Zoomable "Plan of Fort William Henry and Camp at Lake George." This map by Joseph Heath probably dates to 1755, two years before the fort's destruction. In 1758 the British sank bateaux off the former fort's shoreline. Click on the image to zoom in for a closer look at the map. (Map courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

The French and Indian War

From 1754 to 1763 Britain and France fought each other in the French and Indian War. At its heart the war was a struggle for empire and the control of natural resources and markets, especially those that could be found and controlled though possession of the Ohio Valley in North America. French efforts to spread their influence through that region would not only provide additional furs for trade but would also prevent the British colonies on the Atlantic coast from spreading westward to the Mississippi and beyond. In a very real sense the conflict was in fact a world war. Unlike previous colonial wars, it originated in North America and spread around the globe to Europe, the Caribbean, West Africa, and Asia.

In North America much of the war was fought in the wilderness. Without good roads both armies relied to a great extent on watercraft such as bateaux to transport men and materials needed to prosecute the war. The vessels were used extensively along the water route from British colonial New York to New France in Canada that included the Hudson River, Lake George, Lake Champlain, the Richelieu and St. Lawrence Rivers. The importance of watercraft meant that they were not something to be discarded lightly, as indeed the following exhibit will show. The British went to great efforts to preserve them for use in their struggle for empire.



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