Chapter III

CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF ANGLO AMERICAN COLONIZATION FROM 1492 TO 1763.

1493—October 12, Christopher Columbus discovered land
belonging the Western Hemisphere—one of the Bahama Islands.
He touches at Cuba and Hayti before his return.

1497—John Cabot, master of an English vessel, and his son
Sebastian, touched at Newfoundland in June, and soon after
explored the coast of Labrador.

1498—Columbus, on his third voyage, discovers the American
Continent, near the mouth of the Orinoco river, in South
America.

—Sebastian Cabot, in a second voyage, first of Europeans,
explores our Atlantic coast as far south as Maryland.

1499—Amerigo Vespucci, or Americus Vespucius, a Florentine
merchant, conducts a vessel to the coast of South America.
Returning to Europe he publishes a book, claiming to have
first discovered the continent, and it receives his name,
America.

1500—Columbus is sent to Spain in chains by a Spanish officer
whom the jealousy of Ferdinand, the Spanish King, placed
over him. Treated with injustice and neglect, he died at
Valladolid, Spain, in 1506.

1512—Ponce de Leon, a Spaniard in search of the “Fountain of
Youth,” discovers Florida, near St. Augustine.

1524—John Verrazani, a Florentine, commanding a French
vessel, touches the coast near Wilmington, North Carolina,
and explores it north to Nova Scotia. He wrote a narrative
describing the country and the Indians.

1535—James Cartier, a French navigator, discovers the St.
Lawrence.

1541—He builds a Fort at Quebec, but soon abandons it.

—De Soto, a Spaniard, discovers the Mississippi. He traveled,
with six hundred men, through Georgia and Alabama, and fought
a bloody battle with the Indians near Mobile. These Indians
had a walled town of several thousand inhabitants. Thence he
traveled west to the Mississippi and Red Rivers. He died at
the mouth of the Red river, May 21, 1542.

1553—Persecution of the English Puritans commences.

1562—French Huguenots attempt a settlement in Florida. They
gave the name Carolina to the coast on the north. The first
colony is discouraged, and returns. In the year 1564 another
Huguenot colony is founded on the River May.

1565—Melendez, a Spaniard, founds St. Augustine, September 8th,
with five hundred colonists. It was the first permanent
settlement in the United States.

—Melendez destroys the French colony.

1567—The Chevalier Gouges (French) attacks St. Augustine, and
puts to death two hundred Spaniards in retaliation.

1578—The first English settlement contemplated. Queen Elizabeth
grants a patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert “to such remote,
heathen, and barbarous lands as he should find in North
America.” He makes two attempts to plant a colony—in 1579
and in 1583—fails in each, and perishes with his vessel,
September 23, 1583.

1584—Sir Walter Raleigh receives a similar patent, and sends
two vessels to the shores of Pamlico Sound. Queen Elizabeth
names the country Virginia.

1585—Raleigh sends a colony to Roanoke Island, but it is
unfortunate, and returns home.

1587—He sends another colony, but the Spanish Armada
threatening England, he could not send it supplies for some
time, and when visited, later, no trace of it could be found.
Discouraged, he gives up his patent to a London company of
merchants, who content themselves to trade with the Indians.

1602—Bartholomew Gosnold visits New England.

1603—Henry IV., King of France, grants Acadia (Nova Scotia)
to Sieur de Monts, who founds a colony on the Bay of Fundy,
at Port Royal in 1605.

1606—James I., King of England, establishes the London and
Plymouth companies for settling North America.

1607—The Plymouth company land a colony at the mouth of the
Kennebec river. It is unfortunate, and returns to England.

—The London company send out an expedition, which,
accidentally discovering Chesapeake Bay, enter, and found a
colony on James River, at Jamestown. The romantic Captain
John Smith was one of the colonists. This was the first
permanent English settlement in North America.

1608—Smith seeking, by orders from the London company, a
passage to the Pacific ocean, up the Chickahominy, is taken
prisoner by the Indians, condemned to death, and saved by
Pocahontas.

—Quebec founded by the French under Champlain.

—The English Puritans, persecuted in England, take refuge in
Holland.

1609—Lord Delaware is appointed Governor of Virginia, which
receives a new charter, and a considerable accession of
numbers.

—Part of the expedition, however, was shipwrecked, and the
colony, embracing a large unruly and indolent element, is
near perishing. Pocahontas repeatedly saves them from the
Indians. Hudson river and Lake Champlain discovered.

1610—Lord Delaware, having been delayed, arrives (after the
discouraged colonists had embarked to return to England) with
supplies, and saves the settlement.

1613—Pocahontas marries John Rolfe, an Englishman.

—The Dutch erect a fort at New York.

1615—They build Fort Orange, near Albany.

1619—The first General Assembly elected by the people is
called in Virginia, by Governor Yeardley. Eleven boroughs, or
towns, were each represented by two Burgesses, or citizens.
It was the dawn of civil liberty in Virginia, and a germ of
the future republic.

1620—Convicts are sent to Virginia, and negro slaves
introduced.

—September 6th, the Puritans, discontented in Holland, set
sail in the Mayflower, from Plymouth, England, for America,
under the auspices of the “Plymouth Company.”

—December 21st they land on Plymouth Rock, and, amid great
hardships, found a religious colony.

—James I. grants a charter to the Grand Council of Plymouth
for governing New England.

1621—A district called Mariana granted to John Mason.

—Plymouth colony makes a treaty with Massasoit.

—Cotton first planted in Virginia.

1622—Sir Ferdinand Gorges and John Mason obtain a charter
of Maine and New Hampshire. They plant a colony on the
Piscataqua river.

—An Indian conspiracy nearly proves fatal to the Virginia
colony. March 22d, at noon, an attack is made on all the
settlements, and in an hour nearly a fourth part of the
colony is massacred. The colonists, in a bloody war,
thoroughly chastise the Indians.

1624—Virginia becomes a royal province, but stoutly maintains
its legislative authority.

1625—Death of Robinson, the distinguished Puritan divine, in
Holland.

1629—Massachusetts colony patented, and settlement made at
Salem, by John Endicott.

—Charlestown, Mass., founded.

—The Dutch colonize the west side of Delaware river.

1630—Patent of Carolina made to Sir Robert Heath.

1631—Massachusetts General Court confines the privilege of
voting to church members.

—Clayborne plants a colony on Kent Island.

—The Dutch erect a trading fort at Hartford.

1632—Maryland granted to Lord Baltimore.

1633—Connecticut colony founded.

1636—Roger Williams founds Providence.

1637—Pequod war in Connecticut.

1638—Rhode Island settled by followers of Anne Hutchinson.

—Harvard college founded.

—Swedes and Finns settle Delaware.

—Colony of New Haven founded. Persecution in Massachusetts.

1640—Montreal, Canada, founded.

1641—New Hampshire united to Massachusetts.

1643—The germ of the American Union is planted by a
confederation of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
New Haven. It was for mutual protection and support, and was
kept alive about forty years.

1645—Clayborne causes an insurrection in Maryland.

—The Mohawks mediate between the Dutch and Algonquins.

—Witchcraft superstition commences.

1646—John Elliott becomes a missionary to the Indians.

1649—The Mohawk war on the French settlements and Jesuits.

1650—Common School laws passed in Connecticut.

1651—English “Navigation Act” forbids colonists to trade
with any country but England, and restricts trade among the
colonies. Thus the English make all the profits. English
merchants set the price of purchases and sales.

1651—Persecution of the Quakers in Massachusetts.

—Proprietary government subverted in Maryland.

1657—Elliott translates the Bible into the Indian language.

1662—Winthrop obtains a liberal charter for Hartford and New
Haven.

1663—Carolina granted to a company of Noblemen.

1664—The Dutch conquer the Swedes on the Delaware.

New York granted to the Duke of York, who sends a force to
dispossess the Dutch. It is done without fighting.

New Jersey granted to Berkely and Carteret.

1665—Lake Superior discovered by Father Allouez.

1668—St. Mary’s, between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, the
first French settlement within the boundaries of the United
States, founded.

1670—Mr. Locke’s philosophical constitution introduced in
Carolina. It soon proved an absurd failure.

1673—The Upper Mississippi discovered by Marquette.

1675—King Philip’s war in New England. He was a warrior of
great ability and activity. Fourteen towns were destroyed by
the Indians, and six hundred inhabitants killed. Philip is
killed August 12, 1676, and the Indian tribes very nearly
destroyed.

1676—Three of the Regicides (Judges of Charles I., King of
England) came to New England.

—New Jersey divided into East and West Jersey, at the
suggestion of Wm. Penn.

Bacon’s rebellion in favor of popular rights, in Virginia.

1677—Virginia obtains a new charter.

Massachusetts purchases Maine.

1678—Sir Edmund Andross, royal governor of New York, usurps
the government of the Jerseys.

1679—New Hampshire becomes a royal province, but the people
make a successful stand for their legislative privileges.

—Massachusetts having disregarded the Navigation Act, Edward
Randolph was sent as Inspector of Customs. He failed to
enforce the act, and in 1682 the charter of Massachusetts was
annulled.

1680—Charleston, South Carolina, founded.

1681—Wm. Penn receives a grant of Pennsylvania from Charles
II.

—Penn restores the proprietary government in the Jerseys.

—He founds Philadelphia; makes a treaty with the Indians; and
governs East Jersey.

1682—La Salle visits and names Louisiana.

1686—Sir Edmund Andross being made Governor-General over New
England, proceeds in a very tyrannical manner. He endeavored
to get possession of the charter of Connecticut, but failed,
though he took possession of the government.

1688—New York and New Jersey came under the jurisdiction
of Andross; but James II., the tyrannical King of England,
being deposed, Massachusetts imprisoned Andross. Rhode
Island and Connecticut resumed their charter governments;
but Massachusetts, having given offense by resistance to the
Navigation Act, never recovered her original charter.

—France having espoused the cause of the dethroned king, a
war broke out between France and England, known as “King
William’s” war.

1689—The government of New York is seized by Jacob Leisler
for King William.

1690—May 1st, a Congress of colonial delegates meets at New
York to concert measures for the common defense.

February 18th, destruction of Schenectady, N. Y., and
massacre of the inhabitants by the Indians, sent by the
French, from Canada.

—March 18th, Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, on the Piscataqua
river, is destroyed by the French and Indians. Casco, Maine,
is also destroyed.

—Sir William Phipps, Governor of Massachusetts, invades
Canada, unsuccessfully.

—French Protestants settle in Virginia and Carolina.

1691—Slaughter becomes Governor of New York. He executes
Leisler.

1692—Massachusetts receives a new charter. Her limits are
enlarged, but her privileges restricted.

—Texas settled by the Spaniards, at Bexar.

1695—Rice brought to Carolina, from Africa.

1697—The Peace of Ryswick terminates King William’s war.

1698—Piracies of Captain Kidd. He was tried and executed in
England, in 1701.

1699—Pensacola is settled by the Spaniards.

1701—William Penn grants a new charter to Pennsylvania.

1702—The Jerseys united and joined to New York.

“Queen Anne’s war” breaks out. New England suffered much from
the ravages of the Indians.

—Governor Moore, of South Carolina, attacks St. Augustine,
but without success.

—Mobile founded by d’Iberville, with a colony of Canadian
French.

—The Massachusetts Assembly contend with the royal governor
for their former liberties. Their charter is still further
restricted.

1703—Delaware (called The Territories) is separated from
Pennsylvania.

1706—The French and Spaniards invade Carolina. They are
repulsed with loss.

1707—Detroit, Michigan, settled by the French.

1710—Many thousand Germans, from the Palatinate, settle in
the colonies, from New York to the Carolinas.

1712—A war with the Tuscaroras, in North Carolina, results in
their complete defeat. They unite with the Iroquois.

1713—Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, and Niagara, are
fortified by the French.

The Peace of Utrecht closes Queen Anne’s war.

1715—In a war with the Yamassees, South Carolina loses four
hundred inhabitants, but expels the Indians.

1716—Natchez founded by the French.

1717—Father Rasles, a Jesuit Missionary at Norridgwock,
Maine, excites the Indians to drive out the English from
Maine. He is the last of the Jesuit missionaries, and is
slain in the capture of Norridgwock, in August, 1724, by New
England troops.

1718—New Orleans founded by the French.

1720—A royal government supersedes the proprietary, in
Carolina.

1723—First settlement made in Vermont.

1729—North and South Carolina erected into separate
governments.

1732—A company in England prepare to settle Georgia.

1733—General Oglethorpe, with a colony, arrives in Georgia.

1736—Many Scotch Highlanders and Germans settle in Georgia.

1738—Insurrection of the slaves in South Carolina.

1740—General Oglethorpe invades Florida. He is repulsed. The
Moravians settle in Pennsylvania.

1742—The Spanish invade Georgia, but retire with loss.

1744—“The Old French War” begins.

1745—The New England colonies raise a force and capture
Louisburg, the “Gibraltar of America,” from the French.

1748—The treaty of peace of Aix la Chapelle, restores
Louisburg to France, to the great disgust of the colonies.

1750—The French and English both claim the Mississippi and
Ohio valleys. Lawrence Washington, and others form the Ohio
Company. Parliament grants it six hundred thousand acres of
land on, or near, the Ohio river. The French dispute the
possession, and threaten summary ejectment.

1753—George Washington is sent by Governor Dinwiddie, of
Virginia, as an envoy to the French and Indians in Ohio.

1754—The French build Fort Du Quesne (now Pittsburgh).
Washington defeats a French party headed by De Jumonville.
The French are reinforced by fifteen hundred men, and
Washington with four hundred men, after defending himself one
day, capitulates.

—The British government, in expectation of a speedy war
with France, recommend the colonies to form a Union for
defense. Delegates from seven colonies meet at Albany,
June 14, 1754. A plan of Union was drawn up by Benjamin
Franklin. Connecticut rejected it as giving too much power to
the English government. Parliament rejected it as giving too
much to the colonies.

1755—Braddock’s defeat in Pennsylvania.

—War with the Cherokees, in Tennessee.

—The French, under Dieskau, are defeated at Lake George.

1756—War was formally declared, two years after it actually
begun.

1757—Fort William Henry, being attacked by an overwhelming
force of French and Indians, surrenders, and the garrison are
massacred by the Indians.

1758—July 6, Louisburg captured by the English under General
Amherst.

—General Abercrombie is repulsed in an attack on Fort
Ticonderoga, and Lord Howe, much liked in the colonies, is
killed.

—August 27, Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, Canada, taken by
Col. Bradstreet.

—November 25, Fort Du Quesne taken by the English, under
General Forbes.

1759—General Wolfe, commander of the English, and General
Montcalm, of the French army, meet in battle on the Heights
of Abraham, near Quebec. Wolfe’s army conquered, but both
commanders lost their lives. Quebec capitulated.

George III. ascends the throne of England.

1760—September 8th, Canada surrendered to the English.

Massachusetts vigorously opposes “Writs of Assistance”
(search warrants for goods that had not paid the duty).

1761—The Cherokees reduced to peace by Colonel Grant.

In October, Mr. Pitt, the English Prime Minister, always a
friend of the colonies, resigns.