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1754 in Canada

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{{Year in Canada|1754}}

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Events from the year 1754 in Canada.

Incumbents

=Governors=

Events

  • 1754–63 - French and Indian War (the colonial phase of Europe's Seven Years' War)
  • Anthony Henday travels west from Hudson Bay onto Plains, meets natives on horseback and sees Rocky Mountains.
  • French and Indian War begins in North America; it becomes the Seven Years' War when fighting spreads to Europe (1756).
  • Hudson's Bay Company Anthony Hendry travels to upper South Saskatchewan River, to Ft. La Jonquiere region with presents and trade goods.
  • France sends 3,000 regulars to Canada. Fort Duquesne is built. Benjamin Franklin says the British Colonies will have no peace while France holds Canada. Ango-French competition in the Ohio Valley sparks conflict.
  • George Washington's troops at Fort Duquesne open the French and Indian War, a counterpart of the Seven Years' War in Europe.
  • Tuesday May 28: Washington, with a few men, attacks Jumonville, with thirty followers, near the confluence of the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. Jumonville and nine of his command are killed. The rest are taken, prisoners. The French allege that, before the firing began, Jumonville signaled that he had a proposal to make; but Washington says that he observed no signal.

Births

Deaths

Historical documents

British not disposed to negotiating with French until they (among other things) give up parts of Nova Scotia they have taken[https://archive.org/details/britishdiplomati49chan/page/47/mode/1up "His Majesty was pleased"] Letter to Earl of Albemarle (September 12, 1754), British Diplomatic Instructions; 1689-1789; Volume VII, France, Part IV, 1745-1789, pgs. 47-8. Accessed 27 December 2021

New York asks Six Nations to treaty talks, but they delay over concerns about land, Ohio fighting and (false) smallpox news from Albany[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/greatbritainindiandept/greatbritainindiandept.0002.001/42 Meeting of Commissioners of Indian Affairs] (June 24, 1754), Albany Commissioners of Indian Affairs Reports, June 1753 - May 1755, Great Britain Indian Department Collection, 1753-1795, University of Michigan Library. Accessed 29 December 2021

Convention at Albany of colonial officials hears from Indigenous leaders before drawing up plan for union of British colonies[https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.47018/24?r=0&s=1 "1754; Grand congress held at Albany"] A Review of the Military Operations in North-America (1754), pgs. 19-22. (See [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.38176/83?r=0&s=2 speech] of Cayuga sachem at convention; see also [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.34807/127?r=0&s=1 how union was frustrated]) Accessed 27 December 2021

Albany Plan of Union would end weakness of disunity, create protective colonies on Great Lakes and regulate "Indian" trade and purchases(Benjamin Franklin), [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-05-02-0109 "Reasons and Motives for the Albany Plan of Union"] (July 1754), U.S. National Archives. (See also thorough recent events summary in [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-05-02-0103 "Representation of the Present State of the Colonies"] (July 9, 1754)) Accessed 31 December 2021

Apparently, British government planned combined operations against French on Ohio River, and at Niagara, Crown Point and Fort Beauséjour[https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.93998/35?r=0&s=1 "these instructions"] (November 25, 1754), The Mystery Reveal'd, or, Truth Brought to Light (1759), pgs. 28-9, 188-93. Accessed 27 December 2021

Strategic analysis suggests attacks on French at Niagara and Crown Point, rather than Ohio, as easiest and cheapest[https://archive.org/details/militaryaffairsi00cumb/page/38/mode/2up "It is therefore necessary"] "Considerations Relating to Measures to Be Taken with Regard to Affairs in North America" (November 1754), Military Affairs in North America; 1748-1765 (1936), pgs. 38-9. (See [https://archive.org/details/militaryaffairsi00cumb/page/40/mode/2up further argument] for attacking Niagara) Accessed 30 December 2021

France wants New York most because of its proximity to Canada and its Lake Ontario trade route, and (from French intelligence) its weaknesses[https://archive.org/details/militaryaffairsi00cumb/page/20/mode/1up "Indeed no place on the Continent"] Letter of Cadwallader Colden (August 3, 1754), Military Affairs in North America; 1748-1765 (1936), pg. 20. Accessed 30 December 2021

"Under no kind of discipline" - British colonial troops practice "licentiousness, under the notion of liberty," toward authority[https://archive.org/details/militaryaffairsi00cumb/page/19/mode/1up "The Inhabitants of the Northern Colonies"] Letter of Cadwallader Colden (August 3, 1754), Military Affairs in North America; 1748-1765 (1936), pg. 19. Accessed 30 December 2021

Timeline of preparations for war against French in New England and Nova Scotia[https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.20248/13?r=0&s=1 "1754"] The Conduct of Major Gen. Shirley, Late General and Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Forces in North America (1758), pgs. 2-6. (See [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.38176/86?r=0&s=2 Gov. Shirley's address] to Massachusetts legislature re danger to Maine and New Hampshire, and Shirley's [https://archive.org/details/militaryaffairsi00cumb/page/22/mode/1up proposal] for fort at top of Kennebec River) Accessed 27 December 2021

Acadians will not have to bear arms because British constitution "makes it both unsafe & unprecedented" for Catholics to do so[https://archives.novascotia.ca/deportation/archives/?Number=ONEI&Page=209 "Mr. Cotterell to Captain Scott"] (Letter Book; April 12, 1754), Nova Scotia Archives; Acadian French, pg. 209. Accessed 28 December 2021

Officer at Annapolis warned not to trust treacherous Le Loutre, but stay open to peaceful intentions under treaty with Kopit[https://archives.novascotia.ca/deportation/archives/?Number=ONEI&Page=210 "Mr. Cotterell to Captain Hamilton"] (Letter Book; June 3, 1754), Nova Scotia Archives; Acadian French, pg. 210. Accessed 28 December 2021

"Would be much better[...]that they were away" - Charles Lawrence details Acadians' non-compliance, but also their "ill humour" toward French[https://archives.novascotia.ca/deportation/archives/?Number=ONEI&Page=212 "Extract from a Letter of Governor Lawrence to Lords of Trade"] (August 1, 1754), Nova Scotia Archives; Acadian French, pgs. 212-14. Accessed 28 December 2021

Lawrence recommends demolishing Fort Beauséjour and moving nearby Acadians either within Nova Scotia or "totally away by Fire and Sword"[https://archive.org/details/militaryaffairsi00cumb/page/29/mode/1up "they will soon begin"] Letter of Charles Lawrence (August 3, 1754), Military Affairs in North America; 1748-1765 (1936), pg. 29. Accessed 30 December 2021

"Too insolent and absurd" - Le Loutre's take on current affairs and list of Mi'kmaw demands are rejected by N.S. Council (Note: "savages" used)[https://archives.novascotia.ca/deportation/archives/?Number=ONEI&Page=215 Council meeting] (letter translation; September 9, 1754), Nova Scotia Archives; Acadian French, pgs. 215-19. Accessed 28 December 2021

Control of "corn" (grain) sales will divert it from Beauséjour and estranged Saint John River area and toward underserved Halifax market[https://archives.novascotia.ca/deportation/archives/?Number=ONEI&Page=219 "A Proclamation"] (September 17, 1754) and [https://archives.novascotia.ca/deportation/archives/?Number=ONEI&Page=220 "Explanation of the Corn Act so far as relates to the French Inhabitants"] (Commission and Order Book of 1754), Nova Scotia Archives; Acadian French, pgs. 219-21. Accessed 28 December 2021

Council agrees to aid Acadian families' return home after their unsuccessful exodus to Cape Breton at Le Loutre's urging[https://archives.novascotia.ca/deportation/archives/?Number=ONEI&Page=227 Council meeting] (October 9, 1754), Nova Scotia Archives; Acadian French, pgs. 227-8. Accessed 28 December 2021

On staff of Fort Beauséjour, spy for British reports on Le Loutre's intimidation of parishioners[https://archives.novascotia.ca/deportation/archives/?Number=ONEI&Page=227 "Thomas Pichon to Captain Scott"] (translation; October 14, 1754), Nova Scotia Archives; Acadian French, pgs. 229-31. Accessed 28 December 2021

To thwart French seduction, New York Indian affairs commissioners want each of Six Nations to draw its dispersed members into one "castle"[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/greatbritainindiandept/greatbritainindiandept.0002.001/37 Meeting of Commissioners of Indian Affairs] (June 15, 1754), Albany Commissioners of Indian Affairs Reports, June 1753 - May 1755, Great Britain Indian Department Collection, 1753-1795, University of Michigan Library. (See [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/greatbritainindiandept/greatbritainindiandept.0002.001/42 note] that Mohawks object) Accessed 29 December 2021

Cayuga sachems say that if rum is made available to them, "they Cannot Remain A Nation" and will relocate to Canada, where rum is prohibited[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/greatbritainindiandept/greatbritainindiandept.0002.001/52 Meeting of Commissioners of Indian Affairs] (August 7, 1754), Albany Commissioners of Indian Affairs Reports, June 1753 - May 1755, Great Britain Indian Department Collection, 1753-1795, University of Michigan Library. Accessed 29 December 2021

"Trembling alive with fear" - New Hampshire woman begins account of captivity among Indigenous people in Canada (Note: "savages" used)Mrs. (Susannah Willard) Johnson, [https://archive.org/details/narrativeofcapti00john/page/22/mode/2up "The commencement of the year 1754"] A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Johnson, pg. 22. (See also [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.61722/37?r=0&s=2 second-hand account] of torture of other abductees) Accessed 27 December 2021

References

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