The War That Made America

(spirited upbeat music) - [Presenter] This program is made possible by Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Heinz Endowments, Eden Hall Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the following.

(bright cheerful music) (upbeat rousing music) - Gentlemen, a declaration by the representatives of the United States of America.

- When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another.

- [Announcer] We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator.

- Unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

- That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.

- And that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved.

And for the support of this declaration-- - [Graham] It's one of the great ironies of American history, the man who led the revolution nearly lost his life fighting for that same British empire 20 years before.

- [Announcer] And our sacred honor.

- [Graham] On the eve of battle, George Washington couldn't help but recollect that earlier war.

- [Announcer] Protection of divine providence.

- [George] I did not let the anniversary of this month pass without a grateful remembrance of the escape we had at the Meadows (soldiers shouting) (gunshots booming) and on the banks of the Monongahela.

- [Graham] That was the war that made him the leader he was, the French and Indian War.

But the day it all began, there was nothing heroic about the father of this country.

To be fair, Washington is only 22, ambitious and a little naive.

He doesn't realize he's about to become a pawn in a chess game he doesn't understand.

- [George] They are here.

- [Graham] Washington's orders are to drive the French from this contested part of the frontier, with force if necessary.

He doesn't know these French soldiers are on a diplomatic mission.

(gentle dramatic music) - [Graham] The eager young major doesn't take the time to find out what the French are after.

- Fire.

(gunshot banging) - [Graham] It's George Washington's first taste of battle, and he likes it.

(gunshots banging) - I can with truth assure you that I heard the bullets whistle.

Believe me, there was something charming in the sound.

(gunshots banging) (soldiers yelling and chattering) - [Graham] The retreat, cut off by Washington's Indian allies, the French surrendered within minutes.

Their officer sits wounded.

- This is Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville.

He's an envoy.

Here's a letter from his commander.

- I do not speak French.

- [Graham] Under the protocol of the day, Washington is responsible for the wellbeing of the wounded Frenchmen, but he soon realizes that this deep in the woods, different rules apply.

(Half King speaks in foreign language) (weapon thuds) - [Graham] It turns out this Indian leader, known as the Half King, has his own agenda.

Within minutes, the Half King's warriors, under the French camp scalping the dead and wounded before they leave.

The massacre is not an outcome Washington expected, nor could he have foreseen the consequences.

This incident will trigger an all-out war for North America that soon spreads around the world.

We call it the French and Indian War.

This is the story of a war that helped create a new nation no one could ever have predicted.

This is the story of The War that Made America.

To understand how young George Washington could set such momentous events into motion, we have to go back in time, before he blundered into battle, and see how the stage had already been set for war.

(gentle dramatic music) Spring, 1752, two years before George Washington's battle in the woods, speculators from Washington's native Virginia are coming to Pennsylvania to negotiate with the region's Indians for land.

They're after a foothold in one of the most contested regions of North America.

In the 1750s, Britain holds the East coast, while Canada and the Mississippi Valley are dominated by the French.

Between those two empires lies a giant prize called the Ohio Country, a region the size of France that is largely empty and up for grabs.

Both France and Britain set their sights on one spot in particular, a strategic river junction called the Forks of the Ohio, where Pittsburgh stands today.

But the force of the Ohio isn't theirs for the taking.

The native people consider this their land and not something that can be traded or sold.

But there is one Indian leader in the region who is willing to talk, the Half King, the same man who will play such an important role in George Washington's life two years later.

(Villager speaking in foreign language) - Don't ever forget that any sign of friendship that we make to the English will not escape the French.

- But the French seem weak, while the English traders give us goods when our hunters bring the skins.

- [Graham] In native tradition, women elders provide counsel for important decisions.

For the Half King, the stakes in this upcoming negotiation couldn't be higher.

Most of the region's Indians prefer the French, but if the British offer him generous trade goods to distribute among these people, an alliance with Britain could put him in a position of power.

It's a dangerous gamble, but the Half King has few options.

These people are refugees who have been driven out of their homelands in the east by tribal wars and European settlers.

Diseases have devastated their numbers.

Now, 3000 of them have made the Ohio Country their new homeland.

They guarded jealously.

But with the French encroaching from the north and the English from the east, the Half King knows he must make some kind of accommodation.

(Indian whoops) (gunshot bangs) - Why are they firing?

- Nothing to fear.

It's their way of welcome.

It's when they fire their guns at the end of the parley that you need to worry.

- Parleys between Indians and whites are a fact of frontier life, and the rules are well established.

Trade goods grease the wheels.

The Virginians have brought a small fortune.

The items are more than just gifts native people rely on European goods for their survival.

Providing a steady supply of these necessities will go far towards securing Indian allies.

And then there is wampum, crucial to any parley, intricately woven belts and strings encoded with messages of war, peace, and friendship.

Until there is a ceremonial passing of the wampum, no negotiation would be complete.

When it came to winning favor with the Ohio Valley Indians, the British had some catching up to do.

Years of land swindles had left native peoples suspicious of British motives.

The French on the other hand had traded with the Indian nations and fought beside Indian warriors for more than a century.

So for the visiting Virginians, this parley was more than just closing a land deal.

It was about winning these people over.

The Half King is playing a delicate diplomatic game between the British and the French.

And to make it more complicated, he's not altogether his own master in this negotiation.

The Half King and his people are one of many Indian groups, and they are far from the most powerful.

The dominant force in the Northeast is the Iroquois League, a coalition of six nations spread across northern New York.

The Iroquois claims sovereignty over the Ohio Country and all the Indians who lived there.

Technically they haven't authorized the Half King to make an agreement with the British.

So if he goes ahead and does it anyway, he'll be asserting his independence from the Iroquois League.

In fact, he's called the Half King because of his limited authority.

But if he can strike a good deal with the British at this parley, it could make him a leader to be reckoned with.

- Brethren, be assured that the king, our father, in purchasing your lands had never any-- - Why is it taking so long?

- The way it is with the Indians.

And there will be much talk and even more giving of gifts before the meat of the matter is addressed.

- Kindly accept this belt as a symbol of our two peoples living together as one.

- The talking goes on for more than a week.

Finally, the Half King agrees to let the Virginians build a small trading post at the forks.

With the two European empires encroaching on the Ohio Country, the Half King has chosen what seems the best of two bad options.

- The French claim all the land on one side of the river, and the English claim everything on the other.

If that be the case, I ask, where does the Indian land lie?

We live in a country between, and therefore the land belongs in neither one, nor to the other.

But the great being above allotted to be a place of residence for us.

- Phillip, how do we say "farewell?"

(Phillip speaking in foreign language) (George speaking in foreign language) - [Graham] So the Virginians leave the parley having secured the Half King's support.

He will back the English over the French, and he will allow the Virginians to return the following year to build their post at the forks of the Ohio River.

The full effects of the Half King's decision won't be felt for years to come.

And one thing is certain, the French are not about to give up the forks without a fight.

One look at the map shows why.

The French already control Canada and the Great Lakes region.

By building a string of outposts through the Ohio Country, they could link their French forts in Canada with their Louisiana colony and keep the British bottled up on the east coast.

A memorandum by the Marquis de la Galissoniere, governor of New France, urges action.

(Marquis speaking in French) - "If the rapid progress of the English colonies be not arrested, they will possess in a short time formidable armaments on the continent of America.

"And if that happens," warns the Marquis, "then all the other French colonies will fall to the British as well."

La Galissoniere was a visionary.

He saw that the struggle for North America had global implications.

If the French lost, France would be weakened in Europe as well.

For Britain, the stakes were just as high.

If it allowed France to dominate the Ohio Country, the British colonies could never expand westward.

So British authorities send an expedition to order the French to withdraw from the Ohio Country.

The man they picked to lead it, none other than the 21-year-old Virginian, George Washington.

Washington is a natural choice.

Brimming with ambition, imposingly tall, he is well connected and eager to make a name for himself.

Washington draws his own map of the journey that will take him past the forks of the Ohio to Fort LeBoeuf, near Lake Erie, a 500-mile journey that gets underway just as winter sets in.

Along the route, Washington comes to a French base.

The officer in charge gives a warm welcome to the young Virginian.

But the French make it very clear they won't give in to his ultimatum.

- [George] That night, he invited us to sup with them.

Soon the wine, which they doses themselves with freely, loosened their tongues.

- [Graham] With utmost charm, the officer lets him know the sentiment among the French in the region.

- They told us that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio, and by God, they would do it.

For though the English could raise two men to their one, they knew our actions were too slow to prevent any undertaking of theirs.

- [Graham] Brushed off by the French, Washington starts back to Virginia in December, 1753.

His report on the mission goes all the way to London where King George II hears of the young Virginian who had done his best, but failed to persuade the French to leave the Ohio Valley.

The following spring, the Virginians take up the Half King's offer to build a trading post at the forks of the Ohio, but it's not to be.

Almost immediately, French troops forced the Virginians to surrender the forks and abandon their unfinished building.

The Half King is furious.

By taking the forks, The French have humiliated him and the inability of the English to fight back makes him look like he's backed the losing side.

He calculates how to get even.

It's the young George Washington who unwittingly offers him that chance.

That's how Washington came to ambush the French, his first taste of battle.

That same spring of 1754, Washington is on his way back to the forks with orders to help the Virginians finish their trading post.

When he learns he is too late, he makes plans to confront the French and take the forks back.

The Half King agrees to be his ally, but Washington doesn't realize that the Indian leader has a complicated agenda of his own.

If the Half King orchestrates a confrontation between the British and the French, it will strengthen his own hand in the region.

(gunshot bangs) But why does the Half King go further and kill the wounded Frenchmen?

It's an act of revenge for his humiliation at the forks and a message to the French to back off.

And he knows the blame will fall on George Washington, not himself.

(Half King speaking in foreign language) "You are not dead yet, my father," says the Half King.

An ironic twist to the respectful term the Indians usually use for their French allies.

Washington skirmish alone probably would not have triggered a larger war, but the cold-blooded murder of their wounded officer, the French couldn't possibly let that go without a response.

Within weeks, the brother of the slain Ensign Jumonville, sets off in pursuit.

Meanwhile, Washington has withdrawn his men to a large meadow.

They build a crude stockade that the Virginians rightly name Fort Necessity.

Washington expects the Half King to help defend the fort, but the Indian leader has lost confidence in the young major.

- This Washington, he's a good natured man, but he has no experience, always driving us to fight by his direction.

Now he wants us to make a stand with him against the French and that little thing upon the meadow.

- [Graham] Washington's only Indian ally leaves.

- We have no choice.

We will make our stand here.

- [Graham] The French have no such problems with their native allies.

They arrive accompanied by 100 Shawnee, Mingo, and Delaware warriors.

- [George] About nine o'clock on the 3rd of July, the enemy advanced with shouts and dismal Indian yells.

On the line.

- [Graham] Washington intends to fight face to face in the field European style, but the French and their Indian allies don't cooperate.

(gunshots bangs) - They then from every little rising tree, bush, stump and stone kept up a golden constant fire, which we returned as best we could.

(gunshots booming) Till late in the afternoon when there fell the most tremendous rain that can be conceived.

It filled our trenches with water and wet not only the ammunition and the fire locks, but also the few stores that we had, leaving us only a few bayonets for defense.

- By nightfall, the situation is hopeless.

When the French commander offers terms for surrender, Washington signs the soggy document.

Unable to read French, he relies on a Dutch officer to translate.

It turns out that Jumonville's brother is taking a sweet revenge.

Washington doesn't learn until later that the document includes a confession to the assassination of Ensign Jumonville.

The morning after the battle, the victorious French allowed Washington to retreat towards Virginia with his wounded and tattered troops.

Word of his defeat spread quickly.

This was not the kind of fame the young Washington had been seeking.

The date, oddly enough, was the 4th of July, 1754.

The defeat at Fort Necessity proved disastrous for the Half King as well.

Any clout he has among the region's Indians has now evaporated.

Within months, the Half King is dead.

A Delaware chief described the uncertain situation in the Ohio Country that fall of 1754.

"Things seemed to take another turn," he said, "and a high wind is rising."

As war clouds gathered, the powerful Iroquois League ponders its strategy.

If they take sides in this white man's war, there's a good chance they will find themselves fighting against other Indians.

But if they remain neutral, there's also the chance either France or Britain will take possession of the Ohio Country.

And if that happens, the Iroquois could end up with nothing at all.

For more than 100 years, the native people of the northeast have deftly played Britain and France against each other.

But now the swelling imperial ambitions of the Europeans threatened to overwhelm them.

Across the Atlantic and the Palace of Versailles, Louis XV and his ministers spend the winter of 1755 preparing to defend their North American interests.

By the time the ice has melted on the St.

Lawrence River, 1800 French troops have been deployed to Canada.

King George II and his ministers in Whitehall move even faster.

1000 red coats sail to Virginia in early spring of 1755.

The British plan is to strike the French in the Ohio Country and simultaneously in northern New York and Nova Scotia.

A three-pronged attack that will drive the French back into Canada War is now inevitable.

- First, the troops I have the honor to command will take Fort Duquesne and thereby remove the French from the forks of the Ohio.

Second-- - [Graham] It's an audacious strategy.

In keeping with the commander in chief sent by London to carry it out, General Edward Braddock, a politically connected career officer with little battlefield experience.

- Once we have secured this important post, we shall proceed to Niagara, if the season will permit.

And I suppose it will for this Duquesne can hardly detain be above three or four days.

- [Graham] Fort Duquesne, Braddock's first objective, is held by the French and their Indian allies.

It stands guard at the crucial forks controlling all traffic through the Ohio Country.

To assault it is an ambitious plan.

- As I was saying, gentleman-- - [Graham] But before he even begins, the General runs into political problems.

- In North America, and he has given me-- - [Graham] Braddock expects the colonies to help pay for this military campaign.

But the governors of the colonies reply that their assemblies would prefer to be asked, not ordered.

- Peace, gentlemen.

You cannot tell me you have not the power to make these little assemblies do the King's will.

The matter is urgent, there is no time to be lost.

I need not remind each of you that this expedition is an expensive enterprise.

I cannot sufficiently express my indignation against the provinces of Pennsylvania and Maryland who refuse to contribute anything.

As for the Indians, these savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to raw American militia, but it is impossible they should make any impression against disciplined troops.

- [Graham] Braddock's March against Fort Duquesne gets off to a slow start that spring of 1755.

The army waits at Fort Cumberland, Maryland.

As in every army of the time, female camp followers are a semi-official part of the force.

Close to 200 women serve as laundresses, cooks, and nurses.

- Betsy, when your husband's regiment went into battle, was you ever frightened, for yourself I mean.

What if the enemy was to come up from the rear?

- To tell the truth, I never was with the troops in an actual battle.

We shouldn't worry about anything like that here.

The sergeant says that we outnumber the froggies.

And as for them Indians, well, everyone knows they can't fight in any manner that will prevail over our trained soldiers.

The sergeant says General Braddock don't even want them to have just fighting on our side.

That's how little he thinks of him.

- Don't talk to me about General Braddock.

You did hear, didn't you, Betsy?

He's ordered all us women going up country with the army to be examined for disease by the surgeons, to see if we're clean enough to march.

Well, it's an insult for certain.

I'm a married woman, not a whore.

- The men they should be looking at.

- [Edward] I have to say, this time I hope to be civil.

- [Graham] General Braddock names George Washington one of his chief aides.

Though it's not an official British commission, Washington jumps at the opportunity to serve alongside the highest ranking British officer on the continent.

- Men are looking very good indeed.

- [George] Yes, sir.

- [Graham] The general orders daily parade ground exercises to keep discipline sharp.

- Charge your bayonets.

Rest your bayonets.

(gunshots booming) (horse neighs) - [Graham] But about 1/3 of Braddock's army are American provincials, untrained enlistee from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

Braddock pronounces them very indifferent men.

It isn't only the drilling that's unfamiliar to the Americans.

Severe punishments for even small infractions provide a closer look into the army under King George than many Americans have seen before.

(Indians whooping) (Indian vocalizing in foreign language) At night, the Indians living near the fort put on demonstrations for the British and Americans, dances that suggest the fighting style of the warriors.

(Indian vocalizing in foreign language) The soldiers now know what the famous Indian war whoop actually sounds like.

(Indians whooping) The Americans encourage Braddock to court Indian allies but the General's scorn shows all but seven Warriors go home.

(Indian vocalizing in foreign language) In June of 1755, Braddock's march to the Ohio Country finally gets underway.

A long thin column of wagons, artillery, horses, and camp followers four miles long.

300 axeman clear the way.

It's a logistical feat that only the British would attempt, marching an army through 100 miles of dense forest, steep mountains and muddy river crossings.

After a week, they have gone only 22 miles.

Frustrated by the slow progress, Braddock splits his force and takes an advanced column of 1400 men ahead.

It is Washington's third adventure into the Ohio Valley, this time he hopes to finally drive the French out.

The main body of the army escapes any direct attacks.

Others aren't always so lucky.

English messenger James Smith is captured far from the column and taken to the French Fort Duquesne.

- Move as fast as you can.

(Indians whooping) - [Graham] Running the gauntlet is customary for all Indian captives.

Smith is turned over to the French.

He'll wait to see whether the English will ever arrive at the fort.

After three grueling weeks, the British army finally approaches the Monongahela River, just a few miles south of Fort Duquesne.

Morale is high.

General Braddock has led his army nearly 100 miles.

His engineers built log roads to cross the swamps.

A company of sailors rigged block and tackle to hoist the heavy cannon over the hills.

The worst is behind them.

(water sloshing) Once they reach the fort, nothing can stand in their way.

- It is my hope that this evening we'll be drinking a toast at Fort Duquesne.

- [Graham] Braddock has succeeded in transporting a modern army and its artillery deep into the wilderness.

Washington is impressed.

This is the kind of British officer the young Virginian aspires to be.

Indian scouts working with the French keep a close watch on the approaching army.

When word reaches Fort Duquesne of the advancing British column, the French realize their only hope is to ambush the British as they cross the Monongahela River.

But their Indian allies balk, unwilling to take on the large enemy force.

The French captain Lienard de Beaujeu dawn's Indian war dress and paints his face, a gesture of solidarity the British would never consider.

The Indians agree to join the fight.

At the front of the British column, George Croghan, a Pennsylvania trader, leads the seven remaining Indian scouts, moving quickly the last few miles toward Fort Duquesne.

Captain Beaujeu's force of nearly 900 Indians, Canadians, and French regulars, moves just as fast toward Braddock's column, still hoping to catch them at the river crossing.

It is impossible to say who is more surprised when they encounter each other deep in the woods.

- Hey.

(gunshot bangs) (tense suspenseful music) - [Graham] The elite British grenadiers move forward.

- March.

(tense suspenseful music continues) Beaujeu leads the warriors and Canadians into the woods.

He'll fight the battle the Indian way.

In the beginning, it looks as if the highly disciplined British will prevail.

Their volleys prove deadly immediately.

(gunshots bangs) Beaujeu is one of the first to fall.

But once the Indians and Canadians slip into the hills on either side of the British, everything changes.

(gunshots banging) Washington and the other officers struggle to keep their men in formation.

The French regulars are deployed in front of the British column, blocking any forward movement.

(gunshots banging) While the Indians and Canadians snipe at them from both sides.

The British start to fall back, but on the narrow forest road, they collide with the troops behind them.

Chaos ensues.

Deadly tangles of red coats massed together, making pathetically easy targets.

The artillery proves useless in the dense woods.

(gunshots banging) - Get back to the fight.

Hold your line, man.

Hold your line.

- Permit the Virginians to fight as the enemy does.

We know the Indian mode.

- Certainly not.

Mind your place.

(gunshot bangs) - The General's been hit.

(slow poignant music) - [Graham] It doesn't take long for the attackers to reach the rear of the British column.

It is said that of the 54 women who marched with Braddock's army that day, only four returned.

Some of the missing would turn up in Canada, ransom from the Indians by the French.

After three harrowing hours, it's over.

The French and Indians have lost only 21 dead.

While nearly 1000 British and provincial soldiers are killed or wounded.

Washington has had several horses shot out from under him, but is unhurt.

What's left of Braddock's army makes a desperate retreat.

- Shocking scenes which presented themselves in this night's march are not to be described.

The dead, the dying, the wounded, the groans, the lamentation, the cries of the wounded for help along the road were enough to pierce a heart of adamant.

The folly and consequence of opposing compact bodies against the manner of the Indians fighting in the woods, which had in a manner been predicted, were now now so clearly verified.

- [Graham] Word of the great Indian and French victory reaches Fort Duquesne by the end of the day.

British prisoner James Smith reported the moment of the warrior's return.

- [James] At sundown, I beheld a small party coming in with about a dozen prisoners.

I stood on the fourth wall until I beheld them begin to burn one of these men.

They had him tied to a stake and kept touching him with firebrand.

- [Graham] Smith is sure he'll meet the same fate.

Instead, he will be adopted by an Indian family to replace kin who have died in battle.

He will spend the next six years living among the Indians.

(gentle sanguine music) (Indians whooping) The French know they owe this victory to their native allies.

The Indians gather the honors of battle to bring home evidence of their great feat.

In European warfare, the victors might have pursued the fleeing British to crush them altogether.

But here in North America, the native peoples have different aims.

They're not fighting to secure an empire, they're just trying to drive the invaders from their land.

For now anyway, the battle is over.

Five days into the retreat, General Braddock dies of his wounds.

- At an encampment near the Great Meadows, the brave, but unfortunate, General Braddock breathed his last.

He was interred with the honor of war, and it was left to me to see that performed.

He was deposited in the road over which the army, wagons and all passed to hide every trace, lest the entombment be discovered.

- George Washington would admire Braddock's battlefield bravery for the rest of his life.

The general's brass barrel pistol and bloodied sash would hold a place of honor at Mount Vernon.

For years after the battle of the Monongahela, visitors here would come across the unburied bones of British and American soldiers.

But empires don't come cheap.

Both Britain and France would pay dearly in blood to win a prize as huge as North America.

This was just the beginning.

Neither side had any idea how costly this war would be or how many battles there were still to lose.

- [Presenter] Next time on "The War that Made America," Britain must overcome a devastating defeat.

While young George Washington defends a violent frontier.

For France, victory is in sight if they can keep their Indian allies.

The War that Made America.

It's not the war you think it is.

(bright lilting music) (bright lilting music continues) (bright lilting music continues) This program was made possible by Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Heinz Endowments, Eden Hall Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the following.

(bright cheerful music)