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The events in this timespan take place before the French and Indian War.
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The most powerful group of Native Americans in the East was the Iroquois Confederacy, based in the New York area. The confederacy initially included five nations- the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Oneida. After the Tuscarora joined, the English referred to the confederacy as the Six Nations.
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British fur traders built a fort at a place called Pickawillany.
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The attacked Fort Pickawillany and drove the British traders out of Ohio. French troops also began raiding towns in Maine and New York.
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The Iroquois came under greater pressure as the British moved into the Ohio Valley.
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Governer Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia sent a serveyor named George Washington. His mission was to tell the French that they were trespassing on land that Great Britain claimed, and to demand them to leave.
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Governer Dinwiddie made Washington a lieutenant colonel. He then sent him back with a militia-a group of civilians trained to fight in emergencies-of 150 men.
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Washington established a small post nearby called Fort Necessity. The troops of the inexperienced Washington attacked a French force. The French quickly forced Washington's soldiers to surrender. The British soldiers were later released, and returned to Virginia.
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Representatives from several colonies met in Albany, New York to discuss the threat of war. They wanted to find a way to defend themselves against the French. They also hoped to persuade the Iroquois to support the British. The representatives adopted Benjamin Franklin's Albany Plan of Union for a united colonal government.
