1750—The French and English both claim the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. Lawrence Washington, and others form the Ohio Company. Parliament grants it six hundred thousand acres of land on, or near, the Ohio river. The French dispute the possession, and threaten summary ejectment.
1753—George Washington is sent by Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, as an envoy to the French and Indians in Ohio.
1754—The French build Fort Du Quesne (now Pittsburgh). Washington defeats a French party headed by De Jumonville. The French are reinforced by fifteen hundred men, and Washington with four hundred men, after defending himself one day, capitulates.
—The British government, in expectation of a speedy war with France, recommend the colonies to form a Union for defense. Delegates from seven colonies meet at Albany, June 14, 1754. A plan of Union was drawn up by Benjamin Franklin. Connecticut rejected it as giving too much power to the English government. Parliament rejected it as giving too much to the colonies.
1755—Braddock’s defeat in Pennsylvania.
—War with the Cherokees, in Tennessee.
—The French, under Dieskau, are defeated at Lake George.
1756—War was formally declared, two years after it actually begun.
1757—Fort William Henry, being attacked by an overwhelming force of French and Indians, surrenders, and the garrison are massacred by the Indians.
1758—July 6, Louisburg captured by the English under General Amherst.