The Border Wars of New England: Commonly Called King William's and Queen Anne's Wars

"A true and graphic picture of the life of the early settlers...the reader will find a clear account of the the struggle for supremacy on the northern Atlantic coast." - American Historical Review, 1898

In his 1897 book "The Border Wars of New England," Samuel Adams Drake provides an interesting account of the two phases of the struggle for supremacy on the northern Atlantic coast, first the futile effort of the semi-barbarous tribes of Indians to force back the advancing tide of civilization which was pushing up the river valleys, and secondly the not less persistent efforts of the French in Canada to establish their own rule here and to drive out the English colonists.

The border wars of New England were the result of this irrepressible conflict, which could terminate only with the complete and final triumph of one or the other party to the struggle. It was only when Quebec fell that the English settlers could breathe freely, and had no longer to fear either Indians or French. The early Indian fighters received a hard education, but the lessons which they learned were deeply impressed on that generation, and were not lost on their descendants who from time to time encountered like perils.

The first of the border wars that Drake covers is King William's War (168897), the first of six colonial wars fought between New France and New England along with their respective Native allies before France ceded its remaining mainland territories in North America east of the Mississippi River in 1763.

The second of the wars Drake covers is Queen Anne's War (17021713), the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England in North America for control of the continent.

The English colonies of New England fought against French and Indian forces based in Acadia and Canada. Quebec City was repeatedly targeted by British expeditions, and the Acadian capital Port Royal was taken in 1710. The French and Wabanaki Confederacy sought to thwart New England expansion into Acadia, whose border New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine. Toward this end, they executed raids against targets in Massachusetts (including present-day Maine), most famously the raid on Deerfield in 1704.

The more closely these border wars are studied, and the more thoroughly we understand the character and purposes of the combatants on the one side and the other, the better we shall appreciate the courage and endurance by which our heritage was won and the persistence of the Indians, already weakened by pestilence and intertribal warfare, in seeking to destroy the border settlements whose existence was silently and steadily making their old life impossible. Drake's small and unpretentious volume deals faithfully with this single chapter of our history, and in a way to make it interesting to the reader.

About the author:
Samuel Adams Drake (18331905) was a journalist and writer. He went to Kansas in 1858 as telegraphic agent of the New York Associated Press, became the regular correspondent of the St. Louis Republican and the Louisville Journal, and for a while edited the Leavenworth Times. . In 1861 he joined the state militia, becoming brigadier general. In 1864, he was colonel of the 17th Kansas Volunteers, commanding the post of Paola, Kansas, during Price's invasion of Missouri.

Other works of the author include:

Old Landmarks of Boston
Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast
Bunker Hill
Captain Nelson
History of Middlesex County, Mass.

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