David Franks: Colonial Merchant

3. Indian Affairs, Family Growth, and Supplying the Army

Three indian affairs, family growth, and supplying the army David Franks was both a hard-headed businessman and a visionary. He had the advantage of a long and extensive family history in the mercantile arena, which provided him with many mentors, potential partners, and trustworthy associates, not to speak of financial resources and ample credit. He was also quick to see the huge business potential in the vast western reaches of America, including the abundance of furs and the market provided by the many Indian nations. Despite these advantages, David’s eventual fortunes were largely out of his hands and were controlled by forces of which he had limited knowledge and no control. The world surrounding him and his business activities stretched from the Mississippi River eastward to India. In the middle of the eighteenth century, most of North America west of the Appalachians remained substantially undeveloped. Trappers and backwoodsmen had traversed the area, but few put down roots of any kind. The big prize was fur, and Frenchmen from Canada and Englishmen from the British colonies competed with one another for business with the natives—American Indians—who had the pelts. The French claimed a vast territory from the Great Lakes to the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys, in which they considered the business opportunities theirs alone. As British colonists from the coast moved into these areas, the French first buried a great number of lead markers intended to designate their possession of the areas, and then began to construct a series of forts, including Crown Point on Lake Champlain, and others on the Wabash, Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri rivers. Not to be outdone, the British built forts at Halifax and Oswego to strengthen the force of their claims to the settled areas. Clearly, conflict was inevitable.1 David Franks 26 In the early 1750s, British and French diplomats attempted in vain to resolve the burgeoning territorial issues. In 1752 the French embarked upon a campaign to erect more forts at Presque Isle and Waterford. At the same time, British colonial leaders were issuing land grants in disputed territory to individual citizens. Britain demanded that the French leave the upper Allegheny River region, a demand the French rejected summarily. In response, in 1754 the British commenced building a fort at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, from which they were removed forcibly by French troops. Originally called Fort Prince George by the British, the French renamed it Fort Duquesne. A young Virginia officer named George Washington delivered the first demand that the French leave. Washington’s effort to expel the French was defeated, leaving the French in control of the west. This was the first skirmish of the war known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War and in America as the French and Indian War. Numerous engagements took place before war was actually declared in 1756. The war lasted until the British regained control of the areas they sought. A peace treaty was signed in February 1763, nearly thirteen years after the disputes commenced. But this was only part of the story.2 Much of the territory over which the French and British fought belonged to the Six Iroquois Nations—the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. Other peoples inhabiting the region included the Mingo, Delaware, Shawnee, Wyandot, and Miami (Twightwees). The Indians were generally displeased by the usurpation of their lands and hunting areas, but they recognized that their relative weakness, due to their lack of guns and other advanced weaponry, gave the white intruders a great military advantage. As a result, they negotiated a delicate series of alliances with the current power most likely to be in command of areas they inhabited.3 The trappers and traders who came to the Indians’ western regions were an interesting collection of personalities. More than 250 men from the British colonies were engaged actively in trade with the Indians between 1725 and 1776, with the fur trade peaking between 1745 and 1754. Their reputations varied from the finest of gentlemen to the worst scoundrels. As historian John Arthur Adams noted, “Of the entire list, possibly a score were men noted for their good qualities; at least as many [or] more were notorious for the evil ones; and the remainder were average individuals, neither outstandingly good nor bad.”4 Among the men of good qualities were three whose lives intersected with David Franks’s significantly and were noted for their harmonious and honest relationships with the Indian...