Original - North Central Michigan College Library

^PntrotwctionThe Seven Years' War was the decisiveround in this long struggle for the dominationof the continent. It began in the backwoods ofAmerica with a contest for the possession ofthe Ohio Valley. It was ended when in theautumn of 1759 a combined land and sea force oftwenty-seven thousand Englishmen conqueredthe citadel of Quebec. The capture of Quebecis one of the decisive struggles of militaryhistory. It won for General Wolfe an earlygrave and an immortal fame; it ended for alltime the dream of a greater France, while itgave the future of North America into thekeeping of the Anglo-Saxon; it foreshadowedthe development of the British Empire on itsmodern basis, and the birth of the UnitedStates as an independent nation.In the province of New Jersey in 1739 wasborn a youth since known to fame by the nameof Alexander Henry. Of the firsttwenty yearsof his life practically nothingis known. Of thesucceeding sixteen years, we have his ownrecord in the narrative which follows. Theslogan of recent years "Trade follows theFlag" finds ready exemplification in the careerof Henry. When, in the summer of 1760,General Amherst's army invaded Canada forthe purpose of reducing Montreal and thusending the war, Henry attached himself to theexpedition in a commercial capacity, and atthis point begins his narration of "travels andadventures." Disaster promptly overtook him,xiv