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Rh of importance. The war was terminated by the treaty of Ryswick, Sept. 20, 1697, but peace was not long maintained. The war of the Spanish succession involved in its hostilities the French and English in America (1702), where the contest is known as Queen Anne's war. Its effects were chiefly felt in New England, whose whole western frontier was ravaged by the Indians to such an extent that most of the remote settlements were destroyed or abandoned. In 1707 an ineffectual attack was made upon the French colony of Acadia; but in 1710 an expedition from Boston conquered it and annexed it to the English empire, under which it received the name of Nova Scotia. In 1711 a powerful armament of English and New England troops, under Sir Hovenden Walker, attempted the conquest of Canada by sea, but failed, as did another expedition which at the same time marched from Albany to attack Montreal. The peace of Utrecht (April 11, 1713) terminated hostilities, which were not resumed for 30 years. At the expiration of that period the war of the Austrian succession broke out in Europe, and spread to America, where it is known as King George's war. Its principal event was the capture of Louisburg, the chief stronghold of the French in America, which was taken Juno 17, 1745, by a force from New England led by William Pepperell, a wealthy merchant of Maine. This exploit excited much enthusiasm in England as well as in the colonies, and gave the Americans an idea of their own military strength which had an important influence in the future. The war ended by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Oct. 18, 1748, and Louisburg was restored to the French. Disputes having arisen with the French on the Ohio, an expedition under Washington was sent toward that river, which on May 28, 1754, cut to pieces a French detachment under Jumonville, who was slain. This affair began the long contest known in America as the French and Indian war (nearly simultaneous with the seven years' war in Europe). Hostilities were waged in America for two years before war was formally declared between France and England. In 1755 four expeditions were undertaken against the French. Gen. Braddock, with a force of regulars and provincials, the latter commanded by Washington, proceeded against Fort Duquesne on the Ohio; but about 10 m. from that post he fell into an ambush, and was defeated and mortally wounded. The army was withdrawn from danger chiefly by the steadiness and skill of Washington and his provincials, who covered the retreat. The result of this expedition shook the confidence of the people in the prowess of the British soldiery, and gave Washington a hold on popular esteem and confidence which was never afterward shaken. An expedition against Niagara and Frontenac on Lake Ontario, commanded by Gov. Shirley of Massachusetts, also failed. An attack on the French posts near

the head of the bay of Fundy, led by Gen. Winslow, a New Englander, resulted in their capture and the expulsion of the French inhabitants from Acadia. The fourth expedition, composed chiefly of New England troops, was led by Sir William Johnson against Crown Point. It encountered the enemy at the head of Lake George, and in one day, Sept. 8, suffered a repulse and gained a complete victory, in which the French commander Dieskau was incurably wounded and made prisoner. Johnson failed to follow up this success, and the campaign of 1755 ended on the whole more favorably for the French than for the English. The energy and ability of the marquis de Montcalm, who succeeded Dieskau as commander-in-chief in Canada, gave during the next two years a still more marked superiority to the French arms. Oswego, with an immense amount of military stores, was captured by them in 1756; and Fort William Henry, at the head of Lake George, was compelled to surrender in 1757, an event long remembered from the massacre of part of the garrison after the capitulation by Montcalm's Indian allies. In 1758 the current of affairs, under the management of the new English premier William Pitt, was reversed. Louisburg was taken after a siege of seven weeks by Generals Amherst and Wolfe; Fort Frontenac was captured by Col. Bradstreet, with a provincial force; and Fort Duquesne met the same fate from an expedition of which Washington was one of the commanders. These advantages, however, barely counterbalanced the repulse of an attack on Ticonderoga made by a powerful army under Gen. Abercrombie and Lord Howe, in which the latter officer fell at the head of his troops, while the former was obliged to retreat with a loss of 2,000 men. Abercrombie was promptly superseded by Amherst, before whose approach in 1759 the French fled from Ticonderoga and Crown Point without striking a blow. Almost at the same time Niagara was taken by Sir William Johnson, and a large force sent to its relief was completely routed. The crowning exploit of the campaign and of the war was the taking of Quebec by an army led by Gen. Wolfe, after a battle on the plains of Abraham (Sept. 13), in which both Wolfe and Montcalm were mortally wounded. The surrender of Quebec virtually decided the contest in America, though it continued in Europe and on the ocean till 1763, when by the treaty of Paris Canada and its dependencies were formally ceded to Great Britain. The transfer from the French to the English of the posts between the great lakes and the Ohio led to a war with the Indian tribes, of which the master spirit was Pontiac. It broke out in May, 1763, and lasted several years. Detroit was besieged, and many posts were captured and their garrisons put to death. (See .)—The termination of this war left the colonies poor and exhausted, for their contributions in men and money had been