canada. now, where did they go? first of all, it is remarkable that the british gathered some 7,000 men, women and children in 1755 with the new england men, troops, being the heart of the british effort. 7,000 were gathered that year. three years later another 3,100 were captured, okay, so the total was 10,000 basically. 10,000 were expelled. how many remained? perhaps 3,000, 4,000 remained. they fled into the woods. they fled to quebec. they fled to other areas nearby. many had first fled to the isles st. john or what is today prince

edward island, but when the british took that over in 1758 they defor theed the 4,000 refugees interest even though they were in miserable condition, those poor people. what was the british policy here? to deport the acadians, not to french canada where they might add to the strength of that colony, not -- but rather to send them to the british colonies and to various british colonies, to scatter them so they would never pose any, quote, danger to britain again, and, of course, many historians would question whether they posed a significant danger where they were living in the first place, given that most wanted to be simply neutral. that was the position. the point is that they were shipped to the mainland colonies from massachusetts, to south carolina, and -- and virginia

didn't even want the 1,000 acadians that the british shipped to them. they said we don't want these poor people. we don't want to support them, so the british shipped those to england and then to france, those 1,200 people. they shipped the 3,000 here to france, but of those 3,000 in 1758, 1,658 died in crossing the atlantic. ships going down at sea or of malnourishment and disease and exposure. eventually, of course, some of these refugees will make their way to louisiana and become the people we know as the cajuns from their ancestral home in acadia from which they were expelled. and they will come to louisiana once that colony will pass from

french to spanish governance in the mid to late 1760s, and perhaps 2,000 will come 2,500, will come to louisiana in the mid to late 1760s and establish lives there. and in a totally different environment. well, the descendants of those people today, as you may know, still maintain contact with the acadians, the french descendants of the french colonials of acadia in nova scotia today and cape breton island. they have associations, meetings because they are from the same family. of people. so that's an important aspect of the french and indian war. now, what about the fighting in the lake champlain corridor?

here we have an interesting image of an iroquois chief called hendrick by the enling and the dutch in new york, and he was an influential mohawk chief for many years, and he made a visit to england about 1740, and perhaps for that reason at one point he didn't necessarily normally wear a british coat like that of an officer, but in this case he did as a badge of honor that he felt a loyalty to the english. of course, that require that the british authorities and the british colonial authorities respect the mohawks, respect their lands, give them sufficient presence and good terms of trade, so there was reciprocity in this relationship. it was not one way. let's go on. we talked about the albany

conference earlier in 1754. hendrick was there. what did he say to the british colonial representative? basically he said you, the governor of virginia and governor of canada are quarreling about lands in the ohio country that belong to us, belong to the native peoples, and basically by saying that he's indicating i'm not so sure either of you has our interest at heart, that is, the british or the french. if we would assist you, how -- what will be in it for us? how -- what will you do in terms of protecting our interests? and he said at the same time look at the french. they are men. they are fortifying everywhere. you are, quote, like women, bearen, open, without any

fortification. if you british would have -- and british colonials would have our alliance, you must be strong or else forget it. we will not assist you. an iroquois chief, another one who is unnamed, had a different view and he's quoted in colonial sources. it's a very interesting quote, and his perspective was it would be wiser for native peoples to side with the french than the british. well, let's see his rationale. brethren, are you ignorant of the difference between our father, the french and the english? go and see the forts that your father, that is, the french has created, and will you see the land beneath their walls as still hunting ground, okay? the french have these forts in the ohio country, and it looks like an occupation, and they are on indian land. but the land between the forts is all still hunting ground. the french really aren't there

to colonize. they are there to hold on to the territory and prevent british encroachments and british trade, okay? while it's the english on the contrary no sooner get possession of a country than the game is forced to leave. the trees fall down before them. the earth becomes bare. they want the land. the english colonists for farming, and that would mean the destruction of our hunting grounds and ultimate life our way of life. so that iroquois chief is indicating that. now, the lake champlain theater on a contemporary -- on a historical map that's in the massachusetts historical society looks something like this. this is a lake again that has its northern point touching today the southern boundary of canada and the western side of the lake, you have the state of

new york, today the east side, vermont. here is lake george. this would be a vital corridor of conflict in the war, and bloody battles would be fought here which i can only go briefly into today. the lake is 100 -- lake champlain itself beginning here is 125 miles long, and its widest point is 12 miles wide. it's in a valley even though it's ringed by mountains and, of course, very heavily wooded, and you can see the internal lines of communication between the st. lawrence river and the interior of north america, the key ones are by water. it's much easier to travel over water than land, and lake cha chamberlain southward leads to the hudson river valley, the land really between the colony of new york and eastward is new england, so it's very vital

region. and this shows us where the fort -- french built a fort in the 1730s, that they called fortt st. frederique, you don't need to know the names of all the particular forts. the british would later call this fort the point, they later called it the point, and later when they took it over they built a fort there that would be called crown point. this is on lake champlain, and then in the region between lake champlain and lake george to the south on the narrow passageway, the french built a fort in an area that the natives call ticonderoga. the british adopted the name tie conned brough roguea, but first the forts here were built by the french. well, let's go on in the talk. now here you see a modern view of the fort is reconstructed and reconstructed beautifully and how it is on this waterway that

is southward to north or north to south between, again, the st. lawrence and the hudson river valley, and the fort was originally built by the french, and, of course, it would be a scene of conflict. on lake george to the south the british built a camp in -- a fort in 1755 after conflict there with the french. and in the early conflict in this particular theater the english only had the assistance of the mohawks. the french had the assistance of many native peoples besides the help of their own french colonials, the french canadians, who had a very important role in this campaign. between 1755, 1758-'09 to the end of the war. now, this is a map from the massachusetts historical society

again done by a british engineer of the location of the fort. let me just go back very briefly, and what you see here is a lake, and the fort is here, and -- and the map also indicates the route that the french would take for their attack, but they are not just going to attack a fort head-on, even if it's made mostly of logs and earth. they don't have the stone just to build a stone fort in the wilderness, so-called wilderness. well, it's a heavily forested region, so the point is the french are going to besiege this fort, and they are going to put their men within reach of the fort and then get closer and closer until the british and colonial position is untenable. who was within the fort in 1757? british soldiers and new

englanders. new england men and new york and new jersey men, men from the northern colonies. there were about 2,000 colonial soldiers and also british soldiers guarding this fort. let's go on. commanding in 1757 in this theater for the french was a french army officer of the highest caliber, many wars in europe or battles in europe he had fought, the marquis demontcalm, a french nobleman. you have a french general, a high ranking officer from prestigious family assisting montcalm who well after the war would explore the south pacific and tahiti. and then there was the governor general of canada at the time and someone who believed in

utilizing native warriors and using them to spread panic and terror among british colonial settlers. he did not get along well with m ho ntcalm each wanted to be the first in command, and the officers who came from france looked down upon the french colonials in a similar way often that the british officers looked down upon their own colonials. okay. in the campaign of 1757, who were the opposing sides? the french and natives under the montcalm, french troops, canadian militia, indian warriors. they had 1,600 indian warriors with them in this campaign, almost an unprecedented number from any single instance in north american history up to that time, at least since colonials had come on the scene

at all, so montcalm's army not only had french troops from france, well desmind, trained regulars. he also had canadian militia, french canadians. he had indian warriors of 1,600 men, warriors, and they came as far away as the great lakes, even lake superior. it's hard to believe, but they did. they came hundreds of miles to fight. the british and british colonials there, british regiments and men from new england, new york, new jersey, the provincial troops, where the militia really serving with the british, okay? who were the various natives fighting here with the french? the be a naqui, algonquins, nippissing, micmay, huron, ottawa, potawatomi and winnebago

way in towards lake superior. it's quite remarkable that these native people from the great lakes came. so many hundreds of miles. why? because they thought they were strength err their interests with the french, their ties to the french, and gain trade goods, gain plunder for more, gain scalps, gain prisoners or captives that they could sell for goods and add to their power and strengthen their own position. so they joined the war for their own reasons to be sure. one of the natives who was a catholic, who had been converted to catholicism, you see, some of the natives who joined the french effort were those living in the st. lawrence valley in their own villages and had been converted to christianity or catholicism. others who came from the great lakes and especially the far

western region were not christian at all. and this man who was a catholic said to the western indians, my brothers, we domesticated indians, this is translated from french, from a journal, we thank you for having to come to help us to defend our lands against the english who wish to exploit them. our cause is good, and the master of life favors it. we admire the fine deed you have just accomplished on the lake, lake george. the french called it lac st. sacrament, the lake, the holy sacrament. it is stained red with the blood of englishmen, and the english who ventured on that lake with their whale boats, mostly men from the province of nujs were decimated by the natives in their canoes who took many prisoners, 150, killed many men and scalped others.

bouganville talked -- and you get the sense that the alliance that is of different elements, french and the native. it doesn't mean they are always going to be looking at the world the same way, hardly, in fact. not at all. look at what bouganville writes about the natives particularly coming from the western region or what the french called the upper country. the cruelties and the inheavens these barbarians is horrible. their souls are as black at pitch. it's an abominable way to make war what. a scourge. humanity shatters and being obliged of making use of such monsters, but without them the match would be too much against us. in other words, we need them. we're outnumbered otherwise. we can't do without them. now he's writing this after -- after a battle in 1756 along lake ontario where m mo ntcalm

had taken the british fort and then after the fort surrendered, there was a massacre of 30 to 50 of the surrending of british prisoners so bouganville has that in mind. we now have 600 indians and we hold a council with them, but it is a long job. it is a long job to get them to make up their minds. it requires brandy, equipment and food and such. the problem never ends and it's veryishingsome. now, the fort surrendered, the fort on the southern part of lake george in 1757. ft. william henry that we had just shown previously. let's go back just a bit. this fort which the british and british colonial soldiers built

surrendered over 2,500 men were in it. they couldn't hold out any longer. hundreds had died from the french bombardment, and now the surrender took place. montcalm granted the british commander the honors of war in the european fashion. what did that mean? it meant to surrender with honor. you could be allowed to carry your flags out of the fort which you surrender. you would take a cannon, make one cannon as a symbol that you're not totally vanquish with you. you also -- officers are allowed to keep their arms in their baggage, and the terms were that they would not fight against france for another 18 months, so those terms were considered honorable. what happened in this episode that's shown in "the last of the

mohicans?" the native warriors of a list of many that i learned of montcalm term said, no, those terms are too lenient, too generous and what happened for us? what will we gain? where is our booty? where are the captains we should draw? we have nothing. so in the night, before the british and english colonials were to surrender, the natives gathered and they were prepared early the next morning when the british and colonials filed out. and they were attacked and set upon and 100 to 200 were killed. some women and children, too. mostly men, of course. others were captured. about 400 were captured, because then they could be sold and ransomed. they'd be worth a money.

the natives were drawn into the commercial economy of colonial north america. they were not separate from it. they were dependent on it in many ways. and montcalm and the french intervened and managed to save a few hundred british and british colonial lives. but their intervention wag -- historians will argue how wholehearted it was or how effective it was and whether it was -- it wasn't clearly enough to stop what happened. and yet perhaps it prevented things from being even worse and more horrible. so to the natives, they felt betrayed in this instance by the french. the french had not given them enough and in fact in no later subsequent instance of this war did anything like the assemblage of native peoples join the

french. french -- indian support for the french in north america reached its high point in 1757 with the capture of ft. william henry on the shores of lake george in what is today the state of new york in this lake champlain, lake george, hudson river corridor. it was the high point of native support for the french. the natives largery returned to their villages in the great lakes region in the upper country. many died of smallpox. they would never rejoin the conflict, those distant indians, again. the french did retain some native allies, but as the british gained the upper hand in the war, a number of peoples, particularly the delawares, went from being pro-french to being

neutral, and some shifted from being neutral to being pro-british, or even from being pro-french to pro-british, because they saw that the british had the economic mind. the british had the main forces that if they were going to protect their lands and their way of life, then it would be best to make terms with the british. so you find that process accelerating in 1758, '59. one last point for today, because we'll continue the lecture next time -- william pitt. really, william pitt was a prime minister in england, britain, who helped determine the outcome of this war in several ways. and by orienting the policy even

more toward war in north america and putting more resources into the war in north america, and he would elevate colonial offices in rank, they always ranked british colonials below a british officer of the same rank, pitt made it so that the difference was not so great and he was sensitive to colonial dignity and pride and also he increased spending for the american war so that the colonies would be able to raise many more troops -- which happened. and he appointed very able commanders such as jeffrey am hurts and james wolf and sent them from europe where they-engaged in the war against france & in europe.

he sent them to north america. the war in europe was massive and involved many nations, which the fighting in the caribbean was tremendously important and pitt was very keen on expanding the british empire there. and did -- and of course, the british with their naval might made significant conquests in the caribbean and ultimately, threw the appointment of am dhurst and wolf, the british gained the upper hand and their maritime superior or the, there are superior or the on the sea was practically as important as their might on land. of course they controlled the atlantic and the supply routes to canada. so next time when we continue, we'll see how that helps determine the outcome of the war. thank you very much.

every weekend on c-span3, american history tv. 48 hours of people and events telling the american story. coming up next we learn more about the rich history of baton rouge, louisiana, 1 of 8 southeastern cities we toured last year. the lock is actually the crown jewel of plaquemine. the lock was a big part of our childhood because this was the center. this was the thing that happened in plaquemine because there were always boats coming through. and when we would be in school, we would come up here to see the boats passing and it was always an interesting place to us. >> plaquemine is a small town located about 13 miles from baton rouge. the locks were open in 1909.

they were under construction 14 years. so in 1895 construction started. plaquemine locks is an establishment by the u.s. corp of engineers to facilitate water traffic between the mississippi river and plaquemine. >> explain how that works. >> the locks worked off gravity flow with two sets of gates. one set of gates on the east side and one set of gates on the west side. so if a boat wanted to enter, the locks got ready to let the boat enter from the mississippi river by allowing water to flow from the mississippi river into the lock chamber until both levels were equal, and once both levels were equal, the locks would open the gates to allow the boat and barges to enter. once they enters, the gates were closes and the valves on the west side would open and allow

the water to drain out of the lock chamber into plaquemine to that same level. once that level was achieved, the gates would open on the plaquemine side and the boat was allowed to exit. this is the lock house building located on plaquemine locks. this building here is responsible for all of the machinery that would operate the gates. two guys, one on the other side of the lock chamber and one on this side of the lock chamber, had to go out to get the hydraulic water pressure to open gates and these gates were made out of steel and iron and they were all riveted. the hydraulic water pressure was created by purpose here in the lock house. the actual pumps were located right here on these concrete foundations and we have a pictorial of the pumps, steam

powered water pumps, and they were quite heavy and we had two, one on the side that you are looking at now and one on this side over here. and they were identical and only one pump was needed at a time. the other one stood on stand-by. about 1948, '49, all the steam equipment was removed and these two 40 horsepower electric motors were installed here, coupled to these centrifugal pumps and these pumps put out the same pressure, approximately 500 psi. all you have to do is push a button to start the motor and the motor would turn the pump and the pump created the water pressure, the hydraulic water pressure, to operate the gates and also the large intake valves on both ends of the lock