Credit: WITF, Inc.
Transcript:
Background music:Colonial Fife and Drum music throughout duration.
Narrative:
The French and Indian War, also known as The Seven Years War, spanned the years of 1756 and 1763. Conflicts between French and British Colonists and the surrounding Indian population occurred as broken treaties and unacceptable land purchases tainted previously peaceful relationships. Settlers who expanded westward were on the front lines of a tense struggle for an area of land where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers join to form the Ohio River, called the Ohio Country.
Video:
Images of Colonial settlers and pioneers. Video clips of British and Indian groups in wooded areas just before a skirmish.
Narrative:
The French built Fort Duquesne as a fortification protecting their crucial trade route from Canada to Louisiana. However, the Virginia and Pennsylvania colony populations were swelling; therefore both claimed the Ohio Country as part of their territory.
Video:
Illustration of Fort Duquesne mixed with recreation scenes of British troops and Indians in woods.
Narrative:
In 1754, George Washington, a young Virginian militia officer at that time, let an expedition to Fort Duquesne to claim the region for Virginia. The French denied his claim, sparking the conflict between them that led Pennsylvania into violence and chaos.
Video:
Still image of George Washington.
Narrative:
In 1755, General Braddock and his troops were annihilated by French and Indian forces as they approached to conquer Fort Duquesne.
Video:
Re-Creation footage of General Braddock's forces and ensuing battle.
Narrative:
Three years later in 1758, traveling on a self-cut route from Carlisle, General Forbes succeeded in conquering Fort Duquesne. The British solidified supremacy of the Ohio Country by ousting the French and constructing Fort Pitt.
Video:
Re-creation footage of Indian and British troops fighting in woods.
Narrative:
Although the British promised to withdraw after their defeat of the French, their intentions were to occupy more former French posts. This caused an uprising led by Pontiac, an Ottowa Indian who encouraged Indians to take up arms against the British. This led to a wave of resistance and drove western Pennsylvania into violence and chaos once again.
Video:
Indian groups attacking in woods.
Narrative:
The French and Indian War scarred Pennsylvanians. The violence during these war years was so severe that Pennsylvania's Indian and colonial habitants no longer lived peacefully together.
Video:
After-battle shots of wounded soldiers and smoke in air from gunshots.
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