out for Montreal. Dissension appeared, smallpox was discovered, the Iroquois allies did not keep their promises, and the expedition was abandoned at Lake Champlain. After many delays Phips started for Quebec August 9, 1690. He had no pilot who knew the St. Lawrence, and as he groped his way through its course news of his movements was carried to Frontenac, who barely had time to collect his forces at Quebec, most of them having been drawn off to Montreal to meet the expected attack there. The Massachusetts men landed 1200 strong and laid siege to the town. Their commander lacked the ability of his opponent, and soon disease and discouragement reigned in the army. Cold weather now approached, and it was decided to return to Boston. Had Phips acted vigorously at first, it is probable that the town would have been taken. The expedition cost the colony dearly both in money and in the men who died from disease. The war now waged was called in the colonies "King William's War." It lasted until 1697, when peace came with the Treaty of Ryswick between France and England. No large expedition marked the further course of the struggle on either Raids. side in America, but Indian forays were continuous. The New England borders, from Northampton to Pemaquid, suffered severely. In 1697 Haverhill was captured with scenes of bloodshed. One of the captives was Hannah Dustin. Led away toward Canada, she watched her opportunity, slew her captors, and escaped to her friends. Her achievement was long a source of inspiration to the frontier women of America. During this war the Iroquois suffered severely at the hands of the French. Two strong expeditions were sent against them by Frontenac, and it was reported by the French that their fighting men were reduced to half their former Results of number. In 1694 they were willing to make peace with France, but Frontenac refused unless the Indian allies of the French were included, - terms the Iroquois would not accept. In maintaining the good will of these savages the services of Peter Indian the War. Queen Anne's War, 1701-1713. Schuyler, of Albany, were most valuable to the English. The treaty of peace left affairs as they were at the beginning of the war. In 1701 began the War of the Spanish Succession, whose American phase was called "Queen Anne's War." During the interval of peace the French had made a treaty with the Iroquois. A further peaceful influence was the conversion of a large portion of the Mohawks and their removal to the vicinity of Montreal. Thus Vaudreuil, governor of Canada, was able for several years to preserve friendship with this powerful confederacy, and in consequence the New York border did not suffer in Queen Anne's War as formerly. It was otherwise with New England. The Abenakis, who lived on this frontier, were under the influence of the missionaries, and faithful to France. The governor used them to harass the settlements, and their captives were turned over to the missionaries for conversion to Catholicism. Deerfield Every portion of this frontier suffered, but the severest blow was at Deerfield, February, 1704. Fifty Canadians and two hundred Indians fell on the place on a bitterly cold night, scaled the palisade before they could be discovered, and killed the inhabitants from house to house. Fifty-three whites perished during the night and one hundred and eleven were carried away through the frozen forests, among them Rev. John Williams and his family. Seventeen of the prisoners were killed on the march because they could not keep up with their captors, and others died of hunger. Mrs. Williams died in the former way, but the husband and children reached Canada safely. After futile efforts to force him to conversion he was purchased by the governor from his Indian master, and in later years he and the survivors were ransomed by their friends in New England. Many "New England Captives" refused to return when the opportunity offered. Of this class was Eunice Williams, daughter of the Deerfield minister. Converted to Catholicism and married to an Indian husband, she clung to her new home and religion. England was by this time convinced of the importance of taking Canada, and made plans for a joint English and colonial expedition for that purpose. In 1710 a fleet appeared in Boston, Port Royal where it was joined by a body of colonial troops and sucTaken. ceeded in taking Port Royal, whose name was changed to Annapolis. From that time Acadia was a British possession. In 1711 a still larger fleet appeared, commanded by Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker. On board was an army under John Hill, Failure of brother of Queen Anne's favorite, Mrs. Masham. This den Walker. force, after receiving recruits in Boston, numbered 12,000 men, and should have taken Quebec with ease. But the admiral would not trust his French pilots, and ran on the rocks near the mouth of the St. Lawrence, with a loss of ten Sir Hoven ships and 900 men. With this he lost heart and abandoned the expedition. South and Florida. In this war Spain was allied with France, and for that reason war began between her colonies and South Carolina. The initiative was with the Spaniards of Florida, who in 1702 armed a large number of Indians for a hostile movement. Before they could attack they were severely defeated by a body of Indians raised by the South Carolinians, who then attacked St. Augustine, burned the town, but failed to capture the fort held by a Spanish garrison. Next year they raided the Florida plantations, doing much damage. In 1706 the Spaniards retaliated with a large French and Spanish fleet and a strong landing party sent out from Havana to take Charleston. It met a stout resistance from Governor Nathaniel Johnson and the colonial army. An attempt to land was beaten back and the invading fleet was attacked so vigorously by a flotilla of Carolina craft that it departed. A French man-of-war which anchored in a neighboring bay was surrounded and taken. In this spirited defense of their chief city the South Carolinians showed great courage, and it is likely that with the aid of a small English force they could have destroyed Spanish power in Florida. of Utrecht, 1713. By this time England and France, with their allies, were tired of the war, and peace was made at Utrecht, 1713. As to America, the terms were: (1) England was to have Acadia, whose boundaries, however, were not defined; (2) the Iroquois The Treaty were acknowledged as English subjects, but their boundaries also were not defined; (3) Newfoundland was ceded to England, but the French might dry fish on a part of the coast; and (4) the Hudson Bay region was to be English territory. This was the first important treaty in which the affairs of English America figured, and Professor Channing well says it may be regarded as the beginning of the diplomatic history of the United States. son Bay The Acadia now became the royal province of Nova Scotia. Its possession by the British meant much for the New England fisheries. Hudson Bay clause, also, had special significance. Fifty years earlier Groseillier and Radisson, two Frenchmen The Hudexcluded from the fur trade by the system of monopolies Company. in existence in Canada, learned that the Canadian northwest could be approached from the great bay of the north. After futile efforts to get financial support in Boston and Paris, they got help from a group of English nobles, among them Prince Rupert, cousin of the king. The result was a charter for the Hudson Bay Company, 1670. Thus was founded the great commercial organization which has worked so mightily to extend British influence in the northern parts of the continent. It received its guarantee of |