- Ohio History in 2000 Words
- Mound Builders
- Native Ohioans
- The Ohio Company
- Ohio's Wood Forts
- Indian Wars
- War of 1812
- Ohio's Canals
- Ohio's Road
- Scenic Railroads / Museums
- Underground Railroad
- Civil War in Ohio
For seven years France and Great Britain and their respective allies had been at war with each other. English speaking historians would later refer to it as the Seven Years War. It was a world war and involved almost all of Europe, North America, and parts of Africa.
During that time this conflict between the world's two great powers, was also being fought on the frontier of North America and it included both France and Great Britain, as well as many Native American nations that were split on which side they supported. Most supported the French. This European conflict became known here as the French and Indian War. It began in 1756 and ended in 1763.
At the time France and its allies which included Spain, Russia, the Scandinavian countries and most of North America's Native American nations. At the time France had laid claim to almost all of North America and were active traders with the Native Americans. The exception to this claim were the 13 original colonies which were subjects of Great Britain.
Towards the end of this conflict, it became apparent that neither side had the advantage for a definitive win. Through a mutual agreement the two sides met in Paris and worked out the terms of a peace. The result of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, land ownership became fluid. Both sides made exchanges. In North America the French gave up her claims to the lands east of the Mississippi River in exchange for lands in other parts of the world. Everyone seemed satisfied with the outcome, except for the Native Americans that had sided with the French.
One of those left out was an Ottawa leader named Pontiac. It was his belief that with the withdrawal of the French for the Ohio Country, there would be a great influx of British settlers crossing over the Appalachian Mountains. To prevent this from happening, Pontiac began a drive to unite the Ohio Country American Indians against the British colonists that would soon be coming.
In May of 1763 Chief Pontiac as he was known among the British colonists led an attack against Fort Detroit. It was this attack that began what would later be known as Pontiac's Rebellion.
Pontiac would bring together a coalition of Shawnee, Wyandot, Senaca, Delaware and several others. By the fall of that year, the coalition had spread not only through the Ohio Country, but also into Pennsylvania and resulted in more than 600 colonists to be either killed or captured. The only fort in the Ohio Country, Fort Sandusky, had been captured.
Once the Treaty of Paris had been finalized and begun to be implemented throughout the world, the British began looking to the west and the Ohio frontier. The attacks by Pontiac and his Native American alliance needed to be stopped. In the fall of 1764, British soldiers and colonial militia launched an offensive into Ohio from western Pennsylvania.
The Wyandot and the Ottawa facing the British alone, were forced to surrender, not because of overwhelming numbers, but because of a lack of ammunition. When the French pulled out of Ohio, they also closed down their trading posts. A month later the Seneca, Shawnee, and Delaware surrendered the month after the Wyandots surrendered. One of the terms in their surrender included returning all of the captives at once.
Pontiac finally came to terms with the British in 1766 even though the fighting had ended a few years before. In those terms the British agreed to keep colonists east of the Alleghenies and south of the Ohio River. It was a treaty that only lasted for a short time, and with in a decade American pioneers were again ignoring the treaty and moving warily into the Ohio Country.
Three years after signing the treaty, Pontiac was assassinated by a Peoria warrior. It was believed that Pontiac was about 50 years old at the time.
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