Beaver Wars facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Beaver Wars |
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| Part of the French and Indian Wars and the American Indian Wars | |||||||
 Champlain's Battle with the Iroquois, Ticonderoga, July, 1609, an illustration by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris |
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| ~4,500 | ~20,000 | ||||||
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| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
The Beaver Wars, also called the Iroquois Wars, were a series of fights in North America during the 1600s. These wars happened in the Saint Lawrence River valley in Canada and around the Great Lakes. The main groups fighting were the Iroquois and the Hurons, northern Algonquians, and their French allies.
During these wars, the Iroquois became very powerful. They defeated and scattered several other Native American groups. These included the Hurons (also called Wendat), Erie, Neutral, Wenro, Tionontate, Susquehannock, and Mahican tribes. Some survivors joined other tribes, while others were taken in by the Iroquois.
The Iroquois wanted to make their territory bigger. They also wanted to control the fur trade with European countries. The Iroquois were a group of five tribes: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. Their lands were in what is now Upstate New York.
The Iroquois got weapons from their Dutch and English trading partners. The Algonquians and Hurons were supported by the French, who were their main trading partners. These wars greatly changed the map of Native American tribes in North America. The Iroquois gained control of hunting grounds in New England and the Ohio River valley.
The wars caused big problems for both Algonquian and Iroquoian societies. The fighting slowed down when the Iroquois lost their Dutch allies. This happened after the English took over the Dutch colony of New Netherland in 1664. The French then tried to make the Iroquois their allies against the English. But the Iroquois stayed loyal to the English. They often fought against the French in the 1700s. The alliance between the English and Iroquois became strongest during the French and Indian War in 1754. This war led to the French largely leaving North America.
The wars and the hunting of beavers were very bad for the beaver population. The natural areas that relied on beavers for dams and water were also harmed. This led to environmental damage in some places. Beaver populations in North America took centuries to recover in some areas, and some never fully did.
Contents
Why the Wars Started
French explorer Jacques Cartier first wrote about Native Americans in the 1540s. French traders had already been in the Saint Lawrence River area for valuable furs. Cartier wrote about the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, who lived in fortified villages. He also noted a war between them and another tribe called the Toudaman.
Wars in Europe kept France from focusing on settling the St. Lawrence Valley until the 1600s. When the French returned, they found the villages empty and destroyed. The Iroquois and Huron tribes used the area for hunting. It's thought that the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois may have driven out or destroyed the St. Lawrence Iroquoians.
Before 1603, French explorer Samuel de Champlain made an alliance against the Iroquois. He decided the French would not trade firearms to them. The northern Native Americans gave the French valuable furs, and the Iroquois interfered with this trade. Champlain and his Huron and Algonkin allies fought the Mohawks in 1609. Champlain himself killed two chiefs, and the Mohawks retreated.
In 1610, Champlain helped the Algonquins and Hurons defeat a large Iroquois raiding party. In 1615, he joined a Huron raid on an Iroquois town near Lake Ontario in New York. This attack failed, and Champlain was hurt.
Dutch Traders Arrive
From 1610 to 1614, the Dutch set up trading posts on the Hudson and Delaware rivers. One was on Castle Island, near Mohawk land. This gave the Iroquois direct access to European markets. The Dutch also traded with the Lenape and Susquehannock tribes.
The Dutch built Fort Nassau in 1614, and later Fort Orange in 1624. These forts meant the Iroquois no longer needed the French or their allies to get European goods. The Dutch supplied the Mohawks and other Iroquois with guns. They also offered valuable tools for animal furs. The Iroquois began hunting many animals for furs to get these new products.
At this time, conflicts grew between the Iroquois and the tribes allied with the French. The Iroquois lived in New York, south of Lake Ontario. They were surrounded by Algonquian-speaking tribes, who were their traditional enemies. These included the Shawnee, Neutral Nation, Huron, and Susquehannock.
The Beaver Wars Begin
In 1628, the Mohawks defeated the Mohicans. They pushed them east of the Hudson River. This gave the Mohawks control over trade with the Dutch at Fort Orange. The Susquehannocks also got many weapons from Dutch traders. By the 1630s, the Iroquois had many European weapons from their trade with the Dutch.
The Iroquois relied on this trade for guns and other valuable European goods. They used their new skills with the arquebus (an early type of gun) in their wars. The French, however, did not allow trading firearms to their Native American allies. They only gave guns as gifts to those who became Christians.
The Iroquois attacked their traditional enemies: the Algonquins, Mahicans, Montagnais, and Hurons. These tribes were allied with the French, which quickly led to direct conflict with the French.
The fur trade with Europe caused the beaver population to drop. By 1640, beavers had mostly disappeared from the Hudson Valley. The center of the fur trade moved north to southern Ontario. This area was controlled by the Neutral and Huron tribes, who were close trading partners with the French.
The War Continues
As beaver populations declined, the Iroquois began to conquer their smaller neighbors. In 1638, they attacked the Wenro and took their land. Survivors fled to the Hurons. The Wenro had been a buffer between the Iroquois and the Neutral tribe and their Erie allies. The Neutral and Erie tribes were larger than the Iroquois. So, the Iroquois turned their attention north, encouraged by the Dutch.
The Dutch were the Iroquois' main European trading partners. As the Iroquois' fur sources decreased, so did the income of the Dutch trading posts.
In 1641, the Mohawks went to Trois-Rivières in New France. They suggested peace with the French and their allies. They also asked the French to set up a trading post in Iroquois territory. Governor Montmagny said no. He felt it would mean abandoning his Huron allies.
In the early 1640s, the war truly began. The Iroquois attacked Huron villages along the Saint Lawrence River. Their goal was to stop trade with the French. In 1645, the French tried to make a peace treaty. Iroquois leaders Deganaweida and Koiseaton went to New France for talks. The French agreed to most Iroquois demands, giving them trading rights in New France.
The next summer, 80 canoes full of furs traveled through Iroquois land to New France. But when they arrived, the French refused to buy the furs. They told the Iroquois to sell them to the Hurons, who would act as middlemen. The Iroquois were angry and started the war again.
The French decided to get directly involved. The Huron and Iroquois each had about 25,000 to 30,000 people. The Hurons and Susquehannocks formed an alliance in 1647 to fight the Iroquois. Their warriors greatly outnumbered the Iroquois. The Hurons tried to break the Iroquois Confederacy by making a separate peace with the Onondaga and Cayuga tribes. But the other Iroquois tribes stopped their messengers.
In the summer of 1647, there were small fights. A bigger battle happened in 1648. Two Algonquin tribes got a fur convoy past an Iroquois blockade. They succeeded and caused many Iroquois casualties. In the early 1650s, the Iroquois began attacking the French themselves. Some Iroquois tribes, like the Oneida and Onondaga, had been peaceful with the French. But the Mohawks, the strongest tribe, controlled them and disliked the French.
After a failed peace treaty, the Iroquois moved north into New France. They attacked and blockaded Montreal. By 1650, they controlled a vast area from Virginia up to the St. Lawrence. In the west, the Iroquois drove the Shawnee out of the Ohio Country. They also took control of the Illinois Country, reaching the Mississippi River.
In January 1666, the French invaded Iroquois land and captured Chief Canaqueese. In September, they burned Iroquois crops and homes. Many Iroquois died from starvation that winter. In the following years, the Iroquois strengthened their confederacy. The five tribes stopped fighting among themselves by the 1660s. They worked together more closely, which increased their power.
Native American raids terrified the people of New France. Some French-Canadian heroes are known for fighting back. For example, Dollard des Ormeaux died in May 1660 fighting an Iroquois raiding force. His actions helped save Montreal. In 1692, 14-year-old Marie-Madeleine Jarret successfully defended Fort Verchères from an Iroquois attack.
Defeat of the Huron Tribe
In 1648, the Dutch were allowed to sell guns directly to the Mohawks. They quickly sold 400 guns to the Iroquois. The Iroquois Confederacy sent 1,000 armed warriors into Huron territory in winter. They launched a strong attack, destroying villages and taking thousands captive. Many were later adopted into the Iroquois tribes.
Among those killed were Jesuit missionaries Jean Brebeuf, Charles Garnier, and Gabriel Lallemant. They are considered martyrs by the Roman Catholic Church. The surviving Hurons fled. Some went to the Jesuits in Quebec. Some were taken in by the Iroquois. Others joined the Petun (Tobacco nation) to become the Wyandot. The Ottawa tribe temporarily stopped Iroquois expansion further northwest. But the Iroquois now controlled a fur-rich area.
Diseases had weakened the Iroquois and their neighbors before the war. Their populations had dropped a lot. To replace lost warriors, they adopted many captured enemies into their tribes. They invited Jesuits into their territory to teach those who had become Christians. Many Iroquois also became Roman Catholics or mixed Christian teachings with their own beliefs.
Defeat of the Erie and Neutral Tribes
The Iroquois attacked the Neutrals in 1650. By the end of 1651, they had completely driven the tribe from their land. Thousands were killed or adopted. The Neutrals had lived from the Niagara Peninsula west to the Grand River valley.
In 1654, the Iroquois attacked the Erie tribe. This war lasted two years. By 1656, the Iroquois destroyed the Erie confederacy. The Erie refused to flee west. Their territory was on the southeastern shore of Lake Erie. In 1650, they had about 12,000 members. The Iroquois were outnumbered by the tribes they defeated. But they won because they used firearms bought from the Dutch.
French Fight Back
The Iroquois continued to control the areas around New France. They raided up to the walls of Quebec and Montreal. In May 1660, 160 Iroquois warriors attacked Montreal and captured 17 French colonists. The next year, 250 warriors attacked and took ten captives. In 1661 and 1662, the Iroquois raided the Abenakis, who were French allies.
The French king ordered changes to how Canada was run. A small military force of Frenchmen, Hurons, and Algonquins was formed to fight the Iroquois. But the Iroquois attacked them in the countryside. Only 29 French survived and escaped; five were captured and killed. Despite their win, the Iroquois also lost many warriors. Their leaders began to think about making peace with the French.
The war started to change in the mid-1660s. The Carignan-Salières Regiment, a group of professional soldiers from France, arrived in Canada. This was the first group of uniformed soldiers in Canada. New French leaders allowed direct sales of weapons to their Native American allies. In 1664, the Iroquois' Dutch allies lost their colony of New Netherland to the English. After this, European support for the Iroquois decreased.
In January 1666, the French invaded the Iroquois homeland in New York. The first force of 400-500 men was led by Daniel de Rémy de Courcelle. They were outnumbered and had to retreat. But they captured Chief Canaqueese.
The second invasion was led by Alexandre de Prouville, the viceroy of New France. His force of about 1,300 men moved out in the fall of 1666. They found the Mohawk villages empty. So, they destroyed the villages and their crops. Prouville de Tracy claimed all Mohawk lands for the French king. He forced the Mohawks to accept the Roman Catholic faith and learn French. The Iroquois asked for peace, and France agreed.
Peace with France and Iroquois Expansion
Once peace was made with the French, the Iroquois went back to conquering lands to the west. They wanted to control all the land between the Algonquins and the French. Eastern tribes like the Lakotas were pushed across the Mississippi River in the early 1700s. There, they learned to ride horses and became nomadic. Other displaced tribes moved to the Great Lakes area, causing conflicts with tribes already living there.
In the Ohio Country, the Shawnee and Miami tribes were powerful. The Iroquois quickly took over Shawnee lands in central Ohio. This forced the Shawnee to flee into Miami territory. The Miamis were strong and formed an alliance with their neighbors. These included the Pottawatomie and the Illini confederation. Most of the fighting was between the Anishinaabeg Confederacy and the Iroquois Confederacy.
The Iroquois improved their fighting methods. War parties often traveled by canoe at night. They would sink their canoes with rocks to hide them. Then they would move through the woods to attack. After the attack, they would return to their boats and leave quickly. The Algonquin tribes were at a big disadvantage because they lacked firearms. Even though they had more people, they were not united enough to fight back effectively.
Many tribes moved west beyond the Mississippi River. This left much of the Ohio Valley, southern Michigan, and southern Ontario empty. Several Anishinaabe forces stayed north of Lakes Huron and Superior. They later helped push back the Iroquois. From west of the Mississippi, displaced groups continued to try and retake their land.
In the 1670s, the French began to explore and settle the Ohio and Illinois Country. They built a trading post called Tassinong. The Iroquois destroyed it to keep control of the fur trade. The Iroquois also drove the Mannahoac tribe out of northern Virginia Piedmont in 1670. They claimed this land as a hunting ground. The English agreed to this claim in 1674 and 1684. But they bought the land from the Iroquois in a 1722 treaty.
During a raid into the Illinois Country in 1689, the Iroquois captured many people. They also destroyed a large Miami settlement. The Miami asked for help from the Anishinaabeg Confederacy. A large force gathered to find the Iroquois. Using their new firearms, the Confederacy set an ambush near South Bend, Indiana. They attacked and destroyed most of the Iroquois party. A large part of the region was left empty. The Iroquois could not stay there permanently because their tribe was not large enough to settle the huge area. Their brief control over the region was lost. Many former inhabitants began to return.
Defeat of the Susquehannocks
With tribes to the north and west defeated, the Iroquois looked south to the Susquehannocks. The Iroquois were at their strongest in 1660. The Susquehannocks allied with the colony of Maryland in 1661. The colonists feared the Iroquois and hoped this alliance would stop them. In 1663, the Iroquois sent 800 warriors into Susquehannock land. The Susquehannocks fought them off. But this attack made Maryland declare war on the Iroquois.
Maryland colonists helped the Susquehannock forts with cannons. This turned the tide against the Iroquois. The Susquehannocks began to invade Iroquois territory, causing much damage. This fighting continued for 11 years. In 1674, Maryland changed its policy. It made peace with the Iroquois and ended its alliance with the Susquehannocks. In 1675, the militias of Virginia and Maryland captured and executed Susquehannock chiefs. They feared the chiefs' growing power. The Iroquois then drove the Susquehannock warriors from their land and took in the survivors in 1677.
War with France Resumes
English settlers began moving into former Dutch land in upper New York State. The colonists formed close ties with the Iroquois. They became allies against French expansion. The English started supplying the Iroquois with firearms, just like the Dutch had. At the same time, New France's governor Louis de Buade tried to restart the western fur trade. His efforts competed with the Iroquois' control of trade. So, they started attacking the French again. This war lasted ten years.
In 1681, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle made a treaty with the Miami and Illinois tribes. France lifted its ban on selling firearms to Native Americans. Colonists quickly armed the Algonquin tribes. This made the fighting more even between the Iroquois and their enemies.
With the return of fighting, New France's military grew after 1683. A small force of French navy troops, the Compagnies Franches de la Marine, arrived. These were the longest-serving French troops in New France. In June 1687, Governor Denonville and Pierre de Troyes led a force to Fort Frontenac. There, they met with 50 Iroquois chiefs from their Onondaga council. These were the top Iroquois leaders. Denonville captured them and sent them to Marseilles, France, to be forced laborers on ships.
He then traveled along Lake Ontario and built Fort Denonville. This fort was on the site where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario. The Iroquois fought back by destroying farms and killing entire families. They burned Lachine to the ground on August 4, 1689. Frontenac replaced Denonville as governor. He understood the danger of imprisoning the chiefs. He found the 13 surviving leaders and brought them back to New France in October 1698.
During King William's War (1688–1697), the French and their Native American allies raided English settlements. They attacked Schenectady in New York, Salmon Falls in New Hampshire, and Fort Loyal in Maine. They killed settlers and took some captives back to Canada. Settlers in New England raised money to buy back the captives. But some were adopted into the tribes. The French government usually did not interfere when Native Americans kept captives.
Throughout the 1690s, the French and their allies continued to raid Iroquois territory. They destroyed Mohawk villages in 1692. They also raided Seneca, Oneida, and Onondaga villages. The English and Iroquois worked together against the French, but their efforts were not very effective. The French attacks did not stop with the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, which brought peace between France and England.
Peace Treaty
The Iroquois eventually saw the emerging Thirteen Colonies as a bigger threat than the French in 1698. The colony of Pennsylvania was founded in 1681. Its continued growth started to move into the Iroquois' southern border.
The French policy towards the Iroquois began to change after nearly 50 years of war. They decided that being friends with the Iroquois would be the easiest way to keep their control over the northern fur trade. The Thirteen Colonies heard about the planned treaty. They immediately tried to stop it. These conflicts would mean Albany would lose its fur trade with the Iroquois. Without Iroquois protection, the northern border of the Thirteen Colonies would be open to French attack. Nevertheless, the French and Native Americans signed the treaty.
The French and 39 Native American chiefs signed the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701. The Iroquois agreed to stop raiding. They also allowed tribes who had fled the Great Lakes to return east. The Shawnee eventually regained control of the Ohio Country. The Miami tribe returned to control Indiana and northwest Ohio. The Pottawatomie went to Michigan, and the Illinois tribe to Illinois. This peace lasted into the 1720s.
What Happened After
In 1768, several of the Thirteen Colonies bought the "Iroquois claim" to the Ohio and Illinois Country. They created the Indiana Land Company to hold the claim to all of the Northwest. This company held the claim based on the Iroquois' right of conquest. It was dissolved in 1798 by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Many Iroquois people allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War. This was especially true for warriors from the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Seneca nations. These nations had long traded with the British. They hoped the British would stop American settlers from taking their lands. After the Americans won, the British parliament agreed to give control of much of its North American territory to the new United States. They also helped resettle American loyalists in Canada. They gave some payment for lands lost by Loyalists and Native Americans.
Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant led a large group of Iroquois out of New York. They went to what became the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve in Ontario. The new lands given to the Six Nations were near Canadian military outposts. They were placed along the border to prevent any American attacks.
A group of Native American tribes, known as the Western Confederacy, had to give up a lot of land. This included much of present-day Ohio, in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795.
See also
In Spanish: Guerras de los Castores para niños
