The 7 year’s war was from 1756 to 1763 and it was a major global conflict that was fought in Europe and North America. It began with the build-up of new British and French forts. The war erupted in 1754, the British governor of Virginia tried to oust the French from Fort Duquesne, now known as Pittsburg, PA, and the broader Ohio River Valley. Thus causing the intensified presence of British troops in the colonies. The British only relied on their troops and were no match to the French and their Native allies. Things took a turn when the British increased their troops again in 1757. Because of this, the French trade goods became scarce. In 1763, the war ended with the Treaty of Paris. The allies became very thin and it caused the Natives to switch sides. At the end of the day, they were there for the goods and later they couldn’t exchange goods with the French and British.
Learning about the Indigenous Resistance in class was very shocking because many Native communities were involved and it was always because their home was at stake. It seems as though Native communities could never catch a break. They had no choice but to involve themselves because there was too much at stake. It’s very unfortunate to learn the number of Indigenous people that were killed because of settlers and colonists. I remember learning a bit about the 7 year’s war but I have never known about the Indigenous Resistance until now. South Carolina settlers pressed into Cherokee homelands and caused them to shift away from the Great Lakes. This was overall a genocide and it so happened to be a silent one. The Cherokee people were murdered to procure their scalps in order to collect large bounties from the colony of Virginia. In 1759, Cherokee warriors took revenge by killing about 30 settlers. Fortunately in 1760, the Cherokee (12,000) were very successful in their retaliation against the colonists. However by the year 1761, the tide turned against the Cherokee. There was Pan-Indigenous resistance in the North and the alliances were very fragile. The Cherokee were a great example of resistance and they motivated other communities to also resist colonization. Pontiac was an Odawa Chief who became a great leader when he organized the resistance known as Pontiac’s War. The resistance ended in 1765 with peace negotiations. There was a creation of a new boundary line along the Appalachian Mountains.
Citation: I don’t have a specific citation because I referred to the notes I took in class.