Start and End of Seven Years War
We list the starting and ending dates of this war.
We also go over why this may have been the first world wide war.
The previous war was just as global, many contend.
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We have 3 topics here.
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The first
covers all the confusing dates and times for the start of this war.
The 2nd topic
covers the world wide nature of this war. It also covers the various names this war had in each theatre of conflict. It also covers when the phrase began of the Sun never sets on the British Empire.
Finally the 3rd covers
all names of the Indian Wars on the North American continent from the point of Discovery of the New World until about 1815.
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DATES AND TIMES FOR START AND END OF THIS WAR
Compiled by Jim Moyer
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START of the Seven Year War
The actual war spanned a longer period.
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Declaration of War dates:
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28 May 1755
The Jummonville incident is the unofficial start date
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9 July 1755
Braddock's Defeat in an undeclared war
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17 May 1756
Sources for that date of 17 May 1756
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-passion-of-american-collectors-property-of-barbara-and-ira-lipman-highly-important-printed-and-manuscript-americana/french-and-indian-war-george-iis-formal
Readable Text version of the King's document
This declaration occurred almost a year after the Braddock Defeat
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9 June 1756
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August 15, 1756
Colonel George Washington in Winchester VA gets word of Declaration of War, and puts into plan how to announce this to Winchester VA.
Sources
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4 January 1762
Britain declares war on Spain
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18 January 1762
Spain declares war back on Britain
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Compiled by Jim Moyer, First posted Feb 2021, last updated 4/1/2024
ENDING of the French and Indian War
Treaties ending the war on these dates:
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22 May 1762 — Peace of Hamburg between Prussia, Mecklenburg and Sweden.
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10 February 1763 — Treaty of Paris signed by Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal
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15 February 1763 — The Treaty of Hubertusburg (Frieden von Hubertusburg) signed by Prussia, Austria, Saxony
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The First World Wide War?
There are some arguments that maybe the previous war, The War of Austrian Succession was also a world wide war, but the Seven Years War was more extensive possibly.
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See World Wide War Map
To see the word wide extent of this war, zoom out and zoom in, using the Plus or Minus on bottom left, or touch to expand if you are on a cell phone or tablet.
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Select [ ] square on top right corner.
This opens map in new tab on laptop, new screen on mobile.
Top left select the magnifying glass.
Type name you seek to find on the map.
Search String results will appear.
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Click or Touch icons.
If laptop, sidebar appears on left. Scroll through to read.
If cell phone or tablet, sidebar appears at bottom. Touch sidebar to expand. Scroll through to read.
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The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire
George Macartney wrote in 1773,
in the wake of the territorial expansion
that followed Britain’s victory
in the Seven Years’ War,
of “this vast empire on which the sun never sets, and whose bounds nature has not yet ascertained.”.
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Source: Macartney, George (1773).
An Account of Ireland in 1773
by a Late Chief Secretary of that Kingdom. p. 55.;
cited in
Kenny, Kevin (2006). Ireland and the British Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 72,fn.22. ISBN 0-19-925184-3.
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This war was the last war Native American nations had France as an ally.
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So What’s in a Name?
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Once it ended, the contemporaries called it simply“the late war.”
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Generations since have known it variously as:
1. The French and Indian War (United States)
2. Guerre de la Conquete, War of Conquest (French Canada)
3. The Third Silesian War (Germany)
4. The Third Carnatic War (India)
5. The Pomeranian War (Sweden and Prussia)
6. The Seven Years War by most historians
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Historians, searching for a name that would encompass the war in its entirety, settled on the Seven Years War.
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START of the Seven Year War
The actual war spanned a longer period.
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28 May 1754 — Usually the Jummonville incident is the unofficial start date
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Declaration of War dates:
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17 May 1756 Britain declares war on France, almost a year after the Braddock Defeat
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9 June 1756 France declares official war on Britain
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August 1756 Washington in Winchester VA gets word of declaration
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4 January 1762 Britain declares war on Spain
18 January 1762 Spain declares war back on Britain
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ENDING of the French and Indian War
Treaties ending the war on these dates:
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22 May 1762 — Peace of Hamburg between Prussia, Mecklenburg and Sweden.
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10 February 1763 — Treaty of Paris signed by Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal
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15 February 1763 — The Treaty of Hubertusburg (Frieden von Hubertusburg) signed by Prussia, Austria, Saxony
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The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire
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George Macartney wrote in 1773, in the wake of the territorial expansion that followed Britain’s victory in the Seven Years’ War, of “this vast empire on which the sun never sets, and whose bounds nature has not yet ascertained.”.
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Source: Macartney, George (1773). An Account of Ireland in 1773 by a Late Chief Secretary of that Kingdom. p. 55.; cited in Kenny, Kevin (2006). Ireland and the British Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 72,fn.22. ISBN 0-19-925184-3.
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This war was the last war Native American nations had France as an ally.
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SOURCES
For the above WORLD WIDE WAR map, especially for the PA, MD, VA, NC area, I have heavily used Norman Baker’s books. Click on each book below to purchase, or click on our shop .
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And used this book by R Patrick Murphy
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This war was one of many Indian Wars
a continuum with no clear peaceful times in between.
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The list:
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“After the capture of Pocahontas (who was discovered among the Potomac Indians), later in 1613, under orders from London, Argall began to raid Acadia.”
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The story of Squanto (died 30 November 1622)
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The Pequod is the ship commanded by Captain Ahab in the 1851 novel by Herman Melville, MOBY DICK, named for the Algonquian-speaking Pequot tribe.
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The Mashantucket (Western Pequot tribe) and Eastern Pequot tribe still inhabit their reservation in Connecticut.
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William Bradford covers this Pequod War and the foundations of the colony: Of Plimouth Plantation 1620-1647
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News from America … by Captain John Underhill 1638
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Still researching the following from Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W Loewen 1995, page 118
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1. Law was passed making it a crime to say Pequot out loud. So many different spellings of Pequot prohibiting the source for this.
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2. Narragansetts reproached the English for their all out war: “It is naught, it is naught, because it is too furious, and slays too many men.”
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3. Captain John Underhill scoffing, saying the Narragansetts’ style of fighting, “was more for pastime than to conquer and subdue enemies.”
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4. William Bradford described a dawn attack on a Pequot village of mostly women, children, old men, “It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stink and scent thereof; but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gagve praise to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them.”
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aka Metacom’s War aka Metacomet’s War aka Metacom’s Rebellion
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Benjamin Church tells of this war to Thomas Church, The History of Philip’s War, Commonly Called The Great Indian War of 1675 and 1676, edited by Samuel G. Drake,(Exeter, NH: J & B Williams, 1829); Facsimile Reprint by Heritage Books, Bowie, Maryland, 1989.
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The Lies My Teacher Told Me by Loewen , page 119, does not verify the source of the following Metacomet quote.
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A different author in the this link tried to find the source and couldn’t: “… it is unknown whether or not any record remains of what he said. The following statement is said to have been made by him in a speech” :
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The English who came first to this country were but an handful of people, forlorn, poor and distressed. My father was then sachem. He relieved their distresses in the most kind and hospitable manner. He gave them land to build and plant upon. He did all in his power to serve them. Others of their country men came and joined them.
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Their numbers rapidly increased. My father’s counselors became uneasy and alarmed lest, as they were possessed of firearms, which was not the case of the Indians, they should finally undertake to give law to the Indians, and take from them their country. They therefore advised him to destroy them before they should become too strong, and it should be too late. My father was also the father of the English. He represented to his counselors and warriors that the English knew many sciences which the Indians did not; that they improved and cultivated the earth, and raised cattle and fruits, and that there was sufficient room in the country for both the English and the Indians. His advise prevailed. It was concluded to give victuals to the English. They flourished and increased.
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Experience taught that the advice of my father’s counselors was right. By various means they got possessed of a great part of his territory. But he still remained their friend until he died. My elder brother became sachem. They pretended to suspect him of evil designs against them. He was seized and confined, and thereby thrown into sickness and died. Soon after I became sachem they disarmed all my people. They tried my people by their own laws and assessed damages against them which they could not pay. Their land was taken.
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Sometimes the cattle of the English would come into the cornfields of my people, for they did not make fences like the English. I must then be seized and confined till I sold another tract of my country for satisfaction of all damages and costs. But a small part of the dominion of my ancestors remains. I am determined not to live till I have no country.
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Quoting author in the this link , the author asks:
“Although often-repeated, I have not been able to find a source for this statement. All references I have seen lead back either to History of Swansea or to a paper by Ru Ellen Ottery. History of Swansea refers to New England Magazine (New Series, Vol. 18, Old Series, Vol. 24, March 1898 to August 1898, Boston, Mass.), which contains the quote without any reference as to where it is from. And Ottery cites “Indian Papers” in the Connecticut State Archives (but she does not repeat this claim in a thesis written at a later date although it would have been relevant). I searched the Archive indexes, and, even with help from archivists there, was not able to find anything said by Metacomet. If anyone has more information about this quote, please let me know.”
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September 1675, John Washington (b.1633–d.1677), great grandfather of George Washington, was ordered by Governor William Berkeley and The Council to demand satisfaction from the Doegs who were accused of 3 murders which led to the nickname Conotocaurious according to George Washington.
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Much slaughter between native Americans (Occaneechi, Susquehannock, Doeg) and the colonists.
Read about the Jamestown Weed inciting a psychedelic event for 11 days.
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After The Beaver Wars, and Iroquois War 1642-1653, and Second Iroquois War 1684-1689, the 5 Nations of the Iroquois peaked in power (Tuscarora joined them around 1722) , but kept its pretense of power with the colonists who wanted to deal with one supreme group rather than smaller conflcting entities.
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aka Nine Years’ War
aka War of the Grand Alliance
aka War of the League of Augsburg
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Lord Monmouth got this head cut off trying to take King James II off the throne.
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3 years later William of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 gets the job done.
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This is the William of “William and Mary” fame.
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aka War of Spanish Succession
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The war that made the Tuscarorans leave the south to join the Iroquois up north as the 6th nation. Fort Neoheroka was a holocaust for this group: “The 1713 siege lasted for more than three weeks, from around March 1 to March 22, 1713. Hundreds of men, women and children were burned to death in a fire that destroyed the fort. Approximately 170 more were killed outside the fort while approximately 400 were taken to South Carolina where they were sold into slavery.”
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The Tuscarora in their travels back north to join the Iroquois federation have left their names near Martinsburg with a stream, and a mountain range in PA with the Tuscarora Trail that hooks up to the Shenandoah National Park near Mathews Arm Campground.
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The Yamasee allies of the colonists against the Tuscarorans now became enemies of the colonists
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aka Father Rale’s War
aka Lovewell’s War aka Greylock’s War aka the Three Years War aka the 4th Anglo-Abenaki War aka the Wabanaki-New England War of 1722–1725
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Erupting along the Susquehanna River over the Pennsylvania Maryland disputed borders.
See summary of Penn-Calvert dispute and about Thomas Cresap and his son who later were much involved in the French and Indian War and in contact with a young George Washington.
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The expedition set sail from Boston in stages beginning in early March 1745 in the Siege of Louisbourg (1745) with 4,200 soldiers and sailors aboard a total of 90 ships.
The war in which Vernon became an Admiral.
The war where George Washington’s brother Lawrence got sick.
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748, sometimes called the Treaty of Aachen which to the disgust of the New Englanders gave the Fortress at Louisbourg back to France. This spawned another Siege of Louisbourg 1758 during the next war, The French and Indian War.
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While England was fighting around the world, it also contended with the Jacobite Rebellion at home.
Despite England and Scotland sharing the same King for over a 100 years, and despite England and Scotland having unified parliaments by 1707, unity was still being defied, a union still being tested as late as the 2014 referendum.
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This rebellion loomed large in the personal histories of most who came to the Colonies. Many of Washington’s men from the French and Indian War on through the War for Independence had been involved in this. Lt Col Adam Stephen and Angus McDonald.
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The last of the French and Indian Wars
The Treaty of Paris 1763 ended French control in North America.
The Proclamation of 1763 drew a boundary forbidding colonists to expand westward because England did not want the expense of helping the colonists fight Indians indefinitely.
Everything west of the Mississippi France gives to Spain.
Everything east of the Mississippi given to England.
Map above is still a work in progress, look for these campaigns:
1. Braddock Expedition 1755
2. Sandy Creek Expedition 1756
3. Washington’s trip to Gov Shirley in Boston.
4. Cherokee and Catawba as Allies. See Story.
5. Forbes Expedition 1758
6. Robert Rogers Exploits.
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Winchester Virginia and other towns and colleges throughout the colonies honored the names of the heroes of that 1758 Siege of Louisbourg – Boscawen, Amherst and Wolfe. Admiral Boscawen, a hero in the Royal Navy, became the name of Water Street in Winchester VA.
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A rupture between former allies
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The French were done with North America.
So the Native Americans continued without the French.
Many white hostages were returned from this war and the previous wars.
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Pennsylvania was borderless over a 100 years, involving disputes with neighboring colonies and later as States on the north with New York and Connecticut, south and west with Maryland and Virginia and all through this were land ownership disputes with different Indian Nations.
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The dispute began with King Charles II who in 1662 gave Connecticut a claim that conflicted with a later claim given to William Penn in 1681 by the same King Charles II. Actual hostilities did not begin until almost 90 some years later in the 1750s.
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The opposing parties often acted independently and defiantly of each other during the French and Indian War and later Pontiac’s War… AND into the White War of Independence.
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– Susquehanna Company of Connecticut settlers.
– Delaware Companies of Connecticut settlers.
– Iroquois 6 nations.
– Delaware Indians led by Teedyuscung and son.
– Pennamites against the Connecticut settlers.
– Pennsylvanian Paxton area side with Connecticut settlers
– Pennsylvania Governor and legislature
– Connecticut Governor and legislature
– Royal Authorities: The Privy Council of England
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After the French and Indian War and Pontiac’s War, the War for Independence added another layer of complication:
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– Many Susquehanna Company and Delaware Company settlers from Connecticut favored the Rebel Patriot Cause.
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– The Pennsylvanians were split among both Patriots and Loyalists, as all colonies really were.
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– In particular, a group from Paxton-Harrisburg area of Pennsylvania who came to the Wyoming Valley area rebelled against Pennsylvania authorities for favoring their own well-connected gentlemen over ordinary settlers, so they side with the Connecticut settlers, known as Wild Yankees and who favored the Patriots over the Loyalists.
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– The Iroquois 6 Nations and Delaware tribes were split on both sides of the White’s War of Independence
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On June 20, 1632, King Charles I granted Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore a charter for land along the Chesapeake Bay. The northern boundary of the charter was the 40th parallel (which by the way is above most of Philadelphia ! ) , and the eastern boundary was the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. However, the charter only granted the Calverts the right to “uncultivated” lands.[4]
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The colonists arrived in Maryland in 1634, but made no attempts at surveying the northern border or colonizing the area along the Delaware Bay. The English objected to the colonization attempts of both Sweden and the Netherlands and Maryland sent a delegate to New Amstel in 1659 However, it wasn’t until 1664 when the English would formally act against their colonial rivals. That year King Charles II granted his brother James, the Duke of York, the New York area and the Delaware area inhabited by the Swedes and Dutch. Hence the Anglo-Dutch Wars.
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In 1681, William Penn was granted a charter for Pennsylvania by Charles II. above the 40th parallel. Hence the Penn-Calvert Dispute . See summary on Penn-Calvert Dispute on the Pennsylvania Maryland border, covering Cresap’s War and the Mason Dixon Line. Look here for events celebrating and commemorating the Mason Dixon Line.
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Lord Dunmore ” recognized in the crisis on the Ohio an opportunity to press ahead with his efforts to open new western lands to occupation and settlement. He had consistently pursued this aim for several years, even when he acted in opposition to the Crown’s policy (the Royal Proclamation of 1763) …. Yet he also perceived that the western campaign could be a way to lead a popular initiative that might distract Virginia’s populace from the escalating crisis taking shape in Boston and other northern ports. Instead of supporting the rebels, Dunmore hoped the denizens of Virginia would rally to his side. In his mind, war along the Ohio would help to make him a popular leader in the colony.”
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Dunmore County formed in 1772 was renamed Shenandoah County 1778 in response to many incidents, one of which was the Gunpowder Controversy and this caused Andrew Lewis, a Major under Colonel Washington during the French and Indian War to lose chance at promotion being wrongly associated with Lord Dunmore having led the fight at Battle of Point Pleasant.
Interesting that although Andrew Lewis was passed over for promotion because his opponents thought he gave Dunmore a chance to escape after the Gunpowder incident, the two Generals who were promoted were put under a court of inquiry for possible misconduct: Arthur St. Clair and Adam Stephen, (see footnote in this link).
Note: Arthur St Clair is not the same as Sir John St. Clair, Baronet, Quarter-Master General under the Braddock Expedition who served only under the British Army in America, 1755 to 1767.
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And the story of Chief Cornstalk needs to told. Handley Library in Winchester VA has Chief Cornstalk’s earing, allegedly taken from Cornstalk’s corpse by his murderer.
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White War for Independence
While setting up beautiful ideas for the universal freedom of humanity, the initial result was just for white property owners. Native Americans, indentured servants, African Americans had to navigate through this tumult. Here are the battles of the Native Americans which were larger than we realize in our school lessons, but our forefathers knew how front and center these existential battles were.
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There were many raids and attacks by Joseph Brant. But one of the attacks, The Battle of German Flatts got immortalized for its similarity to the messenger runner in the Battle of Marathon in ancient Greece in a novel and then into a movie, The Drums Along the Mohawk, starring a young Henry Fonda and a Claudette Colbert in her first color movie.
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Notice the number of battles with Indians all during the Revolutionary War, a topic not given much attention by history teachers restrained by academic schedules and limited by time constraints.
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As an additional overlay, this War for Independence, was just part of another world wide war with France and with Spain as it was with the French and Indian War. If not for that war with France and Spain, the defeat of Cornwallis might not have been enough to push Great Britain out.
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An overlay of yet another war, not just with the Native Americans or with France and Spain during this White War for Independence but also a war between Pennamites, Pennsylvania going against Connecticut settlers and Connecticut claims in what is now known as the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania. See PA-CT wars above.
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See Washington’s letter to General John Sullivan 31 May 1779 – The Expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more. I would recommend . . . to lay waste all the settlements around, with instructions to do it in the most effectual manner, that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed. But you will not by any means listen to any overture of peace before the total ruinment of their settlements is effected. Our future security will be in their inability to injure us and in the terror with which the severity of the chastisement they receive will inspire them.
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Gnadenhutten massacre March 8, 1782 at the Moravian missionary village of Gnadenhütten, Ohio during the American Revolutionary War.
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Years before during the French and Indian War, this same William Crawford was a guard who brought a prisoner to trial in Fort Loudoun Winchester VA. See court martial of 1757 that led to Washington hanging two men. Ctrl F to find Crawford in this link – Fort Loudoun Winchester Hanging Trial . A grisly end is in store for William Crawford in 1782. William Crawford surveyed for Washington too. See letters between them.
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Peace Treaty of Paris 1783 ends this War of Independence from Great Britain, but not for their Native American allies.
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See above, under the heading of French and Indian War, there is a reference to the first war with the Cherokee. The Cherokee originally befriended and allied with George Washington and the British. Many Cherokee along with the Catawba came to Fort Loudoun in Winchester VA. Then after a series of deadly misunderstandings along with small pox outbreaks, the colonialists and British marched on the Cherokee towns, 1758-1761.
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From 1776–1783, the Cherokee also fought as allies of the Kingdom of Great Britain against its rebellious colonies
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In the second phase, lasting 1783–1794, the Cherokee also served as proxies of the Viceroyalty of New Spain against the new United States of America
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Both Peace Treaties after the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War ended hostilities between the Whites, but not with the Native Americans. Like Pontiac’s War really being a continuation of the French and Indian War, so too is the loosely called Northwest Indian War or Little Turtle’s War, a continuation of the Revolutionary War.
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From 1784 to 1789, an estimate of some 1,500 settlers killed by the Native Americans before the military campaigns to attack were begun. Encroachment of Native American land continued non-stop. The United States Government was in debt and one way to resolve that was to sell land to pay back its debt and to pay back its promises to White War veterans. Taxes are raised for this also, leading to the following military campaigns and to the Whiskey Rebellion.
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Harmar’s Defeat October 1790
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St. Clair’s Defeat also known as the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of Wabash River or the Battle of a Thousand Slain, was fought on November 4, 1791
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St. Clair’s Defeat caused Congress to investigate the Executive Branch. This was a test of the Separation of Powers concept. The first instances of a a full Cabinet Meeting and Executive Privilege was initiated by President George Washington because of this Congressional Inquiry. And… there’s a song about this battle.
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Ohio is cleared for eventual statehood.
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The Ohio Country or lands was an objective of the French and Indian War (at least initially part of the Ohio Country) and also of the War for Independence to protect white settlers in the shifting frontier. In both wars, native American land in the Ohio Country was being promised to white war veterans and to pay war debt.
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Taxes are needed to pay the debt and to pay for the war against the Native Americans. Meet the new boss? Same as the old Boss? See lyrics in Who’s “Wont Get Fooled Again.” Secretary of War Knox begs leave during this critical time to handle some personal financial affairs. Hamilton comes in a huge way to help organize. Daniel “Morgan commanded the remnant of the army that remained until 1795 in Pennsylvania, some 1,200 militiamen, one of whom was Meriwether Lewis. “
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Before the final assault on Pittsburgh area of the Whiskey Rebellion, Hamilton and Washington organized troops in Carlisle PA. Here’s a picture by Mort Kunstler of the event. Click on this link to see the artist’s understanding of the event which helped him created this scene. Click on picture itself to enlarge.
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Treaty of Greenville signed on August 3, 1795, at Fort Greenville, now Greenville, Ohio; it followed negotiations after the Native American loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers a year earlier. It ended the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country .
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The World Wide War Google Map above has some references to a few years after 1800 but mostly stops including anything near the War of 1812.
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Years later in 1800, Daniel Boone moves to the Spanish controlled Missouri area (Missouri is Spanish since the Treaty of Paris 1763) . The Spanish governor appoints Daniel Boone “syndic” (judge and jury) and commandant (military leader) of the Femme Osage district..
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The Rule of 1756 is one of the factors in one of the largest ever Indian Wars the United States fought (larger than the well known wars in what is now known as The West) – The War of 1812, not covered in the world map above.
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Almost 20 years later another Treaty of Greenville (July 12, 1814) among other treaties with the Native Americans around the same time period occurred after the War of 1812.
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And on and on into the west, the war on native Amerindians continued
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