• While the Dutch and English were colonizing s.e. New York and the line of the Hudson river, also at. points some distance in the interior and on lake Champlain, the French were incessant in their warfare with the Indians and their inroads from Canada into northern and central New York, varying their warlike expeditions by missionary enterprises, Excepting brief periods of peace, established by treaty stipulations often broken, the French and Indians were constantly at enmity; while the generally friendly relations of the natives with the English resulted in the northern and western frontier settlements being protected by the Indians from French invasion du ring the French and Indian wars. After 1684, when gov. Dongan concluded an offensive and defensive treaty with the Indians, the English occupied, in peaceful agreement with the latter, the attitude which had been held by the Dutch prior to their ascendency. In 1687 a French N army under de Nonville, governor of Canada, invaded New York; the Five Nations, in retaliation, made an invasion of Canada two years afterwards, killing 1000 French set tlers, and threatening the destruction of the whole province. On Feb. 8, 1691, n, mid night. the town of Schenectady was attacked by French regulars to tne number of more than 200, accompanied by a large number of Indians, when 63 of the settlers were killed, and 27 carried into captivity. In 1690-91 the village of La Prairie was twice attacked; and in 1695 count de Frontenac, with 400 Frenchmen and 250 Algonquins, desolated the Mohawk country, and pursued his invasion almost to Albany, returning laden with plan der and prisoners. Lake Champlain was, in fact, held by the and commanded by their fortifications 'until 1'759. Hostilities between England and France were con eluded for the time by the peace of Ryswiek in 1697, and from 1702 to 1748, during queen Anne's and king George's wars, there was no fighting in New York, except skirmishes along the frontier. But after the outbreak of hostilities in 1754, there being no concert of action among the colonies, the entire British possessions in North America were threat ened with subjugation. The French had fortifications on lake Chant plain, on tne St. Lawrence, and at Niagara; while the English advanced posts were at fort Edward on the Hudson, and at Oswego. In 1755 the English under sir William Johnson defeated and nearly annihilated the French under Dieskau, at the head of lake George; but in the following year the French captured Oswego and destroyed it, and in 1757 took fort Wil iiem Henry. In 1758 gen. Abercrombie, with an army of 16,000 men, attacked Ticon deroga, but was repulsed. Col. Bradstreet, however, captured fort Frontenae in the latter year, and in 1759 Niagara was captured by the British, and Ticonderoga end Crown Point surrendered on the appearance of gen. Amherst with his army. This left New York free of the French, and the attention of its people could once more be turned to their own affairs. During the war, and under William Pitt's administration. colonial affairs had been administered less obnoxiously than before; but no sooner was the con quest of Canada completed, than a course of conduct was begun tending to irritate the colonists, and arousing in New York a spirit of opposition whose exhibition the presence of a large royalist force could not prevent.
New York joined earnestly in the arrangements made for self-defense on the part of the colonies. In Oct., 1775, gen. Tryon, the last British governor of New York, fled from his seat of government on board a man-of-war. Already, in May of that year. Ethan Allen and his "Green Mountain boys" had surprised and captured fort Ticonder p. Generals Montgomery and Schuyler set forth two months later on their ill-fated expedition against Canada—whence they returned defeated and dispirited in the follow ing spring. In Feb., 1776, New York city was occupied by an American force, but the
betties of Long Island and Harlem heights, disastrous to the American arms, ren dered that position untenable; and, being abandoned by Washington and his army, the British took possession of the city, and held it for 7 years. In the summer of 1777 the province was invaded by gen. Burgoyne from the Canada side, while simultaneously a British force proceeded up the Hudson to unite with him. The immediate result of this joint expedition was the capture by the British of several American forts on the Hudson end lake Champlain, but it ended in disaster, Burgoyne's entire army being forced to sur render, Oct. 17, at Saratoga. In 1777-78 West Point was fortified, and considered the strongest position in the country.
In 1779 the Indian country in New York was laid waste by gen. Sullivan; the Six Nations joined the British. and under sir John Johnson harassed the defenseless settle ments on the frontier; and the Schoharie and Mohawk settlements were constantly being subjected to depredations on the part of hostile Indians., Nov. 25, 1783, the final act of the revolution tools plane iu the evacuation by the British of the eitiof New York, when the colonists were left to frame a government for themselves, which should comprehend the new at titude and larger relations which they held as citizens of a republic. A treaty was now concluded with the Six Nations, the Indians ceding a large portion of their lands to the state. Subsequently other treaties lessened the Indian possessions, until, excepting the reservations, all that they had once owned had been given up to the whites. What was known as the "Holland purchase." 3,500,000 acres sold by Robert Morris to an Amsterdam company—lying west of what was known as the preemption line, a boun dary between New York and Massachusetts lands—having been thoroughly surveyed by its Dutch owners, and made available for settlement, was speedily populated. The lands in central New York were settled as rapidly as the Indians surrendered them. in 1777 the first constitution of the state was adopted, revised in 1E01, 1821, 1846, and 1S7, the latest amendment having been made in 1874. In the meantime conflicting claims of other states concerning the boundaries of New York had been adjusted amicably; in the case of New Hampshire, by formitg the state of Vermont from the disputed territory, New York receiving the sum of $30,000 for relinquishing its claim. The war of 1812 brought the New York frontier again into danger, and a nutnber of engagements occurred in that part of the state bordering on Canada and the lakes. A British attack on Sackett's Har bor. an important American t station on lake Ontario, resulted unsuccessfully.
Shortly after the close of the war, in 1816, the requisite legislative action was taken for the building of the Erie canal. originally suggested by Gouverneur Morris in 1800. The canal was begun in 1817 and finished in 1825; its successful completion beingmaiulv due to the energy and foresight of gov. De Witt Clinton. The effect of this great work was to enrich the state while opening the way for the stream of commerce which has resulted in making the. city of New York the metropolis of the western continent. In 1826 the Hudson and Mohawk railroad was chartered—probably the first railroad char ter granted in the country. This road was commenced in 1830, and the New York and Erie in 1836. The gradual absorption of the various New York lines which form the Hudson river railroad, and the consolidation of the New York Central and Hudson river railroad into one powerful four-track trunk line connecting the metropolis with the west, 5,z3re in the development of the state.