May 19, 2024
9am
Sunday, May 19, 2024
9:00-9:30am Holy Wars of the 18th Century: The French & Indian War as an Apocalyptic Conflict—The Seven Years’ War was seen as the culmination of the French & Indian Wars by contemporaries, not just for the scale of invasion but on religious grounds. Preachers in the English colonies and priests in New France both emphasized that the war was a holy one, escalating the rhetoric of religious violence from previous conflicts into describing it as the final battle between God and Antichrist. This presentation examines the language used in sermons and letters in the Northeast from both sides to show how the language of holy war and apocalypticism changed and grew over the nearly 20 years from King George’s War through the fall of Quebec. Dr. Thomas Lecaque is an Associate Professor of History at Grand View University; his research looks at the longue durée of religious violence and apocalypticism and his current book project centers on holy war rhetoric in colonial North America.
9:45-10:15am And just like that… Fort Ticonderoga and the Fall of Nouvelle France—Nouvelle France had been a French colony, an extension of the metropole where the colonists retained French law, French currency, and their linguistic, religious, cultural, and familial ties. This presentation explores the Seven Years’ War from the French colonial perspective in Nouvelle France and the aftermath of the British victory over the French that began in 1759 with the British victory at Fort Ticonderoga and that suddenly transmuted the French of Nouvelle France into British subjects. Sylvie L.F. Richards is a Trusts and Estates attorney who holds a Ph.D. in French and Romance Philology from Columbia University and a J.D. from New York Law School; she is admitted to practice in New York State, in federal courts (Eastern and Southern District of New York), and at the U.S. Supreme Court.
10:30-11:00am The Battle of Minden: Decisive Battle of the Seven Years’ War—Remarkable for large coalition armies and global strategies, the Seven Years’ War was the last of the great 18th-century wars for empire. The conflict saw combat operations on the continent of Europe, Indian Sub-continent of Asia, West Indies, West Africa, the Philippines, and at sea, as well as North America. In what became arguably the most decisive and pivotal battle in the European theater of operations, an Anglo-German army of 41,000 men and 170 pieces of artillery, commanded by Field Marshal Ferdinand the Duke of Brunswick, fought the French-Allied army of 52,000 men and 162 guns, commanded by Marshal of France the Marquis de Contades, near the north German town of Minden. Dr. Glenn F. Williams is a military historian whose primary research interest is the 18th century.
11:30am Lunch (Box lunch from America’s Fort Café included).
