User:Russell D. Jones/Beaver Wars/Draft

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1643 -- The Iroquois sack Ste. Marie

1680 -- Iroquois sack Fort Crevecoeur in Illinois country.

1684 -- Goaded by New York governor Thomas Dongan, Iroquois attack southern Ontario and east, eventually reaching Montreal. This allowed English fur traders to infiltrate New France as far as the Straits of Mackinac by 1685.

1686 -- French counterattack under Marquis de Denonville.

Denonville ordered the construction of more forts. Nicholas Perrot placed in charge of construction. Built one fort in the Wisconsin area between Green Bay and the Mississippi River intending to demonstrate to the Miami, Fox, Sauk, Pottawatomie, and other nations of the region that the French meant to repel further westward encroachments by the Iroquois. A second fort was built in the St. Joseph river valley to send the same message to the Miami and Pottawatomie that were then migrating around the southern tip of Lake Michigan. To facilitate strengthening this fort, Denonville authorized a Jesuit mission at St. Joseph. The mission was built near present day Niles, Michigan, by 1690. Denonville's third fort was at Port Huron (1686). This was entrusted to Daniel Greysolon, Sieur de Duluth, a fur trader who had a license to trade with the Sioux. The fort was named Fort St. Joseph and was intended to block further English incursions in to the Upper Great Lakes. Duluth returned to the Lake Superior region the following summer leaving the fort in the charge of Louis Armand de Lom d'Arce, Baron de Lahontan. Lahontan was a young nobleman whose tastes were not suited to the primitive conditions of the frontier life. He abandoned the fort in 1688.

1687 -- Denonville requested a large force of French and Indians from the west for operations against the Iroquois. Henri de Tonty, Nicholas Perrot, and Olivier Morel de La Durantaye organized some 200 French traders and 500 Native warriors. Coupled with a French force under the command of Denonville, the attacks against the Iroquois in 1687 greatly boosted French and Indian morale.

1689 -- King William's War starts. Frontenac recalled to be Governor of New France. Frontenac's main worry was that the western Indians would despair of France's ability to defend them against Iroquois incursions and make peace with them. To prevent this, Frontenac ordered the construction of more forts, expanded the fur trade, and continued diplomacy with the Indians.

1694 -- Large Iroquois war band of about 400 attacks Fort St. Joseph on the St. Joseph River. The Iroquois were defeated by Miami, Pottawatomie, and French forces which ended deep Iroquois raids into the Middle West.

1696 -- Frontenac leads large attack against Onondaga and Oneida destroying villages.

1696, May -- Reversal of French policy: By this time because of over-supply the fur market in Europe was almost completely ruined and fur merchants were clamoring for the crown to throttle the supply (which would increase prices). Furthermore, the Jesuits, who were always influential at court, argued for the opportunity to continue their holy work without the debilitating influences of alcohol brought by the soldiers and traders. Because of these influences, the king ordered Frontenac to abandon all western forts save one in Illinois and recall all French troops, traders, and settlers from the Great Lakes region. This was a return to the concentration policy of Colbert which left the Jesuits as the only Europeans in the Great Lakes. Frontenac was also instructed to reach a peace with the Iroquois no matter what the cost. While this was official, Frontenac ignored these orders and continued on as before.

1698, November -- Frontenac died.

1701, July 22-August 4 -- Treaty of Montreal: The Iroquois seek peace. The new governor of New France, Chevalier de la Calliers, organized peace conference at Montreal. Sieur de Courtemanche was entrusted to entreat the western tribes to send delegates. Courtemanche eventually brought around eight hundred warriors from the various enemies of the Iroquois to the meeting. The nations of the Great Lakes region vowed to remain peaceful towards the Iroquois and that all the nations of the Great Lakes were now brothers and that the past would be forgotten. The Iroquois also vowed to remain neutral in any conflicts between the French and British, a promise that they kept until the 1750s.

This peace conference ended the Beaver Wars.