abstract
| - French settlers moved southward to the Louisiana, along the Ohio and the Mississippi valleys. France allied with the majority of the First Nations in North American, with the intent of defeating the British. According to one observer: French and Indian troops were combined in offensives against the British. In July 1757, Montcalm assembled a force of 6,000 regulars and 2,000 Indians in the Battle of Fort William Henry. In 1759, as Britain had a string of successes, especially with the Battle of Fort Niagara, the French were unable to properly supply and support their Indian allies, and the Franco-Indian alliance started to unravel. At the same time, the British were making promises of support and protection to the Indians. Finally Quebec fell in September in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Long after the extinction of New France in 1763, Franco-Indian communities would persist, practicing the catholic faith, speaking French and using French names. From the Saint Lawrence to the Mississippi, cosmopolitan French communities accommodated Indians and Blacks. During the American War of Independence and the onset of the Franco-American alliance, the French would again combine with Indian troops, as in the Battle of Kiekonga in 1780 under Augustin de La Balme.
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