The French and Indian War was far more than a contest between British and French armies. It was a struggle for empire, trade, territory, and influence in a North America shaped by powerful Indigenous nations. Battleground North America: New York and the French and Indian War invites teachers to explore this transformative conflict through the landscapes, waterways, fortifications, and Native homelands where it unfolded.
Beginning in Albany, the seminar examines New York as a crucial crossroads of British, French, and Indigenous power. At the Shako: Wi Cultural Center of the Oneida Nation, participants explore the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Indigenous diplomacy and sovereignty, and the ways Native nations pursued their own political and strategic interests amid intensifying imperial competition.
Traveling north through the Hudson–Lake Champlain corridor, teachers visit Fort Edward, Fort William Henry, Fort Ticonderoga, and Crown Point, examining the campaigns for control of this vital waterway connecting New York, Canada, and the interior of North America. These sites provide opportunities to investigate military engineering, logistics, frontier warfare, alliance systems, and the experiences of soldiers and civilians while considering figures such as Montcalm, William Johnson, and Robert Rogers.
The seminar then turns west to Fort Ontario at Oswego and Old Fort Niagara, where participants examine the struggle to control Lake Ontario, the Great Lakes, Indigenous trade networks, and access to the continental interior. A concluding visit to Niagara Falls underscores the extraordinary geography that shaped movement, commerce, diplomacy, and warfare across the region.
Departing from Buffalo, participants will leave with a deeper understanding of New York as a central battleground in the contest for North America—and of the French and Indian War as a conflict that reshaped imperial boundaries, Indigenous-European relations, and the future of the continent.
Speaker:
Teachers board a motorcoach for six days (Sunday – Friday) of visits to historic sites (such as national parks, state parks, and private sites) connected to a specific era of American history. Each travel seminar is escorted by a public historian whose lectures provide context for the historic sites to be visited. Local docents and guides provide breadth and depth in the historic stories they share. Local museums with subject appropriate materials are also included, many offering classroom resources for participating teachers.
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