King William's War

The English revolution had replaced Roman Catholic, James II with his Protestant daughter, Mary and her husband, William of Orange as King of England. Louis XIV, Catholic king of France, espoused James' cause and denied the right of a people to change sovereigns, resulting in a war between England and France. The colonies wanted neutrality but William denied their right to neutrality and war broke out in America. In the north, the colonists had watched the French extend their power into basin of the Mississippi, a region heavily competed for due to the fisheries and fur trade. Aside from Maryland, the colonies were Protestant and even in Maryland, the Protestants outnumbered the Catholics. New France was totally Roman Catholic.

James II had revoked some of the colonial charters, sent Andros, a tyrant, to domineer New England, instructed his Catholic governor, Dongan, in New York to persuade the Iroquois to allow Jesuit teachers to teach them and introduce the Catholic religion into the colony. At this time, Leisler, had seized the government of New York and called the first colonial congress. The English colonists were eager for the conflict that would pit Protestants against Catholics. King William's War would usher in a seventy year conflict, with peace intervals, for supremacy in North America.

A series if Indian massacres instigated by governor of Cantada, Frontenac, began the war. An attack on Dover, New Hampshire began the massacres in July 1689. Two squaws were given a night's refuge at the home of Major Waldron. They rose in the night and allowed in a large number of Indians into the town, which was burned to the ground with about half of the population of fifty killed and the remaining inhabitants carried away and sold into slavery. In August, Pemaquid, ME met a similar fate. In Februray of 1690, a body of French and Indians fell upon Schenectady, NY and burned the town, massacring more than sixty with the towns of Casco and Salmon Falls meeting the same fate.

Leisler's congress determined to send a land force against Montreal and a naval expedition against Quebec. Expenses for the Montreal attack were shared by CT, NY and later by MA. The naval command was held by Sir William Phipps, who in 1690 had captured Port Royal in Nova Scotia. With more than 30,000 vessels and 2,000 men, Phipps made way towards Quebec. Frontenac managed to repel the land force and then hurried towards Quebec. The fleet, however, finding Quebec well fortified, turned back without ever firing upon the city. The debt for the failed attack was enormous and the people were angered. Phipps was sent to England to request the King's aid but William, hard pressed in England, left the colonies to their own defense, making Phipps the first royal governor of MA. Indian massacres continued along the frontier and the towns of York, Maine; Durham, NH and Groton, MA lost hundreds of souls to the Indian massacres.

A peace treaty was signed in 1697 at Ryswick, near the Hague but this treaty was more a truce, for there would be no long-lasting peace.

King George's War

This war was associated with the War of Austrian Succession in Europe. Primarily fought in Europe, very little of the war was fought in America. The event most notable was the capture of Louisburg on Cape Breton Island, the chief entrance to the river. Louisburg was a commanding fortress taking over twenty years to build and built of solid masonry, an impregnable fortress and yet the fortress was overcome by a small fleet of New England fishermen.

Leading the fishermen was William Shirley, governor of Massachusetts with William Pepperell of Maine as commander. Supplies had come from Pennsylvania, while New York had provided a small quantity of artillery. The fleet was composed of just over one hundred vessels of varying sizes, which had been joined by four English men-of-war from the West Indies in the command of Commodore Warren. Following a six week siege and the capture of a French war vessel, the French garrison fell and the British flag waved over Louisburg. The peace treaty at Aix-la-Chapelle restored Louisburg to the French, much to the indignation of the English colonies.

Later this indignation would give cause for American independence so as not to allow Europeans thousands of miles away to determine American policies.

Phillip's War

Queen Anne's War (1702)

Following the death of William and Mary, the crown fell to the sister of Mary, Anne. Louis XIV placed his grandson, Philip of Anjon upon the throne of Spain, which resulted in the War of Spanish Succession, or in America, Queen Anne's War.

 

French-Indian War