View source for King George's War

{{Short description|Military operations in North America}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = King George's War
| partof            = the [[War of Austrian Succession]] and the [[American Indian Wars]]
| image             = WCJefferys Battle of Grand Pre.png
| image_size        = 
| caption           = French and [[Mi'kmaq]] [[Battle of Grand Pré]], February 1747
| date              = 3 May 1744 –18 October 1748
| place             = [[North America]]
| casus             = 
| territory         = 
| result            = [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]]<br />''[[Status quo ante bellum]]''
| combatant1        = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of France}}<br />
*{{flag|New France}}
{{flagicon image|Wabanaki Wampum Alliance Belt.png}} [[Wabanaki Confederacy]]
| combatant2        = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Great Britain}}<br />
*{{flagicon image|Red Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg}} [[British America]]
[[Iroquois Confederacy]]
| commander1        = [[Jean-Louis Le Loutre|Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre]]<br/> Father [[Pierre Maillard]]<br/> {{flagicon|Kingdom of France}} [[Louis Du Pont Duchambon]]<br>{{flagicon|Kingdom of France}} [[Pierre Morpain]]<br>{{flagicon|Kingdom of France}} [[Daniel Liénard de Beaujeu]]
| commander2        = {{flagicon image|Red Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg}} [[William Pepperrell]] <br>{{flagicon|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Peter Warren (Royal Navy officer)|Peter Warren]]
| strength1         = 
| strength2         = 
| casualties1       = 
| casualties2       = 
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox War Of Austrian Succession: King George's War}}
{{Campaignbox War of the Austrian Succession}}
}}

'''King George's War''' (1744–1748) encompassed the military operations in [[North America]] that formed part of the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] (1740–1748). It was the third of the four [[French and Indian Wars]].  It took place primarily in the British provinces of [[Province of New York|New York]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay]] (which included [[Maine]] as well as [[Massachusetts]] at the time), [[Province of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]] (which included [[Vermont]] at the time), and [[Nova Scotia]]. Its most significant action was an expedition organized by Massachusetts Governor [[William Shirley]] that [[Siege of Louisbourg (1745)|besieged]] and ultimately captured the French [[fortress of Louisbourg]], on [[Cape Breton Island]] in Nova Scotia, in 1745. In [[French language|French]], it is known as the ''Troisième Guerre Intercoloniale'' or ''Third Intercolonial War''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nJjoJWUkdjUC&q=Premi%C3%A8re+Guerre+intercoloniale+nouvelle+france&pg=PA92 |title=Canada-Québec 1534–2000 |first1=Jacques |last1=Lacoursière |first2=Jean |last2=Provencher |first3=Denis |last3=Vaugeois |date=9 May 2018 |publisher=Les éditions du Septentrion |isbn=9782894481868 |access-date=9 May 2018 |via=Google Books |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824052405/https://books.google.fr/books?id=nJjoJWUkdjUC&pg=PA92&dq=Premi%C3%A8re+Guerre+intercoloniale+nouvelle+france&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=KCa6VJeoJ4K6ae3IgjA&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Premi%C3%A8re+Guerre+intercoloniale+nouvelle+france&f=false |archive-date=24 August 2017}}</ref>

The [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]] ended the war in 1748 and restored [[Louisbourg]] to France, but failed to resolve any outstanding territorial issues.

==Causes==
{{hatnote|For more information on the underlying European causes of the war, see [[War of Jenkins' Ear]] and [[War of the Austrian Succession]].}}
The [[War of Jenkins' Ear]] (named for a 1731 incident in which a [[Spain|Spanish]] commander sliced off the ear of British merchant captain [[Robert Jenkins (master mariner)|Robert Jenkins]] and told him to take it to his king, [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]) broke out in 1739 between Spain and [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]], but was limited to the [[Caribbean Sea]] and conflict between [[Spanish Florida]] and the neighboring British [[Province of Georgia]].  The [[War of the Austrian Succession]], nominally a struggle over the legitimacy of the accession of [[Maria Theresa of Austria|Maria Theresa]] to the [[Habsburg monarchy|Austrian throne]], began in 1740, but at first did not involve either Britain or Spain militarily. Britain was drawn diplomatically into that conflict in 1742 as an ally of Austria and an opponent of France and Prussia, but open hostilities between them did not take place until 1743 at [[Battle of Dettingen|Dettingen]].

War was not formally declared between Britain and France until March 1744. Massachusetts did not declare war against Canada and France until June 2.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/asummaryhistori01dgoog|title=A SUMMARY, HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL, OF THE FIRST PLANTING, PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENTS, AND ... |first=M. D. |last=WILLIAM DOUGLASS |date=9 May 2018 |access-date=9 May 2018 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

==Course of the war==
[[Image:Acadia 1743.png|thumb|upright=1.25|left|[[Acadia]] in 1743, the year before King George's War had begun. Major battles of the war are marked on the map.]]
News of war declarations reached the French [[Fortress of Louisbourg|fortress at Louisbourg]] first, on May 3, 1744, and the forces there wasted little time in beginning hostilities. Concerned about their overland supply lines to [[Quebec City|Quebec]], they [[Raid on Canso|raided the British fishing port of Canso]] on May 23, and then organized an attack on [[Annapolis Royal]], the capital of [[Nova Scotia]]. But French forces were delayed in departing Louisbourg, and their [[Mi'kmaq]] and [[Maliseet]] First Nations allies, together with Father [[Jean-Louis Le Loutre]], decided to [[Siege of Fort Anne|attack on their own]] at Fort Anne in early July.

Annapolis had received news of the war declaration, and the British forces were somewhat prepared when the First Nations warriors began besieging [[Fort Anne]]. Lacking heavy weapons, the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet withdrew after a few days. Then, in mid-August, a larger French force arrived at Fort Anne, but it was also unable to mount an effective attack or siege against the garrison. The fort had received supplies and reinforcements from [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]].

In 1745, British colonial forces [[Siege of Louisbourg (1745)|captured Fortress Louisbourg]] after a siege of six weeks. In retaliation, the [[Wabanaki Confederacy]] of [[Acadia]] launched the [[Northeast Coast Campaign (1745)]] against the British settlements on the border of Acadia in northeast Maine. France launched [[Duc d'Anville expedition|a major expedition]] to recover Louisbourg in 1746. Beset by storms, disease, and finally the death of its commander, the [[Jean-Baptiste Louis Frédéric de La Rochefoucauld de Roye|Duc d'Anville]], the expedition's survivors returned to France in tatters without reaching its objective.

[[File:Vue du debarquement anglais pour l attaque de Louisbourg 1745 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Colored engraving depicting the [[Siege of Louisbourg (1745)|Siege of Louisbourg]]

Following a 47-day siege, British forces [[Siege of Louisbourg (1745)|captured]] the [[Fortress of Louisbourg]] in July 1745.]]
The war was also fought on the frontiers between the northern British colonies and [[New France]]. Each side had allies among the Native Americans, and outlying villages were raided and captives taken for ransom, or sometimes adoption by Native American tribes who had suffered losses to disease or warfare. As a result of the frequent raiding on the northern frontier, Governor [[William Shirley]] ordered the construction of a chain of frontier outposts stretching west to its border with [[Province of New York|New York]].

On November 28, 1745, the French with their Indian allies [[Raid on Saratoga|raided and destroyed]] the village of [[Saratoga, New York]], killing or capturing more than one hundred of its inhabitants. After this, the British abandoned their settlements in New York north of [[Albany, New York|Albany]], a major trading city. In July 1746 an [[Iroquois]] and intercolonial force assembled in northern New York for a retaliatory attack against British forces.

When the expected British regulars never arrived, the attack was called off. A large (1,000+ man) French and First Nations force mustered to raid in the upper [[Hudson River]] valley in 1746 instead raided in the [[Hoosac River]] valley, including [[Siege of Fort Massachusetts|an attack on Fort Massachusetts]] (at present-day [[North Adams, Massachusetts]]). This was in retaliation for the slaying of an Indian leader in an earlier skirmish. Other raids included the 1747 French and Mi'kmaq [[Battle of Grand Pré|raid on Grand Pré]], Nova Scotia; and a raid in 1748 by Indian allies of the French against [[Schenectady, New York]].

==Aftermath==
[[File:The founding of Halifax, 1749. by Charles W. Jefferys.png|thumb|British soldiers guarding [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]] in 1749. Fighting in Nova Scotia between the British, and the Acadian and Mi'kmaq militias continued even after the signing of the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|peace treaty]].]]
The war took a heavy toll, especially in the northern British colonies. The losses of Massachusetts men alone in 1745–46 have been estimated as 8% of that colony's adult male population.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}}

According to the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]], Louisbourg was returned to France three years later, in exchange for the city of [[Madras]] in [[India]], which had been captured by the French from the British. This decision outraged New Englanders, particularly Massachusetts colonists who had contributed the most to the expedition (in terms of funding and personnel). The British government eventually acknowledged Massachusetts' effort with a payment of £180,000 after the war. The province used this money to retire its devalued paper currency.

The peace treaty, which restored all colonial borders to their pre-war status, did little to end the lingering enmity between France, Britain, and their respective colonies, nor did it resolve any territorial disputes. Tensions remained in both North America and Europe. They broke out again in 1754, with the start of the [[French and Indian War]] in North America, which spread to Europe two years later as the [[Seven Years' War]]. Between 1749 and 1755 in Acadia and Nova Scotia, the fighting continued in [[Father Le Loutre's War]].

==See also==
* [[American Indian Wars]]
* [[Colonial American military history]]
* [[Military history of Canada]]
* [[Military history of the Mi'kmaq people]]
* [[Military history of Nova Scotia]]
* [[Military history of the Acadians]]
* [[Military of New France]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Boyer, Clark, Kett, Salisbury, Sitkoff and Woloch. ''The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People''
*Drake, Samuel Gardner. [https://archive.org/details/aparticularhist00shirgoog ''A Particular History of the Five Years French and Indian War in New England'']
*Kingsford, William. [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_FZA-AAAAYAAJ/page/n331 <!-- pg=302 quote=loutre annapolis 1744. --> ''The history of Canada'', Volume 3]
* {{cite book |last=Murdoch |first=Beamish |author-link=Beamish Murdoch |title=A History of Nova-Scotia, Or Acadie |volume=II |date=1866 |publisher=J. Barnes |location=Halifax |url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorynovasco01murdgoog}}
*Peckham, Harry H. ''The Colonial Wars, 1689–1762''

==External links==
{{Commons category|King George's War}}
*[http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h847.html King George's War on U-S-History.com]
*[http://www.history.army.mil/reference/colon/george.htm Select Bibliography of King George's War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080918120823/http://www.history.army.mil/reference/colon/george.htm |date=2008-09-18 }} compiled by the [[United States Army Center of Military History]]
*[https://archive.org/details/cihm_12097 <!-- quote=French and Indian War Journal. --> Journal of Captain William Pote captive 1745–1747 published 1896]
{{Canadian military history}}
{{British colonial campaigns}}
{{French colonial campaigns}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:King George's War| ]]
[[Category:1740s conflicts]]
[[Category:1740s in North America]]
[[Category:1744 in North America]]
[[Category:1745 in North America]]
[[Category:1746 in North America]]
[[Category:1747 in North America]]
[[Category:1748 in North America]]
[[Category:Acadian history]]
[[Category:Colonial American and Indian wars]]
[[Category:Colonial United States (British)]]
[[Category:Colonization history of the United States]]
[[Category:Conflicts in Canada]]
[[Category:Conflicts in Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Indigenous conflicts in Canada]]
[[Category:Military history of Acadia]]
[[Category:Military history of New England]]
[[Category:Military history of Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Military history of Quebec]]
[[Category:Military history of the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:New France]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Maine]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of New York (state)]]
[[Category:Wabanaki Confederacy]]
[[Category:War of the Austrian Succession]]
[[Category:Wars involving Canada]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Kingdom of France (987–1792)]]
[[Category:Wars involving Great Britain]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Indigenous peoples of North America]]
[[Category:Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of Europe]]
[[Category:Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of North America]]