69-74; Winsor's _The Mississippi Basin_, pp.

294-315.] %83.

The French and Indian War.%--Thus was begun what the colonists called the French and Indian War, but what was really a struggle between the French and the British for the possession of America.
Knowing it to be such, both sides made great preparations for the contest.

The French stood on the defensive.

The British made the attack, and early in 1755 sent over one of their ablest officers, Major General Edward Braddock, to be commander in chief in America.