Iroquois-French Wars
The Iroquois-French Wars, also known as the Beaver Wars, were a series of conflicts that emerged in the 17th century between the Iroquois Confederacy and French colonial forces in North America. This period of hostility began around 1642, driven by the Iroquois' desire to control important fur trade routes and territories, which often put them in direct conflict with the French and their Indigenous allies, such as the Huron and Algonquin. The wars can be divided into two main periods: the first from 1642 to 1667 and the second from 1684 to 1696.
During these conflicts, the Iroquois initially targeted the Huron Confederacy and later shifted their focus to the French as tensions escalated. Despite significant military engagements, including large-scale attacks and retaliatory strikes, the Iroquois and the French experienced periods of both intense warfare and temporary peace, culminating in a peace treaty in 1701. By this time, the Iroquois had adopted a neutral stance regarding future conflicts between the French and the British. The Iroquois-French Wars not only shaped the political landscape of North America but also had lasting effects on Indigenous alliances and European colonial strategies.
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Iroquois-French Wars
At issue: French expansion into Iroquois territory
Date: 1642–1696
Location: St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes
Combatants: Iroquois and British vs. French and Huron
Principal commanders:French, Marquis de Denonville (d. 1710), Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac (1620–1698)
Principal battle: Fort Richelieu
Result: Iroquois victory over the Huron, and French victory over the Iroquois; New France is established and becomes part of Canada
Background
French Canada, New France, and English America were being explored at approximately the same time. Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer who founded Quebec on the St. Lawrence River in 1608. Champlain’s exploratory efforts took him toward the rich fur grounds of the Great Lakes and New York. Champlain forged an alliance with the Huron, Algonquin, and Montagnais. The Huron were traditional enemies of the Iroquois Confederacy, which comprised the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca nations. The Iroquois served as a buffer between the French and the British and Dutch. On July 29, 1609, Champlain joined the Huron in their attack on the Iroquois on the shores of Lake Champlain in upstate New York. In June, 1610, Champlain and the Algonquin and Montagnais attacked the Iroquois. Champlain and the Huron attacked an Iroquois village in a siege during the week of October 9-16, 1615. After Champlain’s initial attacks against the Iroquois, the French and Iroquois were unable to effect a mutually agreeable truce. The Iroquois launched its first attack against a group consisting solely of French on June 2, 1633, when the Iroquois surprised a group of French towing a boat on the St. Lawrence River. The Iroquois engaged in numerous battles with the Huron, Algonquin, and Montagnais. After 1640, New France was rarely free of Iroquois attacks and the fear of war.
Action
The Iroquois-French Wars, often referred to as the Beaver Wars, began when open hostility of the Iroquois toward the French began in 1642. On August 20, 1642, a force of 300 Iroquois attacked the French where they and Father Isaac Jogues were building a fort at Fort Richelieu. The Iroquois-French Wars can be broken into two periods, 1642 to 1667 and 1684 to 1696. The Iroquois nations united to attack the Huron Confederacy, and the Iroquois were successful. Then, in the 1660’s, the French joined the fray. Most attacks against the French before 1666 were conducted by small- (3-12 men) or medium-sized (30-60 men) groups of Iroquois. On only two occasions did the Iroquois send armies of more than 500 men against the French. In 1664, Louis XIV sent an order to exterminate the Iroquois. The Iroquois nations signed treaties with the French from 1665 through 1667.
The period from 1667 through the early 1680’s was an era of relative peace and amicable relations between the Iroquois and the French. This peace ended when the Iroquois felt threatened by New France’s expansionist policy, which resulted in the construction of almost thirty forts and fortified posts in the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes basin between 1666 and 1701.
The second period of the Iroquois-French Wars began in July and August of 1684 when the French sent a 1,800-man army to attack the Iroquois in reprisal for two raids. The French, however, never reached their target and instead made peace with the Iroquois. In July and August of 1687, Governor Marquis de Denonville’s 2,000-man French army attacked and destroyed Seneca villages. The Iroquois counterattacked on August 5, 1689, when a force of 1,500 Iroquois attacked a French settlement at La Chine, killing 200 French Canadians. King William’s War, part of the European War of the Grand Alliance, began in 1689. The Iroquois and English fought the French and their native allies. After 1684, Iroquois raiding parties averaged 200 men, and they sent armies of 1,000 men against the French on three separate occasions. The last major French mission, led by Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac, occurred when an army in excess of 2,000 marched on Iroquois villages during July and August, 1696. The Iroquois were aware of the French plans and had abandoned their villages.
Aftermath
King William’s War ended in 1697; however, the Iroquois and French continued fighting. The Iroquois and the French negotiated a peace treaty in 1701, and the Iroquois assumed a position of neutrality regarding the French and British.
Bibliography
Brandao, José Antonio. “Your Fyre Shall Burn No More”: Iroquois Policy Toward New France and Its Native Allies to 1701. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
Richter, Daniel K. The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.
Snow, Dean R. The Iroquois. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1994.