Hello and welcome to a history of the United States. Episode 109. More disasters.

The Fort William Henry Masco was just the latest disaster that the British had to face in the

Seven Years' War. But as we discussed in the end of our last episode, it could have been so much

worse. A lack of supplies forced Montcalm to withdraw,

even though the path through to Fort Edward and the Hudson was open.

This was, though, after all, just one small part of the frontier.

So we'll begin today by looking at what else was going on.

In the far south, things were going, well, perhaps not well, but certainly not bad.

The British were advancing further into the backcountry and established Fort Lowndon in what would later become Tennessee.

This was coupled with Fort Prince George,

100 miles to the southeast. The importance of this was that it enabled further trade

between the British settlements in South Carolina and the Cherokee, whom the British were hoping

to form an alliance with.

Further north, 1757 continued in much the same manner as 1756, a series of raids emanating from Fort De Cain.

Maryland continued to do little. Meanwhile, in Virginia, Washington and the other Virginian officers

were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the House of Burgesses, specifically with

how stingy they were with pay. They grew so fed up that Washington traveled north to Philadelphia

to meet with Lowndon, and request that

the Virginia Regiment be brought into the regular army, with royal commissions. Washington made

the case that his troops were well trained and had served for three years. He finished off his

request with, quote,

We are very certain that no body of regular troops ever before

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