#603-605 The French and Indian War (Part 2)

 Fun Fact #603

The Race to Acadia

Having received word of The Battle of Jumonville, and Washington’s subsequent defeat at Fort Necessity (7 weeks after it happened), The British Empire decided to send an army to back up their Militias in the conflict arising in The American Colonies. In command was Major-General Edward Braddock, yet in gathering supplies for the voyage a spy in the British Parliament leaked news of the colonial situation to the French. Hearing news from British spies in the French Legislative Assembly of an amassing  French Invasion force, MG Braddock attempted a blockade of the French. Yet they were too late as the French Fleet had already left under the Command of Baron Dieskau. The race was on.

Knowing that a full fleet took on average 2 months to reach the Americas, Admiral Boskawen was detached with the fastest ships in the fleet with the intention of beating the French to the US. They succeeded successfully capturing two troop transports and one supply ship off the coast of Acadia, and setting a new record of only 5 weeks to cross the Atlantic ocean (June 8th, 1755). Yet this caused a formal declaration of War from France, drawing France’s allies into the war when News reached Europe in 1756.

Fun Fact #604

What in Albany were the Colonies up to?!

Upon the Victory in Jumonville, George Washington and “Half-King” Tanarchison fell back and established a defense at Fort Necessity. Yet upon surveying the land The Half-king suggested they abandon the position and go to Aughwick Valley where a British supply post (used by most Natives in the area) was run by a man named George Croghan who had long ago set up a better defense. Yet Washington stayed while The Half-King took all the Native Americans to Croghan’s. On June 3rd, Washington was forced to surrender the Fort Necessity. 

Meanwhile at Croghan’s, The Half-King had taken ill and knowing Corghan was an ally to the Native Americans– he successfully petitioned the gathered tribes there to send Croghan to Albany to discuss a more formal alliance with the colonies. On October 4th, Chief “Half-King” Tanarchison died from pneumonia.

After Jumonville, Benjamin Franklin used his connections from having just founded (What is now known as) “The University of Pennsylvania" to get personal appeals in the hands of the Colonial Governors to meet with him at Albany to discuss a treaty with The Mohawk. 6 of the 11 colonies at the time sent delegates and were met by the surprise appearance of Croghan representing the Native American tribes of Onondaga, Ojibwa, Seneca, Oneida, Mingo and others. During the Congress from June 

19th-July 11th many items were discussed but they spend the most time on Franklin’s “Plan of Union” to which they ultimately set upon the following Format:

A Federal Government overseeing the Colonies in the form of a “Grand Council” containing delegates from each colony. To allow quicker decisions they would have a President residing over affairs of Military as well as Native American relations. Additionally the plan would have benefited The Native American Tribes by allowing them to negotiate with the government as opposed to each colony individually while also having a formal path to turn their collective lands into a Colony of Britain giving them the legal rights and protections of Colonial Citizens. On July 11th The Congress unanimously passed “The Plan of Union” and sent it off to their respective governments for approval. However not a single colony ratified the plan, as it would have meant ceding much of the external power of each colony to this “Federal Government". Seeking to get the plan ratified by popular appeal, Benjamin Franklin published the now world-famous “Join or Die” Political Cartoon.

While the Plan of Union failed, it would be later recalled and used as the basis of The American Government during The American Revolution. Many of the points it made to address were also cited in The Declaration of Independence as examples of how The British Monarchy had failed the Colonies. Post war The Plan of Union was then revised into The Articles of Confederation. The last time it was seriously in the public eye was in The American Civil War, where it was used to name the North “The Union” and several parts of it were brought back into the military structure for the Grand Army Of The Republic (GAR).

Fun Fact #605

Along Comes The Ho-Chunk

While The Plan of Union failed to be ratified both The Native Americans and The Colonial Militaries regarded it as law during the French and Indian war since it formalized the chain of command making coordination much easier. Additionally he Native Americans of The Eastern Great Lakes had come together as a result of the plan and took on the name “The Iroquois Confederacy” in honor of the British name of the only tribe amongst them which was a Confederacy before the plan was made. Before this the Iroquois were just 5 united Tribes known amongst themselves as The Haudenashonee (Meaning “People of The Long House”). 

Yet not all was Sunshine and rainbows, for soon The French learned of the Iroquois. Seeking a native power of their own, they pulled together 12 of the greatest tribes to the western Great Lakes to “Encourage” them to unite for The French. The greatest among these tribes was The Winnebago. As a result their confederacy named itself after the (Modified) Sinouan name for The Winnebago: “The Ho-Chunk Nation” and established their base for relations in Black Falls Wisconsin (which is still the location of their Headquarters today). The Ho-Chunk became famous in this war by starting the first “War of The Broken Bowl” among Native Americans. This is because they often shared their food from the same bowl with those they captured. This posed an issue however as within most Native American Cultures (Particularly The Haudenashonee) if you ate from the same bowl as someone (today interpreted to “Shared a plate with”) then you could not harm that person or their tribe. By forcing their captives to share a bowl of food it forced many to either abandon their heritage to rejoin the war –making them punishable by death by both sides of the war if discovered–, or to sit out of the war entirely. This would not be the end of The Broken Bowl wars as they later continued during the American revolution as one of the many “Sister Wars” to occur as a result of The Revolution.

Screen Clipping of the Ho-Chunk Tribe’s Official Website. The 12 images are the representations chosen by each of the 12 tribes to represent them. Today The Ho-Chunk Government oversees more than 7,700 people and is one of Wisconsin’s leading employers though Ho-Chunk owned businesses (Including The Ho-Chunk Casino). A large (Ho-)chunk of the profits of each business goes towards the Ho-Chunk Tribe each year.